KPFA - Terra Verde

Not only do restaurant workers comprise at least half of the country’s 22 million food industry workers, they also happen to be among the lowest paid — the minimum wage for tipped workers is still just $2.13 an hour at the federal level. Photo by Andreas Brændhaugen. Saru Jayaraman, President of  One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley, speaks with Earth Island Journal editor Maureen Nandini Mitra and Terra Verde cohost about why the environmental movement should work in solidarity with restaurant workers as well how the ongoing restaurant worker revolt in the country could have enormous implications for labor and environmental justice and for our democracy as well. The post Serving Justice All Along the Food Chain appeared first on KPFA.

Dolores Huerta is a giant within the labor movement. She got her start in the movement early, pivoting from her work as a young teacher in California’s Central Valley community organizing when she saw how her students and their families were struggling. She hasn’t stopped since, and has spent the last seven decades fighting for farmworkers rights, including for fair wages, safer working conditions, and the very right for workers to collectively organize. She’s helped shape the environmental justice movement in the United States, and has proven a tireless advocate for civil rights and women’s rights. She is perhaps best known for co-founding what would become the United Farm Workers Association with Cesar Chavez in 1962s, and currently, she serves as the founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which advocates for social justice by empowering marginalized communities through grassroots organizing, civic engagement, and education initiatives. Journal Managing Editor Zoe Loftus-Farren spoke with Huerta in late March just ahead of the Bioneers conference Berkeley, and ahead of her 94th birthday, which was on April 10. The post In Conversation with Dolores Huerta appeared first on KPFA.

Like many of North America’s top apex predators — wolves, mountain lions, and bears — coyotes have faced a long history of persecution and extermination. Yet, unlike these nearly-disappeared species, coyote populations responded by tripling their range. Found across urban and rural landscapes, this resilient species plays a vital role in maintaining balance and enriching biodiversity in California’s ecosystems. While coyotes have demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt to our human world, we still have a long way to go to coexist with coyotes. Nearly 500,000 coyotes are killed each year through hunting, wildlife killing contests, and other lethal control methods, despite decades of scientific research that shows killing coyotes doesn’t “work” to manage populations nor minimize conflict. Founder and executive director of Project Coyote Camilla Fox joins Terra Verde host and producer Hannah Wilton to discuss the life cycle of coyotes (as we enter spring pup rearing season!) and sustainable solutions to coexist with our wild neighbors. Drawing on Project Coyote’s longtime work to protect North America’s wild carnivores, Camilla offers her perspective on radicalizing compassion for our native Song Dog and respecting the inherent value of coyotes in California’s ecosystems. The post Coexisting with Coyotes appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – March 29, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

After years of struggle, Indigenous activists and allies rejoiced last week, as the Berkeley City Council announced a global settlement to purchase West Berkeley’s historic Ohlone Shellmound village site and pass title of the land to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. The 2.2-acre parcel is the last undeveloped portion of the first human settlement in the Bay Area where, more than 5,000 years ago, ancestors of today’s Ohlone people created a unique way of life at the mouth of Strawberry Creek. It is believed this deal will be the largest and most expensive urban #LandBack victory in California history — and perhaps in U.S. history. On this episode of Terra Verde, Fiona McLeod speaks with Corrina Gould, Chairperson of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation, and co-founder of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, about what it took to secure this historic victory, and what’s next for the West Berkeley Shellmound village site.  The post West Berkeley Shellmound Returns to Lisjan Nation in Historic #LandBack Victory appeared first on KPFA.

A boy plays basketball in front of an oil well that is covered with large colorful flowers and is located next to Beverly Hills High School. Wells like this are hidden throughout Los Angeles. Photo by Sarah Craig / Faces of Fracking. In February, California’s Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), the agency that manages oil and gas extraction in the state, formally announced its plan to phase out fracking in the state. The move came after years of campaigning by environmental and social justice groups and three years after CalGEM had essentially stopped issuing new fracking permits. While the move is an environmental justice and climate win, as always, there are some devils hiding in the details. To shine a light on those details, Earth Island Journal editor and Terra Verde-cohost Maureen Nandini Mitra speaks with Kobi Naseck, coalition director of VISION (Voices in Solidarity Against Oil in Neighborhoods). Learn more about the Big Oil-sponsored referendum that will allow drilling to continue near homes and schools. To find out if there’s a neighborhood drilling site of any kind near you, visit vision-ca.org A public hearing on the fracking rulemaking will be held at 5:30 p.m. on March 26. To offer your opinion you can register here or join by telephone: 404-443-6397 (English), ​877-336-1831 (English), Conf Code: 148676 888-455-1820 (Español), Código: 3167375 You can also email your comment to CalGEMRegulations@conservation.ca.gov The post Is California Really Ending Fracking? appeared first on KPFA.

