Category: Retired

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Life Raft - How Can I Reduce Flooding In My Neighborhood?

When it rains, it pours. And when it pours, it floods.

More and more, that appears to be the situation down South. In New Orleans, several big rain storms in recent years have turned streets into rivers and flooded homes and cars.

This week on Life Raft: flooding. What can we do about it?

We speak drop by a bar that regularly floods, get the latest science on climate-induced rainfall, and visit with a New Orleanian who decided to get her hands dirty and take some action.

Here are some great resources for how to help reduce flooding in your neighborhood:

  • This workbook from WaterWise Gulf South is a great how-to guide for getting started on your own green infrastructure.

  • The Urban Conservancy has a program that reimburses New Orleanians for ripping up concrete in their yards.

  • Healthy Community Services (run by Angela Chalk, who you heard in Episode 1) also does lots of work around green infrastructure in New Orleans.

Got a question you want us to explore? Send it to us! There’s a super simple form on our website.

For bonus pictures and extra fun vibes, follow us on social media. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

P.S. Here’s the legendary photo of “Darryl.”

P.P.S Climate change is scary, but Life Raft is not!

Support for WWNO’s Coastal Desk comes from the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and listeners like you.

If you like what you hear from Life Raft, consider making a donation to WRKF and WWNO to help keep the show going!

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City of the Future - Flexible Streets

The pandemic has forced us to reexamine and reimagine how we use one of our most precious public spaces: our streets. From outdoor dining to expanded bike lanes, cities have been re-designing streets so they can be better shared by all — drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians alike. But could we take this idea even further? What if we could use design and technology to make our streets more flexible? So they could change use according to the season, the week, or even the hour? In our season finale, we explore a future where city streets can do just that — and better respond to all of our needs. 

In this episode:

  • [0:01 - 6:44] We meet with transit guru Gridlock Sam to talk about the history of political battles over New York City streets and the recent changes in response to Covid
  • [6:54 - 11:18] Aspen Director of Parking & Downtown Services Mitch Osur and Coord Head of Policy & Partnerships Dawn Miller explain how data is allowing cities to solve problems like traffic and curb congestion
  • [11:43 - 14:40] We visit Sidewalk Labs Senior Creative Technologist Nick Jonas to test out Pebble, a new technology for vehicle occupancy detection 
  • [16:23 - 23:43] Associate Director of Planning & Delivery Siqi Zhu and Director of Mobility Willa Ng imagine how our streets can adapt to be shared more equitably

To see images and videos of topics discussed in this episode, read the link-rich transcript on our Sidewalk Talk Medium page.

City of the Future is hosted by Eric Jaffe and Vanessa Quirk, and produced by Benjamen Walker and Andrew Callaway. Mix is by Zach Mcnees. Art is by Tim Kau. Our music is composed by Adaam James Levin-Areddy of Lost Amsterdam. Special thanks to Sam Schwartz, Mitch Osur, Dawn Miller, Nick Jonas, Siqi Zhu, and Willa Ng.

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Life Raft - So You’ve Got Climate Anxiety. Here’s What You Can Do With It.

No matter where you fall on the eco-anxiety spectrum, on a scale from low-key stressed to lying up at night in a dread spiral, you could probably use some advice on doing something about it. Climate change can be scary, after all.

We talk with science writer Britt Wray, who has been researching the overlap of mental health and climate change. She defines some terms, offers some tips and tricks, and shares her personal experience with feelings of climate dread. Plus, she tells a fun story of that time she gave a presentation on climate denial and eco-stress to a bunch of energy executives.

Here are some great resources for digging deeper on climate change feelings:

Got a question you want us to explore? Send it to us! There’s a super simple form on our website.

For bonus pictures and extra fun vibes, follow us on social media. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Climate change is scary, but Life Raft is not!

Support for WWNO’s Coastal Desk comes from the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and listeners like you.

If you like what you hear from Life Raft, consider making a donation to WRKF and WWNO to help keep the show going!

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City of the Future - Factory-based Construction

For about a century, architects and developers have dreamed of the promise of factory-based construction — after all, if Henry Ford revolutionized the auto industry with assembly lines, why shouldn’t we be able to make buildings in factories, too? But, in North America at least, almost every attempt to revolutionize this industry has failed. But now, thanks to innovations in design, materials, and machinery — and a green wave taking over the industry — factory-based construction could be an idea whose time has finally come. 

In this episode:

  • [0:01 - 3:11] We take a fun trip back in time to Expo 67 and explore why the influential prefabricated concrete building Habitat 67 was just too ahead of its time.  
  • [3:35 - 8:26] Northeastern University architecture professor Ivan Rupnik relays the history of factory-based construction, including Operation Breakthrough, the U.S.’s initiative to out-build the Soviet Union during the Cold War
  • [8:46 - 16:28] Sidewalk Labs Director of Product Design for Buildings Karim Khalifa and Associate Director of Building Innovations Lily Huang describe how Sidewalk Labs is developing an architectural kit of parts to allow architects to build with quality, speed, and sustainability
  • [16:43 - 22:30] Architect and author Susan Jones shares her experiences building her own prefabricated mass timber house and working on the committee to change international building code for mass timber

To see images and videos of topics discussed in this episode, read the link-rich transcript on our Sidewalk Talk Medium page.

City of the Future is hosted by Eric Jaffe and Vanessa Quirk, and produced by Benjamen Walker and Andrew Callaway. Mix is by Zach Mcnees. Art is by Tim Kau. Our music is composed by Adaam James Levin-Areddy of Lost Amsterdam. Special thanks to Ivan Rupnik, Karim Khalifa, Lily Huang, and Susan Jones.

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Brought to you by... - 60: The Levi’s That Came In From the Cold

At the start of the Cold War, Levi’s jeans represented everything communist governments were trying to stamp out. But Levi’s kept finding their way behind the Iron Curtain, especially into East Germany. There, people could see what they were missing just over the wall that separated them from the West. East German officials started to worry: Could a pair of pants bring down the government?

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Life Raft - Have I Had My Last Good Oyster?

Is climate change coming for oysters? This week on Life Raft we take a dive into the world of food. We drop by a famous New Orleans oyster bar, and visit with an oyster scientist to get a better feel for the ways a changing climate threatens oysters, and what’s being done to help ‘em out.

Got a question you want us to explore? Send it to us! There’s a super simple form on our website.

For bonus pictures and extra fun vibes, follow us on social media. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Climate change is scary, but Life Raft is not!

Support for WWNO’s Coastal Desk comes from the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and listeners like you.

If you like what you hear from Life Raft, consider making a donation to WRKF and WWNO to help keep the show going!

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Brought to you by... - 59: The Pepski Generation

In 1990, PepsiCo made a deal with the Soviet Union for submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer. It was the largest agreement ever made between an American company and the USSR. But it wasn’t Pepsi’s first deal with the Soviets. For decades, one executive had been flying to the Soviet Union to meet foreign trade ministers, politicians, and regular Russians. At the height of the Cold War, he was determined to make a deal and bring two countries locked in a bitter conflict together.