Lauren Sommer
Lauren Sommer covers climate change for NPR's Science Desk, from the scientists on the front lines of documenting the warming climate to the way those changes are reshaping communities and ecosystems around the world.
Prior to joining NPR, Sommer spent more than a decade covering climate and environment for KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. During her time there, she delved into the impacts of California's historic drought during dry years and reported on destructive floods during wet years, and covered how communities responded to record-breaking wildfires.
Sommer has also examined California's ambitious effort to cut carbon emissions across its economy and investigated the legacy of its oil industry. On the lighter side, she ran from charging elephant seals and searched for frogs in Sierra Nevada lakes.
She was also host of KQED's macrophotography nature series Deep Look, which searched for universal truths in tiny organisms like black-widow spiders and parasites. Sommer has received a national Edward R. Murrow for use of sound, as well as awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Based at NPR's San Francisco bureau, Sommer grew up in the West, minus a stint on the East Coast to attend Cornell University.
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Climate change is heating oceans faster than the world's coral reefs can handle. So scientists are breeding corals that can withstand hotter temperatures – but only to a point. -
Melting glaciers and ice sheets are far from where most people live. But the impacts stretch across the planet. See if you can guess how. -
Thanks to a new federal law, cities will get better forecasts about how climate change intensifies rainstorms. Still, it won't be in time for billions of dollars of federal infrastructure spending. -
Delegates reached a last-minute deal to pay vulnerable countries for damages caused by climate change. But the final agreement does not put humanity on track to avoid catastrophic warming. -
A new early warning system for weather disasters, calls for wealthy nations and corporations to pay up and dire descriptions of human suffering. Here's what happened at COP27 today. -
Unprecedented heat waves are on the rise as the climate gets hotter. But experts say the country's heat warning system may be leading the public to underestimate the dangers. -
With the climate warming rapidly, scientists are finding that cutting fossil fuels may not be enough. Carbon dioxide emissions may need to be vacuumed right out of the air. -
The U.S. is making the largest investment in history in the country's water system. In the rush to spend, some worry green projects will be overlooked. -
The good news is that the world has solutions and technology to slow climate change. The bad news is that time is running out. -
Intense climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, brought about major breakthroughs and compromises, as world leaders sought to avert extreme climate change.
