On today’s Your Call Media Roundtable, we’ll discuss a recent investigation about how a deceptive PR strategy pioneered in 1950s California first exposed the risk of climate change and then helped the industry deny it. Joining us will be Rebecca John, investigative climate journalist and research Fellow at the Climate Investigations Center.
We also talk about the news media coverage of the devastating LA fires, and the fossil fuel industry’s efforts in California to kill a bill that would have forced major fossil fuel companies to contribute to a fund, which would pay for climate disasters. Aaron Cantu, award-winning investigative journalist covering gas and oil in California for the Capital & Main, will describe the details.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
On Today’s Your Call, we’ll discuss how the ongoing fires in Los Angeles will affect the home insurance market. Joining us will be:
- Dave Jones, the Director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE), who served two terms as California’s Insurance Commissioner from 2011 to 2018
- Jake Bittle, staff writer at Grist covering disasters and climate adaptation, and the author of the 2023 book: The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
On today’s Your Call’s One Planet Series, entomologist professor Doug Tallamy, TA Baker Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware, joins us to discuss his book, “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard.”
Tallamy says we can no longer tolerate actions that degrade our local environment. We must now act collectively to put our ecosystems back together again. What actions can we take to heal our damaged landscapes right now, starting in our backyards and urban spaces?
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for Dr. Tallamy? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
On today’s Your Call Media Roundtable, we’ll get the latest on the wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area from Noah Haggerty, environment, health and science reporter at the Los Angeles Times.
So far, at least 10 people have died, and nearly 180,000 have been ordered to leave their homes around Los Angeles as five fires continue to burn. Officials say, more than 9,000 homes and other structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades and Eaton fires.
Then we discuss a recent expose by Propublica about how UnitedHealth is strategically limiting access to a treatment for thousands of children with autism across the country. Reporter Annie Waldman, ProPublica health reporter, joins us for the details.
ProPublica has obtained what is effectively the company’s strategic playbook, developed by Optum, the division that manages mental health benefits for United. In internal reports, the company acknowledges that the therapy, called applied behavior analysis, is the “evidence-based gold standard treatment for those with medically necessary needs.”
But the company’s costs have climbed as the number of children diagnosed with autism has ballooned; experts say greater awareness and improved screening have contributed to a fourfold increase in the past two decades — from 1 in 150 to 1 in 36.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
I’m guest hosting today’s Your Call, where Dr. Michael Greger, founding member and fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and founder of NutritionFacts.org, will discuss the crucial role food plays in determining health outcomes.
Though dietary choices have the power to prevent, treat, and even reverse the progression of deadly diseases, few people understand how to make the best decisions for themselves amidst a constant stream of conflicting nutritional information. Dr. Greger empowers individuals to improve their health by sharing the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet. What do we need to know to eat healthier for ourselves and the planet?
Dr. Greger is an internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, and author of many books, including How Not to Die, How Not to Diet, and his latest, How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guest? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
Happy 2025! For the first State of the Bay of the year, I’ll talk to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sophia Bollag about the new laws Californians must follow now.
Then Berkeley’s new Mayor Adina Ishii will take questions about her priorities. What do you think her priorities should be? What questions do you have for her? Email us at stateofthebay@kalw.org.
Finally, we’ll meet San Francisco’s new poet laureate Genny Lim.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live tonight at 6pm PT. Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
As the market for the electric buses, cars, trucks, and trains that help curb the climate crisis continues to grow globally, the battery supply chain faces increased scrutiny. Minerals like lithium, nickel, graphite, and cobalt are too often mined and processed in ways that contribute to harming communities and ecosystems, while the batteries often face wasteful end-of-life disposal.
To address this challenge and identify solutions, Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) and ClimateWorks Foundation founded in 2022 the Global Forum for Sustainable Batteries, a worldwide network of nonprofit leaders, experts, and advocates committed to transportation electrification and mining justice.
In 2024, the Forum developed a 2040 Sustainable Battery Vision that we’re releasing publicly today, with the aim of guiding policymakers, organizations, companies, and the general public on the key elements of what a truly sustainable battery should be by 2040. The 2040 Sustainable Battery Vision covers all aspects of the supply chain and beyond, including:
- Sourcing of raw and recovered minerals and materials
- Battery manufacturing
- Battery end-of-life
- Battery value chain traceability
The Vision has received the endorsement of leading environmental and mining justice organizations from around the world, along with supportive quotes. You can view the full list of signatories and their quotes here. And if you represent an organization that would like to endorse it as well, please contact me.
Our hope is that pursuing this 2040 Vision will not only benefit affected communities and stakeholders, it holds the promise of ensuring that the world can meet the transportation electrification challenge both more sustainably and rapidly.
On tonight’s State of the Bay: could warnings on social media platforms help protect young people’s mental health? We’ll discuss with:
- James Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media
- California Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda)
- Author and psychologist Dr. Jean Twenge explore the potential impact of AB 56, a new bill aiming to hold platforms accountable.
Then we’ll talk to Shomik Mukherjee of the Bay Area News Group about into Oakland’s deepening budget woes and the challenges facing its leadership.
Finally, step into the holiday season with a festive preview of the Bay Area’s beloved Great Dickens Christmas Fair, featuring insights from CEO Kevin Patterson and actor Shelby Bond!
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live tonight at 6pm PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
On today’s Your Call Media Roundtable, I’ll be guest hosting a discussion of an investigation by the San Francisco Public Press: Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point. It details how the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, based at a shipyard in San Francisco, exposed at least 1,073 dockworkers, military personnel, lab employees and others to radiation in technical exercises and medical experiments early in the Cold War.
Joining us for the hour will be Chris Roberts, award winning investigative journalist.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guest? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
I’m guest hosting today’s Your Call, when we’ll start with a debrief on San Francisco’s election results with the reporting team of Mission Local – and look ahead to 2025.
Daniel Lurie assumes office as San Francisco’s 46th mayor on Jan. 8. He’ll arrive to find a $867 million budget deficit on his doorstep. And that could spike to $1 billion if Trump decides to withhold federal funds promised to the city.
Lurie beat out incumbent mayoral candidate London Breed by 10 percentage points in the second round of ranked choice voting. The new mayor-elect and Levi Strauss heir’s campaign was largely self-funded, and this will be his first time ever holding political office. So what glimpses has he shown the public so far of how he will govern?
Joining us will be Joe Eskenazi, managing editor for Mission Local, and Kelly Waldron, reporter at Mission Local.
Then later in the show, we’ll talk about about rising hunger and a drop in donations to Bay Area food banks. The leaders of 5 major food banks — San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, Redwood Empire Food Bank and Alameda County Community Food Bank — held a joint press conference last week. Together, those organizations provided enough food for 270-million meals last year.
We’ll discuss with Lauren Lathan Reid, CEO of the California Association of Food Banks, and Liz Gomez, chief impact officer at the Alameda County Community Food Bank, and 2023 Bay Area Jefferson Award winner.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guest? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
