Science Communicator/Host Maiya May talks to The Inside Reel about perspective, experience, intention and education in regards to her new documentary series for PBS: “Weathered - Earth’s Extremes”.
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00:00Our world is transforming before our very eyes, and we need to be ready.
00:23So join me in the lab and in the field to discover the latest science about our changing
00:27weather and climate, and how a better future is within reach.
00:33Join me for Weathered.
00:38Weather is changing so rapidly, and obviously with, you know, this season there's so much
00:42that you go into, whether it's permafrost.
00:45I lived in South Florida as well, and the keys, you can see everything transforming.
00:50Can you talk about looking at that, at this kind of element with your trained eye, but
00:55also talking to all the professionals, what kind of perception do you get about climate
01:01here on the planet from your perspective?
01:03Yeah, I mean, I think before I filmed this show, I definitely had a more pessimistic
01:10view of climate change.
01:14You know, I think that in the cultural zeitgeist, there's this climate doom that people feel
01:22when, you know, we're talking about extreme weather and, you know, the frequency and intensity
01:27of extreme weather events today, but after filming, and just like reflecting on the whole
01:35journey, yeah, I'm looking at it from a more positive lens, and I think that's what I really
01:41want people to take away after watching the series, is that, you know, climate change
01:46is scary.
01:47There are a lot of things that are scary about what's happening.
01:50I mean, we just saw it with Hurricane Helene, and, you know, people in the Carolinas, like,
01:55I mean, whole towns are washed away, but also, there are a lot of things to be hopeful about,
02:05and I know that's kind of like, especially right after a natural disaster, it's kind
02:10of like weird to say, but one of the biggest things of this show is this idea of tipping
02:15points, and we discuss negative tipping points, like, you know, all the impacts that I just
02:21talked about.
02:22We also discuss this idea of positive tipping points, and that's the idea that we are on
02:27this exponential growth path of tipping points that will help us solve the climate crisis,
02:33like electrification, like the adoption of renewable energy.
02:38Renewable sources are getting cheaper very quickly.
02:41You know, we just had the IRA, you know.
02:45So I want people to leave feeling hopeful that we're on the right track, and there's
02:50a, you know, again, there's a lot that needs to be done, but at the same time, there are
02:54a lot of great things that are happening right now in terms of how we adapt to climate change
02:59and how we solve it from its core.
03:06Looks like today, we got to 101 degrees in the water on the north side of Key Largo.
03:14You talking about straight ahead, right here, that little, I think that is.
03:18I think that's it, because we're getting closer to it.
03:23Water's still, the sun is just radiating, it's just absorbing all that heat.
03:27What we're worried about is the evisceration of what's left of the coral population.
03:32All right, I'm ready to jump in this water.
03:37Woo, that's hot.
03:42I'm Maya May, and I'm fascinated by our dynamic planet, our weather, and our climate.
03:48What began as a career in broadcast meteorology has become a mission to figure out where we
03:53are and where we're going as we leave this long, stable climate period and enter the
04:00hockey stick era.
04:02It is a pendulum because the technology is advanced.
04:05Like in order to, you know, push AI forward, we need to have better energy sources.
04:11It's all this kind of thing.
04:13But it's also about educating the general public, which is what you do.
04:18So the chemistry, the fact that you show all these things and how the graphs move, it really
04:24gives a representation to the actual visuals you're showing and where you're at.
04:29Can you talk about that and the importance of that in this program?
04:32Yeah.
04:33I mean, my job as a science communicator is to talk to some of the smartest people in
04:40the world that are doing some of the most cutting-edge research on climate change.
04:44And a lot of times it can be a little complicated.
04:47These are people who have dedicated their lives to this one topic, and it can be complex.
04:56But yeah, I think it's important that this information is communicated in a way that
05:02the average person can understand.
05:05And I think we do that very well.
05:06Once the graphs were put in, I was like, oh, this is really good.
05:11This is so great.
05:13And I think knowledge is key to solving the climate crisis.
05:17People ask me, like, what can we do to solve it?
05:19The first thing that we can do is to inform ourselves.
05:23When we are informed, you know, we just do better.
05:27When you know better, you do better.
05:29So I'm very proud of the show, and I'm very excited for people to see it and to just learn
05:35more about what's happening so we can equip ourselves with the information and just feel
05:39empowered that we can actually do something about climate change.
05:44This morning, scientists say the 101.1-degree temperature recorded at a buoy near Key Largo,
05:50Florida, this week may break a record for the highest observed sea surface temperature.
05:57This superheated water moves out into the ocean, contributing to the heating of the
06:01Gulf Stream and the Coral Reefs.
06:04You know, if that happens at any one place, it's very easy to say, oh, that's an anomaly
06:09that just happened there.
06:11But what's unique about this summer, in my experience, which is now 30 years I've been
06:15working on this, I have not seen a particular summer that is this glaringly hot everywhere.
06:24Warming in the ocean tends to find its way out through stronger hurricanes, changes in
06:30ocean patterns, coral bleaching, loss of sea ice in the Arctic region.
06:36It's all connected.
06:37What was some of the more eye-opening, like, because you went to all these different places,
06:42but seeing it on the ground, which, you know, sometimes that's the way to do it for people
06:45is that they don't believe it until they actually see it.
06:47I mean, the whole thing with obviously the permafrost and when you can actually physically
06:52see the difference, makes such a big impact.
06:55Can you talk about that for you?
06:57Since you went to all these places, what moments sort of impacted you the most?
07:02Yeah.
07:03I think one of my favorite episodes is the episode on heat, because I'm from Atlanta.
07:12Heat is something that we deal with a lot.
07:16And it really didn't hit me that this was a problem, that heat was a problem, that climate
07:22change was a problem until like 2019.
07:25That year, I experienced the most 90-degree days on record.
07:29We had like 91 days reaching 90 degrees or more, which is really hot.
07:33I was like, oh, this is a serious problem.
07:36And that's what actually inspired me to want to make a climate documentary, and that's
07:41kind of how I got this role.
07:44But we went to, we started out the series filming in Miami during the ocean heatwave
07:50last August.
07:51And, oh my God, it was so hot.
07:55I don't get seasick, but that day we were just out, there was no shade.
08:01And I was just, I was affected, my body got affected.
08:06And my hands started swelling up, my feet started swelling up.
08:10And on the, you know, this is the first trip, this is the first shoot of this show, and
08:15I felt the impacts directly.
08:19So yeah, I mean, I knew I was in for a journey from that moment.
08:23But yeah, from then, I was like, okay, yeah, I'm gonna see this firsthand, and I'm gonna
08:29see why this is a big issue, going back to heat.
08:33I mean, it's so easy to succumb from heat, and as our world gets warmer, heat will continue
08:40to get worse.
08:41So I think that episode specifically will resonate with a lot of viewers.
08:45But in that episode, we talk about adaptation strategies.
08:49And again, throughout the series, we talk about how we can fix our dangerously warming
08:53climate from a fundamental level.
08:55For much of the last 10,000 years, our planet's climate has been remarkably stable in three
09:00important ways, temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide, and sea level.
09:06During this time, the human population went from 20 million people on Earth to 8 billion.
09:12That stable climate period is what allowed the development of human civilization as we
09:17know it.
09:18But that stability is gone, and the impacts aren't linear.
09:24That's because of tipping points, and these are critical thresholds for our planet that
09:28once crossed can speed up and intensify the impacts of climate change, and they may not
09:34be reversible.
09:36How well we understand these changes and how we choose to act will define our future for
09:41generations to come.
09:44So join me in the field and in the lab to see what the brightest minds and the best
09:49science have to say about our changing weather and climate, and how to prepare.
09:54And I want to share why I'm more hopeful now than ever about confronting this global crisis
09:59because exponential change, the kind that suddenly sneaks up on us.
10:04And my last question, if I have time, thank you so much.
10:06Well, because we're chemical creatures.
10:08You know, that's the thing.
10:09We're based up of water and all these things.
10:11So we have reactions to that.
10:13So that's why the aspect of like, I thought the positive things in like Medellin of showing
10:18the tree canopies, how trees can affect that.
10:21And obviously, in Georgia, around Atlanta, you know, Atlanta has like the concrete jungle,
10:26but then there's these trees around it.
10:28So it's about finding the balance.
10:30Could you talk about sort of those things and talking about those solutions too?
10:34Yeah.
10:35Yeah, it's finding that balance.
10:39You know, Atlanta is very, we have a lot of tree canopy, but yeah, again, in the city,
10:45there are a lot of places that aren't covered by trees.
10:49And when you're walking on a, you know, 100 degree day on a street that doesn't have trees
10:57versus a street that does have trees, I mean, the difference is life and death.
11:01So we talk about adaptation strategies, again, like trees, like I went to Medellin and we
11:08saw how they're innovating and building their cities around trees.
11:14They have these green corridors that are really cool.
11:17That's the heat episode again, that's my favorite episode also, which is really cool to go to
11:22Medellin.
11:23But we also talk about other adaptation strategies, like how you can fortify your home against
11:28extreme weather.
11:30IBHS is the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety.
11:36And we have a clip where I go to IBHS and they test homes in different ways against
11:42different extreme weather.
11:45And we show viewers how they can, you know, prepare their homes for wildfires and tornadoes
11:50and hurricanes.
11:51And again, one of the biggest pieces is talking about how we can solve climate change from
11:58a fundamental level.
12:00So we talk about all the adaptation strategies, but also the biggest piece is how we can solve
12:06climate change from a fundamental level.
12:08So I think viewers are going to get a lot.
12:09It's just such an informative show.
12:12It's just packed with so much information.