This week’s Terre Verde is preempted by special fund drive programming.     The post Special Fund Drive Programming – Economic Update (part 2) appeared first on KPFA.

This week’s Terre Verde is preempted by special fund drive programming.   The post Special Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.

This week’s Terre Verde is preempted by special fund drive programming.   The post Special Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – February 16, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

Contractors load contaminated soil into trailers as part of a restoration project in Barstow, CA. California exports nearly half of its hazardous waste, much of it soil, to neighboring states. Photo courtesy of the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. When it comes to hazardous waste, California has some of the strictest rules in the country. Specifically, the state has set lower bar than most for what exactly it considers hazardous, triggering greater precautions around in-state disposal. But that doesn’t mean California is always disposing of toxic materials more carefully than its neighbors. That’s because nearly half of the the Golden State’s hazardous waste is disposed of across state lines, much of it is contaminated soil. CalMatters investigative reporter Robert Lewis joins Terra Verde host and Earth Island Journal managing editor Zoe Loftus-Farren to discuss his long-term investigation into California’s hazardous waste rules, how they are impacting communities both inside and outside state, and where we might go from here. The post On the Trail of California’s Hazardous Waste appeared first on KPFA.

Beaver once thrived across California’s watersheds in the millions, their dams and ponds creating rich wetlands and a mosaic of habitat for biodiversity to flourish. However, by the early 1900s, European colonization and the fur trade had nearly wiped them out of the state. Today, there is growing momentum to return this keystone species to its historic range to help restore degraded waterways and build resilience to climate change. Just recently, California’s top wildlife management agency took a major step forward, partnering with the Maidu Summit Consortium to release beaver back into the wild for the first time in nearly 75 years. On this week’s episode, Terra Verde host and producer Hannah Wilton speaks with two of California’s leading beaver advocates: Kate Lundquist from the WATER Institute’s Bring Back the Beaver Campaign and Kevin Swift from Swift Water Design, a process-based restoration company focused on beaver mimicry and coexistence alternatives. Together, they unpack the history and ecosystem benefits of beaver and share how we can partner with these wetland engineers to help heal California’s waterways. The post Bringing Beaver Back to California appeared first on KPFA.

Standing over 160 feet, the Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River blocks salmon and steelhead from reaching spawning habitat upstream. Photo by Scott Wright/Flickr. In early January, the Klamath River Renewal Corporation began to deconstruct the Iron Gate dam, the second of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River slated to come down by the end of the year. One of the largest dam removal projects in world history, the undamming of the Klamath represents a major milestone in a decades-long struggle to restore this key salmon-bearing river. For the Yurok, Karuk and other tribal communities that live and depend on the Klamath, dam removal also represents a moment of continued healing from colonialism and an opportunity to restore traditional lifeways. On this week’s episode, Terra Verde’s new host and producer Hannah Wilton is joined by Annelia Hillman from the Yurok Tribe, a longtime #UnDamtheKlamath activist and Food Village Coordinator for the Tribe’s Food Sovereignty Program. Annelia shares her first-hand experience watching Iron Gate come down and her vision for long-term healing and food sovereignty in the Klamath watershed. The post Undamming the Klamath appeared first on KPFA.

So far H5N1 has led to a record loss of some 80 million birds across 47 US states, with California being hit the hardest of all. Photo by Vale CS/Flickr. The new year has started off in crisis mode for poultry farms across California, as a wave of avian influenza sweeps across the state forcing farmers to euthanize several million chickens and ducks. The heartbreaking losses spell financial devastation for farms and also have the potential to trickle down to consumers, as prices for poultry and eggs go up due to supply chain disruptions. But the impact of the H5N1 virus has been far worse for wildlife. In recent months it has jumped from bird to many mammals as well and is now killing off species in every continent except Australia and Antarctica. To understand more about this unprecedented panzootic — pandemic among animals — that could potentially spillover into the human world as well, Earth Island Journal editor and Terra Verde-cohost Maureen Nandini Mitra speaks with two avian influenza experts from the University of California, Davis’ School for Veterinary Medicine — Dr Marcela Uhart and Maurice Pitesky. The post Understanding the Ongoing Bird Flu Crisis appeared first on KPFA.

Regenerative agriculture is a sustainability-focused approach to farming that critically improves soil health, maintains biodiversity, and helps cultivate agricultural systems that interact with and support their larger ecosystems — including nearby communities. In order to transform food systems by empowering the next generation of sustainability- and community-minded farmers, Pie Ranch in Pescadero, California provides early-career farmers with support and access to resources that will aid them in establishing their own climate-resilient and economically viable regenerative farms. On this episode of Terra Verde, Leonard Diggs, Director of Farmer and Rancher Opportunities at Pie Ranch, joins Terra Verde host Fiona McLeod to talk about the power of these community-based farming practices in an age when agriculture systems are overwhelmingly commodity-based and profit-driven. The post Community-Based Farming in the Age of Commodity-Based Agriculture appeared first on KPFA.

As the green energy transition speeds up, demand for lithium — used in electric car batteries — is skyrocketing. Currently, the bulk of the global lithium supply comes from Australia and Chile, but as demand increases, countries around the world are looking to tap into their reserves. In the United States, the quest for this in-demand metal involves California, which has one of the world’s largest known lithium reserves, located in Southern California’s Imperial County, near the Salton Sea. These reserves have yet to be commercially developed, but companies are itching to start. In California’s Imperial County, lithium extraction proposals are tied to geothermal plants that produce low-carbon electricity by extracting brine from geothermal wells. Photo by Chuck Holland. The lithium in Imperial County is located in hot brine. If done right, extraction from hot brine might be less damaging than other forms of extraction, namely that from bedrock and salt flats. But the technology involved remains unproven, and the industry comes with real risks to the air, water, and more. Locals are pushing to make sure potential costs are factored into decisions around extraction in the region, which already experiences far more than its fair share of environmental pollution; that community members have a voice in the decision-making process; and that any extraction in the region ultimately benefits the local community. Christian Torres, special projects manager with Comite Civico Del Valle, Inc, and Jared Naimark, California mining organizer with Earthworks, join Terra Verde host and managing editor Zoe Loftus-Farren to discuss the state of lithium extraction in Imperial County, the possible environmental and health impacts, and the fight to give community members a seat at the table. The post California’s Budding Lithium Industry appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – December 29, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – December 22, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

Today’s show is preempted by a special holiday fund drive broadcast. Terre Verde will resume its usual schedule on December 22, 2023.   The post Special Holiday Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.

Today’s show is preempted by a special holiday fund drive broadcast. Terre Verde will resume its usual schedule on December 22, 2023.   The post Special Holiday Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.

Greenpeace International activists protest around a specialized offshore drilling vessel currently collecting data for The Metals Company, which plans to file the world’s first application to mine the seabed in the Pacific Ocean. Photo by Martin Katz / Greenpeace. Thousands of meters below the ocean surface, there’s a whole world we’ve only just begun to understand. There are massive underwater mountains, hydrothermal vents spewing piping hot water, and bioluminescent creatures that offer pockets of light in an otherwise pitch-black ecosystem. There are also trillions of dollars worth of minerals like copper, cobalt, nickel, and manganese, minerals that are increasingly in demand for green technologies like the lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars. These minerals have landed certain seabed regions on the radar of a nascent deep-sea mining industry. That industry includes The Metals Company, which is currently conducting exploratory work in a part of the Pacific known as the Clarion Clipperton zone and which hopes to begin commercial mining activities in 2025, despite growing concern by scientists and environmental advocates about the threats such mining poses. Given those threats, last week, Greenpeace activists began a protest at a ship the company is using to conduct research, boarding the ship and using kayaks to thwart equipment use. Arlo Hemphill, project lead for Ocean Sanctuaries and Stop Deep Sea Mining with Greenpeace USA, joins Terra Verde host and Earth Island Journal managing editor Zoe Loftus-Farren to discuss the risks of deep-sea mining, the status of international seabed mining regulations, the ongoing protest in the Pacific, and more. The post Deep-Sea Mining Standoff in the Pacific appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – November 24, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – November 17, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

Louisiana Pacific once ran a lumber mill on the Tuolumne County site where Golden State Natural Resources wants to construct a 300,000 tons a year wood pellet manufacturing plant. (Photo credit: Gary Hughes) For this episode Terra Verde is in the field with Matt Holmes, strategy director with the California Environmental Justice Coalition. In the interview Matt describes taking a close look at the site of a proposed large-scale wood pellet manufacturing facility in Tuolumne County. The episode explores the environmental impacts, public health risks and social justice legacies of an extractive forest product industry model in California. The post Spotlight on Environmental Justice Implications of California Wood Pellet Export Scheme appeared first on KPFA.

Roads fragment ecosystems. They cut off migratory pathways of animals like deer, cougars, and even salmon, they separate animals populations and drain their gene pool. They make it difficult for them to find food and shelter and even mates. Photo by Matteo Botta/Pexels For most of us, roads are a symbol of journeys, of freedom, adventure, opportunity, or more practically speaking, as a means of getting from point A to B. But the 40 million miles of roads that wrap around this Earth have a huge impact on the other than human world. Not only do they pollute our soils and waters and degrade habitats, they kill hundreds of millions of animals world over. In the United States alone, one million animals are killed by cars every day. Earth Island Journal editor and Terra Verde host Maureen Nandini Mitra discusses the impact of our massive network of roads on wildlife and humans and how we can reconfigure our roadways to be a more benign presence on the land with conservation journalist Ben Goldfarb, author of the new book Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet and Beth Pratt, California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation and director of The Wildlife Crossing Fund, who has played a pivotal role in realizing the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — an unprecedented overpass that would allow wildlife of the Santa Monica mountains to safely cross a dangerous 10-lane stretch of highway 101 in Los Angeles. The post Rethinking Roads: How wildlife crossings can help address the threat roadways pose to animals appeared first on KPFA.

If the project is approved, the Phillips 66 refinery in Rodeo (pictured) would produce more than a billion gallons per year of biofuel products, making it one of the largest biofuel refineries in the world. Photo by Thomas Hawk. Earlier this month, a Contra Costa County Superior Court ordered the oil company, Phillips 66 to put on hold its Rodeo refinery’s transition from processing crude oil to producing biofuels, until the county had addressed major environmental flaws in its environmental analysis of the project. The court ruling was in response to one of two lawsuits filed by environmental groups in 2022, challenging Contra Costa County’s approval of two proposed biofuel refinery conversions — the Phillips 66 one in Rodeo that would produce more than a billion gallons per year of biofuel products, making it one of the largest biofuel refineries in the world, and the Marathon-Tesoro refinery in nearby Martinez that could eventually produce more than 700,000 gallons per year of biofuel products. To understand what lies ahead in the legal battle against these two projects, as well at the local and global implications of California’s push toward biofuels, Earth Island Journal editor and Terra Verde host Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with Shana Lazerow, legal director of Communities for a Better Environment, which, along with the Center for Biological Diversity, is suing the county over the two projects, Ben Clark a student attorney from the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, which is representing the litigants in court, and Stephanie Safdi, a supervising attorney and lecturer at the law clinic. NOTE: The revised EIR for the Phillips 66 Rodeo Renewed Project is currently open for public comment. The post Challenging the Bay Area Biofuel Refinery Projects appeared first on KPFA.

Muskan Walia and Angelina Xu, two young environmental leaders who were recently recognized for their accomplishments by the 2023 Brower Youth Awards, join Terra Verde host Fiona McLeod to discuss their work organizing their schools’ transition to clean energy and zero food waste. The post Youth Activists are Leading the Way to Sustainable Schools appeared first on KPFA.

