Climate One

Today’s youth activists are speaking up and speaking out, pressing for more government action on climate change now to protect their future and ours. James Coleman, High School Senior; Fellow, Alliance for Climate Education Lou Helmuth, Deputy Director, Our Children's Trust Corina MacWilliams, Co-director, Earth Guardians 350 Club, South Eugene High School This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 9, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Communities of color are most affected by pollution, yet they’ve been overlooked by the green movement. How can we ensure environmental justice for all? Manuel Pastor, Director, University of Southern California Program for Environmental and Regional Equity Vien Truong, National Director, Green for All Miya Yoshitani, Executive Director, Asia Pacific Environmental Network This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 9, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An information war is raging in our country, in mainstream news and on social media. What is factual and what is an “alternative fact?” Do facts even matter? George Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics, UC Berkeley Robert Rosenthal, Executive Director, The Center for Investigative Reporting This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 23, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geoengineering may sound like science fiction, but there are many who believe we can -- and should -- be taking drastic measures to cool our planet down. Oliver Morton, Briefings Editor, The Economist; Author, The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World (Princeton University Press, 2015) Kim Stanley Robinson, Author, 2312 (Orbit, 2012) Ken Caldeira, Climate Scientist, Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 28, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year, 41 million Americans take more water out of the Colorado than nature puts into it. How can we continue to share an ever-shrinking resource? Kevin E. Kelley, General Manager, Imperial Irrigation District Abrahm Lustgarten, Reporter, ProPublica Fran Spivy-Weber, Vice Chair, CA State Water Resources Control Board This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 15, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration has moved quickly to reverse some of the previous administration’s energy and climate policies. But not all Republicans are on the same page when it comes to climate. Those on the so-called eco-right say action is needed to promote clean energy and prevent climate disruption. On today’s program we hear how Republican renegades find climate solutions in conservative principles, and what we can do when climate denial isn’t just present in the halls of government, but actually controls the levers of power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The clean tech sector is on the rise - what areas are most promising for growth, jobs and “gee-whiz!” innovation? What will the new administration bring? Danny Kennedy, Managing Director, California Clean Energy Fund Holmes Hummel, Founder, Clean Energy Works Andrew Chung, Founder & Managing Partner, 1955 Capital This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 6, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Much has been made of the partisan divide on climate change. But there are Republicans out there who believe it’s real – and they have solutions in mind. Jeremy Carl, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University John Hofmeister, Former President, Shell Oil Company Bob Inglis, Former Republican U.S. Representative, South Carolina This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 24, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are the issues that link the Latino community to the environmental movement? For many, it comes down to la familia. Latinos, who make up nearly 40 percent of California’s population, still tend to live in the state’s most polluted areas, in close proximity to freeways and ports. That translates to increased rates of asthma among Latino children. Other community issues include lack of green space, reduced access to bus service and the internet, and economic barriers to things like electric cars and home ownership. According to Adrianna Quintero of the Natural Resources Defense Council, for Latinos, climate change is less a political issue than personal: it’s “about protecting family members…about thinking about the ties that bind us to people in other parts of the world, whether we arrived two years ago, 10 years ago, or were here before the borders were drawn.” As the three panelists note, Latinos have long embraced the culture of conservation. They point to examples from their own experience – reusing foil, taking grocery bags to the store, sharing resources with extended family members. “I think most Latinos are conservationists,” says Orson Aguilar, Executive Director of The Greenlining Institute, “and I think the question is, is it something cultural, is it something in our DNA, or have we been forced to conserve given our economic circumstances?” Whatever their reasons, Quintero points out that 9 out of 10 Latinos surveyed support action to fight climate change. “Those are enormous numbers,” she says. “It shows that we've underestimated this community for years. We've underestimated the power, we've underestimated the commitment to protecting the environment and we're doing that to our own disservice truly. We need to recognize that there's a tremendous amount of awareness and power in this community.” In this election year, how can the environmental movement engage the diverse community of Latinos to demand change in their own communities, and beyond? Catherine Sandoval, Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission Orson Aguilar, Executive Director, The Greenlining Institute Adrianna Quintero, Senior Attorney, The Natural Resources Defense Council. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 7, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched California's attack on climate change by signing a pioneering law to reduce carbon pollution across the state’s economy. That law, known as AB 32, has put California at the forefront of the global move to protect the climate that supports our economy and lifestyles. More recently, California’s energy utility announced plans to close the state's last remaining nuclear power plant. But will such a move reduce or increase carbon pollution? On today’s program we explore the future of oil and nuclear power through the lens of California’s fight against climate disruption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s really preventing us from enacting environmental change? Blame our brains, says Daniel Goleman, author of Ecological Intelligence. As he explains it, “The problem comes down to a design flaw in the human brain.” Evolution fine-tuned our brains to protect us from immediate survival threats – lions, tigers and bears. But long-term dangers, such as those that threaten our planet today, don’t register. “The problem is that we don’t perceive, nor are we alarmed by, these changes,” says Goleman. “And so we’re in this dilemma where we can show people, “Well, you know, your carbon footprint is this,” but it doesn’t really register in the same way as “there’s a tiger around the block.” Facts alone aren’t enough, he adds, “We need to find a more powerful way of framing them…a way which will activate the right set of emotions and get us moving.” George Lakoff, a linguistics professor at U.C. Berkeley, sees the issue as a moral, rather than environmental, crisis: “…the greatest moral crisis we have ever been in. It is the moral issue of our times and it’s seen just as an environmental issue.” But morality can mean different things to different people. This sets up a debate that quickly goes from the political to the personal, as Josh Freedman, author of Inside Change, points out. “When we start saying, “okay, they’re good, and they’re bad,” what happens is we’re actually fueling this threat system that is what’s in the way of us actually solving these problems.” So what is the solution? How do we retune our primitive brains – and those of our political and business leaders — to focus on a less than clear, less than present danger? Throughout the discussion, several key avenues rose to the top: economics, education and emotional appeal. If major institutions can be persuaded to divest from environmentally unsound companies, says Lakoff, “then what will happen is that the prices of the stocks will go down for those energy companies. When they go down that way, they stay down…you have an opportunity to shift investment away in a way that has an exponential feedback loop.” Educating today’s youth was a powerful and recurring theme for all the speakers. “What kids learn and tell their parents is important,” Goleman said. “Schools are a big counterforce that we can do a much better job of deploying in this battle for minds and heart.” Despite our primitive wiring, the speakers concluded, we humans do have the capacity for the ecological intelligence – and the morality – to effect global change. “Your morality is what defines who you are as a human being,” says Lakoff, “it’s who you are emotionally and morally as a human being that matters in your life, what you do every day. This isn’t a matter of compromise…we have, like, 35 years to turn this around, period. That’s not long.” “All change starts on the inside,” says Freedman, “If we can support children and adults to connect with that capability and to develop what’s already there, then things are going to get a lot better.” Daniel Goleman, Author, Ecological Intelligence: The Hidden Impacts of What We Buy (Crown Business, 2010) Joshua Freedman, CEO, Six Seconds; Author, Inside Change: Transforming Your Organization With Emotional Intelligence (Six Seconds, 2010) George Lakoff, Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and author of many books, including The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist’s Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics (Penguin Books, 2009) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 1, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An emerging area of economics aims to put a price on nature as a way of justifying preserving it in societies dominated by the wisdom of markets. A mountain stream, for example, provides many economic benefits beyond people who own property near it or drink water from it. The same is said of bees that pollinate our food, wetlands that cleans water, and trees that drink up carbon dioxide. If nature were a corporation it would be a large cap stock. Putting a precise tag on something long seen as free is a conceptual leap. However many large companies are starting to realize the extent to which their profits rely on well operating ecosystems. Larry Goulder, Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Stanford Tony Juniper, Associate Professor, University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership; Special Advisor to The Prince of Wales International Sustainability Unit This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on July 25, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate denial has become both a psychological and a political problem. Can better communication help us expand common ground and move on to solutions? Renee Lertzman, Climate Engagement Strategist, Author and Speaker Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Meteorology, Penn State University Cristine Russell, Freelance Science Journalist Tom Toles, Editorial Cartoonist, The Washington Post This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on December 12, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Science historian Naomi Oreskes has had her share of hate mail from climate deniers. But, she says, “We can't give up on the challenge of explaining science.” Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History of Science and Director of Graduate Studies, Harvard University, author of “Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming.” (Bloomsbury Press, 2011) Steven Chu, Former U.S. Secretary of Energy; Professor of Physics and Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Stanford This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on December 15, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2016 began in the afterglow of the Paris climate accord, and ended with the triumph of a presidential candidate who has labeled climate change a hoax. So what will 2017 and the Trump administration mean for the future of clean energy? On today’s show we look ahead at how environmentally-conscious lawmakers and businesses might move forward now that Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, and how big blue California might continue to lead the fight against climate change in spite of what happens in Washington. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Radical protesters Tim DeChristopher and Georgia Hirsty put the “active” in “activism.” But is civil disobedience the best way to effect real change? Tim DeChristopher, Founder, Climate Disobedience Center Georgia Hirsty, National Warehouse Program Manager, Greenpeace Brendon Steele, Director of Stakeholder Engagement, Future 500 This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 19, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2016 began in the after-glow of the Paris climate summit and ended with the election of Donald Trump. A look back at the year’s energy triumphs and setbacks. 2. Speaker List David R. Baker, Energy Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Katie Fehrenbacher, Former Senior Writer, Fortune Cassandra Sweet, Reporter, Wall Street Journal This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on December 7, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Donald Trump moves into the West Wing and the GOP takes control of congress, what will become of California’s environmental trailblazing? Christine Pelosi, Superdelegate for Democratic Party; Political Strategist Duf Sundheim, 2016 Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate Tony Strickland, Former California State Senator; California Chairman, The Committee for American Sovereignty Tony Thurmond, California State Assemblymember (D-15) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on December 1, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While federal experts warn that it will cost $44 trillion to rid the U.S. economy of carbon, Citibank counters that failing to act on climate disruption could result in over $44 trillion in public and private losses over the next 25 years. The true cost of either keeping or ditching fossil fuels was up for discussion at a recent Climate One event. Nicholas Stern, Chair, Center for Climate Change Economics and Policy, London School of Economics Steve Westly, Founder and Managing Partner, The Westly Group This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 5, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent agreement is designed to curb emissions from international plane flights. But what if the new administration doesn’t clear it for takeoff? Erin Cooke, Sustainability Director, San Francisco International Airport James Macias, President and CEO, Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc. Sean Newsum, Director of Environmental Strategy, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Annie Petsonk, International Counsel, Environmental Defense Fund This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on November 16, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is as much about what we eat as what we drive or where we live. Rising heat is hitting chocolate, wine, beer, bread and other foods we love, while our appetites for meat, fish, and dairy are responsible for a host of unsustainable farming practices. So what’s a climate-conscious eater to do? On today’s program we'll look at how climate change affects us at the kitchen table. We’ll ask whether all those craft beers, fair-trade coffees, and single-batch chocolates are part of the solution, or whether going vegan is the key to a climate-friendly diet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The explorer, climber, surfer and founder of sporting goods company Patagonia, Inc., has spent a lifetime welcoming adventure – and risk - of all kinds. Yvon Chouinard, Founder and Owner, Patagonia This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 27, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America’s National Parks are struggling to find a balance between the needs of a growing population and the desire to preserve our natural heritage. John Hart, Author, An Island in Time: 50 Years of Point Reyes National Seashore (Pickleweed Press, 2012) Jordan Fisher Smith, Author, Engineering Eden: The True Story of a Violent Death, a Trial, and the Fight over Controlling Nature (Crown, 2016) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on July 19, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connecting the dots between the foods we love and our environment may be one way to engage people in the climate change fight – one cup of coffee at a time. Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, California Academy of Sciences Simran Sethi, Author, Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love Helene York, Global Director, Responsible Business, Compass Group@Google This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 18, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change seems to have taken a backseat in this year’s presidential campaign. What’s ahead for the climate movement in the next administration? Bill McKibben, Founder, 350.org Terry Tamminen, CEO, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 21, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After last winter’s rains, Californians breathed a collective sigh of relief. But short-term weather is not the same as long-term climate. And state water watchers understand that this rainfall did not break the worst drought in over a thousand years. With the effects of climate change being felt around the country – droughts in some areas and flooding in others – the nation is looking to California as a model for how to handle a new normal. Today we’ll dig into the water woes of this bellwether state. How is California planning for a hotter, drier climate in the cities and down on the farm? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California has been proudly fighting the war on climate change for over a decade. But can it can grow its economy and tackle climate change at the same time? Kevin de León, President pro Tempore, California State Senate Melanie Mason, Reporter, Los Angeles Times Antonio Villaraigosa, Former Mayor of Los Angeles This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 5, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the world’s population increasingly moves into cities, what is the future of urban life? How can we build in the ability to weather a changing climate? Jonathan F.P. Rose, Co-Founder, Garrison Institute Peter Calthorpe, Principal Architect, Peter Calthorpe Associates This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 21, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been ten years since California enacted a landmark law that put it at the forefront of the global war on climate change. Has AB 32 been a boon or a bust? Fran Pavley, Senator, California State Senate Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President, Western States Petroleum Association Dan Sperling, Member, California Air Resources Board This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 20, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco developers are planning billions in new construction with a Bayfront view. Yet seas are predicted to rise nearly a foot by 2050. Are we ready? J.K. Dineen, Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Michael Stoll, Executive Director, San Francisco Public Press Lauren Sommer, Science and Environment Reporter, KQED Charles Long, Principal, Charles A. Long Properties, LLC Margie O’Driscoll, Competition Advisor, Resilient by Design Will Travis, Sea Level Rise Planning Consultant This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 13, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Pacific states and British Columbia have all pledged to reduce carbon emissions. Can they help accelerate the global transition to a green economy? Kate Brown, Governor, Oregon Jay Inslee, Governor, Washington Mary Polak, Minister of Environment, Legislative Assembly of British Columbia This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 1, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Paris climate agreement was signed by 196 countries and endorsed by corporate America. But will political rancor sink the ship of progress? Andy Karsner, Managing Partner, Emerson Collective Tom Steyer, Business Leader, Philanthropist and Clean Energy Advocate This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 2, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California is on track to reach 50% renewable energy by the year 2030. But can we do better? What would it take to get us to 100% clean power by 2050? Mark Ferron, Board of Governors, California Independent System Operator Mark Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University Steve Malnight, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, PG&E This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on August 23, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We will discuss the hot prospects for building a climate-conscious career. New jobs and avenues for advancement are being created as companies strive to grow cleaner and governments figure out what a disrupted climate means for water, food, transit and housing systems. The young Americans entering the workforce today will create the cool new products, technologies and cities that will grow our economy and stabilize the climate. What are the best career paths for people who want to take advantage of that huge opportunity? What sectors are most promising? Will doing good entail making less? A conversation about building a thriving career based on reducing carbon while increasing social and economic value. Leonard Adler, CEO, Green Jobs Network Charlotte MacAusland, Commercial Channel Partner Manager, SolarCity Lyrica McTiernan, Sustainability Manager, Facebook Keely Wachs, Director of Communications, Clif Bar Katherine Walsh, Director, Student Environmental Resource Center, UC Berkeley This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 23, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We discuss how doctors, teachers and parents are framing climate change as a children’s issue. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement saying children’s health will be disproportionately affected by climate. The California Parent-Teacher Association is raising its voice about carbon risk and the Boy Scouts are teaching kids about sustainability. Giana Amador, Research Analyst, Center for Carbon Removal Minda Berbeco, Programs and Policy Director, National Center for Science Education Ryan Condensa, Action Fellow, Alliance for Climate Education Luis Martinez, Student Activist Alexander Zwissler, Principal, Einstellung Labs This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 23, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fossil fuels have lifted nations into the modern era, bringing wealth and well being to many. But as we turn away from these carbon intensive energy sources, will the promise of jobs and prosperity from a clean energy society, be fulfilled? Or will the gulf between the haves and have-nots simply widen? And how will we protect everyone from the health impacts of a hot world? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

