House on Fire House On Fire Podcast

Anya Freeman is founder and CEO of Kind Designs, which 3D prints living seawalls functioning as coral reefs with embedded sensor systems for collecting water quality data. Anya was born in Ukraine and has lived all over the world – she settled in South Florida to attend law school. After her house on South Beach flooded, and frustrated with the lack of innovation around rising sea-levels, Anya worked on finding technological solutions to this global challenge, that both supports the environment and has economies of scale.

Dania interviews Heather Noreen as she embarks on a 3,000 mile journey up the East Coast from Miami to Montreal, spreading climate awareness. Her mission, to help create an army of climate crisis educators and warriors.

Host Dania Toledo talks to Columbia University Climate School researcher Nadia Seeteram, the lead author of a recent landmark study about climate-related migration. Nadia forecasts the profound effects that sea level rise will likely have, not just on South Florida residents, but on the migration of people throughout the world. 

In this episode, we talk with Ben Kirtman, a world-renowned climate scientist and professor at the University of Miami. Talking with host Dania Toledo at his office at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, Kirtman explains that even though we’ve had the hottest ocean temperatures on record, there are many reasons to feel hope for a livable future.

Andrew Otazo is a true Miami original. He’s an environmentalist, author and publicist who has advised Congress on Cuba. But he is best known for his grassroots campaign to remove over 20,000 pounds of trash from the mangroves around Miami. Host Dania Toledo talks to Otazo about Miami’s climate challenges, running a marathon with 30 pounds of mangrove trash, and dressing up as a croqueta.

Ron Magill, who has been a zookeeper and conservationist in Miami for over 40 years, discusses his opposition to the Miami Wilds water park project. House on Fire host Dania Toledo asks him about why he’s taking a stand against a development that could destroy the habitat of dozens of endangered species.