Off-Ramp listeners, introducing The Big Disaster: The Big Burn from LAist Studios. As the world enters a new age of wildfires, science reporter Jacob Margolis dives deep into personal stories that illuminate the history of how we got here, why we keep screwing things up, and what we can do to survive and maybe even thrive while the world around us burns. 

Listen to this episode and catch all the others here. 

Preppi is giving a free emergency kit with any purchase over $100. Go to preppi.com/thebigburn for more information.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/bigburn and get on your way to being your best self.

This piece from the vast Off-Ramp archive is from the very first Off-Ramp - August 5, 2006 - and it's still one of my favorites because it answers a very simple question. What's it like to ride a motorcycle in LA?

The obvious person to answer that question was Susan Carpenter, then the motorcycle columnist for the LA Times (now at Spectrum News 1), who put a little microphone into her helmet and then took off down the streets, roads, and freeways of LA.

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

Corita Kent, world's best-selling artist; Mary Jones, first trained librarian, ousted for a man: Charles Lummis; three women directors find their muse at the L.A. Film Festival.

Mary Jones, the city librarian you should know about; jellyfish get the spotlight at the Aquarium; showering with Sanden Totten;

Visit the youth homeless center that inspired Miley Cyrus's Happy Hippie Foundation ... The Cactus Store, the garden store for the drought-conscious ... Ride with Angelyne!

From knife-wielding performance artist to creator of our Happy Place - may Chris Burden RIP. Win a chance to ride with Angelyne. And why does the sun make you sneeze?

Luke Zamperini and Off-Ramp fly in the last B-24; Temple Grandin and an ABC journalist consider autism; we tour a homeless camp along the Arroyo Seco.

Matching anecdotal evidence with scientific proof of global warming ... Billy the Mime speaks ... Why walk 16 miles of Wilshire Blvd ... Brains On! ... Larry Mantle on The Big Fight

What do you call a 125-pound mountain lion? Anything he wants! Plus, we unmask @LosAngelesRain and visit a small perfume center in Koreatown.

Director of "1915" on growing up with the Armenian genocide as family history; Jane Lynch sings as a candle; Brains On!