Rebecca Hersher Rebecca Hersher is a reporter on NPR's Climate Desk.
Rebecca Hersher at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., July 25, 2018. (photo by Allison Shelley) (Square)
Stories By

Rebecca Hersher

Allison Shelley/NPR
Rebecca Hersher at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., July 25, 2018. (photo by Allison Shelley)
Allison Shelley/NPR

Rebecca Hersher

Correspondent, Climate Desk

Rebecca Hersher (she/her) is a reporter on NPR's Climate Desk, where she reports on climate science, weather disasters, infrastructure and how humans are adapting to a hotter world.

Since coming to NPR in 2011, she has covered the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, embedded with the Afghan army after the American combat mission ended and reported on floods, heat waves and hurricanes in the U.S. and around the world.

Hersher was part of the NPR team that won a Peabody award for coverage of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and produced a story from Liberia that won an Edward R. Murrow award for use of sound. Her 2019 coverage of climate-driven flash floods also won an Edward R. Murrow award, and she was part of a team that was honored with a 2020 Society of News Design award for multimedia storytelling. She was a finalist for the 2017 Daniel Schorr prize; a 2017 Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting fellow, reporting on sanitation in Haiti; and a 2015 NPR Above the Fray fellow, investigating the causes of the suicide epidemic in Greenland.

Before coming to the Climate Desk, Hersher worked for NPR's Science Desk, was a producer on Weekend All Things Considered and covered biomedical news for Nature Medicine.

Story Archive

Monday

Sultan al-Jaber, who is leading the COP28 United Nations climate talks underway in the United Arab Emirates, speaks during a news conference on December 4, 2023. In a meeting shortly before talks began, he incorrectly insisted that it is not necessary to phase out fossil fuels in order to avoid catastrophic global warming. Kamran Jebreili/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Kamran Jebreili/AP

Friday

Since 2015, the world has cut projected global warming. But not enough, experts say

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1216647141/1216647142" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Monday

The annual climate negotiations begin this week in Dubai

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1215332333/1215332334" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wind turbines generate electricity off the coast of England. World leaders will meet later this week in Dubai to discuss global efforts to reduce emissions of planet-warming pollution and transition to renewable energy sources. Frank Augstein/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Frank Augstein/AP

Monday

Emissions from a power plant in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2022. Global emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases increased between 2021 and 2022, according to a new report from the United Nations. Mark Thiessen/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Mark Thiessen/AP

Tourists walk around the base of the Washington Monument as smoke from wildfires in Canada casts a haze of the U.S. Capitol on the National Mall in June of this year. Air pollution alerts were issued across the United States due to the fires. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

3 major ways climate change affects life in the U.S.

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908641/1213938399" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Windmills near Whitewater, Calif., in 2020. Reducing fossil fuel use and investing more in renewable energy sources such as wind will help the U.S. avoid billions of dollars of economic costs and help Americans live longer, healthier lives according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment. Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP

Climate change affects your life in 3 big ways, a new report warns

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1206506962/1212836760" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Climate changes issues force areas to consider if people shouldn't live there anymore

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1212068825/1212068826" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

A new development under construction in Casa Grande, Ariz., will feature 331 rental units, part of a larger boom of "build to rent" projects in recent years. Lauren Sommer/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lauren Sommer/NPR

3 cities face a climate dilemma: to build or not to build homes in risky places

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1204923950/1211724964" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

It's unlikely that humans will achieve global warming goals. But all is not lost

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1209529132/1209529133" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Hurricane Otis devastated the Mexican city of Acapulco, after rapidly intensifying over abnormally warm ocean water. A new study finds it is unlikely that humans will successfully limit average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the lower target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement. Marco Ugarte/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Marco Ugarte/AP

Friday

At its most expansive, Antarctic sea ice covers an area the size of Antarctica itself, doubling the size of the frozen continent. But the winter sea ice has been shrinking, and this year there was less ice than ever before, going back to when satellites started tracking annual ice extent around 1980. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Wednesday

Two women embrace and cry as they look out over a burned area in Lahaina, Hawaii in August 2023. A new survey finds most Americans expect the impacts of climate change to worsen in the next 30 years, as climate scientists warn. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Claire Harbage/NPR

Here's how Americans feel about climate change

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1208016669/1208577518" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Students give a presentation at a construction site in South Baltimore. The student activists, who formed the group Free Your Voice, are fighting against a very different kind of danger in their neighborhood: air pollution and climate change. B.A. Parker/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
B.A. Parker/NPR

Code Switch: Baltimore teens are fighting for environmental justice — and winning

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954155/1205561916" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Students give a presentation at a construction site in South Baltimore. The student activists, who formed the group Free Your Voice, are fighting against a very different kind of danger in their neighborhood: air pollution and climate change. B.A. Parker/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
B.A. Parker/NPR

Student activists are pushing back against big polluters — and winning

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954102/1203315968" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Friday

Millions of Americans receive little or no information about flood risk before they buy a house or sign a lease, leading families to put their safety, belongings and financial security in harm's way. New rules in four states aim to address the problem. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Ryan Kellman/NPR

Residents of four states will get more information about flood risk to their homes

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197682365/1198301894" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Forecasts for dangerous storm surge see a big upgrade this year

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1196641958/1196641959" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

There has been a lot of extreme weather lately. What's the cause?

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1195170374/1195170375" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

This was the hottest July ever recorded on Earth

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1192716856/1193782389" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Hurricane Fiona moves up the United States Atlantic coast, Thursday night, Sept. 22, 2022. This image provided by the National Hurricane Center shows a satellite view as Hurricane Fiona pounded Bermuda with heavy rains and winds. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hide caption

toggle caption
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Friday

Young and old sea ice floats off the coast of Antarctica. Maria-Jose Viñas/NASA hide caption

toggle caption
Maria-Jose Viñas/NASA

Antarctica has a lot less sea ice than usual. That's bad news for all of us

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1190604378/1192070366" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Climate change is making it more difficult for Americans to get home insurance

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1189719434/1189728330" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript