Mallory Carra

Today is the day before the mid-term elections in the United States, and it’s also the day that USC Annenberg's Center for Climate Journalism and Communication releases findings from its survey of 3000 Americans who told us last month not only about…

¿Alguna vez te has preguntado qué sucedería si cruzaras una comunidad agrícola con la forma más avanzada de tecnología humana?¡Fuimos al Valle Imperial para averiguarlo! En este episodio especial de Electric Futures, describimos cómo la demanda de…

Recorded live in USC’s Wallis Annenberg Hall in April 2026, this special episode focuses on the key issues surrounding data centers, the focus of Season 3. What exactly are data centers? Who benefits from their development? What are the drawbacks?…

In our Season 3 finale, we explore what it is about data centers that has been creating animosity across the country. Is it the pushback against what powers artificial intelligence…or is it something else?You can follow us on Instagram at⁠…

In this episode, we explore how communities think about jobs when a data center comes knocking. When a data center comes to town, will it bring high paying jobs to a community? Could this be the main benefit of hosting a data center in your…

When a hyperscale data center comes to a place like Imperial Valley, communities have questions and concerns. Billions of dollars of investment — and profit – are at stake. Community members have questions. But rather than excitement, there’s…

In this episode, we look how the proposed data center in the Imperial Valley would use water, then explore similarities and differences with data centers around the nation. How much water is really needed for a data center — and why?You can follow us…

We take a deep dive into the AI data center planned for California’s Imperial Valley and talk to the developers themselves about how the project came about. Then, we explore the mathematics of AI and how exactly a data center works.You can follow us…

Have you ever wondered what might happen if you crossed an agricultural community with the highest form of human technology?We went to the Valley to find out! In this season of Electric Futures, we describe how the demand for AI is altering the…

Season three of Electric Futures, the USC energy transition podcast, takes listeners back to California’s Imperial Valley, a region explored throughout season one in connection with the county’s potential for lithium extraction. A lot has changed…

It has been a year since the fires, and some of the impacts are only now starting to come into play. Despite efforts from the government and community groups to provide speedy disaster recovery, the road towards recovery appears to be long.In our…

Climate-amplified extreme weather events are rising in frequency and intensity all over the world; yet the emotional impacts of these events, the loss and grief they bring, and the long-lasting impacts they cause for affected people are still…

This special three-episode season takes an intimate look at the impact of the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires on the USC community. We’ll get to know five USC professors who were displaced as a result of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires over the course of…

We talk to two expert journalists about what’s next for the U.S. Department of Energy programs and green energy during the second Trump administration. In the first half of the episode, you’ll hear the rest of my conversation with Ivan Penn from the…

It’s January 20th, 2025. Donald Trump’s second term as president. He signs a slew of executive orders, including one called “Unleashing American Energy.”This order rolled back about a dozen climate change initiatives enacted by Joe Biden’s…

We take you through the science of microgrids with UCLA’s Rajit Gadh, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and founding director of Smart Grid Energy Research Center. How does it work exactly? And is it really the technology we’ve been…

We’ll take you to the Shadow Mountain housing development in Menifee, California. It’s an experimental community outside of Los Angeles where 200 all-electric homes produce and store their own energy, and contribute to a community microgrid. Is this…

Brief description: Before fires scorched Los Angeles in January of 2025, the Electric Futures team began exploring a new neighborhood in Southern California that was built with climate disasters in mind. This community and other building projects…

The Electric Futures team recently collaborated with the independent media outlet "Feet in Two Worlds" to highlight stories around the nexus of immigration and climate change. Here's an episode from our friends at the "Home Interrupted" podcast.

Este episodio fue hecho especialmente en Español para explicar en resumen la investigacíon hecha por el ex-rector y profesor de ingeniería química y ciencias materiales, Charles Zukoski. En esta temporada hemos explorado el potencial de la industria…