PG&E recently announced plans to close the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant by 2025 and replace it with renewable energy. What does this mean for Californians? David R. Baker, Energy Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle John Geesman, Attorney, Dickson Geesman LLP Dian Grueneich, Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission Michael Shellenberger, President, Environmental Progress This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on August 9, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s smart homes can be managed from your phone; banking can be done with the swipe of an app. But how vulnerable are we to hackers and cyberterrorism? General Keith Alexander (Ret.),Former Director, National Security Agency; Founder and CEO, IronNet Cybersecurity Alfred Berkeley, Former Director, World Economic Forum USA David Mount, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on July 20, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America’s National Parks are struggling to find a balance between the needs of a growing population and the desire to preserve our natural heritage. John Hart, Author, An Island in Time: 50 Years of Point Reyes National Seashore (Pickleweed Press, 2012) Jordan Fisher Smith, Author, Engineering Eden: The True Story of a Violent Death, a Trial, and the Fight over Controlling Nature (Crown, 2016) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on July 19, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the dry spell continues, studies show that California could be facing a megadrought lasting decades. How do we adjust to the “new normal” in our climate? Noah Diffenbaugh, Associate Professor, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University Peter Gleick, President and Co-founder, Pacific Institute Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global warming is hitting closer to home than we think, from a neighborhood child gasping with asthma to a parent collapsing from heatstroke. These realities led U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to assert in April that climate change presents the most complex threat to public health in U.S. history. Rachel Morello-Frosch, Professor, University of California, Berkeley Linda Rudolph, Director, Center for Climate Change and Health, Public Health Institute Robert Gould, Director of Health Professional Outreach and Education, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, UCSF Katrina Peters, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCSF This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 5, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In November California voters have the chance to legalize marijuana. Could bringing one of our biggest industries out of the shadows help our environment? Scott Greaten, Executive Director, Friends of the Eel River Roger Morgan, Executive Director, Coalition for Drug Free California Michael Sutton, Former President, California Fish & Game Commission This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 14, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our planet’s oceans drive our weather and generate much of our oxygen -- and they’re being severely impacted by climate change. What can be done about it? Liz Taylor, President, DOER Marine Peter Willcox, Captain, Rainbow Warrior, author, Greenpeace Captain: My Adventures in Protecting the Future of Our Planet (Thomas Dunne Books, 2016) Stiv Wilson, Director of Campaigns, Story of Stuff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many Californians are wondering if El Niño has saved the Golden State from its historic drought. The snowpack in Sierra Nevada is more robust, reservoirs in Northern California are more full, and Folsom Lake even rose 10 feet in the month of March. However, the state is nowhere near pre-drought conditions. Three experts joined Greg Dalton at the Commonwealth Club to discuss the future of water in the Golden State. Ashley Boren, Executive Director, Sustainable Conservation Max Gomberg, Climate Change Manager, State Water Resources Control Board Gabriele Ludwig, Director, Sustainability & Environmental Affairs, Almond Board of California Barton Thompson, Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 5, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A two-part conversation about the present and future of atomic power in a hot and crowded world. David R. Baker, Energy Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Caroline Cochran, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Oklo Lucas Davis, Associate Professor, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley Jessica Lovering, Director of Energy, The Breakthrough Institute Jose Reyes, Chief Technology Officer, NuScale Power Ray Rothrock, Partner Emeritus, Venrock This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 15, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ll explore the role of imagination in finding solutions to environmental threats – from fantasy films to engineering the sky to control the Earth’s climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Pacific states and British Columbia have all pledged to reduce carbon emissions. Can they help accelerate the global transition to a green economy? Kate Brown, Governor, Oregon Jay Inslee, Governor, Washington Mary Polak, Minister of Environment, Legislative Assembly of British Columbia This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 1, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Paris climate agreement was signed by 196 countries and endorsed by corporate America. But will political rancor sink the ship of progress? Andy Karsner, Managing Partner, Emerson Collective Tom Steyer, Business Leader, Philanthropist and Clean Energy Advocate This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 2, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While federal experts warn that it will cost $44 trillion to rid the U.S. economy of carbon, Citibank counters that failing to act on climate disruption could result in over $44 trillion in public and private losses over the next 25 years. The true cost of either keeping or ditching fossil fuels was up for discussion at a recent Climate One event. Nicholas Stern, Chair, Center for Climate Change Economics and Policy, London School of Economics Steve Westly, Founder and Managing Partner, The Westly Group This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 5, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geoengineering may sound like science fiction, but there are many who believe we can -- and should -- be taking drastic measures to cool our planet down. Oliver Morton, Briefings Editor, The Economist; Author, The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World (Princeton University Press, 2015) Kim Stanley Robinson, Author, 2312 (Orbit, 2012) Ken Caldeira, Climate Scientist, Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 28, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices