Boiling Point – "A New Look at L.A.’s War on Smog"

Podcast: Boiling Point (LA Times Studios)
Host: Sammy Roth
Guest: Pat Morrison
Date: August 28, 2025

Episode Overview

In this illuminating episode, host Sammy Roth sits down with legendary LA Times columnist Pat Morrison to preview her upcoming podcast series on the history of Los Angeles smog. The discussion dives into LA’s transformation from the smoggiest U.S. city to a relative environmental success story, the policy and personal battles that shaped cleaner air, and the renewed threats posed by political rollbacks. Through humor, historical anecdotes, and deep reporting, Morrison and Roth interrogate what LA's struggle with smog teaches us — and why the fight is far from over.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Pat Morrison’s Roots and Reporting in LA

• Pat Morrison’s Origin Story at the Times
  • Morrison, reflecting on her entry into the LA Times, shares:

    "I managed to finagle my way through that process and then into the LA Times before there were even security guards... This was the LA Times. They weren't going to turn down free labor, especially a woman of which there were very few, and one who spoke Spanish." (05:03)

  • She’s been a chronicler of Los Angeles’ evolving air and culture for decades.

2. The Terrible Past: LA’s Smog Crisis

• Severity and Impacts

  • Roth and Morrison describe the all-consuming nature of historic LA smog:

    "You come to Los Angeles and it may be weeks before you even know there are mountains because you can't see them." (06:26)

  • Morrison recalls:

    "It was like darkness at noon. Sometimes the attacks were so bad, school children were sent in from recess... they could hardly breathe. They had to lie down for an hour to recover their breath because the smog was so terrible." (08:17)

  • Agriculture suffered as crops “were turning brown, were turning bronze color and dying within a matter of weeks.” (08:17)

• Everyday Contributors to Smog

  • Backyard incinerators, ubiquitous in mid-century LA, contributed heavily to air pollution until they were banned and replaced by landfills.
  • The city’s love affair with automobiles was "killing us" even as it defined LA’s lifestyle. (06:26)

3. Coping with the Crisis & Civic Humor

• Smog as a Source of Twisted Civic Pride
  • Morrison describes LA's gallows humor:

    "There was indeed someone producing canned smog... the label was this bright Technicolor... that said, 'breathe the air the movie stars breathe.'" (09:42)

  • She also owns a “very rare smog crying towel" showing people wearing gas masks. (09:42)

4. Policy and Progress: How LA Fought Back

• Collaborating and Clashing with Detroit

  • California’s tough pollution waivers and custom gasoline blends have been central—now threatened by federal rollbacks:

    "Part of the reason that it was a success story is that LA stood up to and also worked with Detroit and with car manufacturers to get cleaner cars. California for years had a waiver from the federal government about requirements for pollution standards..." (10:58)

• Why Tell This Story Now?

  • Morrison warns:

    "What would happen to Los Angeles if these regulations were rolled back, if these waivers did not exist? So it is a clear and present danger of the moment for Angelenos..." (10:58)

• The ‘Sunny Day’ Dilemma: Out of Sight, Not Out of Lungs

  • Roth raises a paradox:

    "…do you have any worry that by highlighting how bad and visible that it used to be, compared how it is now, that there might be some folks who react and say, 'Well, it looks so much better now. Why do we need to get so much stricter…?'" (12:05)

  • Morrison counters:

    "Just because you can't see it the way you used to... does not mean that California does not have to keep up the fight." (13:29)

5. Personal Stories & Scientific Breakthroughs

• The Human Side of Smog

  • Morrison is struck by how deeply personal the stories were:

    "A woman who is an 11-year-old in 1959 wrote a letter to Governor Brown... talking about how her teacher's eyes were so full of tears, she was crying so much on the playground during a fire drill, she couldn't even see the students." (15:09)

• Ari Haagen-Smit & the True Smog Culprit

  • Early on, Caltech chemist Ari Haagen-Smit identified auto emissions as the primary cause:

    "He's the man who delivered the bad news that our cars were what was creating the bulk of the smog... We have met the enemy, as Pogo said, and it is us." (19:23)

  • Roth points out:

    "One, he did not win a Nobel Prize, and two, everyone in Los Angeles and all of the auto companies and industry didn't respond by saying, okay, great, we'll stop driving..." (20:45)

  • The resistance to changing car culture echoes today with climate change.

