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.

Silverlake's Loch Ness Monster?; Gary Owens Tells All; Mayor of Hollywood?; Gary Owen's Secret Power; Throat Singing, Inuit Style; Playing with the Kronos Quartet; Pow! Wham! and Sake!; A Tale of Two Ballparks; In Living Color; On Politics and Pruning; California Video; Freeway Flowers

My Teacher Alma; Dressing a Historic Landmark; The Chemosphere; Hammer Happening; The Ninth Old Man Rests In Peace; I Can Garden; The Soloist Hits the Shelves; Johnie's Broiler Rises Like a Phoenix; Tag This Wall; Sex on the Beach; Letters

The Voice of an Angel; On Set with the Late Charlton Heston; Song: Margerine Melodie by Stereolab; Bob Baker's Marionette Theater; Arboretum Welcomes Thumbs of all Colors; Angel Gets her Wings; Song: "Faithless" by Kieran McGee; Starving Poet No More; A Down-to-Earth Angel; Acres of Retail; Burmese Feast; Fore!

This Week on Off-Ramp; Underground Woman; Underground Woman - Part 2; Underground Woman - Part 3; What's Up Doc-san?; New Model for Health Care?; Hand over the money, please...; Fresh 'n' Easy; Crowd Pleaser; Roses and Lemon; The Fields Are Alive with Flowers; Letters

Star Shooter; Lilo and Stitch in It's a Small World?; Caspian Rain; Sold!; Benson, on Exposing Recluses; My Wife and the Cabana Boy; Zankou Chicken Murders; The Public Health Hero; The Coliseum sees Blue and Red; All You Gotta Do is Act Naturally; California Dems Weigh-In on the Presidential Elections

Love Stories; New Law Aims At School Shootings; Shot In the Heart; Creating Vintage Photos; Told You So; Newspaper Reunion; Sculpting Junk; Hollywood Star; The Iraq War Five Years In; John McCain Mix

Blinky the Friendly Hen; A Way With Words; Drought Crusade; Affirmative Action President; The Liberal Cabal; BBQ King R.I.P.; Watercress on the River; Xeriscape Dentist; Prison Parolees and Those Who Rehabilitate Them; The Gay Cheers; Mateo Stoneman Revisited

Sushi Zen; Sushi 101; Hot Ramen; I Eat Ramen, Here Me Roar!; Would You Eat Granny; Urban Survivalist; El Pollo Chino; Some botanas, por favor; Umami=Yummy; The Best Milkshake in Riverside; Too Fresh Fish; Sushi Delicacies; Your Own Sushi Chef; Sushi Wrap-Up