The Response Podcast: Heatwaves and Energy Poverty in the Mediterranean (trailer)

Although cataclysmic events like hurricanes and wildfires tend to monopolize most of the headlines on climate change, as paltry as it is to begin with, climate news coverage hardly ever focuses on the less flashy impacts. Things like heatwaves, for example, might draw some attention if they’re record-shattering — but oftentimes, the impacts of long-lasting higher temperatures are not covered in any depth by mainstream news outlets. In this episode of The Response podcast, we’re going to focus on an issue that isn’t talked about hardly enough: energy poverty. When temperatures rise to the point where they become dangerous, what happens to people who can’t escape the heat? As temperatures continue to soar and extreme heatwaves become the norm, a lack of resources to stay cool — so, having access to things like air conditioning, for example, — is a huge issue across the world. This is especially true in southern Europe, a region that experienced a series of record-breaking, climate-fueled heatwaves this past summer. Listen to the full episode: Episode credits: Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series producer, research, and scriptwriting: Robert Raymond Theme Music: “Meet you on the other side” by Cultivate Beats Additional music: Belong, Fugazi, and Chris Zabriskie Original artwork was created by Kane Lynch Special funding was provided by Guerrilla foundation Featuring: Eleni Myrivili, Chief Heat Officer for the City of Athens (the first person to hold this title – recently featured in New York Times). Lidija Živčič is the senior expert at the FOCUS Association for Sustainable Development and a coordinator at EmpowerMed. Mònica Guiteras, a member of the Alliance Against Energy Poverty in Catalonia, and Engineers Without Borders. Martha Myers, energy poverty campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe and the coordinator of the Right to Energy Coalition. Narrated by Tom Llewellyn. Listen and subscribe with the podcast app of your choice. The Response from , is an award-winning documentary and podcast series hosted by Tom Llewellyn exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters.