KPFA - Terra Verde

A weekly public affairs show that delivers news and views about the most important environmental issues in California and globally.

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Today’s episode of Terre Verde is preempted by a 2024 fall fund drive special:

Professor Richard Wolff (from Economic Update) discusses the true impact of tariffs.

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On this week’s Terra Verde episode, host and producer Hannah Wilton interviews author Manjula Martin about her recently-published memoir, The Last Fire Season; A Personal and Pyronatural History, out now from Pantheon Books. Set during the catastrophic 2020 wildfire season and the compounding crises of the pandemic and political upheaval, Martin tells the story of evacuating from her home in West Sonoma County and her journey of healing from a personal health crisis. Tracing the contours of hope, healing, and despair, The Last Fire Season explores what it means to live on a dynamic, changing planet and how we might shift our relationship to the keystone process of fire.

Manjula Martin is coauthor, with her father, Orin Martin, of Fruit Trees for Every Garden, which won the 2020 American Horticultural Society Book Award. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Cut, Pacific Standard, Modern Farmer, and Hazlitt. She edited the anthology Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living; was managing editor of Francis Ford Coppola’s literary magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story; and has worked in varied editorial capacities in the nonprofit and publishing sectors. She lives in West Sonoma County, California.

The post A Personal Chronicle of California’s Wildfire Crisis appeared first on KPFA.

When it comes to clothing, we live in a system that tends to prioritizes quantity over quality; that favors items that can be worn a few times and discarded above those that are cared for and mended over time. This system disconnects us from the materials our clothes are made from, the people who make them, and places they are made. And it contributes to significant environmental and social harm. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In California, a network of fiber activists and producers are modeling a different textile future. One that emphasizes quality, natural fibers, and local production. That helps build community and regional economies. That has a lighter touch on the Earth.

Rebecca Burgess, founder and director of the Point Reyes-based nonprofit Fibershed, and Alisha Bright, creator and owner of the Petaluma-based workshop and yarn shop Fiber Circle Studio, join Terra Verde host and Earth Island Journal managing editor Zoe Loftus-Farren to discuss what this future might look like.

The post Envisioning an Alternative Fiber Future appeared first on KPFA.

Today’s show is preempted by the second hour of a special 2-hour Democracy Now, broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Audio for the first hour of Democracy Now can be found here.

Information about the topics covered on today’s Democracy Now plus the audio for the entire second hour can be found here.

The post Special Event Programming: Democracy Now at the DNC (hour 2 of 2-hour special) appeared first on KPFA.

August 16 Terra Verde

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This week’s Terra Verde episode lifts the hood on America’s disaster recovery and climate resilience workforce. While these workers are the ones rebuilding our homes after hurricanes or harvesting food during extreme wildfires, they often face inordinate exploitation in these unstable and invisibilized sectors. Pressure to change industry standards is growing with support from organizations like North Bay Jobs with Justice and Resilience Force that are advocating for family-sustaining wages and safe working conditions. 

Host and producer Hannah Wilton speaks with Max Alper, the Executive Director at North Bay Jobs with Justice (NBJwJ), a growing, grassroots coalition of more than 30 labor and community organizations in Sonoma, Napa, and Marin Counties. Just recently, NBJwJ linked arms with hundreds of farmworks and other allies in a march over Healdsburg Memorial Bridge to demand higher wages and disaster pay. Also joining is Josh Cox who runs Resilience Works, a for-profit national labor brokerage focused on climate change adaptation. That company is owned by Resilience Force, a national nonprofit working to strengthen America’s resilience workforce – the millions of people across the country who help communities prepare for, respond to, and rebuild after disasters. 

We discuss the importance of training and support for workers to transition into sustainable “green” jobs and the road ahead to building an equitable economy that honors the dignity and expertise of those who are essential to our recovery efforts. 

The post The Frontlines of Climate Adaptation and Disaster Recovery appeared first on KPFA.

PFAS are a class of about 15,000 chemicals known as “forever chemicals” (because they don’t naturally break down). Exposure to these harmful chemicals — which are often found in clothing and textiles, cosmetics, food packaging, and even menstrual products — has been linked to a range of critical health problems. 

While cleaning up environmental PFAS pollution has been a priority of the Biden administration, there has not been a significant federal strategy to regulate the chemicals’ use in consumer goods. Meanwhile, the body of research about the chemicals used in menstrual hygiene products — and the impact they have on reproductive health — remains limited.

On this episode of Terra Verde, host Fiona McLeod is joined by Alexa Friedman, PhD, and Kaley Beins, MPH, to discuss the health impacts of toxic chemicals found in menstrual products, and the need for increased awareness and regulation of PFAS and other harmful substances in consumer goods.

Learn more:

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Forty years ago, the Supreme Court established what would become a bedrock principle in administrative law. Known as Chevron deference, the principle required that courts defer to the expertise of federal agencies when interpreting any ambiguities in the laws they were tasked with implementing. In late June, six of the nine supreme court justices joined the majority opinion in a case overturning Chevron deference. Under the decision issued in Loper Bright Enterprises, the Court says it should be judges, not agency experts at, say, the Environmental Protection Agency, who should make the call when interpreting statutory ambiguities. It may seem mundane, but the decision represents a sea change for the United States regulatory system. And it could have far-reaching implications for everything from environmental protection, to food safety, to disability rights.

David Doniger, Senior Advisor to the NRDC Action Fund, joins Terra Verde host and Earth Island Journal Managing Editor Zoe Loftus-Farren to discuss the new legal landscape and what it means for efforts to protect the environment.

The post Environmental Protection in a Post-Chevron World appeared first on KPFA.

Today’s show is preempted by the second hour of Democracy Now, broadcasting from the RNC in Milwaukee.

The first hour can be found here.

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