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Audacious Water explores the bold ideas and big decisions shaping the future of water in America.
Host John Sabo, Director of the ByWater Institute at Tulane University, talks with scientists, policymakers, and community leaders about how we manage, protect, and live with water in a changing world. From flooding and drought to infrastructure and innovation, each episode looks at how water connects to every part of our lives and what it will take to build a future that ensures everyone has access to clean, reliable water.
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In Season 5 of Audacious Water, host John Sabo asks: Why doesn’t the United States have a modern national water strategy? What would a new one look like?
It’s been 75 years since we last had a written plan for managing water. Since then, the planet has warmed, our infrastructure has aged, and the challenges of flood, drought, and equity have grown.
Join John and guest experts as they explore what it will take to build a strategy for the next 75 years – one that connects water and climate and supports every community, from cities to rural towns.
A new season of Audacious Water begins soon.
In this special bonus episode, John Sabo looks back at the conversations with leading experts in Season 4. Each guest joined him to explore one of the five transformations reshaping the Mississippi River Basin, making it hotter, drier, stormier, saltier, and sicker.
He revisits what gave them hope, from grassroots innovation to bold new infrastructure ideas, and highlights how adaptation is already happening in cities across the country. These conversations and the ideas within them offer even more hope for the future of the heartland.
Dr. Mary Hayden, a medical anthropologist and Research Professor with the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, joins John to explore how human behavior and water insecurity are reshaping the spread of mosquito-borne disease. With fieldwork spanning the U.S. and Latin America, Mary shares how climate change is expanding disease risk into new regions – and why public health strategies must go beyond spraying to include education, trust, and community action.
Dr. Dawn Wesson, Associate Professor at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, joins John to explore how climate change is expanding the range of vector-borne diseases. With decades of experience studying mosquito-borne viruses like West Nile and Zika, Dawn explains how rising temperatures and human movement are accelerating the northward expansion of tropical diseases. She also discusses innovative control strategies, including biological methods and emerging technologies that could help reduce disease transmission in a warming world.
Charles Allen, Engagement Director for the Audubon Delta unit of the National Audubon Society and co-founder of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, joins John to reflect on nearly 20 years since Hurricane Katrina and what it means for New Orleans today. They discuss his experience with post-Katrina recovery, the importance of community-led rebuilding, and how neighborhoods have navigated uneven redevelopment. Charles also explores how communities can stay engaged on the impacts of climate change and why public participation is key to building long-term resilience.
Dr. Marshall Shepherd, Director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia, joins John to discuss the fourth transformation: how tropical storms and extreme weather are intensifying in frequency and power. From hurricanes moving further inland to the compounding effects of heatwaves and heavy rainfall, Marshall explains the science behind these shifts and the growing challenges they pose for communities across the U.S. Together, they explore the critical steps needed to adapt, rethink infrastructure, and address inequities in how extreme weather impacts vulnerable populations.
Tyler Antrup, an urban planner focused on climate adaptation and water management, a professor at Tulane School of Architecture, and a member of the Sewerage and Water Board, joins John to discuss the complex water challenges facing New Orleans. From green infrastructure to mitigate flooding to the creeping threat of saltwater intrusion into drinking water systems, Tyler shares insights on adapting urban environments to the realities of climate change. They explore the evolving dynamics between stormwater management, subsidence, and sea level rise, as well as the critical role of community-based organizations in driving innovation.
Dr. Allison Lassiter, Assistant Professor in City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, joins John to discuss one of the hidden dangers of sea level rise—saltwater intrusion. With expertise in climate adaptation and urban water management, Dr. Lassiter explains how rising salinity threatens drinking water systems, agriculture, and infrastructure. Together, they explore the costly solutions, like desalination, and why small communities face unique challenges. They also discuss the role of state-level strategies and innovative financing in building resilient water systems for the future.
Meredith McInturff, manager of the Public Health Emergencies and Environmental Health Unit at the New Orleans Health Department, joins John to discuss how the New Orleans Health Department is evolving to meet the growing threats of extreme heat. She and John explore the public health challenges faced by vulnerable populations, from unsheltered individuals to transit riders and outdoor workers, and how these challenges are shaping new city policies and cross-sector partnerships aimed at heat resilience.
Jesse Keenan, the Favrot II Associate Professor of Sustainable Real Estate and Urban Planning and the Founding Director of the Center for Climate Change and Urbanism at Tulane University, joins John to talk about the second transformation: How extreme heat is moving north due to climate change. Jesse’s work focuses on climate change adaptation and the built environment, including design, engineering, and planning. He and John discuss what this heat transformation means for communities in the sunbelt and across the U.S.
In this episode of Audacious Water, host John Sabo continues the conversation on the first transformation —the deserts of the west moving eastward—with Brian Smoliak, an entrepreneur and climate scientist at Two Degrees Adapt. Brian shares insights on how climate change is affecting agriculture, and discusses innovative solutions helping farmers adapt. From cutting-edge technologies to evolving farming practices, Brian explains the vital role entrepreneurship and innovation play in addressing the challenges posed by climate change.
In this episode, John Sabo speaks with Jonathan Overpeck, a renowned climate scientist and Dean for the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. Peck discusses his role in defining critical climate change terms such as “tipping point” and “mega-drought, how climate change is exacerbating drought conditions in the Western U.S. and spreading aridification across the Midwest, and strategies for adaptation, including changes in agricultural practices and the management of water resources.
In Season 4 of Audacious Water, host John Sabo dives into how climate change is reshaping the Mississippi River Basin. He'll explore five different transformations over ten episodes with experts and people on the front lines to find out what's happening and how we can take action. Join us as we explore a future shaped by climate change. The new season starts next month.
In this special bonus episode, John and his daughter Lilly take a road trip from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the headwaters to get to know this great river, along with some of the people who live along its waters. From a fisherman in Plaquemines to visitors at the headwaters, each person they meet along the journey paints a picture of how they experience life by the Mississippi.
Tulane professors Torbjörn (Tor) Törnqvist, a geologist, and Sönke Dangendorf, a coastal engineer and physical oceanographer, join John to talk about sea level rise and coastal restoration, and what could happen to coastal communities if we pass the Paris Agreement global temperature threshold of 1.5-degree Celsius. Sönke has more than 15 years of experience researching mean and extreme sea levels, ocean tides and storm surges and the impact on coastal flooding, and is a member of the NASA Sea-Level Change Team. Tor has been researching the evolution of rivers, deltas, coasts, and shallow oceans in response to climate and sea-level change for more than 20 years.
Richard Seager, a climate scientist and the Palisades Geophysical Institute/Lamont Research Professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, joins John to talk about changes in aridity in North America around the 100th Meridian, and how climate change is going to affect the heartland of the U.S. and the Mississippi river basin. Richard’s current work is focused on how global hydroclimate will change in the near-term future as a result of rising greenhouse gases, and how that will affect people and food systems.
Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist and a Global Futures Professor in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, joins John to talk about groundwater management and the state of water in the American west. Jay has extensive experience measuring and tracking groundwater and water security issues, including using satellites to help develop advanced computer models to track how freshwater availability changes around the globe.
Cash Daniels is a 13-year-old from Chattanooga, Tennessee, who has been cleaning up rivers since he was just seven years old and cofounded the kid-run nonprofit, The Clean Up Kids. He and John talk about plastic waste in waterways and what can be done about it, how it affects human and wildlife health, and his upcoming documentary, The Conservation Kid.
Nancy Rabalais, Professor and Shell Endowed Chair in Oceanography and Wetland Studies at Louisiana State University and the lead scientist on the recent 2023 dead zone cruise, talks with John about the current state of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone, why it matters to the Gulf economy, what it might take to reverse it.
Ed Clark, Director of NOAA’s National Water Center and the Deputy Director of the National Weather Service’s Office of Water Prediction, talks with John about how data science plays a role in water forecasting, how new tools and technologies can provide better services to all communities, and how the National Water Center might help prepare the nation for the implications of climate change on human health.
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