Solar geoengineering presents a whole host of new risks and threats to communities and the environment. Foto Murray Cooper. Terra Verde is joined for this episode by Dr Carl Schleussner, the Head of Science at Climate Analytics. After giving an update on the current state of global climate politics Dr Schleussner takes the time to describe to listeners the recent release of a report by a little known high level climate lobby called The Overshoot Commission, which offers an alarming narrative promoting solar geoengineering as a response to climate change. The post Global Climate Politics and the Dangers of Solar Geoengineering appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – October 6, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – September 29, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – September 22, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

Artist Shane Grammar painted this mural in a building burned by the 2021 Dixie Fire in Greenville California. Photo by Harold Litwiler. Over the past year, several property insurance companies have pulled out or scaled back coverage in the Golden State in the face of growing risks from catastrophic, climate change-charged wildfires. Other climate vulnerable states like flood-prone Florida and Louisiana too, have experienced insurer pull-outs.But it isn’t just insurance companies that are pulling out. Other financial institutions like banks, too, are beginning to increase prices or withdraw services altogether from regions they perceive to be at high environmental risk. This emerging phenomenon in the financial services industry, known as bluelining, is expected to impact marginalized communities the worst and deepen existing economic and racial inequities. To understand this new environmental justice issue and learn about the ways we can address it, Earth Island Journal editor and Terra Verde host Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with two climate finance strategists — Monica Palmeira of the Oakland-based Greenlining Institute, who co-authored a report called Bluelining: Climate Financial Discrimination on the Horizon, and Caroline Nagy, senior policy counsel for Housing, Corporate Power, and Climate Justice at Americans for Financial Reform. The post Bluelining – Tackling an Emerging Climate Justice Issue appeared first on KPFA.

Youth plaintiffs arrive at the courthouse during the Held v. Montana trial. Photo by Robin Loznak / Our Children’s Trust. This summer, the climate movement celebrated a landmark win. Sixteen young people, who sued the state of Montana back in 2020 for promoting fossil fuels, prevailed in their lawsuit against the state, enjoying what has been described as a sweeping win. Their case was the first constitutional climate case and first youth climate case to go to trial in the United States. It rested on several constitutional guarantees, including the plaintiffs’ rights to equal protection, liberty, health and safety, and notably, to a clean and healthy environment. That last one is a relatively unique constitutional protection: Montana is one of only three states in the country with a so-called green amendment, putting the right to a clean and healthful environment on par with other fundamental rights in the state. But a growing movement seeks to embed similar rights in state constitutions across the country. Maya van Rossum, founder of Green Amendments for the Generations, joins Earth Island Journal Managing Editor Zoe Loftus-Farren to discuss the green amendment movement, the Held case, and why self-executing constitutional environmental rights could be an especially powerful tool for climate activists. The post The Case for Constitutional Green Amendments appeared first on KPFA.

The Montezuma NorCal Carbon Sequestration Hub imagines a new carbon dioxide pipeline system in the Bay Area. Terra Verde is joined by guests Dr Marjaneh Moini of PSR-SF and Kathy Kerridge of 350 Bay Area Action to discuss the public health risks and environmental concerns arising from an emerging proposal to establish a carbon capture and sequestration injection site at Montezuma Hills in Solano County to ostensibly address carbon pollution from the electricity generating facilities, hydrogen plants and refineries operating in the San Francisco Bay Delta area. The post Major Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project Unveiled for SF Bay Delta Region appeared first on KPFA.

In Richmond, California, fenceline communities near the Chevron oil refinery are impacted daily by the fossil fuel industry’s influence over local politics and the economy, as well as by the environmental and health risks of living in an oil town. But in the face of industry negligence, pollution, food insecurity, and more, community activists in Richmond have stepped up to fight for the place they call home. On this episode of Terra Verde, Doria Robinson, Executive Director of Urban Tilth, and Madeline Ostrander, author of the new book At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth, join host Fiona McLeod to discuss how community members in Richmond are transforming local food systems through urban farms, holding oil companies and elected officials accountable, and building a blueprint for a just transition away from fossil fuels. The post Growing Food in an Oil Town appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – December 30, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – December 23, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – December 9, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – December 2, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – November 25, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

It’s been a week and three days since election night and we already know difficult times lie ahead for the environmental movement. Many of the environmental protections we have fought so hard for over decades might get rolled back by the new administration. The coming years are likely to bring increased federal leasing of lands for fossil fuel exploration, cuts to climate and clean energy research programs, and fewer protections for critical lands and ecosystems. The one big advantage we have in what’s going to be a long and hard fight to protect our land and waters  is local governments. Cities, towns and local municipalities across the US have been already been voting for community, for diversity and for a healthy environment. Show host and Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, talks Berkeley Mayor-elect Jesse Arreguin and Richmond councilmember Gayle McLaughlin about environmental issues they will be tackling in their cities in coming years.   The post Locally, We Are Strong – November 18, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – November 11, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – November 4, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – October 28, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Over the past 17 years the Brower Youth Awards, given out Earth Island Institute’s New Leaders Initiative, have become the top prize for young environmental leaders in North America. The awards, which honor six youth every year, have recognized some 104 young activists for their leadership and creative efforts in tackling our many pressing environmental problems — everything from fighting extractive industries, pushing for action on climate change, wildlife and lands conservation, and exploring new pathways in green technology. Show host and Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, talks two of this year’s winners, Erica Davis from Knoxville, Tennessee and Karina Gonzales from Flagstaff, Arizona, about the lessons all environmentalists can learn from these young folks on how to build power, and strategy, and ultimately a better living world. The post Learning from Young Environmental Leaders appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – October 14, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – October 7, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Since late August, Indigenous people and their allies descended on camps along Cannonball River at the northern boundary of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, to decry the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. The pipeline, if built, would stretch one thousand one hundred and seventy-two miles (1,172) miles and carry half a million barrels of crude oil per day from the Bakken oilfields — right through lands held sacred by Native groups. While the movement at Standing Rock has reinvigorated the larger climate change movement, it’s also indicative of a emerging Indigenous movement of resistance and restoration of their lands, waters and other natural resources that’s sweeping across North America. Show host and Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, talks about what this growing movement means with award-winning filmmaker, journalist and photographer, Christopher (Toby) McLeod, director of Sacred Land Film Project, who has been working with Indigenous communities for more than 35 years.   The post Standing Rock and the Flowering of Native Resistance appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – September 2, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – August 26, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Wildfires, large and small, have been an essential part of Western landscapes for millennia. And now a growing body of research is showing how most of the traditional fire-control methods we have been employing for nearly a century — like logging dense forests to thin them and removing dead trees so that the fire can’t spread — can actually be counterproductive and ecologically damaging. How so? To explain that and to talk about how we can, and must, learn to coexist better with wildfires, Show host and Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, talks with Chad Hanson, wildfire ecologist and director of John Muir Project – a nonprofit that that uses science and legal means to push for ecological management of federal forestlands and Maya Khosla, a biologist and environmental filmmaker who has been documenting birds in the California Rim Fire Area since 2014. The post Living With Wildfires appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – August 12, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – July 29, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – July 22, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A new report by the Pacific Institute and The Environmental Justice Coalition for Water has found that low-income communities in the San Francisco Bay Area are being hit especially hard by the prolonged dry spell in the state. Show host and Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, discusses the reports’ findings and possible solutions that can address the inherent inequities in our state’s drought responses with Heather Cooley — director of the Oakland-based Pacific Institute’s Water Program and lead author of the report, and Max Gomberg — environmental scientist and climate and conservation manager of the California State Water Resources Control Board. The post Bay Area’s Low Income Communities Hard Hit by Drought appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – July 8, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Last week PG&E announced an agreement with several environmental and labor groups to close down California’s last remaining nuclear power plant in Diablo Canyon by 2025. How did this agreement come about? What does this mean for California’s energy future and for the future of nuclear power in the United States? Show host and Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, discusses these questions with two veteran environmentalists who were involved in the historic two-week civil disobedience action against the plant back in 1981 — Rochelle Becker executive director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility and Tom Athanasiou of EcoEquity. The post End of Nuclear in California? appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – June 24, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Sápara leader Gloria Ushigua As the pressure on natural resources grows across the world, land, grassroots environment rights defenders are increasingly under fire — on average two people are killed every week defending their land and environment. Leila Salazar-López of Amazon Watch and Jaron Browne of Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, will talk with show host and Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, about the recent, tragic murder of Berta Cáceres, the current threat to the life of indigenous Sápara leader Gloria Ushigua, who is fighting to protect her tribe’s land in Ecuadorian Amazon from oil drilling, and the highly dangerous conditions under which many of our frontline defenders operate on a daily basis. The post In the Line of Fire appeared first on KPFA.

