Contacts
Info
Ten Across Conversations examines pressing issues impacting communities along the U.S. Interstate 10 corridor. From Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles, California, this region provides a compelling and comprehensive window into...
show more
Ten Across Conversations examines pressing issues impacting communities along the U.S. Interstate 10 corridor. From Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles, California, this region provides a compelling and comprehensive window into the major challenges and opportunities of the 21st century in their most extreme. Join founder and executive director, Wellington “Duke” Reiter, as he chats with subject experts bringing unique insights and new ways of thinking to reveal our collective capacity to create a more resilient future.
For more information about the Ten Across Initiative visit www.10across.com.
show less
For more information about the Ten Across Initiative visit www.10across.com.
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
14 NOV 2025 · In October, stakeholders representing an unusual combination of sectors — public, private, academic, non-profit and journalism — gathered with insurance industry experts at the https://10across.org/events/10x-convergence-2025/, to explore solutions to unsustainable insurance and disaster recovery costs throughout the Interstate 10 region.
Insurers continue to cancel homeowners policies across https://grist.org/economics/insurance-company-bankrupt-hurricane-ida-louisiana/. The industry crisis has begun to spread northward, where a widening Tornado Alley sees growing impacts from property-damaging storms.
This is a complex, all-hands-on-deck issue. Insurance practices and building standards have not adapted to the realities of climate change, and https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/08/insurance-for-physical-climate-risk-management-lessons-from-history?lang=en. On the whole, 10X Convergence participants were clear that viable solutions will require a combination of applied climate and economic research with proactive governance and communications strategies, and that this must be matched by industry willingness to innovate its systems of underwriting and community development.
In this podcast, Ten Across journalists Maya Chari and Taylor Griffith take you through the problems and potential solutions discussed by the diverse group of experts at the 10X Convergence.
Relevant Articles and Resources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSqF3ObHqwU
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/12/nx-s1-5546754/climate-home-insurance-cop30-prices-expensive-disasters?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic/climate (NPR, November 2025)
https://grist.org/economics/insurance-company-bankrupt-hurricane-ida-louisiana/ (Grist, November 2025)
https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/08/insurance-for-physical-climate-risk-management-lessons-from-history?lang=en (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, August 2025)
https://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/next_to_fall_the_climate-driven_insurance_crisis_is_here__and_getting_worse.pdf (Senate Budget Committee, December 2024)
Relevant Ten Across Conversations Podcasts
https://10across.org/the-future-of-insurability-new-approaches-and-mindsets/
https://10across.org/carolyn-kousky-on-using-insurance-models-to-drive-positive-change/
https://10across.org/checking-in-with-dave-jones-on-californias-insurance-outlook/
Credits
Hosts: Maya Chari and Taylor Griffith
Producer and editor: Taylor Griffith
Music by: Out To The World, Marten Moses, Lennon Hutton, and Pearce Roswell
Research and support provided by: Duke Reiter, Kate Carefoot, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler
Guest Bios (in order of appearance):
Steve Bowen is the Chief Science Officer and meteorologist at Gallagher Re.
Adam Reeder is a civil-structural engineer and principal investigator at CDM Smith.
Juliet Rogers is the president of Blue Cottage at CannonDesign.
Laura Phillips-Edgecombe is the duPont Fund principal for public spaces and executive on loan to the City of Jacksonville, Florida.
Clint Noble is a member of the City of Jacksonville Environmental Protection Board and professional geologist with CDM Smith.
Dr. Quinton White is founding executive director of the Marine Science Research Institute and professor emeritus at Jacksonville University.
Alex Harris is the lead climate reporter for the Miami Herald.
Pete Nelson is the communications director for the Gulf Research Program at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Dave Hondula is the director of the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation at the City of Phoenix.
Casi Callaway is the founder and president of Activate Build Connect.
Eric Corey Freed is the director of sustainability at CannonDesign.
Sarina Beges is the associate director of philanthropy and social innovation at the Aspen Institute.
Ashantae Green is the sustainability manager for the City of Jacksonville, Florida.
16 OCT 2025 · Hello listeners,
We are taking a temporary podcast break while we complete the preparation, execution, and reflection on our upcoming 10X Convergence in Jacksonville, Florida. You can learn more about this event, which runs October 22 to 23rd, here: https://10across.org/events/10x-convergence-2025/
Our first episode after the break will be a comprehensive and immersive summary of this meeting, which will surely provide a launching point for several new episodes. Feel free to send in more show ideas for consideration while we’re away: mailto:tenacross@asu.edu
Stay engaged with us in other ways!
Give us a follow on LinkedIn and X (@Ten Across and @Ten_Across, respectively). We’ll be posting periodic updates from the Convergence on these channels.
Don’t forget you can now WATCH some of your favorite Ten Across Conversations interviews on our https://www.youtube.com/@10Xacross!
Lastly, if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to the On the Ten News and Insights newsletter to receive the latest and greatest news from the Interstate 10 corridor, as well as updates on our other work, at http://10across.org/subscribe.
Thank you for listening and sharing! See you soon,
Duke and Taylor
10 OCT 2025 · As a prelude to the https://10across.org/events/10x-convergence-2025/ coming up on October 22nd—where insurability planning will be a focal topic—we’re sharing a conversation Charlie Sidoti and Stephen Brandt, founders of the nonprofit InnSure. Concerned about thehttps://www.swissre.com/risk-knowledge/mitigating-climate-risk/natcat-protection-gap-infographic.html#/ growing with climate change in the U.S., these two have applied their combined decades of insurance industry expertise to form a professional network dedicated to developing insurance products that support—and therefore incentivize—communities’ proactive fight against the risks they face.
Ten Across participants are well-aware of disaster recovery costs soaring in this part of the country. Between 2020 and 2022, State Farm and Allstate dropped a shocking 2.8 million insurance policies in fire-prone areas of California—yet Florida and Louisiana https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/18/homeowners-insurance-california-florida-climate-change/. https://10across.org/checking-in-with-dave-jones-on-californias-insurance-outlook/ struggling to relieve insurers and the insured, and the private market continues to retreat as losses exceed underwriting metrics.
InnSure believes the insurance sector can lead the development of new models that incentivize risk reduction and community-based action—that in fact it must, in order to remain viable as an industry.
In this episode, Charlie Sidoti and Stephen Brandt walk us through the challenges and solutions insurers consider in devising effective products to support climate risk mitigation—a preview to the multi-sector problem-solving work that attendees will undertake at the upcoming 10X Convergence.
Relevant Articles and Resources
Charlie Sidoti: https://www.insurancethoughtleadership.com/resilience-sustainability/running-toward-climate-risk (InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com, August 2022)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/climate/government-shutdown-disaster-preparedness-floods.html?campaign_id=54&emc=edit_clim_20250930&instance_id=163549&nl=climate-forward®i_id=210097494&segment_id=206900&user_id=53b2ac9eecd0f9131a40e629fb5f6535 (The New York Times, Sept. 2025)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/climate/trump-federal-data-climate-change-health.html (The New York Times, Sept. 2025)
https://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/next_to_fall_the_climate-driven_insurance_crisis_is_here__and_getting_worse.pdf (Senate Budget Committee, December 2024)
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/risky-economics-living-without-homeowners-insurance-2024-03-28/ (Reuters, March 2024)
Relevant Ten Across Conversations Podcasts
https://10across.org/carolyn-kousky-on-using-insurance-models-to-drive-positive-change/
https://10across.org/checking-in-with-dave-jones-on-californias-insurance-outlook/
https://10across.org/urban-expert-bill-fultons-perspective-of-how-la-can-rebuild-following-the-fires/
2023 Insurance Series on https://10across.org/10x-insurance-series-california-attempts-to-reverse-insurer-exodus/, https://10across.org/10x-insurance-series-louisiana-grapples-with-growing-natural-and-financial-risk/, and https://10across.org/10x-insurance-series-retaining-floridas-insurability-has-national-implications/
Credits
Host: Duke Reiter
Producer and editor: Taylor Griffith
Music by: From Now On and Lennon Hutton
Research and support provided by: Kate Carefoot, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler
About our guests:
Charlie Sidoti is executive director of InnSure, a network of insurance professionals and consultants developing innovative industry tools that contribute to the battle against climate risk. Charlie is also a founding coalition partner of GreenieRE, a reinsurance company with a mission to de-risk and unlock capital for clean energy projects. He has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry.
Stephen Brandt is chief development officer and founding board member of InnSure. Stephen previously served as senior vice president of sales for Vitech Systems Group, a group insurance and pension administration software company. He has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance technology field.
2 OCT 2025 · The Ten Across Resilience Network https://10across.org/framework-for-a-heat-ready-nation/, in April to share strategies from their communities—the hottest in the nation—for mitigating the mortality and economic loss caused by extreme heat, and to identify common obstacles to both long-term planning and immediate response. Representatives from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) joined the exercise to discuss and document the findings.
With co-author Dr. Melissa Guardaro, Senior Global Futures Scientist for ASU’s Global Futures Lab, FAS’s Grace Wickerson has drafted a set of policy recommendations for all levels of government and non-governmental actors, “Framework for a Heat-Ready Nation.” This document draws heavily upon the recommendations, challenges and successes raised by Ten Across participants and outlines a series of steps that can be taken to protect people and their livelihoods from rising temperatures nationwide.
In this episode, Grace walks us through the five high-priority measures defined in the report; how these points were determined and what it will take to see them carried out. A scientist recognized for their policy advocacy work by last month’s https://grist.org/fix/, Grace discusses the importance of decisions based on sound science, and how to move forward even as most federal climate policy is rolled back.
Relevant Articles and Resources
https://10across.org/framework-for-a-heat-ready-nation/ (Ten Across/Federation of American Scientists, July 2025)
https://fas.org/publication/2025-heat-policy-agenda/ (Federation of American Scientists, January 2025)
https://www.kjzz.org/kjzz-news/2025-09-26/as-summer-ends-maricopa-county-is-on-track-to-see-fewer-heat-related-deaths-than-last-year (KJZZ, September 2025)
https://10across.org/ten-across-joins-60-organizations-in-supporting-federal-policy-agenda-for-tackling-extreme-heat/ (Ten Across blog, January 2025)
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/30/nx-s1-4854224/death-heat-arizona-climate-change-medical-examiner (NPR, June 2024)
Relevant Ten Across Conversations Podcasts
https://10across.org/asu-researchers-tackle-heat-relief-as-phoenix-temps-soar/
https://10across.org/urban-planners-the-unexpected-champions-of-the-u-s-heat-resilience-effort/
https://10across.org/what-some-of-the-hottest-cities-on-the-10-are-doing-to-address-deadly-heat/
Credits
Host: Duke Reiter
Producer and editor: Taylor Griffith
Music by: Dew of Light and Lennon Hutton
Research and support provided by: Kate Carefoot, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler
About our guest
Grace Wickerson is senior manager of Climate and Health on the Climate and Environment team at the Federation of American Scientists. Grace leads programmatic work to showcase how a changing climate impacts health outcomes and public health and healthcare systems through emerging threats like extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Grace holds a master’s of science in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University and was named to this year’s https://grist.org/fix/grist-50/2025/ of climate and justice advocates to watch.
25 SEP 2025 · The human interventions intended to make Louisiana's coastline habitable and productive over the past century have contributed to the region's most existential threats. Without redress, displaced river sediment, compromised wetlands, and land subsidence will increasingly expose the state to extreme storm surge and sea level rise.
In 2007, following the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana adopted its Coastal Master Plan. More than 100 projects have been approved under the plan, including the $3 billion Mid Barataria Sediment Diversion. The largest project of its kind, the diversion was designed to regenerate 40 square miles of barrier wetlands by allowing the leveed river to flood the Barataria Basin. Construction began in 2023, but it was ultimately canceled by Governor Jeff Landry in July of 2025 due to financial and environmental objections.
The arc of this project, from its design through its cancellation, exemplifies how complicated and divisive collective decision-making can become in the age of climate change. Projects scaled to meet major resilience issues are rarely able to serve the conflicting priorities, values, and interests of all stakeholders equally—and trade-offs can bring conflict at every step.
The Water Institute CEO Beaux Jones and award-winning environmental journalist Boyce Upholt both return to the podcast—this time for a joint conversation about the dilemmas in Mississippi River management, conflicting interests and negotiations in coastal resilience, and what it all means for Louisiana’s future.
Relevant Articles and Resources
https://southlands.shop/
https://10across.org/events/10x-convergence-2025/
https://thecurrentla.com/2025/its-a-tragedy-current-former-state-officials-spar-over-scuttled-coastal-project/ (The Current LA, August 2025)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/07/25/louisiana-wetlands-sea-level-rise/https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/07/25/louisiana-wetlands-sea-level-rise/ (The Washington Post, July 2025)
https://lailluminator.com/2025/05/12/mid-barataria-supporters-rally-at-the-capitol/ (Louisiana Illuminator, May 2025)
https://thewaterinstitute.org/mississippi100 (The Water Institute)
Relevant Ten Across Conversations Podcasts
https://10across.org/past-and-future-resilience-along-the-mississippi-with-author-boyce-upholt/
https://10across.org/want-to-understand-the-future-of-u-s-climate-resilience-look-to-the-gulf-coast/
https://10across.org/mississippi-river-mayors-coalesce-to-address-shared-climate-risks/
Credits
Host: Duke Reiter
Producer and editor: Taylor Griffith
Music by: Emanuel Wilde and Johan Glössner
Research and support provided by: Kate Carefoot, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler
About our guests
Beaux Jones is the president and CEO of The Water Institute. Prior to joining the Institute, Beaux was environmental section chief of the Louisiana Department of Justice, where he represented the state on a variety of matters ranging from environmental and coastal law to criminal and appellate law. He previously was an environmental and coastal lawyer for the firm Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer. Beaux also served on the BP spill litigation team with the Louisiana State Attorney General.
Boyce Upholt is the founding editor of https://southlandsmag.com/about/ and the author of https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-great-river-the-making-and-unmaking-of-the-mississippi-boyce-upholt/71eddcd7e32ff8be?ean=9780393867879&next=t& His award-winning environmental reporting has appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The New Republic, among others.
19 SEP 2025 · Negotiators representing seven states, 30 tribes, and Mexico are running out of time to agree on new rules to guide sharing of Colorado River water before a federally mandated deadline next fall. Failure to do so would https://theconversation.com/as-the-colorado-river-slowly-dries-up-states-angle-for-influence-over-future-water-rights-254132, and costly state and tribal litigation would be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Potable water supply for much of the West is not all that’s at stake in managing demands on the river’s supply. “Deadpool” levels in the reservoirs at Lake Powell and Lake Mead would result in inability of the Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams to generate hydropower. The establishment of new post-2026 operating guidelines among the river’s competing stakeholders is a complex undertaking, consuming much of the region’s attention and effort.
However, https://www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/2025/09/11/analysis-colorado-river-basin-storage-suggests-need-immediate-action published last week by six leading scholars in the basin warns that immediate, substantial action to conserve water is needed. Their study suggests that if the coming year’s patterns of water supply and use mirror past years, then by the time any hard-won new guidelines are in place, the basin may already be in serious trouble.
In this episode, study author Kathryn Sorensen and water policy expert Sarah Porter provide perspectives on the near-term science, human behavior, and potential solutions relating to conditions around the Colorado River.
Relevant articles and resources
https://www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/media/670 (Jack Schmidt, Anne Castle, John Fleck, Eric Kuhn, Kathryn Sorensen, Kathrine Tara, September 2025)
https://theconversation.com/as-the-colorado-river-slowly-dries-up-states-angle-for-influence-over-future-water-rights-254132 (The Conversation, August 2025)
https://www.eenews.net/articles/inside-the-revolutionary-new-colorado-river-proposal/ (E&E News by Politico, July 2025)
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/a1a782ce054d4ad28a0d7d0845e6c03d (Arizona Water Blueprint)
https://www.kunc.org/news/2025-05-03/the-colorado-river-needs-some-shared-pain-to-break-a-deadlock-water-experts-say (KUNC, May 2025)
https://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/kyl-water-center/floating-pools-grand-bargains (Kyl Center for Water Policy at Morrison Institute, April 2025)
Relevant Ten Across Conversations podcasts
https://10across.org/checking-in-on-tense-colorado-river-negotiations-with-anne-castle-and-john-fleck/
https://10across.org/understanding-colorado-river-basin-groundwater-resource-risks-with-jay-famiglietti/
https://10across.org/experts-share-insights-on-the-ongoing-colorado-river-negotiations/
https://10across.org/why-everyone-should-care-about-the-colorado-river-with-rhett-larson/
https://10across.org/getting-honest-about-the-colorado-river-crisis-with-anne-castle-and-john-fleck/
https://10across.org/the-future-of-water-is-here-are-we-ready/
Credits
Host: Duke Reiter
Producer and editor: Taylor Griffith
Music by: Johan Glössner and Daniel Gunnarsson
Research and support provided by: Kate Carefoot, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler
About our guests
Sarah Porter is the director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy, and professor of practice in ASU’s College of Global Futures. Sarah previously served as the Arizona state director of the National Audubon Society and led their Western Rivers Project. She also serves on Governor Katie Hobbs’ Water Policy Council, the City of Phoenix’s Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission, and several other community boards. In 2023, she was named to the Arizona Capitol Times Powerlist as an “Unsung Hero,” in recognition of her work on Arizona water policy.
