Alejandra Borunda Alejandra Borunda (she/her) is a reporter on NPR's Climate Desk.
Stories By

Alejandra Borunda

Alejandra Borunda

Climate & Health Reporter

Alejandra Borunda (she/her) is a reporter on NPR's Climate Desk, where she covers the intersection of climate change and health. She reports on how climate change is affecting people's bodies and minds—and how people can, and are, protecting themselves and others.

Before Borunda joined NPR in 2023, she wrote about climate science and environmental issues for National Geographic, where she reported on glacier retreat in Greenland, shade and heat inequity in Los Angeles, climate change's impact on ice fishing in the Great Lakes, and much more.

She has a PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Columbia University, where she studied how tiny dust particles in the atmosphere affected climate change thousands of years ago.

Story Archive

Tuesday

Cyclists get creative to deal with heat during Tour de France

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Proposed federal rule could offer protection from extreme heat to millions of workers

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Monday

CDC's Heat & Health tracker collects ER data across the country in near real time

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Saturday

Why the heat wave hitting the Midwest and the East Coast is particularly dangerous

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Friday

Warehouses in California can get dangerously hot. The state just passed a rule protecting people who work indoors in industries like warehousing, restaurants or manufacturing from excessive heat. Virginie Goubier/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Virginie Goubier/AFP via Getty Images

Sunday

California wildfire smoke deaths

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Thursday

The number of older people at risk of heat exposure will double in the coming decades

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Tuesday

Jackye Lafon, who's in her 80s, cools herself with a water spray at her home in Toulouse, France during a heat wave in 2022. Older people face higher heat risk than those who are younger. Climate change is making heat risk even greater. Fred Scheiber/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Fred Scheiber/AFP via Getty Images

More than 200 million seniors face extreme heat risks in coming decades, study finds

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Wednesday

Wildfire smoke from Canada caused dangerously unhealthy air quality in New York City and across much of the U.S. in 2023. While air quality has improved greatly in the U.S. in recent decades, wildfire smoke and other climate-influenced problems are endangering that progress. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Monday

People rest at a cooling station in Portland, Oregon during the deadly Northwest heat dome of 2021. Climate change has made heat risks more dangerous across the country. A new heat forecasting tool could help people stay safe. KATHRYN ELSESSER/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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KATHRYN ELSESSER/AFP via Getty Images

Thursday

Wildfire smoke covered huge swaths of the U.S. in 2023, including places like New York City, where it has historically been uncommon. New research shows the health costs of breathing in wildfire smoke can be high. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images hide caption

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David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Friday

A man works in a Florida agricultural field on a hot, humid day in July 2023, one of the hottest months ever recorded in the state. There are no federal heat regulations. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Saturday

Warehouse workers often labor in extremely hot conditions in California, as do many others who work indoors. The state has been considering new rules to protect them when temperatures soar to dangerous levels, but political headwinds have left the rules in limbo. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption

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Jae C. Hong/AP

Thursday

Hurricane Irene caused enormous damage in New York state, flooding homes like this one in Prattsville, NY, in 2011. Major weather events like Irene send people to the hospital and can even contribute to deaths for weeks after the storms. Monika Graff/Getty Images hide caption

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Monika Graff/Getty Images

Tuesday

EPA's newly tightened air pollution rules are welcome news in polluted places

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Wednesday

Air pollution has fallen across the U.S. since the Clean Air Act of 1970. But some areas, like Los Angeles, still suffer heavy pollution from soot and smog. New rules on soot pollution from EPA aim to lower that pollution burden further. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

Tuesday

Residents stand along a flooded street in Santa Barbara, California, as a powerful atmospheric river pummels the region. The storm has caused landslides, power outages, and road and airport closures across Southern California. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

Another atmospheric river has soaked California. What role has climate change played?

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Friday

Smoke from wildfires turned the skies orange behind New York's Chrysler Building in June 2023. The smoke affected millions across the central and eastern U.S. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images hide caption

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David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Wildfire smoke this year woke up places unaccustomed to its effects. Now what?

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Wednesday

Sultan al-Jaber of the United Arab Emirates, right, celebrates the end of the COP28 climate meeting with United Nations Climate Chief Simon Stiell, left, and COP28 CEO Adnan Amin on Dec. 13, 2023, in Dubai. The final deal included a modest reference to transitioning away from fossil fuels, which scientists say is crucial to avoid catastrophic warming. Kamran Jebreili/AP hide caption

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Kamran Jebreili/AP

Monday

Young doctors are at COP28, and they've got a message for world leaders

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Sunday

Major flooding has hit Kenya in November. The disasters are likely intensified by climate change, and are causing ongoing health issues across the region. World leaders are discussing the health impacts of climate change at the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai this month. AFP via Getty Images/LUIS TATO hide caption

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AFP via Getty Images/LUIS TATO

Health is on the agenda at UN climate negotiations. Here's why that's a big deal

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Tuesday

Taylor Swift fans wait for the doors of Nilton Santos Olympic stadium to open for her Eras Tour concert amid a heat wave in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. A 23-year-old Taylor Swift fan died Friday night after suffering from cardiac arrest due to heat at the concert, according to a statement from the show's organizers in Brazil. Silvia Izquierdo/AP hide caption

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Silvia Izquierdo/AP

Monday

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

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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Wednesday

Two major reports say that climate change is hurting human health too

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