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.