Episode Details

When Mexico City floods, the problem is not just rain from the sky but grease in the ground. As the sinking megacity struggles with aging sewers and explosive growth, a less obvious culprit has emerged: cooking fat from thousands of taco stands and street kitchens, congealing into massive underground “fatbergs” that choke drainage like hardened arteries. In this episode, we explore how climate change, informal food economies, and outdated infrastructure have collided to create a recurring urban crisis, why enforcing waste rules has proven so difficult, and what this reveals about shared responsibility in a city built for far fewer people. The story shows how something as ordinary as leftover oil can bring a modern capital to a standstill.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/world/americas/mexico-flooding-sewers-food.html