In this episode, we explore where we’re at with the COVID-19 pandemic - regionally, nationally, and internationally - and begin to assess where we’ve come from, how we handled the pandemic in the US, what worked, and how we could have done better.

We also discuss what we can do moving forward to save lives and truly put this pandemic behind us.

My guest is Dr. Monica Gandhi, infectious disease expert & professor of medicine at UCSF.

In this episode, we explore carbon offsets, and how their promise as a way to mitigate carbon emissions - and thus climate change - have not yet panned out.

A recent article in ProPublica found that, instead those who broker in carbon offsets appear to be gaming the system, and the calculations of how much carbon is being sequestered in forests are often mis-calculated or erroneous.

My guests are Grayson Badgley, post-doctoral researcher at Black Rock Forest, a research forest just outside of New York City, and Anna Trugman, Assistant Professor of geography at UC Santa Barbara. Their research was featured in the ProPublica article.

In this episode, we explore the role of the public health department - from obvious activities, such as educating the public about COVID-19 - to activities that may not be immediately clear, such as being involved in transit planning or declaring racism a public health crisis.

To be effective and really reach the publics that they serve, public health departments must figure out how to communicate with those who may disagree with government officials and each other.

My guest is Andy Wessel, community health planner with the Douglas County Health Department in Omaha, Nebraska.

In this episode, we explore the parameters and jurisdiction of the First Amendment, as well as how we can better navigate issues and challenges involving speech in digital spaces.

My guest is Lata Nott, First Amendment Fellow at the Freedom Forum, and Deputy Director of Policy at State Voices.

In this episode, we explore the impacts of News Deserts and Ghost Newspapers - parts of the U.S. where there’s either no local paper, or where the local paper has been gutted and can no longer adequately cover the community.

My guest is Dan Kennedy, professor in the school of journalism at Northeastern University and a contributor to GBH News in Boston.

In this episode, we explore the importance of precision in language - in particular for journalists and other content creators seeking to inform and contextualize information - and how lack of precision can contribute to polarization, misinformation, and echo-chambers.

In particular, we discuss the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and how journalists navigated language and word use to communicate what was happening as the story unfolded.

My guest is Pamela Mejia, head of research at the Berkeley Media Studies Group or BMSG.

(photo by: Blinkofanaye (CC BY-NC 2.0)

In this episode, we take a deeper look at California’s fire outlook in 2021 and moving forward.

Over the past few years, massive wildfires tore across parts of California, wiping out homes, businesses, and entire towns and communities. Our fire season keeps getting longer and longer, meaning firefighters, communities, and the vegetation have less time to recover.

In 2020, wildfires burned 4.2 million acres in in the state – a record. And in 2021, weather models indicate that the greatest fire risk will come earlier than usual.

My guest is Lynne Tolmachoff… supervising deputy state fire Marshall… for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - or CalFire.

For more information on how you can prepare for wildfire, including a helpful checklist, go to ReadyForWildfire.org.

In this episode, we discuss the current state of California’s climate - how it’s changed in recent years, and what we face in 2021, including a significant drought and warmer temperatures, setting the stage for a potentially severe and lengthy fire season.

My guest is Brian Garcia, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service, serving the San Francisco Bay Area.

In this episode, we explore the role and power of language - words and phrases - in how we discuss the issues that affect us and that drive our news and information cycles.

Phrases like “Black Lives Matter” and “Cancel Culture,” and words, such as “socialism,” “communism," and “fascism,” are battled over in our media spaces until their actual meaning seems lost and we assign meanings that serve our ends.

My guest is Laura Specker Sullivan, PhD, assistant professor of philosophy at Fordham University.

In this episode, we explore how the imagery and visuals that are infused into racist and misogynistic tropes today can be traced to classical works of art, including both the intentional messaging of the artist… as well as the cultural context we bring, and how we interpret and use that imagery.

We also discuss how the art we think of as canon was actually deliberately and intentionally defined in an early and successful PR effort that persists to today.

My guest is Letha Ch’ien, Ph.D., assistant professor of art history at Sonoma State University.

Works of art mentioned in this episode include:

• The Feast in the House of Levi by Paolo Veronese