6. Electric Cars: Not a New Dream

• Wally Rippel & the 1968 Great EV Race

  • Morrison recalls the little-known 1968 cross-country electric car race:

    "He was telling me about the great race of 1968, when MIT started on the east coast and Caltech started on the west coast with a team with more or less electric cars..." (22:32)

    • The technology goes further back than most realize, and adoption has always faced industry resistance.

• Industry Reluctance & Innovation

  • Morrison:

    "It's really remarkable, not only how science has had some ideas, but how resistant a lot of industry has been to those ideas." (23:35)

7. Clean Air: Once Bipartisan, Now Divisive

• Environmentalism Used to Unite

  • Morrison underscores past bipartisan environmental action:

    "This is a time when you had pro environmental Republicans. You had Richard Nixon creating the Environmental Protection Agency. You had the Clean Air Act... Republican Governor Ronald Reagan creating an air resources board for the state..." (24:21)

• When Did It Change?

  • Morrison attributes partisan divergence largely to post-2000 national politics:

    "I think national Republicans parting company with clean air in California was probably maybe around 2000 or so." (25:11)

• Why Everyone Claims They're for Clean Air

  • Morrison, wryly:

    "In theory, everyone is in favor of that. And then when you start putting it to the cost of doing business, to the cost of human health, the tangibles versus the intangibles... And the prospect of having to fight it again with the federal government is a pretty dispiriting one." (26:00)

8. Looking Forward: Optimism, Obstacles, and LA’s Big Ideas

• Can LA Solve Its Next Air Crisis?

  • Morrison is cautiously optimistic:

    "I don't know that I would still be here if I felt we were going to go backwards on this issue... the idea that we're going to let big ideas in and make them work for us is still a seductive one... that's why we're LA in the first place." (26:41)

• A Legacy and a Warning

  • The episode frames LA’s hard-won progress as a lesson—and a warning—for today’s environmental fights.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Persistence of Regulatory Fights:

  "We fought this battle before in Los Angeles 50, 60 years ago. And the prospect of having to fight it again with the federal government is a pretty dispiriting one."
  — Pat Morrison (26:00)

• On the Visibility of Progress:

  "We can see the horizon thanks to the regulations of the past 60 years. But what would happen to Los Angeles if these regulations were rolled back, if these waivers did not exist?"
  — Pat Morrison (10:58)

• On the Politics of Clean Air:

  "In theory, everyone is in favor of that. And then when you start putting it to the cost of doing business, to the cost of human health... it becomes a much tougher conversation."
  — Pat Morrison (26:00)

• On Past and Present Resistance to Change:

  "Nobody was happy hearing that your own beloved car... that that was the culprit, that was the guilty party, which meant that you were the guilty party."
  — Pat Morrison (21:00)

• The Enduring Problem:

  "...the smog is persistent. It is dangerous to health, it is dangerous to business. And just because you can't see it... does not mean that California does not have to keep up the fight..."
  — Pat Morrison (13:29)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Pat Morrison’s history at LA Times: 05:03 – 05:41
• How LA’s smog shaped the city and its people: 06:26 – 08:17
• Canned smog & LA’s humor in crisis: 09:42
• Policy victories and current threats: 10:58
• Paradox of progress (“out of sight, out of mind”): 12:05 – 13:34
• Personal stories of smog’s health impact: 15:09
• Ari Haagen-Smit, science, and blame: 19:23 – 21:00
• Electric car history and resistance: 22:32 – 23:35
• Bipartisan clean air efforts & political shift: 24:21 – 25:11
• Optimism & LA’s “big ideas” culture: 26:41

Conclusion

Pat Morrison’s deep historical knowledge and Sammy Roth’s incisive questioning make this episode a revelation for anyone interested in climate and public health. They prove that LA’s hard-fought improvements aren’t resting on nostalgia, but rather offer urgent lessons on why vigilance—and courage—are more crucial than ever.

Pat’s upcoming podcast series promises more of these human stories, scientific breakthroughs, and candid reflections on the (unfinished) fight for breathable air in Los Angeles.