KPFA - Terra Verde

Berkeley is home to a number of innovative recycling and zero-waste programs that aim to divert waste from landfills. The city’s Recycling Team works with residents, restaurants, schools, hospitals and more, to provide education and support businesses to comply with local, state, and national mandates. Host and producer Fiona McLeod speaks with two members of Berkeley’s recycling team on this episode of Terra Verde. Julia Heath and Bella Bertaud join the show to discuss how the city is working with local businesses and residents to implement its Zero Waste Strategic Plan, and the role we can play as individuals in reducing landfill waste and living more sustainably. The post Berkeley’s Path to Zero Waste appeared first on KPFA.

Photo by Chris Yarzab. We are just entering summer and already some parts of the country are under heat advisories. The first heat wave of the season started last Friday, literally, on the first official day of summer and has been impacting about 128 million Americans from Louisiana to Maine. The US West, including California, hasn’t been impacted by this particular heatwave. But it’s only a matter of time. In fact, what you might not know is, extreme heat is now the leading climate-related health hazard in California. It claims more lives annually than any other climate threat. To understand what this growing climate threat means, who is at most risk, and to learn about some actions we can take to protect ourselves, Earth Island Journal editor-in-chief and Terra Verde cohost Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with Bibiana Martinez, a public health researcher with Heluna Health, a California-based public health research organization that works to improve health equity. And Walker Wieland Manager of the California’s new CalHeatScore program, a pilot project that ranks risk from extreme heat by ZIP code and seeks to protect vulnerable populations from heatwaves. The post Coping with Extreme Heat 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 20, 2025 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 13, 2025 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 6, 2025 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 30, 2025 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 23, 2025 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 16, 2025 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 9, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Hummingbird Farm is a community-led urban agriculture project in the Excelsior neighborhood of Southeast San Francisco, stewarded by PODER’s (People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights) Urban Compesinx. Since its inception in 2017, the community has transformed nearly seven acres of underutilized public land into a vibrant space for growing food, culture and resilience. Joining forces in this work are PODER and 5 Elements, two local organizations reclaiming land stewardship and artistic expression as tools for self-determination among underinvested communities of color. Producer Hannah Wilton speaks with two organizers from PODER—longtime Environmental Justice Organizer Tere Almaguer and Youth Organizer Alondra Aragón—about how they are weaving ancestral connection, intergenerational healing and translocal solidarity at Hummingbird Farm. We also hear from 5 Elements Co-Founder & Youth Engagement Coordinator Violeta Vasquez on the rising generation of urban compesinx and cultural workers who are reshaping the future of their neighborhoods. The post Urban Compesinx on Youth Power and Land Reclamation appeared first on KPFA.

Water for Life tells the story of three Indigenous activists in Central and South America, who have fought to protect their communities’ water rights and ancestral lands from mining, hydroelectric projects, and large scale agriculture. The three individuals profiled in the film are Berta Cáceres, a leader of the Lenca people in Honduras; Francisco Pineda, a subsistence farmer in El Salvador; and Alberto Curamil, an Indigenous Mapuche leader in Chile — all of whom were previous recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize. The 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony took place this week on Monday, April 21 in San Francisco, California. On this episode of Terra Verde, filmmakers Will Parrinello and María José Calderón join host Fiona McLeod to discuss the stories shared in the film, which is airing on PBS this month after 12 years of production. Featured Image Photo Credit: Courtesy of Goldman Environmental Prize The post ‘Water for Life’ brings Indigenous water issues to the big screen appeared first on KPFA.

The Palisades Fire that started in the City of Los Angelas, January 2025. California is being hit with increasingly frequent, climate change-turbocharged wildfires and much of the disaster-recovery costs are being passed on to taxpayers and ratepayers in the form of higher, and increasingly unaffordable, insurance rates, housing costs, property taxes, utility bills, and health expenses. Some lawmakers, backed by environmental and citizen rights groups, aim to change that. Earth Island Journal editor-in-chief and Terra Verde cohost Maureen Nandini Mitra talks about ongoing legislative efforts to make the main drivers of climate disruption — fossil fuel companies and other corporate polluters — pay up with Maya Golden-Krasner, Deputy Director of the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, and Sierra Lindsey Kos, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director Extreme Weather Survivors, a climate disaster survivor support group. The post Making Climate Polluters Pay appeared first on KPFA.

The 2016-2017 Standing Rock protests aimed to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Photo by Lucas Zhao / Oceti Sakowin Camp.​ In March, a North Dakota jury found against Greenpeace in a highly watched trial, ordering the environmental group to pay pipeline company Energy Transfer more than $660 million in damages. The case stems from the Standing Rock protests in 2016 and 2017, an Indigenous led movement to stop construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Energy Transfer alleges that Greenpeace defamed the company and orchestrated criminal behavior at the protests. Greenpeace denies these claims, describing the suit as an attack on First Amendment rights. Many experts agree that the case could have a chilling effect on public protest. Longtime environmental attorney and human rights advocate Steven Donziger, who has himself been the target of fossil fuel industry-led litigation, was part of an independent monitoring committee for the trial. He joins Earth Island Journal managing editor and Terra Verde host Zoe Loftus-Farren to discuss what he saw at the trial, his own experience with Big Oil, and what the industry’s weaponization of the court system means for the future of free speech and environmental advocacy. The post Energy Transfer v. Greenpeace and the Right to Free Speech appeared first on KPFA.

Grizzly bears once roamed California in large numbers, with populations reaching up to 10,000 before they were driven to extinction by human activity in the early 20th century. Now, over a century later, efforts are underway to reintroduce grizzlies to the state. Building on decades of research and advocacy, the California Grizzly Alliance is set to release a groundbreaking feasibility study this spring that explores the potential for grizzly recovery in California. In this episode of Terra Verde, Hannah Wilton is joined by Peter Alagona, a professor at UC Santa Barbara and lead scientist for the California Grizzly Alliance, to dive into the details of the study. They discuss the history of grizzlies in California, opportunities and strategies for their reintroduction, and what this effort could mean for our collective social and ecological healing. The post Bringing Back the Grizzly 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 28, 2025 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 21, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Protestors at the 2017 March for Science in San Francisco. Photo by Tom Hilton. Environmentalists and civil rights activists are strategizing and pushing back against the Trump administration’s moves to dismantle our democracy, but a whole lot of this work is not yet visible to all and we are left with the sense that, so far, resistance to Trump 2.0 has been rather lack-luster. But has it, really? To delve further into this question Earth Island Journal editor-in-chief and Terra Verde cohost Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with Dana R. Fisher, the Director of the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity and Professor in the School of International Service, who has been analyzing data collecting data from activists engaging in protests around climate change, systemic racism, and the American Resistance. Note: Dana is the author of several books, most recently Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action. KPFA listeners can get a 20% discount on the book at the linked website by using the code CUP20. The post Resistance 2.0 in Trump 2.0 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 28, 2025 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 21, 2025 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 14, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.