Kathryn Sorensen is director of research at the Kyl Center for Water Policy and a Senior Global Futures Scientist at Arizona State University’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory. Kathryn is also a member of the Colorado River Research Group and board member on the Water & Health Advisory Council. Kathryn previously served as director of City of Phoenix Water Services and director of the Water Resources Department at the City of Mesa.
4 SEP 2025 · Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast from Florida to Louisiana in 2005 and is stillhttps://www.weather.gov/lix/katrina_anniversary. New Orleans, a city resting below sea level, is uniquely dependent on engineering for its safety. On August 29th, nearly every defense seemed to fail, allowing storm surge to flood 80% of the city.
As terrible as the storm itself, arguably, were the human failures that contributed to what happened to New Orleans during and after Katrina—flaws in planning, infrastructure, governance, and social equity.
Yet change is possible. And in the intervening years, New Orleans has https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-orleans-joins-innovative-program-to-address-climate-resilience-and-social-inequities-301527568.html as a leader in preparedness, adaptation and recovery knowledge.
https://lailluminator.com/2025/08/26/katrina-resiliency/. In the past five years alone, the metro area has faced https://www.datacenterresearch.org/reports_analysis/the-new-orleans-index-at-twenty-measuring-greater-new-orleans-progress-toward-resilience/. And the challenge of long-term adaptation can be especially overwhelming, especially at a time when consensus seems nearly impossible. But there is no substitute for New Orleans. Its people, environment, culture, and history add up to an inimitable home worth sustaining.
In this episode, longtime friend of Ten Across Jeff Hébert joins us to talk about the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina—the recovery process and the lessons in it that continue to resonate for the future of all our communities. Today, Jeff is chief executive officer for HR&A Advisors. In the years after Katrina, as a New Orleans native and urban planner, he served as a director with the Louisiana Recovery Authority and as a senior official in Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration. He was also among the first chief resilience officers appointed under The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities program.
Ten Across founder Duke Reiter talks with Jeff about how his experiences with the long game of adaptation and recovery in New Orleans and beyond have shaped his perspective and his work.
Relevant articles and resources
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/27/former-trump-fema-leader-says-agency-is-delaying-aid-00529255 (Politico, August 2025)
https://grist.org/extreme-weather/katrina-levees-new-orleans-army-corps-trump-landry/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=Grist/magazine/Climate+++Cities (Grist, August 2025)
https://apnews.com/article/coastal-community-restoration-f428fbe3e8de0f8a0f59b997a3403a80 (AP News, August 2025)
https://apnews.com/article/climate-hurricane-forecasting-noaa-satellite-weather-ef80d568561c9f010482aa5dfb93234a (AP News, July 2025)
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/ahs/working-papers/HK_Movers-FINAL.pdf (U.S. Census Bureau, June 2011)
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11111-009-0092-2#citeas (Population and Environment, December 2009)
Related Ten Across Conversations podcasts
https://10across.org/katrinas-20th-vann-r-newkirk-on-what-we-owe-climate-disaster-survivors-today/
https://10across.org/governing-through-times-of-crisis-and-opportunity-with-mayor-mitch-landrieu-part-one/
https://10across.org/governing-through-times-of-crisis-and-opportunity-with-mayor-mitch-landrieu-part-two/
https://10across.org/investing-in-new-orleans-future-with-gnof-ceo-andy-kopplin/
Credits
Host: Duke Reiter
Producer and editor: Taylor Griffith
Music by: Hanna Lindgren, Lupus Nocte, Hushed
Research and support provided by: Kate Carefoot, Maya Chari, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler
About our guest
Jeff Hébert is chief executive officer and partner at HR&A Advisors, an urban development consulting firm with offices across the U.S., whose mission is to ensure their clients succeed in creating equitable and resilient communities. Prior to joining HR&A, Jeff served as Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the City of New Orleans’ first deputy mayor, chief administrative officer, and chief resilience officer. He also served as executive director of the https://www.noraworks.org/ Vice President of Adaptation and Resilience for https://thewaterinstitute.org/, and director of community planning for the Louisiana Recovery Authority.
28 AUG 2025 · Twenty years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina—still the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history—made landfall in New Orleans. Many mark the storm as the transition point to a new age of extreme weather impacts. The Federal Emergency Management Agency https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58840#:~:text=5%20Funds%20were%20also%20provided,was%20%2412.5%20billion%2C%20on%20average.
Yet two decades later, disasters of this scale have become so common that https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/05/05/congress/congress-fema-funding-00329662, unless Congress issues an emergency aid package. And in this anniversary weekhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/08/25/fema-staff-protest-letter/ submitted to members of Congress, urging their defense of the agency's continued operations in spite of the President's stated intent https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/us/politics/trump-fema-texas-flood.html#:~:text=Just%20days%20into,to%20eliminate%20FEMA.%E2%80%9D. The 36 co-signers that opted to use their names have been placed on administrative leave until further notice, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/climate/fema-suspends-staff-who-criticized-trump-cuts.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
This is the context for today’s conversation with the host and co-creator of the Peabody Award-winning podcast miniseries https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/floodlines/, Vann R. Newkirk II. Vann traces the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina as a demonstration of the ways a community's risk exposure and recovery assistance are often determined by race and class. These disparities became nationally visible both in the immediacy of the disaster and long after, as some New Orleanians were able to return and recover their homes and livelihoods, while for many others such recovery still remains out of reach.
Duke and Vann also look at Hurricane Katrina’s invigoration of a national and federal movement for environmental justice. Now that this https://www.epi.org/blog/how-trumps-erasure-of-environmental-data-is-endangering-communities-of-color/ and dismantled, they discuss how to maintain focus in the face of such dramatic reversals and the implications for the next major storm.
Be sure to tune in again next week when we look further into the post-Katrina recovery period with one of its primary leaders, HR&A President and CEO Jeff Hébert, who formerly served as first deputy mayor for the City of New Orleans, executive director of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, and as one of the first chief resilience officers appointed under Rockefeller’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative.
Relevant content from Vann R. Newkirk II
Listen to the https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/floodlines/, including https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/08/floodlines-rebirth/683696/ released five years later
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/09/michael-regan-epa-environmental-justice-lawsuit/679941/ (The Atlantic, September 2024)
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/07/climate-change-reparations-vanuatu-island/678489/ (The Atlantic, June 2024)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/coronavirus-unique-threat-south-young-people/609241/ (The Atlantic, April 2020)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/10/climate-change-damaging-american-democracy/573769/ (The Atlantic, October, 2018) Relevant articles and resources
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5161849-inflation-reduction-act-climate-program-funds-frozen-epa-zeldin/ (The HillI, February 2025)
https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race (APM Research Lab, October 2023)
https://www.propublica.org/article/why-half-of-st-bernard-parish-left-after-hurricane-katrina#:~:text=After%20the%20storm%2C%20St.%20Bernard's%20population%20dropped,hoped%20for%20when%20they%20designed%20Road%20Home. (ProPublica, December 2022)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/flooding-disproportionately-harms-black-neighborhoods/ (Scientific American, June 2020)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2378023117740700 (Socius, 2017)
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/08/27/remembering-katrina-wide-racial-divide-over-governments-response/ (Pew Research Center, August 2015)
Related Ten Across Conversations podcasts
https://10across.org/catherine-coleman-flowers-a-national-voice-for-rural-and-unincorporated-america/
https://10across.org/financing-our-future-justice40s-legacy-beyond-november/
https://10across.org/envisioning-a-just-future-for-all-with-dr-robert-bullard/
Credits:
Host: Duke Reiter
Producer and editor: Taylor Griffith
Music by: Hanna Lindgren, Lupus Nocte, Hushed
Research and support provided by: Kate Carefoot, Maya Chari, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler
About our guest:
Vann R. Newkirk II is a senior editor at The Atlantic and is host and co-creator of the 2021 Peabody Award-winning podcast miniseries “Floodlines,” which documented Hurricane Katrina, and of the 2023 podcast miniseries “Holy Week”. He is an ASU Future Security Senior Fellow, Fellow of the New America Political Reform Program, and 2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. In 2024, Vann was named Journalist of the Year by the Washington Association of Black Journalists.
15 AUG 2025 · Recent Ten Across Conversations episodes have considered how current changes in staffing, research, and responsibilities within federal agencies like FEMA and NOAA may affect disaster readiness and response at the local level. Many cities find themselves pressed to rethink how their own limited resources might secure the information and support necessary to address the growing risks they face.
Collaborative regional networks are proving to be one way to achieve much greater returns on investments of local time and funds. https://www.mrcti.org/ has become an outstanding example of this type of work. Formed in 2012, this innovative coalition of 105 mayors from cities along the main stem of the Mississippi has spearheaded programs in vital policy areas including clean water, sustainable economies, and climate resilience.
Among their most interesting efforts from a Ten Across perspective is the pilot parametric insurance policy MRCTI is developing with global reinsurer Munich Re. When realized, this program would allow member cities to opt in to a customized, shared insurance pool that could rapidly fund local emergency response based on predefined environmental trigger events.
Listen in as City of Gretna Mayor and MRCTI Louisiana Chair Belinda Constant joins MRCTI’s executive director, Colin Wellenkamp, and Ten Across founder Duke Reiter to discuss how collaboration can help defend against more frequent and costly risks.
Relevant articles and resources
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/trump-moves-to-end-nasa-missions-measuring-carbon-dioxide-and-plant-health (PBS, August 2025)
https://www.eenews.net/articles/trump-who-called-fema-very-slow-has-failed-to-act-on-17-disaster-requests/ (E&E News by Politico, May 2025)
https://thelensnola.org/2024/11/18/as-mississippi-river-towns-experience-whiplash-between-drought-and-flood-mayors-look-to-new-insurance-model/ (The Lens, November 2024)
Relevant Ten Across Conversations podcasts
https://10across.org/why-the-ten-across-geography-needs-fema-with-dr-samantha-montano/
https://10across.org/beyond-the-forecast-tv-meteorologists-weigh-in-on-climate-challenges/
https://10across.org/past-and-future-resilience-along-the-mississippi-with-author-boyce-upholt/
https://10across.org/want-to-understand-the-future-of-u-s-climate-resilience-look-to-the-gulf-coast/
Credits:
Host: Duke Reiter
Producer and editor: Taylor Griffith
Music by: Jakob Ahlbom and Lennon Hutton
Research and support provided by: Kate Carefoot, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler
About our guests
Rep. Colin Wellenkamp is the executive director of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative and an elected member of the Missouri House of Representatives. His extensive career in the legal and policy fields has been focused on advocating and advancing public interests through improving local government functions and the activity of the business world. Colin has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Saint Louis University, a J.D. from Creighton University School of Law, and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Sustainable Development Law from George Washington University Law School.
Mayor Belinda Constant is the mayor of the City of Gretna, Louisiana and the first woman elected to the city council or mayorship. Elected as mayor in 2013, she has led a variety of resilience initiatives for the city, including the Gretna 2030 plan and Stormwater Master Plan. She became a member of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative shortly after it was formed in 2012 and has served as co-chair and current Louisiana Chair of the organization.
7 AUG 2025 · Local broadcast meteorologists have become more vocal about the evidence of climate change in their communities’ weather in recent years. While some https://apnews.com/article/meteorologist-harassment-threats-climate-change-iowa-bf91adbd26ca5e97507406947b47d684, others have found audiences that are eager to understand the causes of recent record-breaking disturbances in familiar weather patterns.
