Today marks the release of season one of “Electric Futures,” a podcast hosted by Charles Zukoski, the former USC provost and a current professor of chemical engineering.

The podcast was not made by Zukoski alone, but was the work of a dedicated team: Allison Agsten, the executive producer and creative guide to the project; Mallory Carra, the lead producer; Natalie Lopez, a sophomore majoring in environmental studies and an associate producer from the very region the podcast is based on; Spencer Cline, an associate producer; Cindy Chai, a summer research assistant; and Matthew Grubaugh, who added artistic touches. 

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“Electric Futures” is a six-episode podcast series produced by the Annenberg Center for Climate Journalism and Communication. Zukoski characterized the podcast as an “[exploration] of how communities think about the energy transition … set in the Imperial Valley in southeastern California.”

Carra emphasized that it is about the lesser-known stories of the energy transition, introducing to us people who are going to be affected by the energy transition. Lopez sums up the podcast as a research project examining the social and economic aspects of how the Imperial Valley might be affected by lithium.

To those who have no idea what lithium extraction is or what the Imperial Valley has to do with it, Agsten assured no prior knowledge of energy mining or the environment is required to understand the podcast.

“The idea is that anybody who is interested in a fascinating story about a region and a topic that they might not know much about can tune in and, with ease, completely get it,” Agsten said.

Zukoski values the podcast as an avenue for anyone to be able to understand the trade-offs of complex community interaction.

“Not all these stories need to be as positive as they are in the Imperial Valley,” Zukoski said. “However, our aspiration was to learn from [communities] where the trade-offs are upfront and in your face.”

Agsten recalled the first steps of getting the project off the ground, spending six months going back and forth from Los Angeles to the Imperial Valley with Zukoski, getting to know people and then weaving together a story based on what they found.

As Carra — an adjunct instructor at Annenberg — said, Agsten and Zukoski were “very adamant that they wanted something that was narrative. They wanted to tell a story about the community, and I really enjoyed that because I came from a background of narrative podcasting.”

Carra also praised Zukoski as an excellent interviewer.

“For someone who did not have a journalism background, who is a chemical engineer professor by trade … just naturally curious, he knows how to relay that kind of information in a digestible way,” Carra said.

Zukoski hopes to tell the story of all facets of the Imperial Valley: the policies and businesses poured into its economic growth and the access to minerals that led to lithium mining. They spoke to an Indigenous lawyer, “The Global Lithium Podcast” host Joe Lowry, and even people who weren’t from the Imperial Valley.

“I hope the magic of the Valley comes out. This is a wonderful place — mountains to the east and west … Agricultural output that connects the Valley to the world,” Zukoski said. “The people: Indigenous, [immigrant] settlers with families who live [on] both sides [of] the [United States-Mexico] border and their commitment to the communities. There is magic.”

More than just the breadth of scientific or economic knowledge, what went into “Electric Futures” was the great care taken into making sure the voices of the community were heard.

Lopez, who grew up in the Imperial Valley with her family, sees the spotlight on her hometown as amazing: “Being from there, being here at USC now, I always feel like I have to give an explanation of where I’m from … It’s been really, really awesome to work on this podcast and bring awareness to what this place is and how this place is really a big part in so many international ways.”

To have USC be the stage which the people of the Imperial Valley stand on puts USC in that spotlight, as well. Lopez asserts this only makes “Electric Futures” more significant to participate in.

“USC is such a big name, it’s a prestigious university. They have a voice,” Lopez said. “One of the reasons that I really wanted to leave Imperial Valley straight out of high school was because I wanted to be in a place where I could have a voice and I knew people would listen. And in the Imperial Valley, that voice isn’t heard. That voice isn’t really understood, and it’s usually not represented in the state of California.”

Agsten hopes the podcast can be a resource for others, whether they are from USC, other universities or news organizations. There is no doubt the conversation of energy will continue and will include the Imperial Valley. As energy is covered in stories and more articles, Agsten is proud that this will be her team and USC’s offering, and it will hopefully be the underpinning research for the stories to come.

“Electric Futures” is a labor of love — invested into by communities with a voice to say, a city with growth on their horizon, and students and faculty alike from our very own Trojan family — told in a story that guarantees a deeper understanding of the world around us.

“Electric Futures” is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.