Not Built for This by Emmett FitzGerald [8/10]

This reviewing site has never tackled a podcast before but Not Built for This worked so well as the equivalent of a slim six-chapter nonfiction audiobook that I decided to make an exception. Part of the 99% Invisible stable of podcasts, the series sees reporter Emmett FitzGerald investigating America’s built infrastructure in the Anthropocene, and as its title suggests, what he finds is stunningly troubling: the country is struggling right now to cope with the climate crisis’s early impacts. In the “climate haven” state of Vermont, repeated millenial floods drive a town to the brink of abandonment. A Californian town’s repeated firestorm disasters cause cascade effects far and wide. Insurance can no longer cope, turning expensive or becoming unavailable. In a rare case, the government buys out a neighborhood to move to safety. A small community protects itself … after two decades of effort. FitzGerald’s script and delivery (including a couple of other reporters) is flawless; each episode reads like a story from a dystopian drama. If you are wondering when climate change will impact the world, wonder no more. Not Built for This dramatically reveals the crisis is here right now.