Sápara leader Gloria Ushigua As the pressure on natural resources grows across the world, land, grassroots environment rights defenders are increasingly under fire — on average two people are killed every week defending their land and environment. Leila Salazar-López of Amazon Watch and Jaron Browne of Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, will talk with show host and Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, about the recent, tragic murder of Berta Cáceres, the current threat to the life of indigenous Sápara leader Gloria Ushigua, who is fighting to protect her tribe’s land in Ecuadorian Amazon from oil drilling, and the highly dangerous conditions under which many of our frontline defenders operate on a daily basis. The post Terra Verde — June 17, 2016 In the Line of Fire (upcoming) appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – June 10, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – June 3, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – May 13, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

As what may prove to be one of the most historic weeks in American politics draws to a close, host Antonia Juhasz leads a discussion on energy, climate, and election year politics with guests Tyson Slocum, the Energy Program Director at Public Citizen in Washington, DC and Kelly Mitchell, Energy Campaign Director for Greenpeace, from Chicago. This week, Senator Sanders won an upset victory in Indiana, ensuring an energized race with Secretary Clinton straight through the convention, while Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States. There are stark differences between all remaining Presidential candidates on these issues.  But the election is not just about the Presidency, it is also about Congress, state and local contests, all with critical outcomes for energy, climate, and the planet. Our expert guests help steer us through a confusing web of policy and pomp to get to exactly what you need to know during this historic election year.   The post Energy, Climate & Election Year Politics appeared first on KPFA.

Ever wondered if that chemical coating on your nonstick pan was safe for your health? Tune in on Friday, April 29 to learn more about the toxic chemicals present in the nonstick and waterproof products we use everyday. Dr Arlene Blum of the Green Policy Institute and Melanie Benesh, legislative attorney with the Environmental Working Group will talk with show host and Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, about the health impacts of a family of chemicals known as PFCs that are used in these products, and efforts to reform the inadequate laws regulating chemical use in this country. The post A Sticky Issue: The Toxic Truth About Teflon Pans and Other Nonstick and Waterproof Products appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – April 22, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – April 15, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – April 8, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Host Antonia Juhasz is joined by Ariel Ross with Stop Fracking Payne County from Stillwater, Oklahoma, home to one of the larger recent bursts of fossil fuel production spawned by fracking, and the state with the highest number of earthquakes in the lower 48–a result of the fracking process. And Rossmery Zayas of Youth for Environmental Justice with Communities for a Better Environment from South East LA. Rossmery lives in a community in which fossil fuels are refined, burned, shipped, and waste products were – prior to a major victory on the part of local organizers, including her — dumped. Ariel has described these elements as points in the “constellation of problems associated with oil and gas production and fossil fuel dependence.” Two new polls released this week by Gallup find that 73% of Americans now support alternative energy over oil and gas production; including a whopping 89% of Democrats and, for the first time, a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents. The poll also found that, for the first time, a majority of Americans oppose fracking. Juhasz visited Stillwater last year and followed both Ariel and Rossmery in Paris during the COP21 United Nations climate negotiations in December. She wrote about their experiences and stories, as well as those of two other women from Bahrain and Ethiopia, in her recent feature article in Ms. Magazine just out on newsstands this week entitled, “Women take on Climate Change.” Visit Ariel’s blog, “Living with Induced Seismicity in Oklahoma.” And Rossmery’s blog, “I am here to echo the voice of my community.” The post Women Take On “The Constellation of Problems of Fossil Fuel Dependence.” appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – March 25, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – March 18, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Host Antonia Juhasz is joined in studio by anti-war veterans with Iraq Veterans Against the War, Shawna Foster and Derek Matthews, who share their stories about organizing against hate and Islamophobia in the 2016 Presidential election with the #VetsVsHate campaign. And, having participated in the COP21 UN Climate Agreement negotiations in Paris in December with the It Takes Roots to Weather the Storm Delegation, they discuss how organizing against climate change is intimately connected to organizing against war. Shawna Foster is a veteran of the US National Guard where she served as a Nuclear Biological Chemical Weapons Specialist. Derek Matthews was a Sergeant in the Marine Corps. He deployed to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq.   The post #VetsVsHate #VetsVsClimateChange appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – February 26, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – February 12, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Big Oil released it’s worst profit losses in decades this week, host Antonia Juhasz explains why. Then guest Matt Pawa, President of the Pawa Law Group in Washington, DC, discusses California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ recently launched landmark investigation into EXXON’s alleged climate change lies and related misdeeds. Pawa breaks down the nuts and bolts of this investigation: what laws Exxon may have broken, what the legal consequences should and could be, what happens next, and how you can get involved. The post Terra Verde – February 5, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – January 29, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – January 22, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – January 15, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

