UC Berkeley (Audio)

Dan Kammen’s Berkeley research group has revealed the need for a dramatic shift to electricity and away from both fossil and biofuels. Meanwhile, 1.3 billion people – 15 percent of the world population – still lack electricity, and their growing demand for it would raise – not lower – global temperatures. The solution, Kammen says, must be local. He sees great promise in efforts to bring together new technologies with best practices to electrify those who don’t have power and to “green it” for everybody else. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 33072]

No single clean energy technology can rein in carbon dioxide emissions. Researchers at the Berkeley Lab aim to add artificial synthesis to our renewable energy portfolio. The technology uses sunlight to turn CO2 and water into chemical fuels. Over the past decade, research led by Peidong Yang has yielded new classes of semiconductor materials to efficiently capture sunlight for this process, and new types of catalysts to promote the chemical reactions Series: "Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World" [Science] [Show ID: 33080]

In this century, the climate is changing faster than ever. Ecologist David Ackerly has been studying how fast plants and animals may need to migrate uphill or northward as the planet warms in order to remain in their preferred temperature regime. These velocities could be as high as five miles per year -- exceeding the ability of most species to disperse and establish new populations. Series: "Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World" [Science] [Show ID: 33074]

Agriculture today is extraordinarily productive, although sadly many people are chronically hungry, malnourished or obese. And the way we farm also takes an increasing toll on the environment. Farming emits a third of all greenhouse gases and uses 70 percent of freshwater resources. It is a major contributor to deforestation and biodiversity loss, and has led to the loss of soil fertility in agricultural lands. How can we produce enough food for the future while protecting the planet? Berkeley conservation biologist Claire Kremen suggests practices that can maintain productivity while using less energy, water and pesticides. Series: "Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World" [Science] [Agriculture] [Show ID: 33077]

Sometimes the soul seems a more precise concept than the body. In this lecture Marilyn Strathern, goes to a place and time where all kinds of beings (including food plants) have souls and where the bodily basis of life is immortalized through cloning. She comments on the way present-day anthropology brings fresh illumination to what we thought we knew. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33308]

Conversations host welcomes Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College, London, for a discussion of his new book, The Future of War, A History. Sir Lawrence reflects on the historical perspective he brings to topics such as strategy and war. Emphasizing the importance of understanding patterns and context through the study of history, Sir Lawrence analyzes what we can learn through a focus on ideas that shape thinking about war. What are the origins of these ideas? How do these ideas hold up in the face of the flexibility of adversaries to develop new responses and the uncertain consequences of human decision-making—the unpredictable factors that shape the trajectory of war. Especially important are the lessons learned from previous wars that distort the images of future wars. There is also a focus in the conversation on the limits of technology to address the contingencies of war. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33597]

The proceedings of the 2018 Commencement Ceremony at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Education] [Show ID: 33704]

Jesús Guzmán, a second-year graduate student at UC Berkeley, talks about how growing up in California as an undocumented resident inspired him to pursue a career in public policy and social equity. Guzman was the featured student speaker at the Board of Advisors Dinner at Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 33621]

Economist Alan Auerbach walks through the impact of the 2017 tax bill championed by President Trump and Congressional Republicans in this conversation with Henry E. Brady, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 33620]

This entrant in the Le Monde Smart Cities Urban Innovation Awards 2018 is a brief overview of the Oakland Ecoblock, a project to retrofit a low- to middle-income neighborhood block in the City of Oakland from high energy and water dependency to the lowest energy and water footprint possible. Series: "UCTV Prime" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 33563]