LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Six months ago, wildfires destroyed entire communities in Los Angeles.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The fires were a clear reminder of how climate change is increasingly affecting where we live. That's why all this week, NPR will be bringing you climate solutions related to housing.
FADEL: Joining me now is NPR's Julia Simon to explain more. Good morning, Julia.
JULIA SIMON, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: OK, Julia - summer. Love the weather, but it's also a season of fires and hurricanes and heat waves. And that can get people pretty worried, pretty scared. So what is this week going to offer them?
SIMON: As climate journalists, we're always asking ourselves, how can we build our homes and communities to be more resilient to climate change? And how can we reduce climate pollution? Because, Leila, there are hopeful stories out there, and that's what this week is all about - not being Pollyanna-ish, but sharing stories about real housing solutions from reporters across the U.S. and the world.
FADEL: Which can be really useful. I'm guessing some of these solution stories involve preparing for upcoming disasters.
SIMON: Yes. We're going to Alabama to look at fortifying roofs for hurricanes, to New Jersey to look at elevating homes for flooding. Solutions don't just involve actions individuals take. Researchers find communities can take preventative measures, too, together. So we have a story from Colorado where many people worked to make multiple homes a buffer against wildfires. Here's Lisa Hughes of Louisville, Colorado.
LISA HUGHES: By you doing it and your neighbors doing it, you're making your community safer.
FADEL: So community-wide climate actions is...
SIMON: Right.
FADEL: ...Clearly a theme here.
SIMON: Definitely. And we have stories from Nevada and Utah about addressing heat and drought in desert communities - again, all together.
FADEL: But these solutions are not just about adapting to climate change. There are solutions about reducing the emissions that heat the planet.
SIMON: A hundred percent. Housing is a big source of climate pollution, Leila, whether that's building materials that use lots of planet-heating fossil fuels or energy-intensive heating or cooling. So we have stories about making housing more sustainable. We actually have tips to help you use less electricity in your homes, like this window shade.
SEBASTIAN SCHUBLACH: It's like a curtain outside of your window. It makes sense.
SIMON: Obviously, it makes sense 'cause the heat doesn't go in. It stays out.
SCHUBLACH: Exactly.
SIMON: And that Austrian voice you just heard was Sebastian Schublach. He's a resident of Vienna. Most of the stories are from across the U.S., but we do have a few exciting solutions from Europe. Ultimately, we hope people will come out of this week, Leila, feeling empowered and knowing a lot more about housing climate solutions that are already taking place.
FADEL: That's NPR's climate solutions correspondent, Julia Simon. You can check out our climate solution reporting all this week and find more stories at npr.org/climateweek. And you'll hear a lot of those stories from Julia. Thank you.
SIMON: Thank you, Leila.
(SOUNDBITE OF SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN SONG, "WINDOWS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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