Climate One

Sherry Boshert, Author of "PLUG-IN CARS: HOW TO GET ONE AND WHY" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SOLAR POWER UPDATE: CALIFORNIA'S MOMENT IN THE SUN DAVID EDWARDS, Managing Director, ThinkEquity Partners LLC MICHAEL HALL, Chief Marketing Officer, Borrego Solar MARTIN ROSCHEISEN, CEO, Nanosolar, Inc., J.P. ROSS, Director of Programs, Vote Solar ARNO HARRIS, CEO, Recurrent Energy, Inc. – Moderator, This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on March 21, 2007 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LOCAL POLICY DIRECTIONS FOR ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE Panel: MICHEL GELOBTER, President, Redefining Progress; Board Member, Natural Resources Defense Council DAVID R. BAKER, Markets and Energy Writer, San Francisco Chronicle SEVERIN BORENSTEIN, Director, UC Energy Institute; This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on March 27, 2007 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Todd Paglia Executive Director, ForestEthics, THE NEW ENVIRONMENTALISM: USING CORPORATE POWER FOR SOCIAL CHANGE This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on March 29, 2007 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Green is Your City? The SustainLane U.S. City Rankings. Appearing with me will be the ever-entertaining Director of the Department of the Environment for San Francisco, Jared Blumenfeld--abandon your notions of a staid city bureaucrat--and Ian Kim from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, which is leading up a "green collar" jobs program for the city. This panel talks about the future of green cities, local jobs, economic development and clean tech in the 21st century, with representatives from the #2 city (San Francisco) and #5 city (Oakland) out of the largest 50 US cities profiled in How Green is Your City? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on May 2, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE LARRY BRILLIANT, Executive Director, Google.org ANDREA GARDNER, Sustainable Solutions Manager, CH2M Hill AD MELKERT, Undersecretary of the United Nations, Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme NANCY PFUND, Managing Director, JPMorgan GREG DALTON, Vice President, Commonwealth Club-Moderator SINKING CARBON AND RAISING LIVING STANDARDS While many Californians consider buying hybrid cars and unplugging their computer, most of the world's 6 billion people covet having any kind of car and can only dream of having a laptop one day. Yet fighting global climate change will require lifestyle changes by everyone. How can that happen without slamming the world's poor, who are most vulnerable to the health and weather effects of global warming? How can California's innovation in climate policy and technologies help by decoupling carbon emissions from GDP growth? This program was recorded live on November 27, 2007 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

RACE AGAINST TIME: The 2008 GGNRA Endangered Species Big Year Brent Plater, Golden Gate University Environmental Law and Justice Clinic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ambassador RENO L. HARNISH III, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs DIANA FARRELL, Director, McKinsey Global Institute KEN CALDEIRA, Scientist, Carnegie Institution Department of Global Ecology Bush Administration Assistant Secretary of State and Climate Change authority Ambassador RENO L. HARNISH III headlines a panel of experts who will examine the next steps in addressing the crisis. This comes on the heels of last week’s conference in Honolulu that made global headlines. Later this year, Harnish will lead the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008), which will bring together government, civil society and private business leaders to deliberate the benefits and costs of a major and rapid scale-up in the global deployment of renewable energy technology. WIREC will specifically look at developing an overall policy towards reducing greenhouse gas intensity globally. The Honolulu event followed the much-publicized negotiations in Bali in December, which ended with an 11th hour, worldwide consensus on a roadmap for reducing carbon emissions. What happens next? Many tough issues are at stake, including which countries should reduce carbon emissions the most and how much they should rely on either market forces or government regulation. Commonwealth Club V.P Greg Dalton who orchestrated this event said, “We are honored to assemble such a high profile and esteemed group to explore these critical and timely issues. Our hope is that this discussion will generate some viable solutions in this ongoing global dialogue.” Ambassador Harnish previously led U.S. policy on scientific and environmental cooperation with the new independent states of the Soviet Union and was Environment, Science and Technology Counselor for the U.S. Embassy in Rome. Diana Farrell directs the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), an economics research arm of the international consulting giant. Ken Caldeira does extensive research on climate change at the Carnegie Institution Dept. of Global Ecology and is an op-ed contributor for the New York Times. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on February 7, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

STIRRING IT UP: How to Make Money and Save the World. Gary Hirshberg, President and CE-Yo, Stonyfield Farm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

PROPELLING CLEAN TECH IDEAS INTO CLEAN TECH BILLIONS Progress Report from the Winners of the Clean Tech Open Winners tell their stories and display their products and technologies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

HOW TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE WITHOUT SOAKING THE MIDDLE CLASS Peter Barnes, Tomales Bay Institute, Co-Founder of Working Assets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ANATOMY OF A GREEN BUILDING Dave Deppen, Environmental Architect This program was recorded in front of a live audience on March 27, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Werbach CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi; Former President, Sierra Club; Commissioner, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission A lot has happened since Adam Werbach declared environmentalism dead in a speech to The Commonwealth Club three years ago. In 2007, Werbach's sustainability agency Act Now helped Wal-Mart engage its 1.3 million employees in one of the largest grassroots sustainability movements to date - the Personal Sustainability Project. In January 2008, Act Now was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi, a hothouse for world-changing ideas with over 7,000 employees in 84 countries. Together they aim to become the sustainability agency of record for the world's leading corporations. Their purpose: help companies grow their businesses and preserve the planet through strategy, product and supply-chain innovation, workforce engagement and marketing. The mission: create a consumer revolution for social change. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on April 10, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fred Krupp, President of Environmental Defese Fund Fred Krupp discusses his new book Earth: The Sequel - The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming. The Environmental Defense Fund helped reduce acid rain in the 1990s by using market forces, and last year it played a role in the buyout of Texas utility TXU that reduced the number of planned coal-fired power plants. The advocacy group's president, Fred Krupp, believes business-friendly approaches such as carbon cap-and-trade systems are the best way to fight global warning. His new book, Earth: The Sequel, highlights the entrepreneurs, scientists, and even a former bus driver on the Trans-Alaska pipeline, who are betting on the free market to create new wealth and build a post-carbon economy. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on April 23, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Wagoner, Chairman and CEO, General Motors Can GM Really Be Green Motors? “We are looking forward to hearing what Rick Wagoner has to say on energy diversity and security,” comments Greg Dalton, Club VP and Director of The Club’s new Climate One Program, who orchestrated the program. “A lot of Californians want to know if US automakers are finally turning the corner on the role of cars as a major source of global warming.” Wagoner has held numerous high level posts at General Motors. Before becoming its CEO and Chairman in 2003, he was president and chief executive officer of what? A division?. Prior to this, he was its executive vice president of North American operations and chief financial officer. In his early years at GM, Wagoner helped bring the company back from a $30 billion loss over a three year period in 90’s. He is GM’s youngest CEO in history and was named executive of the year by Automotive Industries in 2001. He landed his first job at GM straight out of Harvard Business School as an analyst in their treasury department. Wagoner holds an economics degree from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on May 1, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chair of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Director General, Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi Mary Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board (CARB) Ray Lane, Managing partner of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Greg Dalton, Commonwealth Club Vice President, founder of The Club's Climate One Initiative PANEL: Leading a transformation to a global low-carbon economy Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Mary Nichols and Ray Lane will address questions concerning California’s leading role in the fight against dangerous climate change. What is the state of science on the causes and impacts of global warming? Can California consumers, corporations and policymakers facilitate systemic change and spur others to act? What are the costs and what are the opportunities? What role does innovation play? “California's culture of innovation is helping to drive the world towards more sustainable ways of producing, consuming and being,” comments Greg Dalton, Club VP and Director of The Club’s new Climate One Program, who orchestrated the program. “The changes are profound and promising. And yet leading environmental scientists such as R.K. Pachauri say we all need to do more, much more.” Pachauri, chair of the IPCC since 2002, is also the director general of the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, devoted to researching and promoting sustainable development. Selected by The United Nations Development Program as a Part Time Adviser in the area of Energy and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources, Pachauri holds an M.S. in industrial engineering, a Ph.D. in industrial engineering, and a Ph.D. in economics from North Carolina State University. Nichols, appointed chair of CARB by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2007, also served as CARB chair under Governor Jerry Brown. Her history includes serving as assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air and Radiation, Secretary for California's Resources Agency, and Director of the University of California, Los Angeles Institute of the Environment. Considered one of California’s first environmental lawyers, Nichols has paved the way for greater air quality. She has her Juris Doctorate degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University Lane, Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has sponsored several investments for the firm in clean and alternative energy including Ausra (solar concentrator), Fisker Automotive (plug-in hybrid car), Th!nk NA (electric car), Luca Technologies (biologically enhanced gas recovery from fossilized hydrocarbons). Before joining KPCB, Lane was President and Chief Operating Officer of Oracle Corporation, the second-largest software company in the world. Lane received a Bachelor's degree in mathematics and an honorary Ph.D. in Science from West Virginia University (WVU). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California In signing a landmark climate change law two years ago, Governor Schwarzenegger put California ahead of the parade to a low-carbon economy. “The global warming debate is over,” he declared. Public awareness has surged since then, but most of the hard work still lies ahead. How will California meet its goal of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases 25 percent by 2020? Will offshore oil drilling be resumed? Who will pay for the transition to sustainable energy? Will California’s energy and environmental laws become part of a national plan under a new president? The governor will provide an update and his vision of the road ahead. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on September 26, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where Would Google Drill? Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google Would “Drill, Baby, Drill” be part of Google’s vision for green energy? Yes, but not drilling for oil. CEO Schmidt says punching down into the Earth to capture natural and clean geothermal energy could help move the United States away from its dependence on petroleum. Google’s new energy plan also calls for a bold move into solar and wind power. It would cost $2.7 trillion through 2030. However, Schmidt says it would generate $2.1 trillion in energy savings. It would also create hundreds of thousands of jobs. And help fight global warming. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on October 1, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global Climate Change in the Decades Ahead: Fact Versus Fiction Rob Dunbar, Professor of Earth Science, Senior Fellow, Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Dunbar takes a fresh look at the controversy surrounding the global warming crisis. He discusses unprecedented changes in the environment, focusing on air-sea interactions, tropical marine ecosystems, polar climate and the transfer of chemicals between organisms and environments. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on October 8, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Big Oil Part of Our Energy Problem, or the Solution? John Hofmeister, Founder and Chief Executive, Citizens for Affordable Energy; Former President, Shell Oil Co. Big Energy is feeling the heat as skyrocketing oil costs and climate-change buzz fuel criticism from consumers and the media. But recently retired Shell chief Hofmeister will give a major speech addressing how the goals of consumers, the environmental movement and energy companies are actually closely aligned. He has just founded the not-for-profit nationwide membership association Citizens for Affordable Energy. This public-policy advocacy firm aims to promote sound U.S. energy security solutions for the nation, including a range of affordable energy supplies, efficiency improvements, essential infrastructure, sustainable environmental policy and public education on energy issues. Don't miss this groundbreaking event. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on October 16, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Renewable Energy for California: Challenges and Solutions Paul Douglas, Renewables Portfolio Standard Program Manager, California Public Utilities Commission Roy Kuga, Vice President of Energy Supply, PG&E Diane Fellman, Director of California Regulatory Affairs, FPL Energy Carl Zichella, Regional Director for California, Sierra Club Cliff Chen, Energy Analyst, Union of Concerned Scientists - Moderator How fast should electric power companies change their game plans? Al Gore has challenged the nation to produce 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years, and the California legislature has directed the state's investor-owned utilities to generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy by 2010. So, how are we doing so far? Only a small proportion of the utilities' contracts for clean energy have resulted in visible construction. What is causing the delay, and what are the solutions? This program was recorded in front of a live audience on October 21, 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author, The Long Emergency, James Howard Kunstler is an author, social critic, public speaker, and blogger. He is best known for his books The Geography of Nowhere (1994), a history of American suburbia and urban development, and the more recent The Long Emergency (2005), where he argues that declining oil production is likely to result in the end of industrialized society as we know it and force Americans to live in localized, agrarian communities. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on March 19, 2007 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

City Planet Stewart Brand, Co-founder and President, Long Now Foundation Brand will discuss how increasing urbanization is accelerating economic development with remarkable speed. The consequences will be profound, he believes. Are we prepared? Brand has focused on such subjects as digital media, education and architecture. He’s perhaps best known for founding the Whole Earth Catalog. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on June 14, 2007 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Energy Efficiency Unplugged Jim Davis, President, Chevron Energy Solutions Ralph Cavanagh, Co-director, Energy Program, Natural Resources Defense Council Tim Draper, Founder and Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Alan Murray, Deputy Managing Editor and Executive Editor Online, The Wall Street Journal – Moderator Can we “save” our way to energy independence? Many energy companies contend the cheapest energy is unused energy. Changes in the construction and management of buildings help companies conserve, but is this a comprehensive strategy? What can we do in our personal lives to conserve, rather than consume? Turning off lights, pumping up tires and using the dishwasher’s “energy saver” mode are small, simple steps. Will they actually make a difference, or do we need more efficient technology to spur meaningful change? Join a panel of experts to discover what companies and consumers can do to become more energy efficient. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on January 13, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate Countdown: Can the World Cut a Deal? Tony Brunello, Deputy Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, California Louis Blumberg, Director, CA Forest and Climate Policy, The Nature Conservancy Aimee Christensen, Founder and CEO, Christensen Global Strategies Greg Dalton, Vice President, The Commonwealth Club; Founder, Climate One – Moderator In 2009, the world will try to craft the next comprehensive environmental treaty. To move forward, there must be multi-lateral consensus on the priorities in the global climate crisis. Recently, the UN Climate Change Conference convened 11,000 people from nearly 190 nations to focus on these challenges. How will governments, business and civil society come together to create plans for action and real solutions? What part will the U.S. play in the next protocol? This panel of insiders will give you the scoop and update you on what you need to know about the U.N.'s negotiations on climate change. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on January 15, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Getting Your Green Dream Job Nick Ellis, CEO, Bright Green Talent Liz Maw, Executive Director, Net Impact Jeff Horowitz, Founder, Avoided Deforestation Partners Peter Beadle, CEO, Green Jobs Joel Makower, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com; Author, Strategies for the Green Economy – Moderator Want a green job? INFORUM will tell you how to get it. In an increasingly green society, eco-friendly jobs are popping up everywhere. You don’t have to be an eco-expert to take advantage of this new market. Whether you’re just entering the workforce or looking to transition into a green career, our panel of experts will give you the ins and outs of finding a green-collar job. Following the panel discussion, INFORUM’s job fair features a wide variety of businesses, organizations, government sectors and schools that can help you take the next step in the green job market. The companies and organizations tabling at the job fair portion of the program are: Bay Area Air Quality Management District; Beautiful Communities; California Environmental Associates; California Public Utilities Commision; CleanTech Human Capital; Global Footprint Network; GoodGuide; Green Career Central; Green Jobs Network; Green MBA; ICF Jones & Stokes; Presidio School of Management; Saatchi & Saatchi S; San Francisco Department of the Environment; SF State University – Graduate Business Programs; Solar Living Institute; SolarStaff Inc; Solar Richmond; Sustainable Spaces; The Cassillon Group; TransForm; USGBC NCC - Emerging Green Builders. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on January 26, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cars: Clean Them or Crush Them? Kate Blumberg, Research Director,International Center for Clean Transportation Cornie Huizenga, Vice-Chair, Clean Air Initiative, Asia Center Michael O’Hare, Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley Lee Schipper, Project Scientist, Global Metropolitan Studies, UC Berkeley Greg Dalton, Commonwealth Club Vice President, Moderator The number of cars in the world may double in twenty years to 2 billion if the emerging middle class in India and China get their hands on a new set of wheels. The global economic recession is causing some countries to invest in rail and other cleaner modes of transportation. At the same time, the recession prompted China to to relax regulations on autos to boost its economy. What are the consequences for global climate and quality of life in Asia? What are the alternatives for personal mobility? Will Asian cities choose the problematic western model? How can the US improve its transportation policies and technologies? Is the answer cleaner cars or fewer cars? This program was recorded at The Commonwealth Club on January 22, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alan Weisman, Author of "The World Without Us" Alan Weisman's reports from around the world have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Orion, Wilson Quarterly, Vanity Fair, Mother Jones, Discover, Audubon, Condé Nast Traveler, and in many anthologies, including Best American Science Writing 2006. In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; what of our everyday stuff may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Letter to President Obama: A Path to a Greener Future Linda Adams, Secretary, California Environmental Protection Agency Carter Roberts, CEO, World Wildlife Fund U.S. Jim Wunderman, President and CEO, Bay Area Council Greg Dalton, Vice President Commonwealth Club Can President Obama heal the economy and turn it green at the same time? He says yes, he can – by pumping investment into modern infrastructure, renewable fuels and new technologies. Can he and his cabinet really do all that and also uphold promises to protect national parks, balance the needs for food and energy, and create new jobs? Perhaps he can if he develops a clearly defined roadmap that tackles today’s multi-faceted and intertwined problems of national and energy security, global poverty, and climate change. A leading policymaker, advocate and businessperson discuss what Obama should do to realize his vision for America, and what that means for California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Driving Toward Sustainability Dan Sperling, Founding Director, Institute of Transportation Studies; Board Member, California Air Resources Board By 2020, the number of cars on the planet will double to two billion. Without big changes to our cars, fuels and personal habits, the carbon footprint from transportation will rise above its current 25 percent of total emissions. Can we break the cycle of “shock and trance?” Join energy expert Sperling as he reveals what is at stake if we refuse to move quickly, and what opportunities exist if we act now. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on February 12, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clean Tech for California: Emerging Winners Jennifer Billock, Founder, Over the Moon Diapers – Air, Water, and Waste Winner Tuyen Vo, Founder and CTO, Viridis Earth – Energy Efficiency Winner Michael Looney, CEO and President, BottleStone – Green Building Winner Allen Bronstein, Founder and CTO, Focal Point Energy – Renewables Winner Donnie Foster, CEO and President, Power Assure – Smart Power Winner Fraser Smith, CEO, ElectraDrive – Transportation Winner Betsy Rosenberg, Founder, EcoTalk - Moderator Meet the winners of the Third Annual California Clean Tech Open 2008. This statewide competition focuses on keeping California the leader in commercialized green technologies. Learn about the progress that the six winning companies have made as they move their innovations from the lab into the marketplace, as well as the biggest challenges and opportunities for turning clean-technology concepts into viable business models. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on March 2, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Vincent Alder, Senior Fellow, Institute for Environmental Security Holmes Hummel, Lecturer, Climate Policy, University of California, Berkeley Tom Spencer, Vice Chair, The Institute for Climate Security Greg Dalton, Vice President, The Commonwealth Club, Moderator What is the geopolitical context in which the “Carbon Quad” – The United States, European Union, China and India – are posturing regarding a global deal to reduce carbon pollution? What is the potential impact of the dwindling snow pack in the Tibetan plateau? How does water stress factor into the climate equation internationally and in California? A fast and furious roundtable explores these issues and touches on the lessons of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme, which is something of a model for the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution Auden Schendler, Executive Director of Sustainability, Aspen Skiing Company; Author, Getting Green Done What does the mechanic say when you ask him to put french fry oil in his $250,000 tractor? How do you actually make sustainability happen? Schendler will give us a peek under the hood of the green movement – what it means, in the trenches, to implement actual solutions to climate change. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 7, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Biologist Birute Mary Galdikas discusses the connection between Indonesian rainforests and climate change. In conversation with Greg Dalton, Commonwealth Club Vice President, founder of Climate One Deforestation in Indonesia, driven largely by large palm oil plantations, has caused that country to become the third largest emitter of greenhouses gases in the world. Galdikas, who studied under anthropologist Louis Leakey, has been studying orangutans in Borneo for nearly 40 years. She urges people to be aware of the impact palm oil, and biofuels, are having on one of the world’s largest carbon sinks. This program was recorded at The Commonwealth Club on April 27, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clean Coal: Myth, or Reality? S. Julio Friedmann, Carbon Management Program Leader, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Ray Lane, Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Bruce Nilles, Director, Beyond Coal Campaign at Sierra Club Joe Lucas, Senior Vice President, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity Jeff Goodell, Author, Big Coal – Moderator Coal-fired power plants are the largest U.S. emitters of CO2 and human-generated mercury, yet our nation is poised to build many new coal plants in the future. Panelists will discuss new technologies for carbon capture and storage and IGCC, and the implications of energy policy decisions on the health of our economy and our planet. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on April 28, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rethinking Buying and Building: A New Sustainability Chain Andy Ball, CEO, Webcor Builders Beth Springer, EVP, Clorox Dave Steiner, CEO, Waste Management, Inc. Greg Dalton, Vice President, Commonwealth Club, moderator Companies and consumers are being asked to think more about the full life-cycle of the products they make and buy. Whether making consumer goods or constructing skyscrapers, companies are coming around to such a cradle-to-cradle mentality. This panel, which includes the CEO of the country’s largest recycler, $14 billion Waste Management, will discuss innovations in design, materials and marketing that are convincing people and companies that being green is good for business and the planet. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on May 12, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Road to Copenhagen: Are We on Track? Bill Reilly, Chairman, Climate Works Foundation; Former Administrator, EPA Larry Schweiger, President, National Wildlife Federation; Board Member, Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection John Bryson, Retired CEO, Southern California Edison; Co-founder, National Resources Defense Council Greg Dalton, Vice President, Commonwealth Club of California In six months more than 180 nations will gather in Copenhagen to hammer out one of the most far-reaching international treaties since the post-war order was established nearly 70 years ago. The Obama administration is taking a proactive approach. Environmentalists and businesses are weighing in. Is the world on track to make a deal? What will it look like? How is California helping set the agenda? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on June 9, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chevron + Sierra Club: Drilling for Common Ground Dave O’Reilly, CEO, Chevron Carl Pope, Executive Director, The Sierra Club Alan Murray, Deputy Managing Editor, The Wall Street Journal – Moderator Chevron and the Sierra Club both see renewable fuels as a growing part of our future. Yet as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy, they have different views on how that change should occur and who should bear the costs. Higher taxes? Voluntary conservation and efficiency? Government mandates? In their first-ever public conversation, O’Reilly and Pope discuss balancing energy and the environment in the 21st century. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on June 10, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Curtailing Suburban Sprawl in California Ted Droettboom, Joint Policy Director, Association of Bay Area Governments Laura Hall, Principal, Hall Alminana, Inc. Paul Campos, Vice President and General Counsel, Northern California Home Builders Association As California’s population has grown, so too has the state’s thirst for expansion and elbow-room. As a result, Californians are spending more time in their cars than ever before. Longer commutes equate to higher greenhouse gas emissions, with roughly 40 percent of the state’s current overall emissions resulting from the transportation sector. Panelists will discuss recent state legislation that was passed to curtail suburban sprawl, as well as the impact legislation will have on individual citizens and the state. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on July 7, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World Bank: Driving Incomes Up, Carbon Down Katherine Sierra, Vice President for Sustainable Development, World Bank Group Awais Khan, Lead, Clean Tech Venture Capital Practice, KPMG Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One at The Commonwealth Club Are the world’s poor going to get shafted in the clean economy, just as they did in the dirty one? The World Bank is at the center of the great 21st-century challenge of reducing carbon while creating opportunity in emerging economies. When are those priorities in alignment? When do they conflict? How does the World Bank’s efforts relate to private capital and entrepreneurs? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on July 28, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Truth About Green Business: The Potential for Jobs and Prosperity Gil Friend, Founder/CEO, Natural Logic, Inc.; Author, The Truth About Green Business Running a profitable business that takes care of the environment, provides meaningful jobs, and helps the community is an oxymoron, right? Not so fast. Friend suggests that green business practices are good for business and the world. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on August 18, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered Woody Tasch, Chair and President, Slow Money; Author Tasch is the chairman and president of Slow Money, a new nonprofit intermediary dedicated to catalyzing the flow of capital to enterprises that support the values that underline slow money, Tasch explains how we can “slow down” the flow of money to support soil fertility and local communities. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on August 27, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carbon Exchange 101 Eileen Tutt, Deputy Secretary for Climate Change and Environmental Justice, Cal EPA Lawrence Goulder, Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Stanford University Josh Margolis, CEO, Cantor CO2e Greg Dalton, Vice President, The Commonwealth Club – Moderator Could carbon exchange be the best route to controlling emissions? Some argue that the cap-and-trade approach lets companies buy the right to pollute, while others see a way to encourage clean industry while boosting the economy. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 20, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hopenhagen: Seth Farbman, Jon Krosnick, Adam Werbach - Public Support for a Deal in Copenhagen Adam Werbach, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi S Seth Farbman, Managing Director, Ogilvy & Mather Jon Krosnick, Professor of Communication and Political Science, Stanford University Greg Dalton, Founder, Climate One What do people around the world think about the threat of climate change and the promise of a new clean economy? Are they informed about the international negotiations in Copenhagen? If clean energy doesn't become a kitchen table issue, will the negotiations succeed? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club on September 15, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arnold Schwarzenegger: California - Carbon = A Cleaner World? Governor of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will soon convene a global summit of governors from developing countries to advance the transition to a clean-energy economy. Before that happens, he visited Climate One for a discussion of California's role managing greenhouse gases, promoting green jobs and developing clean technology. Join us at the intersection of policy, politics and carbon for a conversation with the governor. This program was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco as part of Climate One at The Commonwealth Club Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPA + You = A Greener Future Lisa Jackson, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency After winning higher auto fuel economy earlier this year, what are the EPA’s next big priorities? In her first visit to California as the country’s chief environmental regulator, Jackson will lay out her vision for cleaning up America’s air, water and land. What are her plans on toxics, mining and other hot-button issues? And with climate legislation winding through Congress, what is her view on a national renewable fuel standard and other drivers moving toward a clean energy future? How does she plan to “sell” environmentalism in minority communities? Join us for an evening with President Obama’s top green advisor. This program was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco as part of Climate One at The Commonwealth Club on September 29, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Flannery Chairman, Copenhagen Climate Council; Author, Now or Never: Why We Must Act Now to End Climate Change and Create a Sustainable Future Greg Dalton, Founder, Climate One - Moderator One of the world's leading scientists and notable climate experts offers a pragmatic roadmap of the environmental challenges we face in dealing with climate change and the potential solutions toward sustainable living. Rather than looking backward and assigning blame, Flannery offers a powerful argument for immediate action and highlights some of the advancements made by wind-energy companies and automobile manufacturers to create electric cars that could end the reign of oil. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 21, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A World Without Ice: Man’s Impact on Climate Change Henry N. Pollack, Ph.D., Professor of Geophysics, University of Michigan It has taken just three centuries for human growth and rising industrial economies to bring the delicate relationship between ice and humans to a dangerous precipice. Ice carved Earth’s landscape to its present state – the sharp Alpine peaks of Europe, the vast Great Lakes of North America, the majestic valleys of Yosemite National Park and the deeply incised fjords of Norway. But as the climate-change debate becomes more heated, are we at risk of losing these precious formations? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 27, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s Science Got to Do with Climate Change? Stephen Schneider, Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Stanford Greg Dalton, Founder, Climate One What risks does the changing climate pose to the global economy and how can we manage those risks? Rather than betting so much on a cap-and-trade regime for carbon pollution, Schneider says policymakers should fund more research to invent our way to a greener economy. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on November 3, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Down to the Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse David Orr, Professor, Environmental Studies and Politics, Oberlin College Due to our refusal to live within the Earth’s natural limits, we now face a multitude of problems that will have a severe negative impact on human civilization. Orr, an expert on environmental literacy and ecological design, further argues that political negligence, an economy driven by insatiable consumption and a disregard for future generations are only adding to our plethora of environmental challenges. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, on November 11th, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saving Civilization Is Not a Spectator Sport Lester Brown, President, Earth Policy Institute Brown sees concern in the merging of world food and energy economies. Putting corn ethanol in gas tanks and grain-intensive food (beef) into more human bellies will drive up commodity prices and exacerbate fresh water scarcity. Though he believes the Earth is under stress, Brown is hopeful, in part because for the first time since the Industrial Revolution we have begun investing in energy sources that can last forever. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on November 10, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India: Deal Maker or Deal Breaker? India plays a critical role in the global climate chess game. It’s hard line stance has been softening slightly recently as the Copenhagen negotiations approach. What is India’s approach to the international negotiations? What are the prospects for reforming its electricity sector? How is clean technology faring in India now? These questions are addressed by Varun Rai, a Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, and Alexis Ringwald, a co-founder of Valence Energy and a co-organizer of the Climate Solutions Road Tour in India. This program was recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on October 6, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Future of Cars and the Auto Industry James Lentz, President/COO, Toyota, USA, Inc. Toyota is known for creativity and a commitment to sustainable development, but is it enough in today's ultra-competitive globalized car industry? Come hear the unique perspective of industry veteran Lentz, who launched the innovative Scion brand in 2001, on what automakers are doing to ensure vehicles are a benefit, not a burden, to society and what future designs may be on the horizon. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on November 17, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate One in Copenhagen Segment One Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor, California Huang Ming, Founder and CEO, Himin Solar (one of China's largest renewable energy companies) Segment Two Rajendra Pachauri, Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Caio Koch-Weser, Vice Chair, Deutsche Bank As the tumultuous climate negotiations in Copenhagen near the end, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says it is embarrassing that the US does not have a national climate policy as do many of the 192 countries meeting here. He says sub-national actors such as states and cities can act as "laboratories of action" on climate change as they have on many other issues. Huang Ming, a former petroleum engineer turned clean energy entrepreneur, says that shaping popular culture and thinking is as important as the policies being discussed in Copenhagen. In a light moment he and the governor discuss heating hot tubs with solar energy. Rajendra Pachauri says India and other countries are doing a lot at the local level to reduce carbon pollution. "We don't need to wait for leadership at the top," he says, urging a grassroots movement to spur deadlocked negotiations among countries here trying to reach a global climate framework. He believes rich countries do have a moral obligation to address the carbon pollution their economic development has created. Among the most contentious issues in Copenhagen is the question of transferring funds from wealthy countries to help less developed nations reduce future pollution and deal with changes already happening. Koch-Weser, a former official with the World Bank and German Finance Ministry, says that financial markets can leverage taxpayer money to reach the $65 billion to $100 billion a year in financing that developing countries say they need to cut a deal. He also says electric cars in the future will be "built in China not Stuttgart or Detroit" because China's automotive technologies will leapfrog industrialized countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sun Up: Scaling Solar Power in California Bob Epstein, Founder, Environmental Entrepreneurs Mike Peevey, Chair, California Public Utilities Commission Mike Splinter, CEO, Applied Materials Nancy McFadden, Senior Vice President, PG&E Solar power is surging in popularity as a renewable energy source, yet still remains a small part of California’s overall energy supply. How will this situation change, in light of a state plan calling for a massive scaling up of renewable sources by 2030? What factors are driving the ongoing decrease in the price of photovoltaic systems, and what technology, project financing and policy will enhance the availability and affordability of residential, commercial and utility scale solar power? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 12, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The King of Coal, Prince of Wind? Dave Freudenthal, Governor of Wyoming With America’s largest deposits of coal and uranium, Wyoming sends massive amounts of energy to California and the rest of the country. Governor Freudenthal is trying to chart a new path for an extraction state where half the people don’t believe global warming is real. He’s looking to cleaner ways of using coal and believes natural gas is a winner, for fueling transportation or generating electricity. Wind power also holds promise, while getting it to market without trampling on endangered species and testy landowners is a challenge. Can California technology and innovation help illuminate the way? Join us for a special opportunity to discuss America’s energy future with the down-to-earth chief executive of this powerhouse state. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on January 21, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Martenson: Oil, Water and Climate A former employee of the International Energy Agency told the Guardian newspaper recently that figures about worldwide oil supplies are exaggerated. That supported what peak oil adherents such as Martenson have been saying for years. In addition to oil, he discusses how the intertwining effects of the economy and environment will coalesce to shape a future radically different from the past. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 26, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Copenhagen: What Now? Emily Adler, Partnership Director, Alliance for Climate Education Louis Blumberg, Director, California Climate Change, The Nature Conservancy Tony Brunello, Deputy Secretary for Climate Change and Energy, California Natural Resources Agency Leslie Durschinger, Managing Partner, Terra Global Capital Caitlin Grey, Student, Alameda High School Dan Jacobson, Executive Director, Environment California AG Kawamura, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture Bruce Klafter, Head, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability, Applied Materials Sally Osberg, President and CEO, The Skoll Foundation Amy Luers, Environment Manager, Google.org Nancy Skinner, Chair, Natural Resources Committee, California State Assembly What are the prospects for a global climate treaty in 2010? With world leaders still arguing over how fast to reduce carbon pollution and who will pay for the clean up, we convene a panel of experts who attended the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. Was that a success, a bust or a little of both? We’ll have firsthand reports and backroom insights. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 2, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geo-engineering: Global Salvation or Ruin? Ken Caldeira, Professor, Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution Albert Lin, Professor, UC Davis School of Law David Whelan, Chief Scientist, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Should humans address man-made rising temperatures and sea levels by tinkering further with Mother Nature? A lively debate about such geo-engineering burst into the mainstream recently with reference to Caldeira’s work in the final chapter of the popular book SuperFreakonomics. Now this panel takes a measured look at the good, bad and ugly of what could and should be done. What is technically feasible? How could such tactics be tested? What are the risks? How would such a program be governed? Does the mere mention of geo-engineering take the steam out of efforts to reduce carbon pollution and create a moral hazard? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 23, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Your God Green? Reverend Sally Bingham, Interfaith Power and Light Senior Rabbi Stephen Pearce, Temple Emanu-El What would Jesus say about climate change? What does the Torah say about stewardship of God's creation? Leaders from different religious traditions discuss how their respective philosophies and scriptures guide their approach to today's energy challenges. They'll also address how congregations around the country are getting involved in the movement to build a cleaner energy future. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 23, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fossil Fuels + Dependence = Security Risks? Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, United States Navy, Retired What do military officers think about the United States’ reliance on oil? One group of retired brass concluded that it threatens economic stability and national security. Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn (retired) says the 12 people studied scientific data and energy models for more than a year and concluded that the Pentagon should clearly integrate energy and climate change into its strategy and operations. What's that mean? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 29, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global Warring Cleo Paskal, Consultant, U.S. Department of Energy Associate Fellow, Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London The changing climate now has the attention of military establishments around the world. Last year, for example, the CIA created a group focused on tracking the national-security implications of desertification, rising sea levels, population shifts and heightened competition for natural resources. What will the opening of the Arctic mean for Russian access into North American waters? Will China's lack of clean, fresh water undermine its global ambitions? Will India's increasingly erratic monsoon affect its economic growth? These and other pressing questions will be answered. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 13, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forecast or Invent Our Energy Future? Vinod Khosla, Founder, Khosla Ventures; Former CEO, Sun Microsystems Predictions of peak oil and resource scarcity are driving investments in new energy and technologies. What will determine the winners and losers? What policies are needed to drive innovation and send proper price signals? Are incremental solutions such as hybrid vehicles helpful, or does the climate challenge require huge breakthroughs at the system level? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 20, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cap and Charade? Michael Shellenberger, Breakthrough Institute Kristin Eberhard, Legal Director, Western Energy and Climate, Natural Resources Defense Council Larry Goulder, Chair, Department of Economics, Stanford Would capping and trading carbon pollution create a prosperous clean energy economy? Or would it be a boondoggle for Wall Street and scammers in developing countries? While touted as a market-based way to put a price on carbon, cap and trade has been parodied by Jon Stewart as the superhero Cap N’ Trade and is increasingly questioned by environmentalists and regulators. Yet the state of California and many companies have a lot invested in a cap-and-trade system. Will it die a slow death? Should it? What would be a better way to create a global price for greenhouse gases? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 22, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Youth Grabbing the Wheel: Young Leaders Speak Up on Driving Down Carbon Jason Bade, 19, Stanford Student; Co-director, Green Youth Alliance; California Climate Champion Gemma Givens, 19, UC Santa Cruz Student; Member, Indigenous Environment Network Shreya Indukuri, 16, Harker Upper School Student; Co-founder SmartPowerEd.org Alli Reed, UC Berkeley student; Real Food Challenge What would the move to a clean-energy economy look like if your kids were driving? Business and policy leaders often talk about preserving natural resources for future generations, and yet youth are rarely part of the conversation. In fact, they usually are on the margins or not even in the room. This program was recored in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 4, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National Ocean Policy: Working to Protect Our Oceans and Resources Sarah Chasis, Director of Ocean Initiative, Natural Resources Defense Council Julie Packard, Executive Director, Monterey Bay Aquarium Michael Thuss, Director and Member, Texas Water Conservancy Association Warner Chabot, CEO, California League of Conservation Voters; Former Vice President, the Ocean Conservancy – Moderator The United States has ocean areas larger than any country in the world. The White House is considering a national policy to address the environmental and economic challenges that face our oceans, coastal states, communities, jobs and waterways. Join our distinguished panel to discuss this historical planning for the sustainability and health of our nation’s oceans and resources — for now and future generations. This program was recorded at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 13, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reporter's Roundtable Are electric cars ready for prime time? And is California hitting the brakes on its climate legislation? Our reporter's roundtable discusses all these issues and more with environmental reporter Todd Woody and Craig Miller of KQED's Climate Watch. This program was recorded live on May 13, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Drill, Baby, Spill Jim Boyd, Vice Chair, California Energy Commission Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club Dan Miller, Managing Director, The Roda Group Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President, Western States Petroleum Association What impact will the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico have on America’s energy supply? With the environmental and economic damage mounting daily, California has backed away from plans to drill off the West Coast. Will the United States also change course and shelve recently announced plans to erect a new generation of offshore oil rigs? As Alaskan supplies fall, will California import more oil from the Middle East? Or turn to Canadian tar sands? Will the oil spill drive investment and policies to spur biofuels? Oil on the shores of Louisiana will change the energy equation in ways we are just starting to understand. Join us for a town hall conversation about how to safely and cleanly fuel our future. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on May 18, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Corporate Sustainability: A Sprint or Marathon? Dan Hesse, CEO, Sprint When every company claims to be a green leader, how can consumers know which ones really are? Hesse will share his insights on why sustainable growth is sound business and can offer a competitive edge in an industry expanding rapidly around the world. What are the energy and environmental impacts of the global wireless revolution? Sprint has introduced eco-friendly phones and placed in the top 20 of Newsweek magazine’s 2009 Green Rankings of 500 U.S. corporations. How is it going to stay ahead of the green curve? This program was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco on June 8, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merchants of Doubt Erik Conway, Historian, California Institute of Technology What do tobacco and fossil fuels have in common? A handful of scientists were able to obscure the truth about both threats to public well-being, according to author Conway. “Doubt is our product,” one tobacco executive reportedly said. Oil and coal companies borrowed a page from that playbook and have used it effectively to cast a cloud over climate science. The result? Opinion polls show that a falling percentage of Americans think climate change is urgent and, as the economy faltered, it has plunged as a national priority. Conway, an expert on the history of carbon dioxide measurement and climate science, offers a peek into the campaign against the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the global scientific consensus that human activity is adversely impacting the Earth. This program was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco at The Commonwealth Club on June 11, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America’s Climate War Eric Pooley, Deputy Editor, Bloomberg BusinessWeek Why is the national conversation about America’s energy future so polarized? Who are the true believers, power brokers and climate-change deniers working the halls of power in Washington? The political story of global warming includes colorful characters from activists chaining themselves to bulldozers and powerful lobbyists in the West Wing of President Obama’s administration. Pooley had extensive access to Al Gore in writing his new book, The Climate War. He offers his take on the forces battling it out in the big climate change showdown. Join him for a conversation about villains, heroes and the fight to save the earth. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on June 24, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hot, Wet and Uncertain Wieslaw Maslowski, Research Professor, Naval Post Graduate School Will Travis, Executive Director, Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission Andrew J. Gunther, Executive Director, Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration Greg Dalton, Commonwealth Club VP, Founder of Climate One, Moderator What do scientists predict the Earth will be like in a few decades? While imperfect and complex, computer models using historic data and forward projections suggest deterioration of agricultural land, crumbling bridges and flooded roads, and population shifts away from low-lying cities such as Miami and Amsterdam. How fast will Arctic ice melt? What does that mean for the rest of the world? What are governments and businesses doing in the Bay Area and elsewhere to prepare for new water patterns that paradoxically may bring too much water at times in some areas and drought in others? Join experts for a discussion of what the past and present can tell us about our future. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on July 9, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shai Agassi: A Better Model? Founder and CEO, Better Place In conversation with Greg Dalton, Founder, Climate One INFORUM’s Next 21st Century Visionary Award Shai Agassi wants to tip a $3 trillion market – the market for miles. Agassi, the CEO and Founder of Better Place, said he plans to end oil’s stranglehold on the global economy by offering consumers access to miles in electric cars that will be cheaper,and more convenient, than the gasoline-powered cars they replace. Most large and startup automakers are scrambling to make electric cars but Better Place is taking a decidedly different, and risky, approach. It is partnering with Renault and China’s Chery to deliver electric cars with batteries that can be swapped at new robot-powered stations. By taking the battery out of the up-front purchase price and essentially leasing it to drivers as a monthly service, he aims to offer electric cars that are at least $3,000 to $5,000 less to purchase than a comparable gas car and will be cheaper to drive each mile. “The price of oil keeps going up, the price of batteries keeps going down, the life of batteries is improving,” Agassi said. A few cars are on the road now in Tokyo and dozens are slated to be tested in Israel later this year. Will battery swapping take off? Will it flop? Or will it be just another niche? Agassi forwards his bold vision for the arrival of electric cars for the mass market. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on July 12, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After BP: Climate Progress? Joe Romm, Editor, Climate Progress Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress It is “morally unconscionable” for the fossil fuel industry, and the politicians who carry their water in Congress, to stand in the way of action on climate change, says Climate Progress blogger Joe Romm. A Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and former US Department of Energy official, Romm says California voters have an opportunity this November to defeat the forces seeking to delay action on climate change by rejecting an attack on AB 32. “There isn’t anything more important Californians can do than kill Proposition 23 by as large a margin as possible to send a message. Anybody who wants to save the climate in this country, who wants to pass legislation, is going to have to transform politics in this country so that there is a political cost to trying to destroy the climate. ” Confronted by such a grave threat, we need to act now, he says. Which means we can’t wait for technologies yet to be invented. More R&D funding for clean energy would be wonderful, he says, but “We need to deploy every last piece of low-carbon technology we have today if we’re to give the next generation a fighting chance.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco at The Commonwealth Club on July 19, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) Undaunted by the death of climate legislation in the Senate this summer, U.S. Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) vows to reintroduce comprehensive legislation next year and guarantees its passage within a few years. “We have a responsibility to the rest of the world,” Markey says, “most of the CO2 which is up there is red white and blue.” Markey, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, concedes that events in the spring, including the health care reform push and Deepwater Horizon disaster, conspired to distract attention nationally from the importance of climate legislation. But its demise was assured, he says, when Republican Senate leaders used the threat of filibuster “as a way of engaging in obdurate, obstinate opposition to this legislation passing – and time was their friend.” Markey also urges Californians to defeat Proposition 23. “You cannot lose this issue out here. It’s an imperative for you to beat back these two Texas oil companies. If you win here, I think we can win everywhere. If they lose here, they can lose everywhere.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on August 13, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Power Shift: The U.S. Navy and Global Energy Reform Ray Mabus, Secretary of the U.S. Navy Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One Within 10 years, the United States Navy will get one-half of all its energy needs, both afloat and ashore, from non-fossil fuel sources,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says. He believes that the US military can jump-start the clean energy revolution. “If we can begin to get this energy from different places and from different sources, then I think you can flip the line from ‘Field of Dreams’: If the Navy comes, they will build it. If we provide the market, then I think you’ll begin to see the infrastructure being built, the price per kilowatt-hour come down.” The Navy’s carbon footprint is vast – it consumes about 1 percent of all the energy used in the United States – and last fall announced an ambitious plan to slash fuel use and carbon emissions by buying hybrid vehicles, moving away from petroleum, and constructing energy efficient buildings. Mabus also serves as President Obama’s point person for recovery in the Gulf. Work is needed, he says, to modernize the technology by which oil companies respond to spills, and to update the legal structure under which they operate. “Obviously, the cap that was placed on oil companies, which was $70 million, did not anticipate anything remotely like this incident. The legal structure … needs to be updated to take into account realities as they exist today,” Mabus says. Asked by Climate One’s Greg Dalton what an appropriate dollar figure for the liability cap might be, Mabus replied: “I’m not sure there needs to be a cap.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on August 16, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The evolving status of women in the world today will be explored at The Commonwealth Club throughout the month of August in the series The Ascent of Woman. Through speakers, panels, films and art, we will examine this transformational period in women's history, this dramatic shift from the expectation of our mothers' choices, to how we work and live today in ways that reach out through our families and communities to reverberate throughout the nation. The Ascent of Woman series will illuminate women's lives today, where women are redefining what a 'woman's place' will be. Women Changing the Way We Eat Spin It Green: The Story of Marissa Muller Marissa Muller, Solar-Powered Bicycle Pioneer After graduating from business school in Spain, Muller returned home to California and worked with her family in building her vision: a solar powered electric bike. During her 1,000-mile solo adventure on the roads of California, she visited 14 high schools, offering a seminar on solar and electric vehicles, and sparking a dialogue with the students to start brainstorming ways to combat our energy and environmental challenges. Though the ride is over, her goal of reaching 1,000 clean ideas is ongoing. Meet this amazing young woman and hear her message of clean power. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on August 19, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cradle to California William McDonough, Architect and Author, Cradle to Cradle Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One American architect McDonough and German chemist Michael Braungart started the Cradle to Cradle revolution in manufacturing and design. Now they want to drive that integrated thinking deeper into the heart of capitalism. How? By creating a startup in Silicon Valley. The Green Products Innovation Institute, which McDonough and Governor Schwarzenegger christened last spring, aims to transform the “making and consumption of things into a regenerative force for the planet.” The institute will certify products to inform consumers and encourage corporations to use cleaner and more sustainable materials and processes. Does the world need another green seal of approval? McDonough says it’s about much more than that. He’s thinking big about architecture, manufacturing and transportation. And with his track record, he has the ear of captains of industry as well as activists including Brad Pitt. Join us for a conversation with one of the leading lights of the sustainability movement. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on September 7, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Salt, Oil and Carbon Jane Lubchenco, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Nancy Sutley, Chair, Council on Environmental Quality, the White House Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One A new national oceans policy will require a patchwork of federal agencies to collaborate on managing the country’s oceans and lakes for the first time, according to Jane Lubchenco, Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. They told a Climate One audience the creation of a National Oceans Council should help streamline and centralize the fractured system that had existed before. “What we have is a whole new dimension of collaboration,” says Sutley. The pair’s enthusiasm for the new reforms was tempered by the dire state of the oceans and the manifold threats that promise to degrade them further. Lubchenco notes that the acidity of the oceans has increased by 30% in the past 100 years. That is compromising the ability of calcium carbonate-shelled creatures to make shells, she says, threatening the “rainforests of the sea” – coral reefs – and placing in jeopardy the base of the marine food web. How will the BP oil disaster affect the health of the Gulf of Mexico? Lubchenco says it will take years to really know. Of the 4.9 million barrels that gushed into the deep ocean, Lubchenco says ¼ was burned, skimmed, or captured; ¼ evaporated; ¼ was dispersed, naturally or by chemicals; and the last ¼ collected as sheen on the surface, in tar balls, or washed ashore. Lubchenco remains concerned about the very dilute but still toxic oil that remains below the surface. “Dilute does not mean benign,” she says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on September 8, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: Green Light or Red Light Ahead? With an election approaching that will decide his successor and the fate of his landmark legislative achievement, California’s climate law known as AB 32, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers a full-throated defense of his legacy. Schwarzenegger’s aim, he says, is to shed a spotlight on “forces willing to sacrifice this country’s environmental future for private gain” by pushing Proposition 23. “Oil companies like Valero and Tesoro and Frontier and Koch Industries are blatantly trying to manipulate the will of the people and the public good,” he says. “They are creating a shell argument that this is about saving jobs. Does anyone really believe that these companies, out of the goodness of their black-oil hearts, are spending millions and millions of dollars to protect jobs?” Asked by Climate One founder Greg Dalton if he welcomes Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman coming down on his side on Prop. 23, Schwarzenegger replies, “Yes, I welcome anyone who comes to our side and helps. I hope she uses some of her billions of dollars that she has and put it into the campaign to fight Prop. 23.” Schwarzenegger repeatedly stresses that California’s future rests on its ability to lead the transition to a clean energy economy, and that doing so would not negatively impact the state’s economy. Since 2005, he says, jobs in the greentech sector have grown ten times faster than the California average and are the single-largest source of new job growth in the state. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on September 27, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Solar Surge? John Woolard, CEO, BrightSource Energy Karen Douglas, Chairman, California Energy Commission Lisa Hoyos, California Director, Apollo Alliance Greg Dalton, Climate One - Moderator A “perfect storm” of policy and incentives has made 2010 a banner year for solar in California, but for the boom to continue in the state and the rest of the United States, major obstacles need to be cleared, according to a panel of experts convened by Climate One. Karen Douglas, Chair of the California Energy Commission, BrightSource Energy President and CEO John Woolard, and Lisa Hoyos, California State Coordinator, Apollo Alliance, caution that the absence of a coherent, stable, and long-term national clean energy policy is holding back the industry. “One of the challenges in US policy is that … it’s been, ironically, perpetual and long term for fossil fuels, but short term and extended sporadically for renewables,” Woolard says. “We need a longer time horizon … at least five, more likely ten years, is reasonable.” Douglas agrees: “It’s terribly damaging to extend a policy and then reverse the policy. If you do that too many times, developers feel burned.” We also need to be able to deliver the clean energy to the grid. Woolard notes that over the past decade US regulators have sited 12,000 miles of natural gas pipelines but only 600 miles of power lines. “It’s like running interstate commerce without highways and rails,” Woolard says. If you can get projects financed and approved by regulators, it will mean jobs, Hoyos says. “Clean energy jobs are growing ten times faster than any other sector of our economy in this state,” she says. “We need to fully put our energy behind opposing Proposition 23 so we can continue to realize the benefits of AB 32, which is expected to generate in the next ten years over $104 billion in investment and other economic opportunities.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 8, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Balance: Energy, Economy and Environment Part of The Chevron California Innovation Series Raj Atluru, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Ralph Cavanagh, Energy Co-director, Natural Resources Defense Council Cathy Reheis-Boyd, President, Western States Petroleum Association Jack Stewart, President, California Manufacturers and Technology Association Virgil Welch, Special Assistant to the Chairman, California Air Resources Board Greg Dalton, Climate One - Moderator The low-carbon economy is California’s future. But this panel of energy experts convened by Climate One disagrees on how fast that transition will take, and how it will impact the economy. Jack Stewart, President, California Manufacturers and Technology Association, and Cathy Reheis-Boyd, President, Western States Petroleum Association, repeatedly stress that California could be more business friendly, and that green jobs alone won’t pull the state out of recession. “We all see a clean energy future,” Stewart says. “The question is: When do we get there? How fast do we get there? And at what cost?” “We cannot lose sight of the fact that we are not in a good state in California,” says Reheis-Boyd. “I can tell you my members are making some very difficult choices about where to invest their next dollar.” We have to get the rules right, the remaining panel members say, but they see no trade-off between environmental and economic good. “I think the energy history of California over the last 30 years is how to do both well,” says Ralph Cavanagh, Energy co-director, Natural Resources Defense Council. “Nobody is satisfied with 12.4% unemployment, but I don’t think the answer is doing less of what we already know we do better than anyone else. I think it’s speeding up.” For Virgil Welch, Special Assistant to the Chairman of the California Air Resources Board, it’s also about maintaining California’s global competitiveness. “The policies that we as a state are working on are not just what we need to do for our energy and environmental needs, but they’re critical to driving us towards where the global economy is heading, which is clean energy.” As long as California’s maintains its forward-thinking policy framework, green innovators will call the state home, says, Raj Atluru, Managing Director at the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “California has succeeded over the last century because of its innovation. We’ve innovated in entertainment, flight, defense, communications, PCs, the Internet. Our bet, at our firm, is that the next wave of innovation is going to be the green jobs economy. ” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 12, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, moderator In just her third appearance before a US audience as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton touts the potential of American innovation to further public diplomacy and to help tackle a host of global challenges. Before a sold-out Commonwealth Club crowd of 1,500, Clinton comments on global flashpoints – Afghanistan, Iran, and Mexico – while addressing climate change and clean energy. Clinton repeatedly stresses the need to leverage the creativity of Silicon Valley with work underway at her department. “Innovation is one of America's greatest values and products,” she says, “and we are very committed to working with scientists and researchers to look for new ways to develop hardier crops or lifesaving drugs at affordable costs, working with engineers for new sources of clean energy or clean water to both stem climate change and also to improve the standard of living for people.” In the Q&A, Climate One founder Greg Dalton asks Clinton if the State Department would reconsider granting a permit for the controversial Alberta Clipper Pipeline. Clinton concedes that while a final decision had not been made, the project is likely to go ahead: “We're either going to be dependent on dirty oil from the Gulf or dirty oil from Canada. And until we can get our act together as a country and figure out that clean, renewable energy is in both our economic interests and the interests of our planet.” Clinton also comments on Senate’s failure to act on climate change. “I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone how deeply disappointed the President and I are about our inability to get the kind of legislation through the Senate that the United States was seeking,” she says. Clinton closes with advice for Ellie, a 10-year-old who expresses concern for the future environment. “I think that there is a lot that you can do, because it's been my experience that young people are much more environmentally conscious and committed to protecting the world you're growing up in than some of us older people are,” she says. “I'm out of politics, as you all know. So speaking as a private citizen,” she adds, to laughter, “I think people running for office should be asked to explain their positions on what they're going to do.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 15, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Climate Fix? Roger Pielke, Professor, University of Colorado What’s the most efficient way to minimize the impacts of climate change? Public policy? Massive funding of new technology? Buying off emerging countries that will soon emit most of the world’s carbon pollution? Pielke, who is affiliated with The Breakthrough Institute, is critical of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He’ll explain why and offer his take on the state of climate science. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francicso on October 15, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Calories and Carbon Ken Cook, Founder and President, Environmental Working Group Whendee Silver, Professor of Ecology, UC Berkeley; Marin Carbon Project Helene York, Director, Bon Appetit Management Company Foundation Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, moderator Grappling with the carbon impact of our food system is not easy. Faced with such uncertainty, Ken Cook’s simple advice is apt: “Eat lower down the food chain – better for you, better for the planet.” Cook, founder and president of the Environmental Working Group, joins Whendee Silver, professor of ecology, U.C. Berkeley, and Helene York, director, Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation, for a discussion on calories, carbon, and the way forward. The panelists stress how far we’ve come in such a short time. “There was a time, not too long ago, that if you went into an organic restaurant, or tried to shop for organic produce, you really wondered whether the food had been harvested, or maybe had escaped,” Cook says. Helene York agrees, sharing the experience of Bon Appétit, which serves 100 million meals each year. Over two years, her 500 chefs reduced the amount of meat served by 20%. But, York emphasizes, they did so without scrimping on taste. “The real key,” she says, “is to offer alternatives that our guests want to eat. They look good. They taste good. They’re at a reasonable price point, and they’re appetizing.” Whendee Silver, who specializes in carbon number-crunching, stresses the importance of education. Researchers are valiantly attempting to assess the life-cycle cost of food, she says, but it is very hard to compare, say, the carbon impact of grass-fed versus feedlot beef. “There are big gaps in the data. Right now, many of the life-cycle analyses that we’re working with have pretty significant uncertainties,” she says. Despite the challenges, we can transition to grass-fed beef and seasonal, local produce, the panel says. “We have to be thoughtful as consumers about it. But I think people want straight-forward cues,” Cook says. “Take grass-fed beef. It’s more expensive to produce in many cases. But make that investment and that sector is going to start to grow.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 21, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Proposition 23: Yes or No? Bob Epstein, Founder, Environmental Entrepreneurs Nancy Floyd, Manging Director, Nth Power Jack Stewart, President, California Manufacturers Tom Tanton, President, T2 & Associates Greg Dalton, Climate One - Moderator The night before an election that would decide the fate of California’s landmark climate change law, a panel of energy experts convened by Climate One debates whether AB 32 would catalyze or cripple the state’s economy. The measure before voters, Proposition 23, would suspend AB 32 until California achieves four consecutive quarters of unemployment below 5.5%. Jack Stewart, President, California Manufacturers and Technology Association, and Tom Tanton, President, T2 & Associates, argue that with California suffering 12.4% unemployment, now is not the time to burden business with additional regulation. “There’s a lot of pain and very little gain,” in pushing ahead with the law, Tanton says. Stewart agrees: “Do we want to go forward and have a growing economy and hold off on AB 32,” he asks, “or do we hobble the California economy and make it more difficult to employ the 2.3 million Californians who are out of work?” Nancy Floyd, Founder and Managing Director, Nth Power, and Bob Epstein, Founder, Environmental Entrepreneurs, counter that cleantech is the fastest growing job sector in California and critical to maintaining the state’s competitive edge globally. Floyd says that 500,000 green jobs have already been created in California, and that her venture firm alone had invested $200 million in 35 companies in the state. Epstein takes issue with claims by Stewart and Tanton that California’s climate change rules would subject the state’s businesses to onerous regulations and uncertainty. “This legislation lays out a 10-year plan. For an oil company, they tell you every place you need to be for 10 years.” Win or lose on Nov. 2, Epstein says the fight over Prop 23 has succeeded in mobilizing interests – environmentalists, venture capitalists, utilities, and tech firms – with a stake in the green economy. “What you have done, by bringing Prop 23 to the table, is you united a community that really needed to be united,” he says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Science As A Contact Sport Ben Santer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Noah Diffenbaugh, Professor, Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford Uninversity Greg Dalton, Climate One - Moderator Confronted with overwhelming evidence of a warming planet, scientists have a duty to leave the laboratory and engage the public, say two leading climatologists. This Climate One program, titled “Science as a Contact Sport,” is a tribute to the late Stanford University climate scientist Stephen Schneider, whose last work was a book of the same name. Ben Santer, a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Noah Diffenbaugh, Professor, Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, comment on Schneider’s legacy: cutting-edge research complemented by unmatched communications skills. Despite the need, Santer and Diffenbaugh say, Ph.D.s are not likely to receive communications training during their formal studies. Santer says he learned on the job; Diffenbaugh says he was trained only to communicate with other scientists. The omission is particularly worrisome with attacks against climate science, and its practitioners, ascendant. The attacks leave scientists no choice but to defend the integrity of their work and reputations, say Santer and Diffenbaugh. “We’re in a challenging position as climate scientists,” Diffenbaugh says, “in that there’s a very charged political atmosphere out in the real world. In some ways, it’s the path of least resistance to dump the information on the world, and then do it again for the next paper.” Santer and Diffenbaugh both describe a moral duty to speak out, as publishing alone hasn’t persuaded policymakers to act or silenced skeptics. “When I started off as a climate scientist,” Santer says, “I believed that if you did the best possible science, it would be good enough. Ultimately, people would do the right thing if the science was credible, if it was compelling, if the physical evidence was consistent, coherent. But it’s not.” As a result, he says, “part of our job, too, is to demystify, to speak truth to power when people try to demonize climate science and climate scientists. You can’t just be a bystander.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on November 3, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Family Dinners Matter: How Every Concern Crosses Your Dinner Plate Laurie David, Producer, An Inconvenient Truth; Author, The Family Dinner Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One We are at risk of losing a cherished and nourishing tradition, the family dinner, says author and activist Laurie David. Producer of An Inconvenient Truth and author of the just-released The Family Dinner, David says a host of pressures and dangers threaten the family dinner. The culprits are familiar: long commutes; TV, phones, and video games; more women in the workforce; school events and extra-curricular activities scheduled during dinnertime; and the microwave. Despite the challenges, David says family dinner must again become routine, for the good of our children and our environment. “Family dinner can help tremendously with three of the biggest problems we face today: our national health crisis, our difficulty connecting with each other through the fog of technology, and our urgent need to take better care of our environment,” David says. Home-cooked meals are not only better for us, she says, but by gathering the family around one table, they create memories, and help kids develop self-esteem, resiliency, patience, listening skills, vocabulary, and empathy. “Our grandparents knew it, and most of our parents, too, that frequent family dinner can help protect kids from everything a parent worries about – from drugs to alcohol to poor self-esteem, low school grades, and poor nutrition,” she says. David admits it’s not easy to goad kids into leaving their computers or TVs for a sit-down meal at home. But, during the conversation with Climate One founder Greg Dalton and audience Q&A, David offers some helpful tips. One: get kids involved in the cooking. Another: prepare what David calls “participation food” – meals, such as soups, that kids can add to by tossing in ingredients at the dinner table. “We should think of family dinner as the most important activity our kids and our family can do,” David says. “It’s a nightly dress rehearsal for adulthood, a safe, dependable place to practice cooperation, patience, and manners, kindness and gratitude, and share stories.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on November 3, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People Power: Rethinking Electricity Dian Grueneich, Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission Mark Duvall, Director of Electric Transportation and Energy Storage, Electric Power Research Institute Ted Howes, Partner, IDEO Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, Moderator The utility-consumer relationship is primed for a fundamental overhaul. Armed with information, formerly passive consumers will take charge of their energy future, say a panel of experts convened by Climate One. “A lot of the more forward-thinking utilities are starting to think about the ratepayer as a customer. That for them is a big innovation,” says Ted Howes, formerly a Partner at the design and innovation firm IDEO. Utilities are struggling, he says, to prepare for the complexity that comes with the new two-way relationship. “Oftentimes, utilities are taking it from a fundamentally technology-centered standpoint, not a human-centered standpoint,” he says. Mark Duvall, Director of Electric Transportation and Energy Storage Electric Power Research Institute, agrees that the customer relationship must change, but emphasizes the importance of the utility and the grid in a decentralized energy future in which many more consumers generate their own power. “If you decide that you’re going to build a zero-net energy home, put a lot of solar energy on the home, that doesn’t mean you don’t need the electric grid. In fact, you could say you need it more,” he says. Dian Grueneich, formerly a Commissioner with the California Public Utilities Commission, adds that the electrical utility sector will innovate much faster if nimble green tech start-ups are able to scale new technologies. “There hasn’t been much innovation or technology change in 100 years. That tells you there is a business opportunity.” What we haven’t seen, she adds, is for these technology innovators to master the arcane world of publicly-regulated utilities serving millions of customers. “You may have the best product in the world, but a state commission can kill your business plan overnight.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on January 13., 2011. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Horsepower: Accelerating EVs into the Fast Lane Anthony Eggert, Commissioner, California Energy Commission, Transportation Lead Diane Wittenberg, Executive Director, California EV Strategic Plan Diarmuid O'Connell, Vice President of Business Development, Tesla Motors Marc Geller, Co-founder, Plug-In America Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, Moderator Born before the Model T, revived and then extinguished a decade ago by GM, the electric vehicle is poised to dominate the global car industry, says this panel of transportation experts convened by Climate One. “The demand for these vehicles is greater than the supply,” says Marc Geller, Co-Founder, Plug in America. “Through this year it would appear that Nissan and Chevrolet have all but sold out of their first 35,000 vehicles, with the Leaf and the Volt. There are customers who are ready for electric and plug-in hybrids for many different reasons, but it’s really an issue of getting the cars to market.” Manufacturers are responding, says Diarmuid O’Connell, Vice President of Business Development, Tesla Motors, because this time there is a market, and money to be made. “This is hardly a philanthropic endeavor that we’ve taken on,” he says. One potential obstacle to widespread adoption of EVs is their (for now) higher upfront cost. Anthony Eggert, former Commissioner at the California Energy Commission, stresses the low lifetime cost of owning an EV. “You really want to look at total cost of ownership. It’s not just the initial purchase price of the vehicle, which is going to be higher,” he says. Diane Wittenberg, Executive Director, California EV Strategic Plan, agrees. “An average conventional vehicle, to drive 100 miles, costs about $6 in fuel; with pure electric, it would be about $2. Most people don’t know that off the top of their heads. It’s an education challenge,” she says. Manufacturers must also contend with customer fears that EVs will leave them stranded. “We should be clear when we’re speaking about charge time,” says Marc Geller. “We act as if these vehicles are actually driving 24/7, as if they’re all in taxi fleets. Most people’s cars sit 22 hours a day.” During the Q&A, a member of the audience asks how policymakers plan to replace sales tax revenue lost when drivers fill up with electricity rather than gas. “These vehicles will eventually have to pay their fair share of road taxes, to be able to use the system,” says Anthony Eggert, “but the actual impact to the collection of road taxes is likely to be negligible for the next 5 plus years.“ “That would be a high-class problem, as far as I’m concerned,” responds Tesla’s O’Connell. “Let’s hope that we’ll be solving that problem within five years.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on January 13, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American Wasteland Jonathan Bloom, Author, American Wasteland Michael Dimock, President, Roots of Change A.G. Kawamura, Former Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, moderator The ubiquity of food in the United States blinds the mind to a tragic fact: much of it is wasted. Exact numbers are elusive, but estimates suggest that at least a quarter and as much as half of the food produced in this country is never consumed. A panel of food experts convened by Climate One says that much of the waste is unnecessary. Lest consumers think most of the waste ends up in supermarket or restaurant trash bins, Jonathan Bloom, author, American Wasteland, cites a study from New York State, which found that households account for 40% of wasted food. “In terms of the American consumer’s psyche, we’ve gotten to this point where we see beautiful food everywhere – the rise of food TV and glossy magazines – everywhere we turn, it seems, we’re constantly seeing images of food that looks pretty. Appearance trumps taste,” he says. “We have tremendous inefficiencies on both sides, pre-harvest and post harvest,” says A.G. Kawamura, former Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture. If prices collapse, he says, a farmer might not be able to afford to pay for the fuel and labor needed to harvest a crop. Fortunately, he says, groups such Farm to Table are partnering with farmers to offset the cost of a second or third harvest to prevent food from wasting in the field. For Michael Dimock, President, Roots of Change, the primary driver of waste in the food system is how we think. “It’s really changing our consciousness about what is waste and what is not. That’s the first step in combating this problem,” he says. There are reasons to be optimistic that the system is evolving, he says, citing the food separation and composting efforts underway in San Francisco and Sonoma County. Also encouraging, he says, is the increased interest in “food sovereignty.” Everything from families and communities planting and tending gardens to consumers “mining” trash bins at supermarkets and restaurants for green waste to feed to backyard chickens. “I’m thankful that we have a system of abundance,” says A.G. Kawamura. “Can we make it a system of efficiency? We’re lucky we don’t have a system of scarcity.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on March 2, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Generation Hot Mark Hertsgaard, Author, Generation Hot Scott Harmon, Sustainability Advisor to Boy Scouts of America Alec Loorz, Founder, Kids-vs-Global-Warming.com Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, moderator The climate change debate in America appears hopelessly stuck. If the US is to have any chance to break the stalemate, young people must get involved and force their voice to be heard, says this panel of activists convened by Climate One. For Alec Loorz, the 16-year-old founder of www.Kids-vs-Global-Warming.com, change will come because his generation and those that follow demand it. What’s needed, he says, is “revolution” one that “ignites the compassion in people’s hearts so that they realize that the way we are doing things now is not right and it doesn’t live with the survival of my generation and future generations in mind.” Loorz is organizing the iMatter march, planned for this spring, which aims to mobilize 1 million young people in all 50 states on the same day. “Youth have the moral authority to say to our parents, our leaders, and our teachers, ‘Do I matter to you? Does my future mater to you?” he says. Mark Hertsgaard, author, Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, welcomes the activism of youth because the forces arrayed against them are so powerful. Oil companies “are the richest business enterprise in the history of humanity. It is not surprising that they have enormous political power,” but, he says, “the only way that you overcome that kind of entrenched money power is through sustained and very determined people power.” Scott Harmon, sustainability advisor to Boy Scouts of America, is mobilizing youth by harnessing the power and reach of the world’s largest youth organization: scouting. Scouts may march, Harmon said, but even more important is “to get them educated. I want to get their hands dirty doing projects that teach them about the solution.” He wants youth to do two things: wake up the parents and, when they enter the workforce in five or ten years, force their companies to become more sustainable. “We’re not going to get it done in our generations, even your generation probably [to Alec Loorz], so we better get the next generation, and the one behind that ready, otherwise we’re really toast,” he says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on March 9, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cloud Power: Microsoft + Google (3/11/11) Rob Bernard, Chief Environmental Strategist, Microsoft William Weihl, Green Energy Czar, Google Greg Dalton, Climate One Founder, Moderator Arch rivals Microsoft and Google find common cause at Climate One promoting the energy efficiency of the cloud. Efficiency alone won’t solve the climate crisis, Rob Bernard of Microsoft and Google’s William Weihl say, but smart IT can reduce emissions, help green the grid, and save money companies and consumers money. “The very simple thing is that we can save money by using less electricity. So by investing engineering effort, investing capital in making our systems more efficient, we save money in the end,” says Weihl, Google’s Green Energy Czar. Google and Microsoft operate power-hungry data centers around the globe, so they have good reason to promote energy efficiency, but Weihl and Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist, insist that their efficiency gains will be shared as IT becomes ever-more integrated into the global economy. “I would actually bet that as a percentage of global electricity use that information and communication technology will use a higher percentage over time. But in the process it will make the entire economy more energy efficient. So, yes, that 2% will grow, but the other 98% will shrink, and shrink faster,” says Weihl. Bernard cites an example. Stanford researcher Jonathan Koomey, had, he says, looked into the carbon footprint and energy use resulting from the switch from CDs to digital music. “Even in the worst case, it was a 40% to 50% reduction in the amount of energy,” Bernard says. During the Q&A, an audience member asks Bernard and Weihl what can be done to overcome the barriers holding up even bigger efficiency gains. “Most energy efficiency work I would say actually is a no brainer. But people don’t seem to have brains,” Weihl says. One big problem, he says, is the disjointed decision-making practiced at many companies. “If you focus people on total cost of ownership, lifetime cost – capital, plus operating cost – and get everybody to think in those terms, not just in terms of their own budget, you can make a lot of progress,” he says. Bernard agrees. “More and more when I go and talk to customers, the challenge is much if not more governance and behavior than it is technology,” he says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on March 11th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ted Danson: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them Ted Danson, Actor; Environmentalist; Author, Oceana In the mid-1980s, actor Ted Danson was walking along a Santa Monica beach when he noticed a sign: “Water polluted, no swimming.” "Trying to explain that to my kid was hard," he says. Already wealthy and famous from playing Sam Malone on “Cheers,” Danson decided then to use his celebrity to raise awareness about the plight of the world’s oceans. “It sunk in that there is a lot that has come before us, there is a lot that will come after us, and that this time were are here is not just about us. It’s about stewardship,” he says. At Climate One, Danson talks about his life in activism and the manifold threats to oceans, the subject of his new book, Oceana. “No one disagrees that we’re headed in the direction where we could conceivably commercially fish out our oceans – no more fish, jelly fish soup – if we do not stop fishing destructfully and wastefully,” he says. Danson shares a statistic that points to one culprit: rampant overfishing by big boats. Ninety percent of the world’s fishermen are small-scale operations, harvesting from the sea as they have for millennia, he says. These fishermen account for 10% of the global take. The other 90% is harvested by the remaining 10% of boats, commercial-scale trawlers, some with nets big enough to snare a 747. Once the nets are hauled up to the boat, “a third of what the world catches is thrown overboard dead or dying because it’s not the fish they’re after.” The situation is dire, but Danson cautions against despair. He published Oceana, he says, to leave those concerned about the oceans feeling hopeful and empowered to act. “When you show up en masse in an email, you literally change policy around the world,” he says. “And it’s the best feeling. To not be overwhelmed by headlines, and to know you are doing something about it. You will know, in your children or grandchildren’s lifetime whether you succeeded. And that’s cool. That’s exciting. That’s not overwhelming or depressing.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on March 22nd, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duke of Energy Jim Rogers, Chairman and CEO, Duke Energy Outside of the Oval Office, one of the most influential voices in the energy debate is Jim Rogers, Chairman and CEO of Duke Energy. Here Rogers talks about the future of energy policy in the United States in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. Rogers says Duke Energy will continue to pursue new nuclear power, despite movements by some governments to rethink their nuclear strategy. “With respect to Japan,” he says, “we will pause. We will learn. And that will make us stronger and better in the future.” Rogers emphasizes the safety record of US nuclear plants and the fact that nuclear plants supply 70% of America’s carbon-free electricity. “If you’re serious about climate legislation, you have to be serious about nuclear because of the role it plays in providing zero greenhouse gases, 24/7,” he says. Rogers emphasizes that Duke Energy is investing in advanced coal, solar, wind, and energy efficiency, in addition to nuclear. “From an investor’s perspective, and from our customers’ perspective, developing a portfolio is a smarter way to move forward than making a bet on any single fuel,” he says. Even though today’s Congress appears incapable of tackling climate change, Rogers says he is making decisions now in anticipation of the day a future Congress acts to limit carbon. A critical first step is junking old, dirty coal plants. Rogers notes that the United States electricity mix includes 300,000 megawatts (MW) of coal; 100,000MW comes from plants more than 40 years old and never retrofitted to remove sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, or mercury. “In my judgment those plants should be shut down, and will be shut down over the next decade,” Rogers says. Many of those obsolete coal plants will be pushed into retirement when greenhouse gas rules being drafted by the US Environmental Protection Agency come into force. Rogers prefers that Congress, not the EPA, show companies the way forward. “My hope, and the reason I don’t oppose [the EPA] doing it, is they act, and you see their rules – very limited because the Clean Air Act wasn’t written to do this. It will become obvious that Congress has to act. And maybe it will force Congress to do its job,” he says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on April 5th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Energy Policy: What’s Next? T.J. Glauthier, Former Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy James Sweeney, Director, Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford Tony Knowles, Chair, National Energy Policy Institute; Former Governor, Alaska The United States does not have a national energy policy. In this panel convened by Climate One three experts long involved in the US energy debate conspire to shape their own. The plan: steadily increasing the cost of gasoline at the pump, replace diesel with liquefied natural gas for heavy trucking, harvest cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities, and boost the production of shale gas.“These are not new issues,” says former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles. “Unfortunately, I think Tom Friedman said it best: ‘Our national energy policy is more the sum total of our best lobbyists, rather than our best wisdom.’” Politics, not science or economics, has shaped our energy policy, Knowles says. A proposal recently put forward by the California Secure Transportation Energy Partnership, where Stanford University’s Jim Sweeney is a member, would add a penny per month to the state’s gas tax for 10 years. Tony Knowles cited a similar proposal recommended by the National Energy Policy Institute, which would increase the federal gas tax by $0.08 per gallon each year for 20 years with the goal of reducing oil consumption by 1.5 million barrels per day. Knowles and T.J. Glauthier, a former Deputy Secretary at the US Department of Energy, advocate for retrofitting the country’s heavy trucking fleet to run on domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG). “We’ve got truck stops all over the country. If we spent some money helping build out the natural gas refueling parts of those truck stops, and provide some help to trucking companies for the conversions, there’s a huge benefit,” says Glauthier. Jim Sweeney, Director of Stanford’s Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, emphasizes the abundant opportunity that exists for consumers to save money with energy efficiency improvements. We just have to get the incentives right. “People talk about those as the ‘low-hanging fruit.’ Unfortunately, some of that fruit has been low-hanging for decades now and hasn’t been picked, which means there’s a reason,” he says. Knowles and Glauthier also recommend that shale gas be a part of the energy mix. “It’s great for the American public, it’s great for the energy sector, to have natural gas supplies that are much larger, and they’re all domestic,” says Glauthier. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on April 5th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nuclear Power: Setting Sun? Jacques Besnainou, CEO AREVA Inc. Lucas Davis, Professor, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley Jeff Byron, Former Commissioner, California Energy Commission This panel agrees that nuclear power, despite offering the promise of carbon-free electricity and safer next-generation reactors, is challenged by steep upfront costs and where to store spent fuel. Jeff Byron, formerly a member of the California Energy Commission, says the Fukushima tragedy offers the nuclear industry and its regulators a sobering learning opportunity. “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission just can’t go ahead and rubber-stamp license renewal applications,” says Byron. Uncertainty over how to proceed has put the United States in a bind, he adds. The US nuclear fleet is aging, with every reactor at least 30 years old. “We really want to retire them,” Byron says. “We’re extending the license of every one of these existing plants well beyond their intended design life. These are 50-year-old designs. I wouldn’t get on a 50-year-old aircraft if you paid me.” Lucas Davis, an energy economist based at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, warns against the prohibitive expense required to replace all of those aging plants. “If you look at lifetime costs, including waste disposal at the end, the levelized cost of nuclear, with updated cost and fuel numbers, is about $0.10 per kilowatt-hour compared to $0.05/kWh for natural gas. That’s a big gap,” he says. Despite the obstacles, Jacques Besnainou, CEO of US-based AREVA Inc., insists that policymakers maintain nuclear in the energy mix. ”I’m not saying nuclear is the solution. But there is no solution without nuclear energy,” he says. Lucas Davis agrees, offering that he’d welcome to be proved wrong on the question of costs. “Get in there and prove to us that you guys can build reactors on budget and an on time. That would change everything. But, to be fair, for 60 years the industry has been saying that costs are going to come down and the empirical evidence on it is pretty mixed,” he says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on April 8th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cell Power: Sprint CEO Dan Hesse Dan Hesse, CEO, Sprint Nextel Sprint wants to be recognized as the green leader in the wireless industry, says CEO Dan Hesse in this return visit to Climate One. Hesse warns against the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile and announces the release of the fourth phone in Sprint’s green series, the Samsung Replenish. “As we meet here today,” Hesse says, “the innovative power of the wireless industry is under serious threat” by the proposed AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile. Much had already been written about the possible implications of the move for consumers and pricing, he says, “but to my surprise, very little attention had been paid to its potential impact on the wireless industry’s ability to foster innovation” – including innovation in the green space. “Wireless technology helps consumers by providing new ways to reduce, re-use, and recycle,” says Hesse. Take telecommuting. Just 3.9% of Americans regularly work outside the office, he says, even though wireless technology gives them access to the same information at their office desks. Hesse says Sprint is also working to address one of the industry’s lingering dilemmas: waste. Just 10% of mobiles phones are recycled each year in the United States, he says, meaning some 140 million phones end up in landfills. In 2008, Sprint set a goal to recycle 90% of the phones it sells. The new Samsung Replenish “is as green as we could make it,” says Hesse – energy-efficient, housed in recycled plastics, and made from 82% recyclable materials. In an effort to “take green really mainstream,” Hesse says, Sprint is lowering the monthly rate for the Replenish by $10 per month. The green moves and others – including connecting ECOtality’s Blink electric vehicle charging network, purchasing wind energy for its corporate headquarters, and upgrading the energy efficiency of its network – are done to improve the company’s brand, Hesse says, but also to motivate employees. “The thing about green is your people want to make it. They’re excited and love the fact that this is what we’re really focusing on, and that we have made it to a goal they care about,” Hesse says. “I’ve had zero pushback in getting people aligned and wanting to do it.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on April 15th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Measure What? Michel Gelobter, Chief Green Officer, Hara Eric Olson, Senior Vice President, Advisory Services, BSR Glen Low, Principal, Blu Skye Forward-thinking companies are coming to realize that sustainability isn’t just good for their bottom lines; it makes it easier to win over customers and compete in the market, say three corporate greening experts. As new tools such as carbon accounting software become more sophisticated and widely adopted, the panelists say, benefits will accrue not only to more efficient companies but to customers better able to trust companies’ green claims. First, says Eric Olson, Senior Vice President, Business for Social Responsibility, companies need to figure out whether they should they be listening to their customers, or leading them. Olson leans toward the latter. “There is a school of thought that says what we are talking about is so complex that what consumers want is for us to solve the problem for them,” he says. “They’re not going to sit down and ask for fair trade coffee – they don’t even know what that is. But they do know that they want a product that doesn’t have practices behind it that they wouldn’t believe in,” he adds. In a relatively recent shift, companies aren’t making green strides just because regulators forced them to. “Sustainability leadership about five years ago was very compliance oriented. Sustainability leadership today is about competitive advantage. It’s about innovation,” says Glen Low, Principal, Blu Skye, a sustainability consultancy. In a rapidly changing landscape, smart companies that pivot toward efficiency now, be they small firms or industry giants, will be big winners, says Michel Gelobter, Chief Green Officer, Hara.“There are a lot of companies, like a Wal-Mart, that are taking pretty aggressive actions right now,” he says. “The biggest value of scale is the size of the bets that you can win. The best use of large capital is winning big-risk bets. There’s a history of very big industries emerging from these kinds of pivotal moments.” Sustainability represents one of those pivotal moments, he says. All the positioning among agile companies looking to gain a green edge has led to a relatively new development, says Eric Olson: companies influencing policy in a progressive direction. These companies, Olson says, are clamoring for Congress to act, by stating: “We need a level playing field. We need incentives. We need long-term, predictable signals around the cost of energy sources in order to be as competitive as we should be.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on April 15th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Member, United States Senate (D-CA) in conversation with Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One at The Commonwealth Club In this Climate One conversation at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, in San Francisco, Senator Dianne Feinstein touches on some longtime pursuits – national security experience and protecting the California desert from development. She also pledges to investigate the safety of the US nuclear fleet, protect children from toxins, and continue to shield California’s coastline from oil drilling. Feinstein is clear that clean energy is California’s future. “Energy is the largest source of new jobs for this state,” she says, citing an estimate placing the number at 100,000 additional jobs. Those new energy jobs – such as building large solar thermal power plants – should not be located, however, in the state’s undeveloped desert. “There is plenty of land in the desert that is disturbed that can be used. I think all of these [solar] companies are essentially finding other places to build, where there is no real environmental challenge to things that are endangered like desert tortoises,” says Feinstein. A trickier problem, especially in the wake of the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear complex, is how to ensure the safety of, and store spent fuel from, America’s nuclear reactors. Insufficient attention has been paid to the full nuclear fuel cycle, Feinstein says. “I believe very strongly that we need either regional or centralized nuclear fuel storage. It’s asking for trouble to keep hot rods in spent pools for decades and dry casks right along the side of nuclear reactors. I think they should be moved right away.” She also pledges quick action on plant safety. “I’m going to try to push as far and as fast as I can push to see that we really take a good look, a real examination, of all the facilities,” says Feinstein. Feinstein warns against the danger posed by exposure to chemicals, especially for infants. Of particular concern is Bisphenol A (BPA), a known endocrine disruptor, which, she says, is added to the inside of canned goods and baby bottles. “I become very interested in chemicals that are added that we know very little about,” says Feinstein. Though a proponent of greater energy efficiency (in the Q&A, Feinstein cites her decades-long quest to boost fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles as her proudest Senate achievement) Feinstein says now is not the time to raise the gas tax. “I’d go slowly on that. We have very long commutes for workers in this state,” she says. “This is not the time, when gasoline is this high, with the nation trying to pull itself out of recession. We need to keep gasoline below the $4 mark right now,” Feinstein says. She blamed speculators for the high prices: “Demand is down, and supply is even – so what can it be?” She reaffirms that oil companies should not look to California’s coast for additional supply. “The people of California have spoken through initiative. They don’t want oil drilling off the coast.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 27, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Flannery Professor of Science, Maquarie University; Chair, Copenhagen Climate Council; Author, Here on Earth: A Natural History of the Planet Greg Dalton, Vice President of Special Projects, The Commonwealth Club; Founder, Climate One - Moderator Tim Flannery doesn’t do pessimism. Flannery explains the source of his optimism, a major theme of his new book, Here on Earth: A Natural History of the Planet, in this Climate One conversation at the Hoover Theatre, in San Jose. It stems from what he says is a popular misunderstanding of what natural selection actually is. “This is not a ‘survival of the fittest world,’” he says, referring to the phrase used as shorthand for Darwin’s perceived worldview. “This is a world where evolution has spawned extraordinary interrelationships, interactions, and co-evolutionary outcomes.” Over the last 10,000 years humanity has built what Flannery describes as a “super-organism” – a level of organization similar to that of ants, termites, or bees. And the glue that holds the super-organism together is the division of labor, interdependence. “That means,” says Flannery, “that the survival of the super-organism becomes all-important to us. We can’t afford to back up the planet.” And as “we form this one great super-organism, where we are all interconnected, we gain the capacity to deal with environmental challenges.” And for the biggest environmental challenge of all, climate change, Flannery sees reason for hope where others despair. Take COP15, the momentous United Nations climate change conference convened in Copenhagen in December 2009. Conventional wisdom holds that COP15 was a failure. Flannery disagrees. “I think it is self-evident it wasn’t a failure,” he says. The meeting was the setting for the largest-ever gathering of heads of state. Countries accounting for 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions made reduction pledges. Flannery sees progress across the map. China is a global leader in wind and solar energy, and is preparing to launch regional carbon cap-and-trade systems. India has enacted a small tax on coal and recently launched an aggressive energy efficiency trading scheme. South Korea is spending 2% of GDP on green growth. The European Union raised its 2020 emissions reduction target from 20% to a minimum of 25%. The United States is halfway to reaching its goal of reducing emissions 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. “The job now for us,” Flannery says, “is to knuckle down and make sure that our countries carry their fair share of the burden. We need to have hope. We need look at things over the right time scale. And we need to re-gather the energy that’s required to carry this further.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Historic Hoover Theatre in San Jose, CA on May 4th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pole Position Forrest Beanum, Vice President of Government Relations, Coda Automotive Oliver Kuttner, CEO, Edison2 Bill Reinert, National Manager, Toyota Michael Robinson, VP for Environment, Energy and Safety Policy, General Motors Dan Sperling, Member, California Air Resources Board; Professor, UC Davis Fifteen years have passed since a major automaker has attempted to market an electric vehicle. Within five years, rare will be the auto showroom that lacks one. But before EVs dominate the market, industry, policymakers, and consumers will have to grapple with some unresolved questions, says this panel of industry giants and start-ups. Those questions are a primary reason why “in pure electric cars, there’s very little first-mover advantage,” says Bill Reinert, National Manager, Toyota, “when you’re out there trying to figure out where the infrastructure’s going to go, and how the tow service works, and what happens when the charger doesn’t charge your car.” Dan Sperling, member, California Air Resources Board, disagrees that carmakers should avoid positioning themselves as a leader in the EV race. Yes, there are technology and scaling challenges, he says, but being first “does create a hallo for the entire company, which Toyota understands better than anyone – what the Prius did.” Michael Robinson, VP for Environment, Energy and Safety Policy, General Motors, is coming to see the benefit of that green hallo. His company has sold 2,000 units of its extended-range electric car, the Chevy Volt, since it went on sale in late 2010. Half of those sales have come in California, Robinson says, and 90% of total sales have been to Prius owners. Oliver Kuttner, CEO, Edison2, says carmakers need to figure out how to design electric cars to be lighter and more efficient. “If we were to re-think the way a car is built, and built the car in a more efficient way, like an airplane,” you could downsize the battery – the most expensive piece of an EV, costing upwards of $10,000 to $15,000 per car. During the Q&A, an audience member asks if automakers might be underestimating the demand for EVs. “Absolutely,” responded Forrest Beanum, Vice President of Government Relations, Coda Automotive. He cites Coda’s reading of independent studies finding that 40% of consumers want to own or drive an electric vehicle. What might make the difference this time is that carmakers appear to want EVs to succeed. It might seem counterintuitive, says GM’s Michael Robinson, but “we’re actually pulling for one another to be successful. We want the technology to be successful.” Dan Sperling agrees. “We’re way ahead of the regulatory process. We’re way ahead of the market process. Standardization issues are a challenge. This is a big adventure – and hugely important. We have to make this successful,” he says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on May 12th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charge It? Rob Bearman, Director, Global Alliances, Utilities and Energy, Better Place Mike DiNucci, VP of Strategic Accounts, Coulomb Technologies Jay Friedland, Legislative Director, Plug In America Jonathan Read, CEO, ECOtality Consumers are ready for electric vehicles. Entrepreneurs and policymakers just need to hustle to work out the kinks in the nationwide networks that will charge the cars, says this panel of experts assembled at Climate One. Automakers see a chance to free their customers from expensive oil, says Mike DiNucci, VP of Strategic Accounts, Coulomb Technologies: “Car companies see a golden opportunity to re-set that paradigm, and become more sustainably connected to their customers.” One company working to re-set the driving experience is Better Place, which plans to sells consumers miles through a network of charging and battery-swapping stations. “Better Place’s philosophy is we sell miles. The customer, the driver, should never have to think about kilowatt-hours. They should never have to plan, or have a timer at their charge spot,” says Rob Bearman, Director, Global Energy Alliance. Jonathan Read, CEO, ECOtality, says his company is working with utilities to develop real-time charging rates as low as $0.05 or $0.06 per kilowatt-hour during off-peak evening hours. “We’re always going to be competing between two minds: home charging and the price of gas. The consumer is always going to be making value judgments in between there. It’s our job as private-sector entrepreneurs to figure what is the tipping point” – at what point will consumers ditch gas cars for electricity, and how will they decide whether to charge in public or at home. Jay Friedland, Legislative Director, Plug In America, who has driven an electric Toyota RAV4 for a decade, says he’s confident consumers will get the price signals. He pays the equivalent of $0.75 per gallon to drive his EV, he says, cheaper than a gas-powered car by a factor of five in California, where gas is averaging over $4 per gallon. “EVs consumers will certainly get the pricing signal that comes from the utility, which is: If I get a bill, and my bill is high because I’ve been charging during the day time, and I know I can get cheap electricity at night, I’m going to go with the cheap electricity,” he says. Friedland and Rob Bearman both emphasize that EVs aren’t just cleaner and cheaper to drive; they are an important part of what Friedland calls a “virtuous cycle” – all-electric cars powered by renewable energy, stored and distributed, in part, by batteries. “Electric vehicles have the promise of taking cars off oil, and electric vehicle batteries have the promise of making the grid more renewable. As far as a cleantech solution that spans a lot of sectors in the cleantech industry, electric vehicles are really powerful,” says Rob Bearman. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on May 12th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wal-Mart: Force of Nature or Greenwashing? Edward Humes, Author, Force of Nature Greg Dalton, Vice President of Special Projects, The Commonwealth Club; Founder, Climate One - Moderator Wal-Mart is not a sustainable company, says author Edward Humes. But the mega-retailer is making money by investing in sustainability. The story of how Wal-Mart made the pivot toward green is well told by Humes, author of Force of Nature: The Unlikely Story of Wal-Mart’s Green Revolution. The unlikely hero is Jib Ellison, an elite river guide-turned sustainability consultant. Through connections, Ellison wrangled a meeting with then-Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. Ellison’s message for Scott: Wal-Mart’s practices are riddled with waste and it’s costing you money. The retort: Prove it. A series of early successes won over Scott and, it’s not a stretch to say, changed the direction of the company. Wal-Mart added auxiliary generators to its 7,000-truck fleet. Fuel savings netted the company hundreds of millions of dollars. Next, someone suggested that a toymaker reduce the size of the box holding a toy truck. One year, and 497 avoided shipping containers later, Wal-Mart had saved $2.5 million on fuel and materials. “That was an early proof of concept that doing something that was lowering the footprint and more sustainable – baby steps, obviously – had a big return,” he says. Executives now asked, “‘What if we go across all of our products and start looking for those kinds of opportunities,’” says Humes. “And it began to snowball. It stopped being a hippy proposition that some river guide came up with, and started being more of a no-brainer business proposition.” When Climate One’s Greg Dalton asks the inevitable question about greenwashing, Humes is ready. “It sounds like we’re up here singing Wal-Mart’s praises.” But, he goes on, “this isn’t a chorus of ‘Wal-Mart is fabulous.’ It’s a very specific change in the way they’ve decided to do business, which is to try and be more sustainable because it makes economic sense to do so.” Humes credits Lee Scott and Wal-Mart for giving peers cover to follow their lead. “They made it safe for other companies to have the same conversation about sustainability because they’ve shown maybe it’s not so crazy and risky after all. I think they are a large reason why sustainability is even a word that big businesses talk about.” For Humes, the stakes are too high to quibble over Wal-Mart’s motivations. “I think they’ve been pretty careful about saying, ‘We’re not a green company.’ They never will be a green company. They’re an out-sourced, big-box retailer that wants you to buy ever-more amounts of stuff,” he says. But “if you’re driving 60 miles-an-hour towards oblivion and slow the car down to 20 miles-an-hour, is that a good thing? I think it is.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on May 16th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Calthorpe, Founder, Calthorpe Associates; Author, Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change It’s a love story gone horribly wrong. Big cars, ever-bigger homes, distant suburbs – all of it kept afloat by cheap oil. If this American arrangement ever made sense, it certainly doesn’t now, Peter Calthorpe says. Tragically, we’re perpetuating this failed system in much of the country, ignoring a cheaper, greener alternative: urbanism. “It’s better than free,” says Calthorpe, founder of Calthorpe Associates and author of Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change. “It costs less money to build smart, walkable, transit-oriented communities than it does to build sprawl. It takes up less land, it uses less energy, it uses less infrastructure, less roads … less of everything.” For Calthorpe, the ruptured housing bubble revealed a broken system but offers a chance to rethink how we build. “The real estate recession was a sign not just of perverse bank financing,” he says, “it was also a manifestation that we’d been building too much of the wrong stuff for too long, specifically large-lot, single-family subdivisions.” Why did we overbuild? “Habit and inertia,” Calthorpe says. “There’s tremendous institutional inertia” – banks, homebuilders, and zoning. “We have land-use maps that dictate low density in many areas and single use in most areas.” Calthorpe dismisses the notion that every American yearns for a piece of suburbia. Households with kids represent just 24 percent of the total, he says. The rest – singles, empty nesters, young couples – have different needs. “There are a whole range of needs out there and lifestyles that the one-size-fits-all subdivision just doesn’t satisfy,” he says. Calthorpe gives an example from his firm’s work, Stapleton, the nation’s largest redevelopment project. There, 12,000 units are going up on 4,500 acres – four times the density of the typical suburb – at the site of Denver’s old airport. “People spend more dollars per square foot for a smaller house and a smaller lot,” Calthorpe says, “but it’s in a walkable community; they’re willing to make that trade.”Change will require hard choices. Calthorpe challenges environmentalists to accept that infill alone won’t be able to meet the demand for housing; in some areas, projects cited near transit, for instance, building on greenfields may be necessary. We must also be willing to partner with developers. Development can help pay for a lot of the things we need, Calthorpe says: levees, transit extensions, flood control projects, parks, open space, and schools. “Quite frankly, the Bay Area should be thankful that we have the growth to deal with because it’s what we can use to repair so much of what we’ve misdesigned,” he says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on May 25th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sustainable Urbanism Stuart Cohen, Executive Director, TransForm Mike Ghielmetti, President, Signature Development Group Ezra Rapport, Executive Director, Association of Bay Area Governments Infill development is hard. Even in California, one of the few states to have given local officials guidance on how to plan for growth, building smart, sustainable projects close to transit is a challenge, says this panel of experts.“People say, ‘We can’t do enough infill.’ There are too many obstacles to doing it right,” says Stuart Cohen, Executive Director, TransForm. “But those are obstacles we have control of. I am hopeful for the future, but we need to create a vision for the future that people can believe in. Infill development, if done right – and it’s a big if – can actually enhance our communities.” Mike Ghielmetti, President, Signature Properties, a Bay Area developer, describes a process riddled with uncertainty and risk. Will city council members be in office and planning officials their jobs over the five to 10 years it may take to build a project? Who will pay for schools and parks? Does the project site contain historic buildings? Is the site contaminated? Despite the challenges, “We have to push this vision forward,” Ghielmetti says. “We have to figure out a way to accommodate growth, so that we can provide housing for all levels of society. We can provide for new jobs and economic vitality.” Realizing that California could not meet its greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals under AB32 without tackling emissions from cars, lawmakers, in 2008, passed SB375. The law directly confronts emissions from transportation by forcing cities to plan for growth that reduces miles driven and clusters new development near existing transit and services. Ezra Rapport, Executive Director, Association of Bay Area Governments, says the process outlined in SB375 should help reduce uncertainty and insulate planning decisions from local political considerations. Under the law, 18 metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) will set regional 2020 and 2035 GHG reductions targets for cars. Each MPO will then prepare a Sustainable Communities Strategy that demonstrates how the region will meet its greenhouse gas reduction target. Rapport says those plans will remove some of the project-by-project uncertainty. “The election cycle is obviously paramount in all politicians’ minds,” he says. “But when they’re sitting on the city council, talking about the plan for growth that will take place over the next 10 to 20 years, they’re not really challenged in their election cycles by those decisions.” “In my point of view, if a project is properly planned, and it has community buy-in, and it’s continually refreshed, you will get support,” he says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on May 25th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Salmon Odyssey Phil Isenberg, Chair, Delta Vision Task Force James Norton, Filmmaker, Salmon: Running the Gauntlet Jonathan Rosenfield, Ph.D., Conservation Biologist, The Bay Institute In the post-World War II boom, previous generations prioritized cheap electricity and economic development over salmon. On the West Coast, huge dams blocked rivers and sprawl fragmented habitat. If wild salmon are to survive, in California and elsewhere, we must acknowledge that well-intentioned human ingenuity has failed and that tough choices wait, says this panel of experts.“We overestimated our ability to mitigate the impacts of that dam construction,” says James Norton, writer and producer of Salmon: Running the Gauntlet. Fish ladders, hatcheries, barging – all have been deployed in an attempt to work around Mother Nature. “It’s turned out to be much more complicated than that, and it’s never really worked,” he says. The complications don’t end there. In trying to sustain a commercial salmon fishery even as dams killed fish and sprawl chewed up habitat, salmon and fisherman both lost. The result: commercial fishing is “remnant industry,” Norton says, with 30,000 jobs lost on the West Coast in past 20 years. To Norton, the lessons of this troubled history are clear. “I’d get out of the business of managing complex ecosystems. We’ve learned, over the last 150 years, there’s no appropriate surrogate for the natural productivity of these systems. We’ve learned that abundance – true abundance – is the default condition of these places. It’s not something that we tease out of them by being really clever.”For Phil Isenberg, Chair, Delta Stewardship Council, it’s all about our establishing priorities. He notes that in California demands for water and ecosystems are on equal footing, which should work to the benefit of salmon. “We have fought since before WWII the question of whether the human use of water is always more important than anything else. At least in California, the answer is No, it’s not.” Jonathan Rosenfield, a conservation biologist with The Bay Institute, cautions against pitting salmon against people or jobs. “It doesn’t need to be framed in terms of either farmers in the Central Valley have water, or we have salmon.” We do, he says, need to heed the message sent by the salmon’s decline. “Salmon are a hardy, adaptable, incredibly creative species that have survived for millions of years, through several ice ages, in every watershed up and down this coast. The fact that we can’t maintain them in the system says that we have way, way overreached any semblance of balance between human use and what our ecosystems need.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on June 3rd, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crops, Cattle and Carbon Cynthia Cory, Director of Environmental Affairs, California Farm Bureau Federation Paul Martin, Director of Environmental Services, Western United Dairymen Jeanne Merrill, California Climate Action Network Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture Making California’s farms more energy efficient, and ensuring that farmers can adapt to a warmer planet, will be a decades-long challenge, agrees this panel of experts gathered by Climate One. That a serious conversation on the linkages between agriculture and climate change even exists in California is largely thanks to passage of the state’s landmark climate change law, AB32. Cynthia Cory, Director of Environmental Affairs, California Farm Bureau Federation, says the way to sell this new reality to her members, most of them family farmers, is to focus on the bottom line. “What they think makes sense, is energy efficiency,” she says. Jeanne Merrill, Policy Director, California Climate and Agriculture Network, elaborates on what AB32 could mean for farmers. The proposed carbon trading system, currently under development by the California Air Resources Board, would enable a farm, she says, “to reduce its own emissions, voluntarily, by being part of the carbon market.” Still other opportunities await farmers. A cap-and-trade system would generate revenue, a portion of which, her organization argues, “should go for the key things that we need to assist California agriculture to remain viable when temperatures rise and water become more constrained.” Paul Martin, Director of Environmental Services, Western United Dairymen, says farmers should be guided by a three-legged stool of sustainability: ethical production, scientific and environmental responsibility, and economic performance. His distilled message: “We need organic food because people want it. We need grass-fed because people want it. We need natural because people want it. And we need conventional because people want that kind of food.” California’s new Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary, Karen Ross, is encouraged that food had finally entered the policy debate, and expresses optimism that young people will carry it forward. “There’s a renewed interest in where our food comes from, how it’s produced, and who is producing it.” She highlights the role of cities in shaping a more sustainable food policy. “It’s the real intersection of agriculture, food, health, and nutrition,” she gushes. “Cities are saying, ‘We can do something about this.’ It’s about identifying open plots for community gardens. It’s about making sure access to nutritious, locally grown food is available. It’s about understanding what it takes to help those farmers on the urban edge, or right in our local communities.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on June 14, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council The fact that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is so readily embraced by progressives can conceal that his message is an inherently conservative one. Listen to Kennedy talk for an hour and you’ll hear the words “free market” invoked more often than in any Milton Friedman tome. “Show me a polluter, and I’ll show you a subsidy,” Kennedy is fond of saying, as he does here. The market is flawed, he says, by polluters who “make themselves rich by making everyone else poor” – externalizing their costs and internalizing the profits. Kennedy, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council, was in San Francisco to promote The Last Mountain, a new film that features his efforts to end mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia. If dirty fuels were forced to cover their full costs, Kennedy says, not only could they not compete in the market, renewable energy would win. “Right now, we have a marketplace that is governed by rules that were written by the incumbents – coal, oil, and nukes – to reward the dirtiest, filthiest, most poisonous, most destructive, most vindictive fuels from hell, rather than the cheap, clean, green, wholesome, safe, and patriotic fuels from heaven,” he says, to the loudest applause of the night. How did we get here? “Our democracy is broken,” Kennedy argues, with a campaign finance system “which is a system of legalized bribery.” And the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision will only hasten the decline. “The Citizens United case is the end of civilization, the end of democracy, with a 100-year-old law that said corporations cannot contribute to federal political candidates or officeholders. The Supreme Court just wiped that out, and we have a tsunami of corporate wealth that is now flooding into the political process.” Even so, Kennedy remains optimistic. “We built, in this country, more wind and solar last year than all the incumbents combined. That is a critical milestone in the adaptation of disruptive technologies,” he says. “Nobody notices it because the other one is so dominant in the market.” This is going to happen with clean energy, he says, not because government tells it to, but because the market is going to drive it there. “We can produce electric cars that cost six cents a mile to drive over the life of the car versus an internal combustion car that costs 60 cents. How long can they maintain that?” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on June 16, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Power Down The Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham, President, The Regeneration Project Chris King, Chief Regulatory Officer, eMeter Gregory Walton, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Stanford University Energy underpins our civilization. It’s hardly surprising that convincing people to use less of something so tied to their comfort and survival is challenging. Smart policy has given California a head start, but it’s not enough. We need to dig deeper to reap energy savings, say these three experts convened by Climate One. “I think there’s a downside in focusing too narrowly on money,” says Gregory Walton, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Stanford University. Instead, Walton and his team focus on creating the sense that saving energy is a community movement. We need to reach a point where saving energy becomes the social norm, he says, as is the case with wearing seat belts and recycling. “There’s a psychological transformation that happens,” Walton says. “It’s the same behavior, the same experience, but it comes to feel very different by virtue of its social need.” There are still other levers to pull. “I have a bit of an advantage, in that most religions can use guilt,” jokes Rev. Sally G. Bingham, President and Founder, California Interfaith Power & Light. “Sometimes it works. But mostly our congregations that are cutting their energy use are doing it for the right reasons,” she says. “Fairly often a congregation will begin this process for money saving reasons, but also because they feel they are doing the right thing” Chris King, Chief Regulatory Officer, eMeter, says customers need better information. “There’s this strong desire for more information and ability to do something,” he says. “What they really want to know: How much energy does each of my appliances use?” It’s helpful to know that electricity consumption spiked when I plugged in my toaster, he says, but without comparing it to the total, the bigger picture is lost. A better solution is to give customers a monthly breakdown for electricity use by all appliances, which he says can be done with up to 90% accuracy using a combination of the smart meter and algorithms. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on July 22nd, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canada’s Oil Sands: Energy Security, or Energy Disaster? Cassie Doyle, Consul General, Canada; Former Canadian Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Jason Mark, Earth Island Institute Carl Pope, Chairman, The Sierra Club Alex Pourbaix, President of Energy and Oil Pipelines, TransCanada The 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline would carry heavy crude oil from Alberta to America’s Gulf Coast refineries. In this Climate One debate, a panel of experts argues for and against the controversial pipeline. For Alex Pourbaix, President of Energy and Oil Pipelines, TransCanada, the pipeline builder, and Cassie Doyle, Canada’s Consul General in San Francisco, the merits of the project are clear: America would bank a stable, secure supply of crude from a friendly neighbor. Why would the United States opt to buy crude from anyone other than Canada if given a choice?, asks Pourbaix. “To suggest that those other countries are more responsible environmental citizens than Canada begs comprehension. It is far more compelling to be getting your oil needs from Canada, rather than getting it from other countries such as Libya, Nigeria, or Venezuela,” he says. Cassie Doyle downplays the environmental impact of processing the Alberta oil sands’ heavy crude. “We assume that the oil sands production is static when it comes to environmental performance. When, since 1990, we’ve seen a 30% improvement in the carbon intensity per barrel.” Sierra Club Chairman Carl Pope and Jason Mark, Editor of the Earth Island Journal, dismiss both claims – that Keystone XL crude will stay in the United States and can be extracted without exacerbating climate change – as implausible. “This is really an export pipeline. It’s not really an import pipeline,” says Pope. “The United States is going to be used as a transit zone and a refining zone. We’re going to take the environmental risks.” Jason Mark faults the State Department environmental review for not acknowledging the pipeline’s contribution to climate change. “The U.S. State Department said that this pipeline would have ‘no significant environmental impact.’ As a journalist, that felt to me like the classic example of the headline writer not actually reading the story.” Mark highlights what is, to him, the even larger issue. “Is the United States going to be complicit in burning megatons more carbon dioxide that’s going to fuel run-away climate change?” We have a choice, he says, “Do we continue to make investments that leave us on the path of a carbon-intensive economy? Or, when do we make the hard decision that says we’re going to stop using oil?” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on August 30th, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this Climate One conversation, two of the most influential environmentalists of the past 30 years share the same stage for just the second time in their long careers in public life. Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org and author of Eaarth, and Paul Hawken, entrepreneur and author of Blessed Unrest, talk about the ailing economy, the economy we must build to succeed it, and the forces that stand in the way. Climate One’s Greg Dalton opens by asking Hawken and McKibben how the United States ended up mired in recession. “We get into this predicament by artificially stimulating consumption for the past 40 years,” replies Hawken. The bursting of the credit bubble should tell us, he says, that consumerism, our longtime economic crutch, won’t get us out of this mess. McKibben agrees. Since the end of World War II he says, “the basic animating force of that economy was the task of building bigger houses farther apart from each other. It’s a project that ended up being environmentally ruinous, and socially ruinous, too.” And yet those ruins give us something to build upon. “The economy we’re moving towards looks less to growth than to durability and resilience and security. The trajectory will be more in the direction of local, instead of the ever-expanding outward globalism that’s relied on an endless supply of cheap fossil energy to make it possible.” “My only real worry,” he says, “is that climate change is happening so fast that it may knock the props out from under the whole thing before we can get to where we need to go.” The way forward is studded with challenges, Hawken says. First among them, the fear that individual actions won’t, by themselves, be enough. Small acts are rational and helpful, he says, but in the doing you don’t step back and ask: What do we really need to change? “What we need to change,” he answers, “is the system. And the system cannot change until there is a manifest crisis that is shared.” The problem, McKibben explains, is that the fossil fuel industry is actively working to block systemic change. “Most people understand that climate change is an incredibly serious problem about which we need to do something,” he says. “Our problem is far and away caused by the fact that the fossil fuel industry, which is the most profitable industry on Earth, has all of the financial means at their disposal to keep us from taking action.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on September 8, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Humanity needs nature to thrive.” For Peter Seligmann, who delivers that line, and Jib Ellison, who shares the stage with him at this Climate One panel, the abundant services provided by nature too often go unrecognized. So what are those services?, asks Climate One’s Greg Dalton. In basic terms, replies Seligmann, CEO, Conservation International, ecosystem services are what we get from the natural world. He assigns those services to one of four categories: provisions – food, freshwater, and medicine; regulating – climate, flood control on coasts; supporting: the soil and nutrient cycles; and cultural – the places we live, the places that shape our belief systems. All of them are essential for people, he says, but “we’ve lost track of the relationship that we have with nature and ecosystem services because we don’t think about our foods coming from a forest or a farm; it comes from the supermarket. There’s a real disconnect now.”Jib Ellison, CEO, Blu Skye, a sustainability consultancy, emphasizes that business is just as indebted to the natural world. “If you think about all the goods and services that you can buy in a store, all of it ultimately is coming from somewhere down the line out of nature.” “The big companies in the world with visionary leaders are realizing,” he says, “that the security of supply to serve their customers is at risk.” The grave threat to natural systems around the globe has convinced both men of the need for environmentalists to preach beyond the converted, and to engage with business, including giants such as Wal-Mart. “What I’ve always felt,” Seligmann says, “is that if the environmental community focuses on the fifteen percent of the world that are true, ardent environmentalists we’re losing, losing, losing. We’ve got to make the tent big enough for everybody. Over time, that creates trust.” An absolutely critical element to get us there, says Ellison, is transparency on costs. “The sustainable economy is only going to come under one condition: When the lowest-priced good –the lowest-priced T-shirt at Wal-Mart – is lowest priced precisely because it does the least harm,” he says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior California reservoirs are at healthy levels this year, but the state’s water system remains in crisis. Projected changes in the Sierra snowpack and precipitation patterns, along with a growing population, present challenges for hydrating the state’s citizens and economy. How will the federal government help the state secure future water supplies by aiding ambitious projects such as the restoration of the California Bay Delta and the San Joaquin River? How will it keep rivers healthy and balance the water needs of humans and ecosystems? Prior to joining the Obama administration in 2009, Ken Salazar was a U.S. Senator from Colorado active on issues including renewable energy, food and fuel security, and the concerns of ranchers and rural Americans. Join us for a conversation with Secretary Salazar about fresh water, fishing and farming, and other resource concerns in California and the American West. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on September 19, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carbon & Courts I: Atmospheric Trust Phil Gregory, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy Pete McCloskey, Former Congressman David Takacs, Associate Professor, UC Hastings College of the Law With climate legislation dead in Congress, and the international climate talks years from resolution, some proponents of climate action are turning to the courts in the hope that judges will compel governments to act. This Climate One panel brings together three attorneys who are pursuing climate action through a novel concept: atmospheric trust litigation. In May, Our Children’s Trust filed the first atmospheric trust suits, with young people named as the plaintiffs. The strategy couples lawsuits, which have now been filed in all 50 states and in federal courts, with the mobilization of youth. Phil Gregory, Principal Attorney, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy and co-counsel for the federal suits, explains the strategy. “You have to say to the courts, you, the judge, need to declare that there’s a problem here, and that the government, the sovereign, is not doing enough to protect the trust.” Gregory insists that that aim of the suits is not to turn judges into policymakers. “What we want the court to do is not itself institute a regulation, or not itself say, this is what you must do, this particular act, but you, the state agencies, you, the federal departments, need to come forward with a plan that works,” he says. David Takacs, Associate Professor, UC Hastings College of the Law, concedes that atmospheric trust is a novel application of the public trust doctrine. “Part of why the atmosphere has never been considered a public trust resource is because we’ve never had to think about climate change or the atmosphere as being a renewable resource,” he says. “Nonetheless,” he continues, “if you look at what the public trust doctrine actually says, the atmosphere is no different than those other resources [water, wildlife, and land] in terms of how fundamental it is to human life for present and future generations.” Retired California Congressman Pete McCloskey notes that these suits will require judges to make a leap. But judges have done so before in our history when politicians weren’t ready to act, he says, citing the Supreme Court’s role in desegregating schools. “Never trust the government to adhere to the doctrine of the public trust,” he says. “You’ve got to force them. It’s going to be the courts that take the lead. And it’s going to be the young people that force politicians to act.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on September 14, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carbon & Courts II: Cap and Trade: Fixable or Fatally Flawed? Edie Chang, Office of Climate Change, California Air Resources Board Brent Newell, General Counsel, Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment Bill Gallegos, Executive Director, Communities for a Better Environment Kristin Eberhard, Legal Director, Western Energy and Climate Projects, Natural Resources Defense Council It might be the only reference to Star Wars you’ll ever hear at Climate One. Reaching for an analogy to drive home the impact of a shrinking cap on carbon emissions in California, Kristin Eberhard, Legal Director, Western Energy and Climate Projects, Natural Resources Defense Council, asks the audience to remember the trash compactor scene from the original Star Wars.“This is the cap for Chevron. That cap is coming down on them year after year after year. And they have to figure out what they’re going to do,” she says. “In the trash compactor, there’s no out. They’re in it. And that’s what we’re finding. These regulated facilities are realizing that the cap is not changing.”“The problem with Kristin’s analogy,” interjects Brent Newell, General Counsel, Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, to big laughs, “is that R2-D2 actually stopped the trash compactor. And they got out.” Replace R2-D2 in the analogy with political meddling and market manipulation and the two poles of this spirited Climate One exchange on the future of California’s cap-and-trade program come into focus. Eberhard and Edie Chang, Office of Climate Change, California Air Resources Board, argue that a regulated cap-and-trade system, coupled with renewable energy targets and improved fuel economy standards, will dramatically reduce carbon emissions and give communities relief from harmful localized pollutants. Newell and Bill Gallegos, Executive Director, Communities for a Better Environment, argue that regulators at CARB are choosing not to use their authority under AB 32 to target pollution at major industrial facilities, usually sited next to neighborhoods home to low-income people of color. After reiterating that environmental justice groups firmly support AB 32, Bill Gallegos says that the lawsuit these groups filed to force CARB to scrap the cap-and-trade system was a last resort. “We wanted to ensure that, as we’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions, let’s get the other stuff that is really choking people and killing them right now. We had a chance to do something good and, unfortunately, the Air Resources Board has not seized that opportunity,” he says. In response to Newell and Gallegos’ concern about local sources of pollutants, Edie Chang says, “We’re also initiating a rulemaking to ensure that the seventeen largest industrial sources in the state are going to have to implement the cost-effective greenhouse gas reductions. Programs like that will make sure that localized communities experience air-quality benefits.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on September 14, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big Green Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club Felicia Marcus, Western Director, Natural Resources Defense Council Karen Topakian, Board Chair, Greenpeace USA It would not seem a fruitful time to be on the frontlines in the fight to protect the environment in the United States, with the EPA under daily attack and climate legislation stalled. But the three environmental leaders participating in this Climate One panel note that many fronts exist outside of Washington, with at least one formidable adversary, utilities operating coal fired-power plants, forced to play defense. Until recently, says Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club, “every single conversation was about, Will we get 60 senators to pass comprehensive climate legislation – when that really represented just the tip of the iceberg, part of the conversation about climate change.” Brune and fellow panelists Felicia Marcus, Western Director, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Karen Topakian, Board Chair, Greenpeace USA, agree that D.C. politics will force environmental groups to play defense in the near term. They also stress that building grassroots support and presenting a positive vision of the future will be critical. “We’re trying to create a future in which we have clean energy, clean communities, and clean food. We have to deal not just with playing defense; we have to create a vision of the future that people are for,” says Marcus. Over the next three to five years, the Sierra Club will, as Brune puts it, focus on getting real and getting local. “It’s hard to motivate people around an issue where they get the moral imperative, but they don’t really understand what it is that you’re trying to do, and how your solutions will address the problems you’re identifying,” he says. For the Sierra Club, this means a return to its roots, a focus on the grassroots, says Brune, with the most visible manifestation of that effort its Beyond Coal campaign. Recently buttressed by a $50 million donation from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the campaign aims to force the retirement of one-third of the nation’s 600 coal-fired power plants over the next five years. Greenpeace likewise aims to retire old, dirty coal plants, says Karen Topakian. Its goal is 150 plants taken offline by 2015. “We’re making it tangible to people,” she says. “If you start talking about fuel in a way that’s abstract, people don’t get it.” “We are in alignment in fighting dirty fuels, and then creating an opening for clean fuels,” adds Felicia Marcus. “We’re at a place where we can use [clean energy] as a way to create and talk about a future that is at some level complex but at another much more clear to the average person.” For example, she says, NRDC is “doubling down” on an issue it has focused on for 30 years: “the very low-glamour, high-value issue of energy efficiency.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on September 28, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy Rifkin President, Foundation on Economic Trends; Author, The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy and Changing the World The world is doomed to repeat four-year cycles of booms followed by crashes if we don’t get off oil, Jeremy Rifkin warns in this Climate One talk. The solution, what he calls the Third Industrial Revolution, is the “Energy Internet,” a nervous system linking millions of small renewable energy producers. For Rifkin, author of the new The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy and Changing the World, a seminal event occurred in July 2008, when the price of oil hit $147 a barrel. “Prices for everything on the supply chain went through the roof, from food to petrochemicals. Purchasing power plummeted all over the world that month. An entire economic engine of the Industrial Revolution shut down,” he says. “That was the great economic earthquake,” he goes on. “The collapse of the financial markets 60 days later was the aftershock. Our world leaders are still dealing with the aftershock, and have not gone to the nub of the crisis.” The reason this is happening now, Rifkin says, is that the “world is made out of and moved by fossil fuels.” “Every time we try to re-grow the economy at the same growth rate we were growing before July 2008, the price of oil goes up, all of the other prices goes up, purchasing power goes down, and it collapses.” This is a wall we can’t go beyond under the current energy regime, he says. “We’re in this wild gyration of four-year cycles, where we’re going to try to re-grow, collapse, re-grow, collapse.” The solution is a plan based on five pillars, which is being implemented in the European Union: 1) Renewable energy targets: such as the EU’s 20% by 2020 mandate 2) Green buildings: over the next 40 years, Europe plans to convert its 191 million buildings into energy-efficient, micro power plants 3) Energy storage: batteries, flywheels, and hydrogen used to smooth the intermittency of renewables 4) “Energy Internet”: create a central nervous system so that buildings can talk to the grid and sell or store power depending on prices 5) Plug-in electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. “This is power to the people,” he says. “This is the democratization of energy.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 3, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Truckin' John Boesel, CEO, CALSTART Mike Tunnell, Director, Environmental Affairs, American Trucking Associations Alan Niedzwiecki, CEO, Quantum Technologies In August, the Obama administration announced the first-ever fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses. The three experts convened at this Climate One panel say that the trucking industry is ready to meet the new rules, which require semi-trucks to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2018. “What’s exciting now is that we have some decent public policy in place,” says John Boesel, CEO, CALSTART. “The engineering talent that was dedicated to cleaning up the criteria emissions is going to be applied to helping reduce our dependence on oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions. I think we’re going to see a lot of innovation in this space.” The new rules “will encourage fleets over this short term to develop best-available technology that is there today. It won’t really be technology forcing,” he says. At the same time, he adds, fleets will be looking at alternative fuels, especially natural gas, when they make economic sense. Mike Tunnell, Director of Environmental Affairs, American Trucking Associations, agrees, pointing out that with diesel prices hovering in $3 to $4 gallon range, “fleets are beginning to look more, in America, at alternative fuels and natural gas in an effort to cut some of the fuel costs.” But, he cautions, there is a flip side: the upfront costs for equipment are higher, and fuel availability becomes a concern. Climate One’s Greg Dalton picks up on the supply worries later, asking if fleet operators are concerned energy firms might not meet California’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard, which aims to reduce the carbon intensity of California’s transportation fuels by 10% by 2020. “There will be some concerns,” says John Boesel, “but this is a regulation that will encourage them to be more innovative and more creative than they have been in the past.” David Mazaika, Chief Operating Officer, Quantum Technologies, says that plenty of examples, including hybrid buses now in service, prove that the fuel standards can be met. “It certainly can be done; the industry just needs to focus on that. Now, with the new legislation, there are some targets out there that the industry can focus on and really strive to meet.” “The technology is out there to be able to support these types of levels,” he says. “It will be a wide spectrum – everything from aerodynamic improvements to hybrid-drive systems and different fuels.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 5, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Drop In, Scale Up? Ed Dineen, CEO, LS9 Alan Shaw, CEO, Codexis Jonathan Wolfson, CEO, Solazyme Next-generation biofuels are on the verge of a breakthrough but aren’t ready to displace conventional fuels, three Bay Area biofuel company CEOs say in this Climate One talk. The CEOs insist that their fuels must compete on price with conventional gasoline or diesel, with or without government support, or a price on carbon, which means they have to scale up, fast. For biofuels to scale, all agree, they must be drop-in fuels. Meaning, says Jonathan Wolfson, CEO, Solazyme, “a fuel that fits directly into the existing infrastructure without modification.” “You’ll not replace mass transportation, internal combustion engines, in our lifetime – not at mass scale,” says Alan Shaw, CEO, Codexis. “What drives it is a liquid transportation fuel. We need an alternative to that. We’re still in the very early days. And that’s because the technology is not ready to be deployed at scale.” Ed Dineen, CEO, LS9, says “for the type of technologies we’re practicing” – second-generation biofuels – “I think three years you’ll start to see plants be established. And once the initial plants get established, and we learn the technology, the acceleration will pick up,” he says. “The bigger issue is the capital intensity of these plants,” he adds. “If we see a world of $150 [per barrel] crude, I think that’s going to accelerate the pace of this technology,” he says. Agreeing with Jonathan Wolfson, Shaw says that “the key driver of economics here is feedstock costs” – in this case, sugars. Promisingly, he says, the second-generation cellulosic sugars that he and fellow panelists’ are developing run about a tenth the cost of their first-generation predecessors. The larger price competition, biofuels pitted against conventional crude, would be a fairer one, Wolfson says, if the two sides were evenly matched. “There is one thing people forget, which is that the big integrated oil companies have had 100 years to bury subsidies in all kinds of places. People are talking about Industry should stand up, and We should all be dependent on alternative and renewable fuels meeting parity with petroleum. But the truth is parity isn’t parity because of all these hidden subsidies.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 6, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Red Alert: China Time, China Scale Peter Greenwood, Executive Director of Strategy, China Light and Power Group Stephen Leeb, Co-author, Red Alert Alex Wang, Visiting Professor, UC Berkeley School of Law Julian Wong, Attorney, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; Former Advisor, U.S. Department of Energy The four China watchers assembled for this Climate One panel debate the motives for, and the implications of, China’s domestic climate action, particularly its abundant clean energy investments. Stephen Leeb, co-author, Red Alert, is the panel’s contrarian. “I don’t think China does anything with the world’s interest at hand; I think they do everything with China’s interest at hand. Climate change is very much a mixed bag for them. Much more important to them is the issue of resource scarcity.” Leeb was suspicious of the intent of China’s renewable energy investments. China, he says, aims to control the solar market to the detriment of foreign players, including the United States. Julian Wong, an attorney with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, agrees with Leeb, up to a point. Yes, energy is a pivotal issue in China’s economic growth, he says, and scarcity issues are “high in the minds of China’s leaders.” He also cites the increasing importance of environmental protection in preventing unrest. “Ultimately, this Communist Party is in power as long as the people allow it to be. If you are getting protests by citizens, by residents, on very fundamental needs, that’s going to get the attention of leaders.” Alex Wang, a visiting professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law, emphasizes the importance of the environmental protest movement, citing events this summer at a chemical plant in the city of Dalian and at facilities operated by Jinko Solar. “People are getting more wealthy. They are getting better educated about environmental issues, and they realize that is impacting their health, their children’s health,” he says. Counter to Stephen Leeb, Peter Greenwood, Executive Director of Strategy, China Light and Power Group, says we should vaunt not vilify China’s investments in wind and solar. “It’s not actually, necessarily, a bad story for the rest of the world. Wind turbine prices have fallen in the last couple of years by about 20%. A lot of that is due to the efficiency and scale of Chinese manufacturing,” he says. “What does that do? It means that wind projects that were previously uneconomical become economical. Sites that were previously not feasible become feasible. Subsidies that might otherwise have to be paid by Western and other governments can perhaps operate at lower levels. That’s a beneficial story.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 12, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World Daniel Yergin, Executive Vice President and Chairman, IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates; CNBC Global Energy Expert; Author, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World Bullish on technology’s ability to tap previously unreachable oil and gas, energy analyst Daniel Yergin tells this Climate One audience to expect the age of fossil fuels to continue well into this century. Yergin is author of The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the oil age The Prize. A pivotal year for Yergin is 2004 when, he says, the world woke up to the surge in energy demand in emerging markets, notably China. After Yergin’s opening remarks, Climate One’s Greg Dalton reads a 2010 statement from International Energy Agency Chief Economist Fatih Birol expressing concern over rising global oil demand and urging a transition from oil. Yes, the statement was reasonable, Yergin says, we will run out of oil someday. But “we’ve run out of oil – and I don’t say this facetiously – five times.” Referring to the oil shocks of the 1970s, Yergin says, “There are people in this room who know very well that we were going to fall off the oil mountain – and production is now up 30%. We haven’t used up half the world’s oil; we’ve maybe used up 20% of the world’s oil.” Keeping up with demand isn’t just about making new discoveries, Yergin says. Also important are extensions and additions to existing oil fields, prolonging the life of oil plays thought to be exhausted. “It’s technology,” he says. “There’s a tendency to think that technology stagnates, that where you are is where you are going to be. But, in fact, the industry is basically run by scientists and engineers who are trying to push the technology along.” During the audience Q&A, Yergin is asked if he agrees fossil fuel subsidies needed to be reduced to level the playing field for renewables entering the market. “The subsidies question is very complex, and it really depends upon definition,” he says. Jobs are being created in the renewable industry, he says, “but I think the thing we’ll probably see in the next month or so is the fact that in the last three or four years – and this seems counterintuitive – a lot more jobs have actually been created in the conventional energy industry than in the green industry. That doesn’t mean that’s going to be the case five years or 10 years from now when those industries are much more mature.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 13, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saltworks and Beyond Peter Calthorpe, Principal Architect, Peter Calthorpe Associates David Lewis, Executive Director, Save the Bay Jack Matthews, Mayor, San Mateo The debate over Saltworks, a proposal to build 12,000 homes on former salt ponds in Redwood City, is a harbinger of coming development fights in the age of climate change. In this October 18 Climate One debate, architect Peter Calthorpe argues that the need for housing in the San Francisco Bay Area is so great that infill development alone can’t meet demand; conservationist David Lewis counters that developing one of the region’s last unprotected wetlands is not worth the cost. “This is not a site for housing,” says Lewis, Executive Director, Save the Bay. “This one area in Redwood City was held onto by the Cargill Salt Company because they wanted to develop it,” he says. “They have no entitlement to develop it. The city’s general plan says it should remain as open space. It’s a priority area for acquisition by the federal wildlife refuge.” “I do have some concerns about it,” says Jack Matthews, He concedes that the development, as planned, seems isolated. Peter Calthorpe, Principal Architect, Calthorpe Associates, argues that Saltworks needs to be assessed not as a stand-alone development project but as a response to regional pressures. “The larger context is that for a very long time we’ve been building more jobs than housing—particularly in the west side of the Bay, in Silicon Valley and the Peninsula. The jobs housing balance has been so askew that we have people commuting from outside the nine-county Bay Area. We’ve been pushing housing way to the periphery.” Citing the Association of Bay Area Governments, Calthorpe says the region will need 72,000 new housing units to keep up with expected demand. There is no way to satisfy demand by only building transit-oriented development along El Camino Real, the region’s main north-south artery, he says. Calthorpe challenges David Lewis to answer how the region can reach a jobs-housing balance without employees moving to sprawling developments in Tracy or Livermore or Gilroy, if projects such as Saltworks aren’t built. “When you push housing farther and farther to the periphery because you don’t want to face up to the challenge in these jobs-rich areas, the environmental footprint, carbon emissions, VMT [vehicle miles traveled], energy consumption, and land consumption—because we all know it’s lower density once it gets out there – all of that, in many cases, is on pristine habitat or farmland.”We do it by building on already developed land and re-configuring our cities, Lewis answers. Saltworks “should have been dead on arrival in the beginning because it’s not the right place,” he says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 18, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beyond Petroleum: Navy Seals Leading the Charge Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Energy & Installations Jeremy Carl, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University The U.S. military has ambitious plans to reduce its dangerous dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. Can the buying power of the Pentagon drive innovation in new energy technologies and create markets? This conversation explores how the U.S. Navy and other military branches can align their intellectual and financial capital to accelerate and broaden the transition to cleaner sources of electricity and transportation fuels for American forces and the American economy. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 21, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beyond Petroleum: Lessons from the Gulf of Mexico Bill Reilly, Co-Chair, National Oil Spill Commission Bob Graham, Co-Chair, National Oil Spill Commission More than a year after oil stopped gushing into the Gulf, the co-chairs of the commission tasked with investigating the Deepwater Horizon oil spill appear together in this Climate One panel to assess the nation’s response to the disaster. Bill Reilly and Bob Graham commend the Obama administration for overhauling regulation of the offshore oil industry, and praise the oil industry for initiating internal reforms, but they blast Congress for doing next to nothing to respond to the spill. Former EPA Administrator Bill Reilly says that the administration and the oil industry have heeded the call for reform. “The systemic reforms that we recommended are underway, certainly in the Interior Department under the direction of Michael Bromwich at BOEMRE and Secretary Salazar. They’ve issued any number of new rules on safety and environmental management that are long overdue, I think, and very defensible, very professional, and very appropriate.” Less expected has been the aggressive push by the oil industry to take control of its own conduct. “Very promising, and to some extent surprising, has been the response of industry,” says Reilly. “Frankly, industry has done more than Congress to respond to our report,” he says. Asked by Climate One’s Greg Dalton to grade the government and industry implementation of commission’s report, former U.S. Senator Bob Graham says: “Probably, in both places, it would be ‘incomplete.’ The actions that have been taken at the executive level in the federal government are very encouraging.” As for Congress, Graham is less than impressed. “The Congress would not get a very good grade because they have essentially done nothing, and in some instances have gone backward.” Reilly and Graham express frustration that the five Gulf states have been unable to reach agreement to settle monetary damages and fund restoration. “We’re still waiting to see what the final settlement looks like, where the money goes,” says Reilly, but “one hopes it goes to restoration when it’s finally allocated.” Graham and Reilly also want money dedicated to monitoring potential health impacts of the spill for residents and those who consume Gulf seafood. “To fully assess the health implications of this event, and the environmental implications, we’re going to require an extended period of time and a substantial investment in research,” Graham says. Graham and Reilly also agreed that we need to reduce the demand for oil – and hence the need for more drilling – altogether. “I don’t see the United States engaged in any serious thinking about what its economy is going to be in the post-oil era,” Graham says.This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 21, 2011 This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 21, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

US Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) America should wean itself from foreign oil and invest in clean energy technologies and infrastructure. Join us for a broad conversation about what Congress could do to promote electric cars, create jobs and spur development of biofuels from forests and agricultural lands. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 26, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Co. It might sound strange coming from the scion of a family whose name is synonymous with cars, but Bill Ford is worried about a world with too many automobiles. “Even if we clean up our cars, 4 billion clean cars is still 4 billion cars,” he tells this Climate One audience. “Most everybody has been focused on CO2 and fossil fuels and the effect that has on us politically and environmentally. That’s absolutely an appropriate focus,” says William Clay Ford, Jr., Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Co. “But I have started to realize that there is this other looming issue lurking out there that nobody was focused on, and that’s what I started calling ‘global gridlock.’” In a world of 4 billion cars, “How are they going to move? How are we as mobility providers going to provide solutions, and not be part of the problem?,” he asks. His answer, to a large degree, is technology. Ford gives an example. His company is testing a fleet of demonstration vehicles outfitted with vehicle-to-vehicle information technology. Say you are about to enter an onramp for the freeway. Five miles ahead of you, another car rolls to a halt in stop-and-go traffic. You would receive an alert about the traffic jam and be given an alternate route to save time and prevent a larger back-up. Climate One’s Greg Dalton asks if Ford and other automakers feel threatened by the increasingly popular trend of urban car-sharing such as Zipcar. Without hesitating, Ford says: “I think it’s a great opportunity. People don’t have to own cars; they want to have access to cars.” Beyond giving customers access to mobility, Ford stresses his company’s commitment to changing the way cars are fueled. It is investing in R&D in compressed natural gas, hydrogen, fuel cells, and biofuels. But “we are making big bets on electric,” he says, with an all-electric Focus coming later this year and a plug-in model next year. Ford says that his company is also committed to improving the fuel economy of every model it makes. Four years ago, the company set a goal of being the fuel economy leader in every model category. Ford is investing in a suite of technologies, Bill Ford says, because “we really don’t know how the world is going to break out.” He adds: “Until this nation has an energy policy, which we desperately need, all of this is going to be sub-optimized.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 27, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Energy Innovation: Overhaul or Tweak? Severin Borenstein, Co-director, Energy Institute, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley Richard Lester, Director, MIT Industrial Performance Center Dan Reicher, Executive Director, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, Stanford America’s innovation engine is the envy of the world, yet it struggles to deploy new technology at the scale commensurate with its economic might. This panel of experts from three of the nation’s leading universities says that the U.S. risks falling behind if it refuses to address the technical, financial, and political barriers slowing energy innovation. Richard Lester, Director, MIT Industrial Performance Center, lays out what he calls the three waves of energy innovation: energy efficiency in this decade; the scaling of low- or de-carbonized energy supply technologies beginning in 2020 and running through about 2050; and breakthroughs we don’t even know about today, or may know about but are in the lab stage, but that can take decades to mature. Dan Reicher, Executive Director, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, Stanford University, is especially bullish on the promise of Lester’s first wave, energy efficiency. “It is the low-hanging fruit, and it’s also the low-hanging fruit that grows back. We don’t use it up,” he says. Reicher says that energy efficiency and other low-carbon technologies are needlessly held back because we ignore one or more critical criteria: technology, policy, and finance. And even when easy efficiency gains are there to be had, such as in new cars, says Severin Borenstein, Co-Director, Energy Institute, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, we are slow to act. “The technologies are getting better, but gasoline, for the most part, remains cheap. When you ask people how much they need to save to drive a smaller car, it’s a lot more than most people are willing to give up,” he says. These difficulties and more – think our broken political system – have convinced Richard Lester that a new approach, one not dependent upon raising the price of energy, is necessary. “It may be time for a shift in the policy debate to focus less on what is certainly the key requirement of increasing the price of energy to reflect these costs and focusing more on the other half of the equation, which is figuring out how to reduce the cost of the things that we actually want, which are low-carbon energy technologies and efficiency,” he says. Dan Reicher shares Lester’s concern about our broken politics, particularly as it is manifested in the GOP focus on the bankruptcy of Solyndra. “We may be demanding that anything that we put money into has got to show very reliable, very quick success. And not allow for what innovation requires, which is placing bets,” he says. Severin Borenstein urges policymakers to ramp up funding for basic science research, in part because he is pessimistic that existing renewable energy technologies will be sufficient. “The technologies that are going to solve this problem don’t exist yet,” he says, adding that “most of the technologies that exist don’t have the potential to be cost-effective with fossil fuels.” “We can’t take our eye off the price on carbon,” he says. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on November 3, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Great Disruption Paul Gilding, Professor, Cambridge University Program for Sustainability Leadership Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute Growth as we’ve known it is over, say Paul Gilding and Richard Heinberg. “The idea that we can keep on growing the economy up against the physical limits of the Earth” – water, oil, and land – “is not physically possible,” says Gilding, author, The Great Disruption. “We’re in a trap really. If we grow the economy, then we’ll hit those limits again. Prices will go up. Oil prices will go up. Food prices will go up. And the economy will go down,” he says. “If we don’t grow the economy, we’re going to drown in debt. We’re going to take a while to find our way out of this morass that we’ve dug ourselves into.” Richard Heinberg, author, The End of Growth, has written that it took decades for nominal GDP to recover after the Great Depression. But the fallout of the Great Recession, he says, will be much worse. “I don’t think we’ll ever see growth the way we experienced during the decades of the 20th century.” “We have to create an economy that exists within nature’s limits,” he says. “We’ve been borrowing from the past, by way of fossil fuels. We’re also borrowing from future generations, by way of debt – all so that we can consumer as much as possible right now.” Gilding highlights one industry, solar, for which projections are increasingly optimistic. Globally, the industry is growing 40% each year, he notes, and every time the industry doubles, the price per watt falls by 20%. By 2020, he expects solar to be cheaper than coal. That’s not to say that energy incumbents will be easily swept aside. Oil firms are using every known trick, and developing more, to secure new deposits, Heinberg says: “We’re getting better and better at scraping the bottom of the barrel.”“They are fighting tooth and nail,” says Paul Gilding. “They are going to do whatever it takes to defend their cash. It’s up to government to overcome that, and to have the courage to stare them down and to enforce the change.” Such a stand is underway in Gilding’s native Australia, where parliament just passed legislation placing a price on carbon. Yes, the legislation is a compromise, with some carve-outs for energy-intensive industries, says Gilding, but “the key thing is that we’re going to cross that dreaded line that you haven’t crossed yet, which is that we’re saying nationally: you have to deal with the issue.” “I think our country has a larger capacity for denial,” says Richard Heinberg, an understatement that draws laughs. “I think we’re going to have to hit the wall before we see fundamental change.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San francisco on November 7, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sun Up Dan Shugar, CEO, Solaria Tom Dinwoodie, CTO, SunPower In the wake of the collapse of solar panel maker Solyndra, the solar industry has received front-page treatment for the first time. Unfortunately, most of the coverage has been negative and ill-informed. In danger of being lost, industry veterans Dan Shugar and Tom Dinwoodie tell this Climate One audience is the good news – that solar is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States. Dan Shugar, CEO, Solaria, offers a sense of the scale of the growth. “Solar is, for the last 10 years, the fastest-growing energy technology,” he says, recording 69% annually compounded growth, 10 years in a row. “Last year, our industry manufactured, shipped, and installed for homes, businesses, and power plants 17 gigawatts of power. That’s the daytime equivalent of what 17 nuclear power plants put out,” he says. Tom Dinwoodie, CTO, SunPower, adds that even assuming a slower annual growth rate, say 15%, solar could supply 100% of the United States’ electricity requirement by 2040. “In the last three years, if you just look at North America, there’s been three times more wind and solar installations, in megawatts installed, than coal,” says Dan Shugar. Dinwoodie and Shugar also address two recent events that have buffeted the industry – German firm SolarWorld’s WTO complaint alleging that Chinese state support has facilitated the flooding of the market with low-cost panels, and the bankruptcy of Solyndra. Yes, the SolarWorld dumping complaint has divided the industry, says Dinwoodie. But “you’ll see demand in the world pick up as a result of these low costs, and there will be more a supply-demand balance in the future.” Overlooked in media coverage of the issue, Dan Shugar adds, is that China maintains a 17% import duty on foreign panels. “We think having a conversation and trying to level the playing field would be the right way to go about equalizing that,” he says. On Solyndra, Dinwoodie says the firm “is basically a victim of the success of the solar industry.” Remember, adds Dan Shugar, that Solyndra’s loan guarantee, even at $535 million, represented just 2% of the Department of Energy loan guarantee portfolio. The real issue, he argues, is that “in a capital-starved economy, which is what we are now, it’s very difficult to get loans for proven manufacturing entities.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on November 17, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boom or Bust? Dan Miller, Managing Director, The Roda Group Climate change “is going to dominate our world in the next century. It’s a very big risk, but it’s also a tremendous opportunity, if we make the right choices,” says Dan Miller. Miller, Managing Director at the venture capital firm The Roda Group, notes here that climate change is also treated much differently than other global threats. We spend billions on counterterrorism, to combat AIDS and other infectious diseases, to prevent a nuclear reactor meltdown, “but these kinds of risks have very low probabilities of actually affecting you. Yet we still worry about them a lot and are willing to take government action to combat them.” “Climate change, on the other hand, if we don’t address it, has the likely outcome that it will have catastrophic effects for nearly everyone,” he says. After reciting a depressing list of climate change impacts that are likely to or are already damaging the Earth’s natural systems – among them sea-level rise, drought, wildfires, melting permafrost, collapse of ice sheets , ocean acidification – Miller asks the salient question: “Why do we not act? Why, when we know the problem is huge, do we totally ignore it?” Evolutionary psychology offers some answers, he says. He identifies the factors working against action on climate change: CO2 and other planet-warming pollutants are invisible; the challenge is unprecedented; the causality is complex; the impacts are unpredictable and indirect; and all of us are complicit. Once one acknowledges the reality of climate change, there is a corresponding obligation to act, Miller says. He adds that individual action begins with asking our children for forgiveness, before moving on to reducing your carbon footprint, and believing, learning and engaging. What can countries do? Miller offers four recommendations: move to 100% carbon-free electricity in 10 to 20 years; keep tar sands and oil shale in the ground; expand R&D into geo-engineering, especially carbon capture and storage; and put a price on carbon. Miller’s preferred carbon-pricing vehicle is a so-called Clean Energy Dividend. A carbon fee would be added upstream, at the mine, power plant, refinery, or factory – enough to gradually raise the price of gasoline by $1 per gallon. Then, the federal government returns 100% of the proceeds on a per capita basis to citizens via a monthly check, with parents receiving one-half shares for up to two children.“That would drive a new economy of renewable energy and energy efficiency. I think most people would like it. I think conservatives would like it. It doesn’t raise any money for the government,” says Miller. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on November 18, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication Dr. Richard Alley, Professor of Geosciences, Penn State The event is a moving tribute to the late Stanford University climatologist Stephen Schneider, as Richard Alley is honored as the inaugural winner of the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication. Alley, the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, is also host of the PBS documentary "Earth: The Operators Manual." Alley and Climate One’s Greg Dalton talk about the challenges confronting scientists who carry on Schneider’s legacy of communicating climate science to the public and policymakers. The intent of the PBS series and companion book, Alley says, is to present both the risks and opportunities presented by climate change, and to use different messengers to tell the story. “We’re hoping to communicate more, not only the imperatives of doing something, but the amazing opportunities that are out there,” he says. The good news is that we have the tools we need to get started. “The first place to start is that we know we can get there without game-changers. This is the wonderful thing. If you can get a hundredth of a percent of the sun’s energy, that’s all of humanity’s energy. If you can put a wind farm on the windiest 20% of the plains and deserts of the world, that is far more than humanity’s energy needs.” And it helps if that message isn’t coming solely from him: “‘Climate change matters to you,’ I can say that. But why now have an admiral in the U.S. Navy say it, because climate change matters to them.” He also doesn’t want to prescribe policy solutions. “I would like very much to bring forward what we know, why it matters, and what opportunities are attached to that knowledge. And then stop and say, ‘It’s yours,’” he says. That handoff invariably involves asking policymakers, and the public, to grapple with the tricky concept of scientific uncertainty. Fortunately, Alley says, Stephen Schneider excelled at explaining uncertainty, using techniques that Alley has made his own. “You have to say: ‘This is what we know. And this is as good as it can get. And this is as bad as it can get.’ And make that very clear to people,” he says. And though his inbox is sometimes the target of skeptics’ screeds, Alley’s preferred response is to engage. “There may be bad people out there, but I don’t talk to them,” he says. “Even the ones who call me names, when you can actually sit down with them, they care. Usually they’re arguing about things that are not really what they care about. What they really care about are their grandkids.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on December 6, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2011 has been marked by extreme weather. In the U.S. alone, a record dozen disasters caused more than $1 billion in damage. This, and the release last month of a special UN report on extreme weather, was the backdrop for this Climate One panel featuring three leading climate scientists. Chris Field, Professor of Environmental Earth Sciences, Stanford University, is Co-Chair of the IPCC working group that produced the extreme weather report. He says the report reached three main conclusions: that extreme weather events are increasing; that losses are increasing; and that there’s a lot we can do about it: “smart things that don’t necessarily cost a lot that can be protective of assets and protective of lives.” What the extreme weather events tell us, says Michael Oppenheimer, Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs, Princeton University, is that “the climate is changing, and we have to learn how to deal with that. The good news, as Chris said, is that there are a lot of specific examples where we have been successful. We’re falling behind right now. But, at certain places, at certain times, people have done a very good job.” One area acutely threatened by climate change is food production, where decades of steady gains could be reversed. Chris Field notes that global food production has increased by a predictable 1% to 2% per year over the past 50 years. But, he warns, “I see food security at the heart of a perfect storm.” One proven hedge against this uncertainty is resiliency, says Karen O'Brien, Professor of Sociology and Human Geology, University of Oslo. “A lot of people think of resilience as going back to what it was before, but it’s also about being adaptive, being able to deal with these changes that are coming in a way that has a short- and long-term perspective.” The reality of extreme weather is forcing impacted individuals – whatever their personal beliefs about climate change – to acknowledge that something is amiss. “What we hear a lot from farmers, for example, is that they don’t really think about climate change by reading headlines about climate change forecasts,” says Dave Friedberg, Founder and CEO, The Climate Corporation. “They think about climate change when they’ve had a significant loss two, three years in a row. I think the psychology of risk and the psychology of loss is such that you don’t necessarily think about it unless it is something you can relate to, or there’s an experience you’ve had associated with it.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on December 13, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sun Spots David Hayes, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Interior John Laird, Secretary, California Resources Agency David Festa, West Coast Vice President, Environmental Defense Fund Michael Hatfield, Director of Development, First Solar Can large solar farms and the California desert co-exist? Yes, says this expert panel, which includes state and federal policymakers, California Resources Agency Secretary John Laird and Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes; an environmental advocate, David Festa, with the Environmental Defense Fund; and a project developer, Michael Hatfield, with First Solar. All agree that the Obama administration is on the right track with its commitment to bring relevant stakeholders together early in the process and in its preference for reviewing projects on a landscape scale. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on January 30, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Power Plays: Media Roundtable David Baker, Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Dana Hull, Reporter, San Jose Mercury News Cassandra Sweet, Reporter, Dow Jones Clean energy has boomed in recent years, but to guarantee its continued growth investors need stable, long-term policy support, according to three of the Bay Area’s leading energy journalists.The panel also warns consumers to brace themselves for higher energy prices, predicting that California drivers could be paying $5 per gallon for gas as early as this summer. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 3, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cruising 55 Shad Balch, Environment and Energy Communications, General Motors Roland Hwang, Director of Transportation Programs, NRDC Mary Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board Chris Paulson, VP of Strategy, Coda Automotive Have regulators, environmentalists, and automakers reached détente on the need to boost the fuel efficiency of America’s vehicle fleet? If one judges by the bonhomie displayed on stage by California’s top climate official, a transportation advocate, and two auto-industry executives during this Climate One panel, the answer is a resounding yes.The panel convened two weeks after the California Air Resources Board unanimously approved new rules that will require nearly 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles to be on the road by 2025. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 13, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Durban to Rio Tom Heller, Executive Director, Climate Policy Initiative; Professor, Stanford Law School Marc Stuart, Co-Founder, EcoSecurities Mark Schapiro, Senior Correspondent, Center for Investigative Reporting None of the experts gathered for this Climate One conversation expect much to come from the United Nations climate change negotiations.That’s not to say they think action has stalled. Rather, the panel, which included an international environmental lawyer, a clean energy investor, and a muckraking journalist, say to expect countries to continue investing in clean energy and carbon-cutting projects within their borders. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on February 29, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GM CEO Dan Akerson Dan Akerson, Chairman and CEO, General Motors THaving posted the most profitable year in it history, General Motors seeks to drive technology toward a cleaner future. GM CEO, Dan Akerson says the “new GM” wants to be part of environmental solutions not the problem. He also talks about the Chevy Volt, climate-driven business risk, and funding of the controversial Heartland Institute. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on March 7, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going Local Dan Rosen, Founder and CEO, Solar Mosaic Michael Shuman, Author, Local Dollars Local Sense Andrew Swallow, Founder, Mixt Greens; Author, Mixt Salads: A Chef's Bold Creations After decades of globalization there’s a new current pulling the other direction. Local food caught on and now people are thinking about buying other products from another county instead of another continent. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on March 23, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaking Youth to Power Abigail Borah, student, SustainUS.org Tania Pulido, Green For All Fellow; Brower Youth Award winner Adarsha Shivakumar, Stanford student, litigation plaintiff From courtrooms to diplomatic enclaves, youth advocates are clamoring to make their voices heard. Climate Progress dubbed 21-year-old college student Abigail Borah the “Durban Climate Hero” by for her appeal for faster action at a recent UN climate conference. Other advocates are filing suits claiming the U.S. and state governments have a legal responsibility to protect the atmosphere for future generations. Join us for a conversation with youth trying to build a cleaner future starting now. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on March 26, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Water World Laurent Auguste, CEO, Veolia Water Americas Jonas Minton, Water Policy Advisor, Planning and Conservation League Jason Morrison, Program Director, Pacific Institute Wild weather and growing population are increasing stress on global fresh water supplies. Scientists project more extremes of both too much and not enough water in some places and times. In the United States, aging infrastructure is in need of upgrade, but cash-strapped governments have little appetite for big-ticket items these days. And then there’s the need to adapt California’s water capture and storage systems to the climate-driven "new normal." Is there a global water crisis? What role should corporations and governments play in stewarding water resources in the American West and in a growing and thirsty world? Join us for a look into the future of the essence of life. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 29, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Covering Electric Cars Chelsea Sexton, EV expert featured in Who Killed the Electric Car? Katie Fehrenbacher, Senior Writer, GigaOM Ucilia Wang, Contributor, Forbes What's driving electric car sales? Who's buying, and which manufacturers understand how to market to these buyers? Does VC capital and government funding help or hinder progress? Listen in as three experts debate the issues. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 23, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Power Poll Donnie Fowler, Clean Tech Strategist Loren Kaye, President, California Foundation for Commerce and Education Dave Metz, Pollster, FM3 "When Americans step into the voting booth, what influences their decisions on energy issues? Join us as we explore public attitudes underlying America’s energy future.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on April 19, 2012. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crash Course Chris Martenson, Ph.D., Futurist; Author, The Crash Course Tom Van Dyck, Senior Vice President, RBC Wealth Management In the midst of all the doom and gloom about the economy, where's the hope for building resilience back into family and community finances? Which personal choices will make a difference in regaining prosperity? Join two experts speaking about where we've been and where we're headed. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 24, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Coll: ExxonMobil and American Power Steve Coll, Author, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power; former Managing Editor, The Washington Post In Conversation with Greg Dalton, Climate One, The Commonwealth Club ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond said in 2000 that there was "no convincing scientific evidence" that carbon dioxide would disrupt the Earth's climate. Nine years later, CEO Rex Tillerson changed course and announced support for a carbon tax if it was revenue neutral and did not increase the size of government. ExxonMobil's maneuvers on pricing carbon are just one theme running through Steve Coll's book Private Empire. He writes that ExxonMobil spends more money lobbying Congress than any other corporation and in some countries its influence towers above the US Embassy. Within the energy industry, it is regarded as a highly efficient and profitable corporate machine with strong safety standards and relatively low rates of accidents and spills. Join us for the inside story of one of the world’s most secretive and powerful companies as told by a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 8, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Green Myths Busted Diana Donlon, Cool Foods Campaign Director, The Center For Food Safety David Friedman, Deputy Director, Union of Concerned Scientists Betsy Rosenberg, Radio Host, On The Green Front Concerned citizens who seek to reduce their individual impact on climate change are often misguided in their choices. Transportation? Household energy use? Food? Where can the individual make the greatest impact? Our panel of experts pokes holes in current myths and reveals how we can truly create change. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 21, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Innovation Power Dan Adler, President, California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF) Jeff Byron, Vice Chair, Clean Tech Open; former Commissioner, California Energy Commission Matt Scullin, Founder & CEO, Alphabet Energy, Inc. Cathy Zoi, Partner, Silver Lake Kraftwerk; former CEO, Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection "What's on the horizon for clean tech? What are the barriers to innovation and what role should the government play? Climate One speaks to Dan Adler (President, California Clean Energy Fund), Jeff Byron (Vice Chair, Clean Tech Open; former Commissioner, California Energy Commission), Matt Scullin (Founder & CEO, Alphabet Energy, Inc.), and Cathy Zoi (Partner, Silver Lake Kraftwerk; former CEO, Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection) on innovation in the clean tech world.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on June 4, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nuclear Revival? Jim Boyd, Former Commissioner, California Energy Commission Marv Fertel, CEO, Nuclear Energy Institute Joe Rubin, Reporter, Capital Public Radio/Center for Investigative Journalism Greg Dalton, Climate One founder, moderator "For the first time in 30 years, two new nuclear plants are in the works in the US. But in light of the Fukushima plant disaster in Japan, along with shifting energy markets, is there a future for nuclear power?" This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on June 11, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Muller, Professor of Physics, UC Berkeley In conversation with Greg Dalton, Found of Climate One, moderator Physicist Richard Muller challenges scientific data used in deductions about global warming, and comes to his own conclusions on a variety of energy issues. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on June 21, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Story Wars Carrie Armel, Researcher, Stanford; Co-Chair, Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference Jon Else, Cinematographer, Last Call at the Oasis; Professor of Journalism, UC Berkeley Jonah Sachs, Co-founder, Free Range Studios; Author, Story Wars Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, moderator What's more powerful in shaping human perceptions--facts or stories? Where does the truth lie, and how will we know it? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on July 10, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EV Riders John Kalb, Founder, EV Charging Pros; Owner of a BMW ActiveE Andrea Kissack, Senior Editor for Quest, KQED Felix Kramer, Founder, CalCars; Owner of a Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF What makes electric cars so appealing to drive? Is range anxiety really a serious concern? Climate One asks three Bay Area electric vehicle owners what it’s like to be ahead of the curve of the transportation frontier. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on August 22, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Building Innovation Gary Dillabough, Managing Partner, Westly Group Ann Hand, CEO, Project Frog Kevin Surace, Founder, Serious Energy Cleantech entrepreneurs are changing the way buildings are designed and manufactured, saving time, costs, and energy -- but they face many challenges. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on September 7, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Building Green Cities David Gensler, Executive Director, Gensler Craig Hartman, Design Partner, SOM Michael Deane, Chief Sustainability Officer, Turner Construction Phil Williams, Vice President, Webcor Builders How are some of the largest building design and construction firms meeting client goals for more efficient resource utilization and cleaner built environments? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on September 7, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Green New Deal Michael Grunwald, Senior National Correspondent, Time; Author, The New New Deal Nancy Pfund, Managing Partner, DBL Investors Is the Obama stimulus package working to create promised jobs? What is politics and what is truth? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on September 17, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clean Money Dennis McGinn, President, American Council on Renewable Energy Clint Wilder, Author, Clean Tech Nation John Bohn, CEO, Renewable Energy Trust The funding outlook is cloudy for parts of the clean energy sector. Production tax credits for wind energy may expire at the end of the year, and some members of Congress are taking aim at military spending on innovative biofuels as Pentagon budget cuts loom. Since the Solyndra disaster, there's been vigorous debate about what level of risk government should take with taxpayer money. Yet many major advances in American energy and transportation – from jet engines to interstate highways and nuclear power – involved public-private partnerships. Can government and business partnerships around clean fuels be forged in the current political climate? What technology areas are most promising? What policies are having the most impact? Join a discussion about getting the money flowing so clean energy can flow. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on September 28, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Energy and the Election Donnie Fowler, Founder and CEO, Dogpatch Strategies Bob Inglis, Former Republican U.S. Representative, South Carolina Bill Reilly, Former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tom Steyer, Managing Partner, Farallon Capital Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, moderator High gasoline prices, hydraulic fracturing and the Keystone XL Pipeline have kept energy in the headlines. How will that play this election cycle? What national policies should be pursued to advance American competitiveness? How is natural gas changing energy politics in America? Are Democrats sanctimonious and Republicans delusional about climate change, or is this unfair stereotyping? South Carolina Representative Bob Inglis lost a 2010 primary election after saying his party needs to stop denying mainstream climate science. What lessons can be draw from that, and what does it augur for bipartisan action on carbon pollution? Join us for a conversation on powering America's future. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on October 9, 2012. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tear Down that Dam? Susan Leal, Former General Manager, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Mike Marshall, Executive Director, Restore Hetch Hetchy Spreck Rosekrans, Director of Policy, Restore Hetch Hetchy Jim Wunderman, CEO, Bay Area Council Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, Moderator A measure on the San Francisco ballot asks voters to consider a two-phase plan that could lead to draining the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. Leaders on both sides of the debate will tackle this thorny issue and look at other regional water issues in the age of climate disruption. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on October 15, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GMO: Label or Not? Jesus Arredondo, Principal and Founder, Advantage Government Consulting LLC Kent Bradford, Ph.D., Director of the Seed Biotechnology Center, University of California, Davis Ken Cook, President, Environmental Working Group Jessica Lundberg, Lundberg Family Farms Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, Moderator Proposition 37 on the upcoming California ballot is a high-stakes food fight with national implications. The measure would bring California, and by extension the United States, in line with the various GMO disclosure requirements already in place in Europe, Australia and Japan. Advocates for GMO labeling say consumers have a right to know if they are eating "Frankenfood." Food companies, led by Monsanto, Cargill, and General Mills, along with other critics, say disclosure would be misleading and alarm consumers. A Reuters story recently reported the proposition “could upend the U.S. food business from farm to fork if it prompts makers of popular foods to dump GMO ingredients.” What do we know about the safety of food with GMO ingredients? How would labeling impact the national food system? How much would it cost? Polls indicate voters favor GMO disclosure, but opponents, led by Monsanto, have a hefty war chest. Join a lively debate about one of the most controversial issues in the upcoming election. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on October 25, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carbon Math Bill McKibben, Founder, 350.org, Author, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet John Hofmeister, CEO, Citizens for Affordable Energy; Former President, Shell Oil Company Activist Bill McKibben and former president of Shell Oil Company John Hofmeister come together at Climate One to discuss the current state of the rhetoric around energy and the technology behind it. While both McKibben and Hofmeister agree that the world needs better energy alternatives, they disagree on the timeline. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on November 9, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political Science Blurb: Michael Mann, Katharine Hayhoe, and Bill Anderegg tackle the political nature of climate science and their experiences as ‘climate warriors.’ Michael Mann warns that "we can't allow science to be killed. We can't allow the scientific agenda to be set by those that have vested interests to not have the truth be unveiled." Over the past decade climate science has become increasingly politicized. Today many candidates claim the science is unsettled and scientists are the targets of smear campaigns. Climate scientists who have taken on public roles cope with personal threats, hacking attacks and assaults on their professional integrity. "We are not in this because we value people's opinions of us. We are not in this because we want to receive pleasant emails in the morning. We are in this because this is the truth and we have to tell it," said evangelist climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. Michael Mann, Katharine Hayhoe, and Bill Anderegg discuss their experiences as climate scientists in a field under the magnifying glass of politics, economics and amplified emotions Michael Mann, Professor of Geosciences, Penn State; Author, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars Katharine Hayhoe, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas Tech University Bill Anderegg, Doctoral Student, Stanford This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on December 4, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Hansen: Stephen Schneider Climate Science Communication Award Blurb: Dr. James Hansen, NASA climatologist, on communicating climate change to the next generation, human fingerprints on Superstorm Sandy, and inspiring action. "I'm very disappointed [California] chose a half-baked system like cap-and-trade, with offsets," said NASA climatologist James Hansen. He prefers a carbon fee and dividend and, in the absence of a strong carbon price, says the risks of reaching climatic tipping points that could bring catastrophic consequences rise. He also said people spreading disinformation about climate change “are smart enough to know what they are doing” and perhaps should be sued "for crimes against humanity.” Dr. Hansen is the recipient of the 2012 Stephen Schneider Award for Climate Science Communication, a $10,000 award in memory of the late great Stanford climate scientist and former member of the Climate One Advisory Council. James Hansen joins Climate One founder Greg Dalton to discuss recent wild weather, communicating climate change to the younger generation, climate change in politics, human fingerprints on Superstorm Sandy, and inspiring action. James Hansen, Head, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Adjunct Professor, Columbia University's Earth Institute; Author, Storms of My Grandchildren This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on December 4, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congregation Power Rabbi Yonatan Neril, Founder and Executive Director, Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, Jerusalem Reverend Sally Bingham, Founder, Interfaith Power and Light Reverend Ng, First Chinese Baptist Church, San Francisco “As a priest, if I’m going to start talking about what humans are doing to the planet...I need scientific backing. I need to be in close communication with the scientific community or I have no business making those remarks,” said Rev. Canon Sally Bingham. Leaders from many religious traditions are acting as stewards of creation by powering their congregations with clean energy and encouraging smart policies in their communities. Leaders of this movement contend that all major religions have a mandate to care for creation. “Being at the top of creation we have a particular responsibility to treat it with respect,” Rabbi Yonatan Neril says. Religious leaders come together at Climate One to discuss how their faith impacts their approach to climate change and what they are doing about it. “Solar panels and solar energy is achievable,” Rev. Don Ng told us. Listen in to hear how communities of faith around the world are getting involved to build a more sustainable future. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on December 12, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lost In The Wash With everything from hand soap to glass cleaner labeled as “eco-friendly” or “sustainable” consumers are suffering from green fatigue. We are just starting “to align our spending with our values,” says Dara O’Rourke, co-founder of Good Guide. Transparency is the name of the game and social media “hashtags” mean brands “don’t get to control the message anymore,” says O’Rourke, “I don’t think they get to tell us what to believe or not to believe.” The roundtable, including William Brent, Executive VP of Weber Shandwick, and Aron Cramer, President and CEO of BSR, points out that consumer behavior is critical to understanding (and reducing) the lifetime carbon footprint of a product. Listen to a conversation between experts on the next step towards a greener marketplace. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on January 11, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Power Mix Cheap natural gas is changing the energy mix in America. Energy companies are increasingly making the switch from coal to cheaper, cleaner natural gas to fuel their power plants. These companies “are paying far more attention to the price of natural gas than environmental regulations,” says Trevor Houser, partner at the Rhodium Group. Shrinking domestic markets have America’s coal industry looking overseas to surging economies in China and India. Bruce Nilles of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign and Ross Macfarlane, Sr. Advisor at Climate Solutions, say developing these coal reserves would mean “game over” for global warming. Trevor Houser points out that the lower sulfur content of American coal could go a long way in reducing particulate pollution in China that drifts to the West Coast of the United States. Listen to a conversation between experts on the future of coal and natural gas. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on January 15, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From organic cotton to recycled zippers many clothing brands are trying to establish their bona fides with consumers who care about the health of their bodies and the planet. To reduce impact, leaders of the $200 billion U.S. clothing industry are calling for collaboration between companies and a two-way dialogue with consumers. “No one company, no matter how big it is, can change the world itself on an issue this complex,” says Chip Bergh, CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. In efforts to reduce the footprint of the clothing industry, Patagonia and Levi’s are calling for conscious consumerism. “We want to encourage our customers to use [our product] as much as they can as long as they can,” said Rick Ridgeway, VP of Environmental Affairs at Patagonia, “capitalism based on growth is not sustainable.” Listen to a conversation between Levi’s and Patagonia on making America’s clothing industry more sustainable. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on January 25, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social entrepreneurs and youth advocates are reaching out to schools across the country to engage the next generation in the climate dialogue. It’s not just about facts and numbers, but “comes down to telling the story right,” says Mike Haas, Founder of the Alliance for Climate Education. Engaged kids mean engaged families and entrepreneurs like Carleen Cullen, Founder & Executive Director of Cool the Earth, are building on this “symbiotic” relationship to educate communities. Skeptics might discourage some, but youth advocate Rosemary Davies says, “like with any idea there is going to be some resistance, but there is a consensus that climate change is real.” A conversation about how youth can build a better future, starting now. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on January 29, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An energy “renaissance” is happening in the U.S. and Rhonda Zygocki, Executive VP of Policy and Planning at Chevron, says it is “driven by innovation” and the natural gas and oil reserves trapped in slate. This renaissance is not without its issues and Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund, warns that “while the economic benefits [of fracking] are obvious, the environmental implications of not doing this right in some cases are equally obvious.” Krupp warns that the fragmented nature of the industry makes it resistant to change and regulation. Zygocki walks us through some of the innovations and changes Chevron is introducing for safer and more efficient energy production. To find a way to reduce emissions in the future “we need to look at solutions at scale,” says Zygocki who questions the ability of renewables such as solar to scale up in time. Krupp sees California as the future of renewable technology and says that there’s “nothing like a profit motive” to boost innovation. A conversation between Chevron and EDF on the issues surrounding the hydraulic fracturing industry and powering America’s economy. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 4, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Through all the growing pains and political attacks, the U.S. solar industry is still moving ahead. But it still only accounts for 1 percent of all U.S. electricity. With the market driving down cost going solar “makes perfect economic sense,” says Marco Krapels. Founders of three large solar firms and a banker talk about tapping the sun to create jobs, investment opportunities, and the shadow of China. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 5, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What matters more when addressing climate change: individual action, corporate action, or policy change? In all cases, the key to change is disrupting default behaviors. Target, Walmart, and American Airlines are all very good at using "nudges" to disrupt our behavior and get us to buy more stuff, says Gernot Wagner (Author, 'But Will the Planet Notice?'; Economist, EDF). "The trick,” he says, “is to use behavioral nudges on a policy level to move everyone in the right direction [for sustainable behaviors.]" Individual action matters too, says Christopher Jones (Co-Chair, Behavior, Energy & Climate Change Conference; Researcher, CoolClimate Network), once you take one small action you are far more likely to take another in an “on-ramp” to collective action. But “there are some decisions that matter more than others,” contends Glen Low, (Principal, Blu Skye). By reaching decision makers in corporations that have a lot of influence, such as Walmart, he says you can get “systemic change with a handful of people.” A conversation between experts on motivating change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The distribution centers of the future are our closets and garages,” says Andy Ruben, co-founder of sharing start-up Yerdle. Entrepreneurs like Ruben are tapping into social media circles as a way to connect members to a wealth of sharing options. “Data, in many ways, is the gateway drug to the sharing economy,” says Lisa Gansky, Author of “The Mesh”. Other entrepreneurs like Billy Parish, Co-Founder and President of Solar Mosaic, are “unlocking the ability of individuals to participate in the investment process.” Crowdfunding seems to be the next wave of the sharing economy with opportunities ranging from peer-to-peer investment and Solar Mosaic’s own solar investment projects. A conversation on the exciting possibilities of a growing sharing economy. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on March 5, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As of 2013 car sharing has over a million participants in North America, says Susan Shaheen, Co-Director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at UC Berkeley. Are car sharing and ride sharing finally going mainstream? Panelists cite benefits such as reduced congestion and emissions. Certain car sharing startups like Lyft even give members the chance to earn some income on a car that might otherwise be sitting idle, says Kristin Sverchek, Head of Public Policy at Lyft and Zimride. To Sunil Paul, CEO of Sidecar, safety and trust are key to the ride sharing model, with 71% of Sidecar users claiming they feel safer using Sidecar than a cab. But hurdles are everywhere for this new business model and Rick Hutchinson, CEO of City Car Share, points out that innovative ideas are often hindered by slow moving insurance regulations and public policy. A conversation on the new mobility society. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on March 5, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No private investor in the world would put money into General Motors when it was going bankrupt, says former GM CEO Ed Whitacre. “The government did exactly the right thing” bailing out the company. The politically charged electric Chevy Volt made headlines during Whitacre’s tenure at GM, but in spite of the political hits the car took, Whitacre believed and still believes that “there’s a real future for electric vehicles.” To Whitacre, the Chevy Volt is an example of “a responsible corporation attempting to do the right thing and explore new technology.” As American manufacturing moves forward Whitacre believes we need to accept that “it’s a global economy” and adapt to it. A conversation with a global CEO on General Motors about his role in the 2009 bailout and the state of American manufacturing. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on March 12, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The Bay Area will be here 200 years from now. It will look different. There will be some things that have changed…but you’re going to be here. Miami won’t be here 200 years from now,” said John Englander, author of High Tide on Main Street. Englander discusses how sea levels are rising putting coastal communities at risk for flooding, larger storm surges, and erosion. Drought, superstores and other extreme weather events hit the U.S. hard in 2012. “We are seeing more extreme weather, and we likely will continue to see more extreme weather, and not only that but it will probably last longer,” says Angela Fritz, an Atmospheric Scientist at Weather Underground. A conversation on the impacts of climate change on communities in a warming world. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California March 18, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"If we do not take the rational approach to this problem [of climate disruption] we are all facing really catastrophic impacts," said Ezra Rapport, Executive Director of the Association of Bay Area Governments. As the world warms Bay Area agencies are racing the clock to develop adaptation strategies to identify and manage risks. But with complicated and widely variable climate models it can be hard to agree on the numbers. Melanie Nutter, Director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment explained that “we as a city [San Francisco] don’t yet have an agreed upon risk scenario.” This is because “we are a very diverse region…there is no one dominant player,” said R. Zachary Wasserman, Chair of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, “we’re going to have to figure out how to do this together.” Leaders of Bay Area agencies discuss strategies to protect our built environment and adapt to challenges in the future. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on March 18, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We are already paying significant economic costs” of climate disruption and they are “only going to increase,” says democratic strategist Chris Lehane. Republican strategist Steve Schmidt agrees that climate change is an economic concern but says it has to be addressed in a low cost fashion. “You need to grow the economy in order to protect the environment,” says Schmidt, “the fossil fuel economy and the energy companies have lifted more people out of poverty more than any other industry in the history of the world ever.” Lehane argues that “it has been the U.S. that has lead on global issues” and it is the U.S. that should lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Two seasoned political veterans discuss Keystone XL, the fossil fuel economy, and bridging the partisan divide on climate change. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on March 19, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coastal cities “are facing an existential threat that we are not prepared to deal with,” said Gabriel Metcalf, the Executive Director of San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). The California Bay Area is wrestling with a challenge as it tries to develop sustainably to accommodate a growing population in a warming world. One way to deal with population rise and reduce emissions is to create “zones of high density” says Alex Mehran Jr., Senior VP and General Manager at Sunset Development. Carl Shannon, Managing Director at Tishman Speyer says “you have to find the right balance of economic desire and political will” to develop high density zones in traditionally suburban environments. The experts agree that the key to sustainable growth in the Bay Area is rebuilding for a more walkable and livable urban environment. Three leaders in sustainable building and development discuss Bay Area development goals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It’s essential for China to be on a low emissions growth pattern,” said Jian Lin, Chairman of The China Sustainable Energy Program. China’s cities are growing at a breakneck pace and city planners are struggling to keep up, “we are racing against time,” said Lin, “people just don’t wait until you figure out how to solve a sustainable design.” Ellen Lou, Director of Urban Design and Planning at SOM, says that the money the Chinese government spent on building out transit infrastructure “is one of the best things that they have done.” The question, she said, is “how do you make higher density livable?” Two experts discuss China’s new cities and sustainable development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a thriving natural gas market in the U.S., oil and energy companies are in a race for fracking rights across the country. The fracking bonanza has led to concern about the oversight of hydraulic fracturing practices. “We need to regulate,” said TJ Glauthier, former Deputy U.S. Secretary of Energy and a former board member of Union Drilling, “I think that natural gas has a very important role to play in a conversion to a cleaner economy and a cleaner future.” One notable result of the “shale gas revolution,” according to Mark Zoback, Professor at the Stanford University School of Earth Sciences, is that “CO2 emissions from coal are down 20% just in the last few years.” But higher than expected methane leakage could mean that “the actual lifecycle carbon impact of burning natural gas is actually worse than coal,” said Kassie Siegel, Senior Counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity. A conversation with three experts on the state of hydraulic fracturing and regulation in America. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on April 2, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tempting oil reserves trapped in California Monterey shale are raising the possibility of a fracking boom in California. “People began to come to me...asking about what a mineral estate was and how come the oil company that owned the mineral estate could eject them from the surface of the land,” said Steve Craig, a farmer in Monterey County and former director of the Ventana Conservation and Land Trust. Bill Allayaud of the Environmental Working Group explained that California “had regulations about well casings but no regulations about fracking.” But this is changing, said Mark Nechodom, Director of California’s Department of Conservation, “in historical use of fracturing in California we had no evidence that there is any environmental damage...and therefore we had not required reporting. Now we are requiring reporting.” Dave Quast of Energy In Depth, maintained that there could be important benefits to fracking California’s oil, “onshore [American] oil developed under a very highly regulated regime is much preferable to getting it from Venezuela and some places that don’t have environmental protections,” he said. A conversation with four experts on the possibilities and risks of fracking California’s oil. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on April 2, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United States should restrain the use of guns on the street and drones in the air according to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. “I think we do need a national solution” says Senator Feinstein on gun regulation. The victims of Sandy Hook continue to drive her and she said, “every time I see those faces I say shame on us that we let this happen in this great country.” Drone use is “an enormous privacy question,” states Senator Feinstein. She discusses the need for nationwide drone operating criteria to address the increased use of drones within national borders as well as the importance of continued thorough congressional oversight of international drone use. Transitioning the conversation to the issue of climate change, Senator Feinstein says that “people don’t really understand. They think the earth is immutable. They think we can’t destroy it, that it’s here to stay, that it’s always been this way. It’s not so.” A conversation with California’s senior United States Senator on guns, drones, and carbon. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on April 3, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The country's energy paradigm is caught between the slogans of “drill-baby-drill” and “oil is evil.” The real problem arguably is that the global oil market is controlled by the OPEC cartel that artificially fixes prices. That could explain why oil prices continue to rise even though the United States, the world’s largest petroleum consumer, is producing more and consuming less. “We can’t be fixated on bringing down the price of oil because that is not going to happen,” said Kate Gordon, Director of the Energy and Climate Program at Next Generation. Alternative fuels advocates say the only way that will change is with other fuels that can compete and give consumers choices for the first time since the early days of the automobile. “The concept of energy independence is misleading,” said Eyal Aronoff, Co-founder of the Fuel Freedom Foundation, “the question is about oil independence.” The most prominent alternative to oil right now in the U.S. is natural gas and Gal Luft, co-author of “Petropoly”, said that “when you look at big oil…they are becoming increasingly natural gas companies.” A conversation with three experts on changing America’s energy security paradigm. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on April 5, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