It may be cold and rainy outside, but the weather should not keep nature lovers from enjoying the spectacles of grey whales traveling down California’s coast, elephant seals giving birth on our beaches, and native salmon returning to the streams where they were born. Terra Verde speaks with John Dell’Osso from the Pt. Reyes National Seashore and Preston Brown of SPAWN about these remarkable animal migrations and tips for observing them. The post Terra Verde – January 8, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Terra Verde digs into its archives for this special show on green new year’s resolutions. Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed talks about her commitment to “wear local” for a year; Beth Terry, author of “My Plastic Free Life” discusses her efforts to virtually eliminate plastic from her household; and Kelly Carlisle, founder of Acta Non Verba youth urban farm, explains her journey to start a new environmental initiative to meet a need in her Oakland community. These stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things for the earth will inspire listeners to take their green commitments to the next level in 2016. The post Resolve to be greener in 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – December 4, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

On this “Buy Nothing Day” episode of Terra Verde, host Michelle Chan talks with Holly Minch of the Center for a New American Dream and Natalie Nava of the Story of Stuff about hyper-consumerism and its impact on our wallets, our psyches and our planet. The post Buy Nothing Day appeared first on KPFA.

Matthew Shepherd of Xerces Society and Professor Claire Kremen of UC Berkeley discuss the environmental crisis facing bees and pollinators, and what this means for the future of food. The post Bees, pollinators and the future of food appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – November 13, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – November 6, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

Terra Verde speaks with Tony Roshan Samara of Urban Habitat and Matt Vander Sluis of Greenbelt Alliance on the housing crisis in the Bay Area and the threats and opportunities it poses to creating sustainable and equitable communities. The post Housing Crisis: Equity and Environmental Discussion appeared first on KPFA.

Host Michelle Chan explores the trend of “pinkwashing” and the surprisingly corporate roots of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Featured guests include Karuna Jaggar of Breast Cancer Action and Ami Dodson of Bay Area Young Survivors. The post Think Before You Pink! appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – October 16, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

Host Michelle Chan explores the in’s and out’s of California’s new ground-breaking climate law, SB 350, with guests Michelle Kinman of Environment California Research & Policy Center and Janice Lin of the California Energy Storage Alliance. (image: Ecology Center) The post SB 350 – California’s new climate law appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – September 25, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

Host Michelle Chan discusses the widespread use of drugs and antibiotics in our industrial system of animal agriculture. Featured guests include Steve Roach of Food and Animal Concerns Trust and Cristina Stella of the Center for Food Safety. The post The Meat of the Matter: Antibiotics and factory farming appeared first on KPFA.

There is a new global goldrush afoot, and this time it’s in land. Host Michelle Chan explores the environmental dimensions of the landgrab crisis with Natalie Bridgeman Fields of Accountability Counsel and Ryan Schiff of International Accountability Project. (Image: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung) The post Landgrabs and the environment appeared first on KPFA.

What’s the forecast? Increasingly, scientists, scholars, and technocrats, as well as journalists, are openly speculating about ideas known by ambitious-sounding terms, like solar radiation management, stratospheric aerosol geoengineering, and albedo modification. Could such unorthodox strategies to counteract global warming be underway already, despite official claims suggesting otherwise? Today Terra Verde tackles controversies around climate intervention and weather manipulation.              The post Terra Verde – Masters of Storms appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – August 21, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – August 14, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

Big philanthropy is all about supporting big organizations. But a handful of environmental funders is having an outsized impact by partnering with small groups. Host Adrienne Fitch Frankel speaks with Yeshica Weerasekara of IDEX and Tim Little of the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment about the importance of resourcing the grassroots. The post Resourcing the Grassroots appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – July 31, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally. The post Terra Verde – July 24, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

The participation of non-professionals in scientific research is proving increasingly valuable to environmental studies, management, and policymaking, as well as to the “citizen scientists” themselves. Host Laura Garzon @EarthMediaArts journeys into new frontiers of citizen science with three guests: Greg Newman of the Citizen Science Association, CitSci.org @CitSci, and Colorado State University (Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory); Scott Loarie @loarie of iNaturalist.org @inaturalist (California Academy of Sciences); and Deborah Zierten of Save the Redwoods League @savetheredwoods. The post Citizen Science: Everyone Can Pitch In appeared first on KPFA.