In Phoenix, meteorologist Amber Sullins—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7zHdNdlx6E—uses her role to inform an increasingly concerned audience about not only the risks but the climate change factors contributing to the unprecedented extreme heat they experience. And far to the other end of the Ten Across region in Miami, Michael Lowry is putting his background in meteorology and emergency management https://linktr.ee/michaelrlowry, explaining both the immediate dangers and the greater, complex drivers of worsening tropical storms.
But even as more meteorologists like Amber and Michael embrace their unique ability to use the immediacy of local weather to connect the public to the larger context of climate change, there is growing concern about loss of critical federal weather and climate data on which their forecasts are based. https://www.local10.com/weather/hurricane/2025/07/10/top-hurricane-scientists-sound-the-alarm-on-looming-noaa-cuts/—particularly within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the sources of nearly all U.S. weather information. A https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-04/us-weather-boss-during-sharpiegate-nears-return-to-a-shrinking-climate-agency?srnd=undefined would reduce resources even further.
Listen in as Amber, Michael, and Ten Across founder Duke Reiter discuss these changes and the implications for both forecast accuracy and public safety as the climate continues to warm.
Relevant links and resources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/opinion/hurricanes-florida-forecasting-national-weather-service.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LU8.aSzT.HNcfy8U5Ir-n&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cOngRAQuxo
"After DOGE cuts, National Weather Service gets OK to fill up to 450 jobs" (The LA Times, August 2025)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-04/us-weather-boss-during-sharpiegate-nears-return-to-a-shrinking-climate-agency?srnd=undefined (Bloomberg, August 2025)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/climate/budget-cuts-climate-observatories.html (The New York Times, July 2025)
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/nearly-half-of-national-weather-service-offices-are-critically-understaffed-experts-warn (PBS News, April 2025)
https://www.nber.org/digest/202409/value-improving-hurricane-forecasts (The National Bureau of Economic Research, 2024)
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/noaa-workers-fired-weather-forecasts-programs-safety-rcna194568 (NBC News, April 2025)
Relevant Ten Across Conversations podcast episodes:
https://10across.org/past-present-and-future-climate-reporting-with-sadie-babits/
https://10across.org/ai-series-ai-powered-extreme-weather-modeling-is-on-the-horizon/
https://10across.org/noaa-meteorologists-reflect-on-this-years-historic-atlantic-hurricane-season/
Credits:
Host: Duke Reiter
Producer and editor: Taylor Griffith
Music by: Jakob Ahlbom and Helmut Schenker
News clip played in the introduction courtesy of ABC15 Arizona and Amber Sullins
Headline image courtesy of WPLG Local 10 and Michael Lowry
Research and support provided by: Kate Carefoot, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler
About our guests
Amber Sullins is chief meteorologist at ABC15 Arizona and anchors the nightly forecast. She is also vice chairman of the University of Arizona Hydrology and Atmospheric Science Board, a six-time Emmy-winner, and guest anchor on Good Morning America. Amber began her career as a broadcast meteorologist with KVIA-TV in El Paso.
Michael Lowry is the hurricane specialist and storm surge expert for WPLG-TV in Miami, Florida. He previously held roles at the National Hurricane Center as a senior scientist leading the development of groundbreaking new storm surge forecasts and warnings, and at the Federal Emergency Management Agency as disaster planning chief responsible for overhauling the master hurricane response plan after the deadly 2017 season. You can follow his in-depth forecasts and coverage on the https://michaelrlowry.substack.com/
Ten Across Conversations examines pressing issues impacting communities along the U.S. Interstate 10 corridor. From Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles, California, this region provides a compelling and comprehensive window into...
show more
Ten Across Conversations examines pressing issues impacting communities along the U.S. Interstate 10 corridor. From Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles, California, this region provides a compelling and comprehensive window into the major challenges and opportunities of the 21st century in their most extreme. Join founder and executive director, Wellington “Duke” Reiter, as he chats with subject experts bringing unique insights and new ways of thinking to reveal our collective capacity to create a more resilient future.
For more information about the Ten Across Initiative visit www.10across.com.
show less
For more information about the Ten Across Initiative visit www.10across.com.
Information
| Author | Ten Across |
| Organization | Ten Across |
| Categories | News Commentary |
| Website | - |
| tenacross@asu.edu |
Copyright 2025 - Spreaker Inc. an iHeartMedia Company