These are tough days for international efforts to put a meaningful price on carbon pollution. It's a tough sell, and many clean-energy advocates say a global deal once dreamed about at Copenhagen will never happen. We have to think about “what have we learned and what is different” since Copenhagen says Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. “I have news for everybody,” she says, “no, there is never going to be one agreement that solves climate [change].” In conversation with Greg Dalton, Figueres discusses the challenges facing negotiation including differences between developing and developed countries and the need for a strong foundation of national regulation before international agreements can be reached. But there is hope, she says, “we are moving toward a tipping point, a technological and economical tipping point...that will allow us to move into a completely different future.” A conversation on the challenges, successes, and goals of international climate change negotiations. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on April 17, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are the Canadian tar sands and Keystone XL pipeline huge economic drivers or climate killers? Pipeline supporters such as Canadian diplomat Cassie Doyel say it’s better for America to get its energy from Canada than unfriendly nations. But Sam Avery, Author of The Pipeline and the Paradigm, warns that there’s enough carbon in the tar sands “to send Earth’s climate into an irreversible tailspin.” Dan Miller, Managing Director of the Roda Group, looks at the long term saying “as a price on carbon kicks in, and it starts to build over time, the tar sands will be the first things that will be knocked off the list.” Greg Croft, Lecturer at St. Mary’s College of California, points out that “the carbon problem is global and we haven't solved any problem on a global basis.” A conversation on matching energy supply and demand in a carbon constrained world This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on April 26, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is “real” and requires action, says Marvin Odum, President of Shell Oil Company. But that doesn’t change his belief that “there is a pretty clear understanding that fossil fuels will be required for quite some time.” Biofuels are an option, says Odum, but corn ethanol is too carbon intensive and sugar cane biofuel from Brazil has more potential to become a viable fuel in America’s transportation fleet. Alternative energy sources aside, Odum says the most impactful thing that can be done over the next decade is “to drive natural gas in and drive coal out.” Odum joins Climate One founder Greg Dalton for a conversation on powering America’s future in a carbon constrained world. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on April 29, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The urgency of the climate crisis has compelled writers such as Bill McKibben and Antonia Juhasz to cross the line into advocacy. “Often facts can be disempowering” if it feels like there is nothing you can do, says Juhasz. “Understanding the direct human impact right now, the real facts, and the sense that you can do something about it” is what you need to get people to change she says. But convincing people is no longer the main battle, according to McKibben who says that “75% of Americans know that climate change is real and want something done about it.” The issue is making their voices heard against the influence of the resources of the fossil fuel industry. The answer to this, he says, is divestment. “We’re not going to bankrupt Exxon,” he says, “but we are going to start morally bankrupting them.” Juhasz agrees that “you can’t undermine the significance of the symbolism of divestment.” A discussion with two of the environmental movement’s leading communicators on speaking up and being heard. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on May 3, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Environmental journalists representing Brazil, China, Nigeria and the Philippines tackle the climate news of a developing world. Climate issues have not always been news in these countries. In China it has taken a growing middle class and protests to bring attention to Beijing’s pollution issues, Lican Liu, water director at Greenovation Hub in China, tells the audience. Food and agriculture have also been impacted by climate change, says Michael Simire, Deputy Editor of the Sunday Independent in Nigeria, which has required an adjustment in the planting season in Nigeria. Imelda Abano, President of the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists, says this has undermined food prices in Philippines. Brazil’s home environmental issues typically revolve around the Amazon, says Gustavo Faleiros, Environmental Journalist and Knight Fellow, but this takes away from equally important urban environmental issues. A conversation with four international journalists on the trials and triumphs of environmental journalism in the developing world. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on May 3, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Walmart. Emit Less. Live Better Walmart and other large companies are pushing their suppliers to reduce packaging, waste and energy use to save companies money and reduce carbon pollution. The goals of zero waste and 100 percent renewable energy are big and audacious. According to Aron Cramer, CEO of Business for Social Responsibility such goals are also necessary. “We won’t be able to maintain economic growth if the environment starts to get in the way,” he says. Along with important steps towards a more sustainable supply chain Walmart has an emphasis on energy. “Energy efficiency has to go hand in hand with renewable energy,” says Andrea Thomas, Senior Vice President of Sustainability at Walmart. To Walmart renewable energy is a business opportunity and she says they now in a position to start scaling. Aron Cramer agreed with the significance of renewables saying distributed energy could “be a business opportunity for retailers.” A conversation with two top executives on sustainable capitalism. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on May 6, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Google's Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen In the next decade, five billion more people should be able to access most of the world’s information through a mobile device. “The internet is going to wire up the entire world,” says Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google. “The change to people who have no information, no political freedom, no healthcare…is going to be extraordinary.” With this increase of technology comes privacy concerns, greater risks from cyber espionage, and important conversations on how to teach the next generation about data permanence and online privacy. “When you talk about privacy you need to also talk about security. The two concepts are deeply intertwined,” says Jared Cohen, Director of Google Ideas who points out the importance of parents talking to their children about digital privacy. A conversation with two architects of our digital future on innovation and the implications of a connected world. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on June 4, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The documentary “Rebels with a Cause” follows “ordinary citizens who did extraordinary things” in the second half of the 20th century to preserve the natural landscape of Point Reyes, California from urbanization. Point Reyes National Seashore in the San Francisco Bay Area was the first national park of major size that was created from private land, says the round table. Over the course of the 1960s and 70s activists brokered an agreement between ranchers and environmentalists that created a model to preserve the land and the ranches on it. The importance of having nature close to home became a topic of national conversation and sparked the creation of parks in numerous states. Today smart urban growth is increasingly important with rapidly expanding populations putting increased pressure on natural resources. Climate change means sea level rise, changing habitats, and extreme weather are straining the ecosystems of the parks. “Activism still matters a lot,” say panelists. A Climate One Cinema post-screening conversation on a local conservation movement with national implications. Nancy Dobbs, President and CEO, KRCB Nancy Kelly, Director, Rebels with a Cause Trent Orr, Staff Attorney, Earthjustice Will Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Trust for Public Land This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on June 9, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, the U.S. is struggling to define its nuclear energy future. The film “Pandora’s Promise” asks whether we should use nuclear energy to deal with global warming. Michael Shellenberger, President of the Breakthrough Institute and featured in the film, says you can’t be an “anti-nuclear activist and an anti-fracking activist.” Nuclear is an invaluable power source that is both scalable and produces no greenhouse gasses, says Shellenberger. However, says Severin Borenstein, Co-Director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley, the movie fails to address cost. In order for nuclear to remain a viable part of the energy mix it must become less expensive. The developing world, he says, won’t be willing to adopt something that isn’t “as cheap or cheaper than burning coal.” A Climate One Cinema post-screening conversation on the documentary “Pandora’s Promise” and the future of nuclear power. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on June 15, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans have been using their ingenuity to deal with sea level rise, floods, and fluctuating coasts for the past 15,000 years, and recent extreme events have emphasized the need to adapt. “There are no easy solutions to adaptation,” says Brian Fagan, author of “The Attacking Ocean”, but we can learn from historic sea walls in the Netherlands, cyclones in the Indian Ocean, and other major oceanic events over the last 10,000 years. “The global ocean has actually done us this incredible favor by buffering us from a variety of effects of climate change and our fossil fuel addiction,” says Meg Caldwell, Executive Director of the Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford. However the combination of warming waters, acidification, and lower oxygen levels have have the oceans at their limit. A conversation with an archaeologist and a lawyer on sea level rise, climate refugees, and the impact of climate change on the world’s oceans. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on June 18, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rising interest in clean power is presenting electric monopolies with competition for the first time. Community choice aggregation (CCA) gives towns and cities the opportunity to get in on the energy market and decide where their energy will come from. More than a thousand communities across the country are taking electric power into their own hands. Supporters say that is a great way for communities to get greener electricity. San Francisco’s proposed community power option has a goal of 100% renewables and may be provided by a unit of Shell Oil. That juice could cost up to 40 percent more than the local monopoly, PG&E. Skeptics are wary of such cost premiums and say local power may not be as green as people think. A conversation with four experts on local and clean power nationally and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Kim Malcolm, Director, CleanPowerSF Shawn Marshall, Mill Valley Council Member; Executive Director, Local Energy Aggregation Network Marcie Milner, Senior Regulatory Manager, Shell Energy North America Hunter Stern, Business Manager, Brotherhood of Electrical Workers This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on June 17, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hurricane Sandy and the devastating Colorado fires of 2012 underscore the idea that climate disruption is amplifying natural disasters, if not causing them. Forest fires in Colorado have been “economically devastating for communities,” says former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr. In the East, Superstorm Sandy and other extreme weather events have caused massive destruction and large bills for coastal communities. “Different states and different countries are going to adapt in different ways,” says Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor of New Jersey. Both former governors emphasized the importance of clean energy sources. There is an “economic development opportunity” in the green energy economy says Ritter. Nuclear energy, says Whitman, is an option that creates lots of jobs and no greenhouse gasses. A conversation with two former state chief executives on bridging the partisan divide and adapting to climate change. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on June 19, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a pattern between the way we do business and the changes in our climate. “The companies that are the biggest polluters make the biggest profits,” according to Amy Larkin, author of Environmental Debt: The Hidden Costs of a Changing Global Economy. Companies like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are changing the rules to run a more socially conscious business. According to John Hofmeister, former President of Shell Oil USA, “social cost could be the game changer that warrants the way we look at future environmental debt.” Both Larkin and Hofmeister agree that the government must play a large role in changing the rules of business if we have any hope of solving the climate crisis. A conversation with a leading environmentalist and former oil executive on the costs of pollution and cleaning up capitalism. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on July 8, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is “the most profound [energy] revolution that we’ve had in decades,” said San Francisco Chronicle reporter David Baker. Thanks to fracking, natural gas is cheap and abundant. However, water contamination may prove to be a huge problem as monitoring efforts are “woefully inadequate,” therefore we don’t really know what’s happening, said ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten. “If you taint somebody’s drinking water, you have destroyed their property value... That should be a big warning sign to people that this is not something you can monkey around with,” Baker said. This conversation with two reporters attempts to explain the fine line between the profits and liabilities associated with hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting water or steam into shale rock at high pressure to extract petroleum or natural gas. David Baker, Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Abrahm Lustgarten, Reporter, ProPublica This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on July 19, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An emerging area of economics aims to put a price on nature as a way of justifying preserving it in societies dominated by the wisdom of markets. A mountain stream, for example, provides many economic benefits beyond people who own property near it or drink water from it. The same is said of bees that pollinate our food, wetlands that cleans water, and trees that drink up carbon dioxide. If nature were a corporation it would be a large cap stock. Putting a precise tag on something long seen as free is a conceptual leap. However many large companies are starting to realize the extent to which their profits rely on well operating ecosystems. Larry Goulder, Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Stanford Tony Juniper, Associate Professor, University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership; Special Advisor to The Prince of Wales International Sustainability Unit This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on July 25, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Climate change will be the biggest health issue of my grandchild’s lifetime and my great-grandchildren’s lifetime…we will be looking at somewhere in the range of half a billion lives being affected profoundly by the impacts of climate change,” according to Dr. Richard Joseph Jackson, professor at the UCLA School of Public Health. As increasing temperatures amplify natural disasters and impact water supplies, people in the U.S. and around the world will face greater health health risks. Meanwhile, resource scarcity may lead to worldwide conflict, like “putting a vice on an existing crisis – there’s no guarantee it’ll flame up, but it makes it more likely,” said UC Berkeley Law School professor Andrew Guzman. This conversation offers a sobering view of the cost of rising temperatures, along with solutions for a more sustainable future. Andrew Guzman, Professor, UC Berkeley Law School; Author, Overheated: The Human Cost of Climate Change Richard Joseph Jackson, Professor, UCLA School of Public Health; Host of the four-part public TV program, Designing Healthy Communities This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on June 27, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, some researchers argue its production makes it less than environmentally friendly. University of California, Davis professor of agricultural economics Colin Carter says ethanol is not a low-carbon fuel in part “because of greenhouse gases put out by other countries that have torn down forests to produce corn.” Pacific Ethanol CEO Neil Koehler claims corn-based fuels are cleaner than petroleum and reduce greenhouse gases. Critics say corn that could be used for feeding livestock is now going into gas tanks, and U.S. ethanol policies may have driven up food prices by 20 to 30 percent. Does corn have a place in powering America’s future? Colin Carter, Professor, Agricultural Economics, UC Davis Neil Koehler, CEO, Pacific Ethanol Michael Marsh, CEO, Western United Dairymen This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on August 21, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I will attest to the fact that the federal government actually has left the building," said Kofi Bonner, president of Lennar’s Bay Area Urban Division. Rather than depending on funding from Washington, successful cities and metropolitan areas are taking development into their own hands. As rising sea levels threaten coastal communities, sustainable planning is an “economic imperative,” said Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution, author of The Metropolitan Revolution. San Francisco is a great example of how a city can thrive without national assistance, according to Mayor Ed Lee. "When we talk about innovation, this city's had a history of innovation," Lee said. This captivating conversation offers a refreshing view on how cities and metropolitan areas power the global economy. “America is the most resilient society and the most innovative economy...this time around it will come from the communities,” Katz said. Kofi Bonner, President, Bay Area Urban Division, Lennar Bruce Katz, Vice President, Brookings Institution Ed Lee, Mayor, San Francisco This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on September 19, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We have the potential to use grazing lands and use cattle and livestock to help slow climate change,” according to UC Berkeley professor Whendee Silver. Grasslands are under-represented in land conservation, yet they cover about 40 percent of the Earth’s surface and have a big impact by storing greenhouse gases so they don’t enter the atmosphere. While discussing conservation projects, the speakers turned to the larger problems of overpopulation and consumption. “Our generation and the ones short to follow have to come to terms with the fact that there are other ways of managing human societies, because this one is not sustainable,” said former Patagonia CEO Kristine Tompkins, founder of Conservacion Patagonica. Experts addressed the challenges of land conservation, restoration ecology and growing populations in an era of climate disruption. “We’re working in one of the last four places in the world where these native grasslands remain,” said Pete Geddes, managing director of the American Prairie Reserve. Kristine Tompkins, Founder and President, Conservacion Patagonica, Former CEO, Patagonia Whendee Silver, Professor of Environmental Science, UC Berkeley Pete Geddes, Managing Director, American Prairie Reserve This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on October 3, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The Delta is not just a canteen to supply water…it’s a place that a lot of people live and work and call home,” said Kip Lipper, Chief Councilor for Energy and the Environment at the Office of the Senate Pro Tempore. California’s water future will lead to higher prices and higher uncertainty, and “the climate change piece is a huge part of that,” according to Former Deputy U.S. Secretary of Interior David Hayes. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta requires restoration, but can it meet the conflicting demands of Californians? “You’re looking at an enormous bill and that’s going to push up the price of water,” said Los Angeles Times reporter Bettina Boxall. This discussion with politicians, a reporter and a researcher from the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences tackles the challenges surrounding the West Coast’s largest estuary. Bettina Boxall, Reporter, Los Angeles Times David Hayes, Former Deputy US Secretary of Interior Jay Lund, Director, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences Kip Lipper, Chief Councilor for Energy and the Environment, Office of the Senate Pro Tempore This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on October 15, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You would much rather breathe the air in any American city than breathe it in Beijing – thank you, EPA,” said former Secretary of State George Shultz, who served as Secretary of Treasury under President Nixon during the 1973 OPEC Oil Embargo. Although gas shortages shocked Americans 40 years ago, the drive to become more energy independent has since lost momentum. “Crises are not enough,” said former CIA Director Jim Woolsey. “Whether they’re potential crises or existing crises, people will ignore them after a little bit of time.” They discussed the need for choices at the gas pump, how innovation can lead the economy and the impacts of human-caused climate change. “If you don’t like the science, use your eyes – a new ocean has been created in the Arctic,” Shultz said. “We should be taking out a strong insurance policy.” Unlike past environmental policies that came from Republican presidencies, the divided, accusatory politics of today are fundamentally wrong, he said. “I’m sick of it, frankly,” Shultz said. “We’ve got to find things that improve our security, make economic sense and deal with this climate issue together.” George Shultz, Former U.S. Secretary of State Jim Woolsey, Former CIA Director This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on October 18, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Humans are problem-solving animals – you would never know it reading the press,” said environmentalist Paul Hawken. He and NY Times writer Andy Revkin discussed how attitudes have changed in the 25 years since NASA scientist James Hansen testified before Congress about human-caused climate change. “Right now, the attitude is that climate change is happening to us...instead of the idea that actually climate change is instead happening for us,” Hawken said. Some problems stem from lack of education, while others can be attributed to policies and mindsets. “It’s our social systems that impede progress,” Revkin said. “The technologies are there, to some extent, but how do you facilitate them?” The speakers presented a hopeful outlook in the face of rising seas and extreme weather. “Carbon is the element that holds hands and collaborates in nature,” Hawken said. “We’re going to have to be like carbon and hold hands and collaborate.” Paul Hawken, Author and Entrepreneur Andy Revkin, Writer, The New York Times Dot Earth Blog This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on October 18, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We want skiers to literally help save the world,” said Porter Fox, editor at Powder Magazine. Climate change has already impacted the length and intensity of winters and reduced snowfall means many of the nation’s ski centers will eventually be forced to close, especially those at lower temperatures. Jeremy Jones, professional snowboarder and founder of Protect Our Winters, reminisced about a spot he revisited in Chamonix: “I used to be able to snowboard here.” This two-panel conversation first explores the science and personal experiences behind shorter winters, then looks at how ski resort CEOs are dealing with the problem. “If you’re going to allow carbon emissions to be free, in the end nobody’s really going to do anything,” said Mike Kaplan, president and CEO of Aspen/Snowmass. With the popularity of winter sports, the ski industry may be able to help communicate the impacts of climate change. “This industry gets it,” Kaplan said. Porter Fox, Editor, Powder Magazine; Author, The Deep: The Story of skiing and the Future of Snow (November 2013) Anne Nolin, Professor, Geosciences and Hydroclimatology, Oregon State University Jeremy Jones, Founder and CEO, Protect our Winters; Professional Snowboarder Dave Brownlie, President and CEO, Whistler Blackcomb Mike Kaplan, President and CEO, Aspen/Snowmass Jerry Blann, President, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 22, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Every second breath comes from the ocean,” said Mary Hagedorn, a research scientist with the Smithsonian Institution and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. Many people don’t realize how much we depend on the ocean for food, health and jobs. With climate change and pollution altering seas and coastlines, the speakers agreed we need to do a better job of monitoring these systems. Scientists and businesses have to work together, according to Michael Jones, president of The Maritime Alliance in San Diego. “There’s always going to be uncertainty with climate change, but uncertainty can’t be an excuse for inaction,” said Jason Scorse, Director of the Center for the Blue Economy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. “This is immediate, this is now, this is accelerating, and the good side is people realize that.” Jason Scorse, Director, Center for the Blue Economy, MIIS Mary Hagedorn, Research Scientist, Smithsonian Institution/Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology Michael Jones, President, The Maritime Alliance, San Diego This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 28, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We have been fracking in California for 60 years and we have done it safely,” according to Paul Deiro, an energy lobbyist with KP Public Affairs. “We believe in transparency, disclosure, notification.” The state is on the verge of a huge energy boom, poised to hydraulic fracture, or frack, across much of the coast and Central Valley. Signature of a new fracking regulation bill, SB4, has upset advocates and opponents alike. “Investing in getting more fossil fuels out of the ground is just bass-ackward right now,” said Annie Notthoff, California Advocacy Director with NRDC. But fracking is already occurring, and the purpose of the bill was to create oversight and transparency, argued State Senator Fran Pavley. “What I’m trying to do is put a public face on this,” Pavley said. This conversation reveals diverse opinions on the state’s evolving fracking debate. “This is not your father’s fracking,” Notthoff said. “This is a new day.” Fran Pavley, Senator, California State Senate Annie Notthoff, California Advocacy Director, NRDC Paul Deiro, Energy Lobbyist, Western States Petroleum Association Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1968, Graham Nash left his native England and flew to Los Angeles to visit his enchanting, brilliant girlfriend, Joni Mitchell. With one jet-lagged impromptu jam session in her house in Laurel Canyon, the magic of Crosby, Stills and Nash was born. After that, his life would change forever. From the sounds and feelings to the girls and parties, Nash conveyed the unforgettable adventures of his life through his autobiography, Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life. But it's not just a relic of history. His lyrics inspired generations to "teach your children well," and Nash is a living reminder that we are the stewards of our own future. He came onto the music scene in a generation that was pushing social norms and has since become a true renaissance man. Nash co-founded Musicians United for Safe Energy and lead its famous No Nukes concerts. He maintained a parallel career in photography as a collector, a pioneer of digital imaging and an artist, capturing the often overlooked elements of everyday life. An exclusive peek into the wild tales and issues facing today's environmental movement with one of the greats of rock and roll, art and social activism. Graham Nash, Singer; Songwriter; Author, Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on November 15, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Bay Delta debate sucks all the oxygen out of the water discussion," according to Lester Snow, executive director of the California Water Foundation. While the Bay Delta needs to be addressed, it doesn’t fix California’s long-term problems, Snow said. With population increasing in a parched state, California needs to focus on efficiency, groundwater policy and wastewater recycling. Some areas will eventually turn to desalination plants, but "there is a real risk to doing it too soon," according to Heather Cooley of The Pacific Institute. This conversation explores the solutions and resilience the state needs to prepare for extreme weather and declining snowpack. When it comes to climate change, “water’s going to be the thing that translates it for people into a real experience,” said Bob Wilkinson, an adjunct associate professor at UC Santa Barbara. Heather Cooley,Water Program Co-Director, The Pacific Institute Brandon Goshi, Manager of Water Policy and Strategy, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Lester Snow, Executive Director, California Water Foundation (invited) Bob Wilkinson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on November 14, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Fear of fracking is rampant,” said KQED science editor Craig Miller when asked about California’s energy headlines of 2013. But more electric vehicles are on the road and the cap-and-trade market is about to enter its second year – the rest of the country is watching California’s approach to a clean energy future. “Part of this is a response to lack of federal leadership,” said Andrew McAllister, a member of the California Energy Commission. “We’re having to go down this route because there’s not a federal climate policy.” This conversation covers the ups and downs of power in California during a pivotal year, and what it means for the future. “This pattern where we decide that there’s some competition between jobs and environmental protection – this is a stupid idea,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, executive director of Energy and Sustainability at UC Davis. Lauren Faber, West Coast Political Director, Environmental Defense Fund Craig Miller, Science Editor, KQED Amy Myers Jaffe, Executive Director of Energy and Sustainability, UC Davis Andrew McAllister, Commissioner, California Energy Commission This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on December 2, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"This country has forgotten rural America for far too long," said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Although the U.S. has had the best farm economy in the last 5 years, rural America hasn’t done as well, he said. This conversation with Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman involved the Farm Bill, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, GMO labeling and other economic tensions. “Our exports are driving about a third of our growth in this country right now,” Froman said, emphasizing the need to keep opening markets, ensuring level playing fields and enforcing our trade rights. But climate change presents problems for agriculture and trade that are intensified by growing populations. “We face a huge global challenge of increasing food production by 70 percent in the next 40 years with less water, with more intense weather patterns – it is going to require a global commitment,” Vilsack said. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack & U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on November 18, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I don't think there's any right to emit, I think there's a right to development," said former World Bank chief economist Lord Nicholas Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics. “To emit is to damage – I don’t see that there's a right to damage.” Stern spoke about the economics of climate change, alternative energies, the carbon bubble and the growing global population before accepting the 2013 Stephen Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication. Few people have impacted the discussion of the economics of carbon pollution more than Stern, who authored the highly influential 2006 “Stern Review,” which concluded that the costs of inaction were far greater than the costs of action when it comes to climate change. “Having no policy of any serious strength on climate change is essentially to do nothing about the biggest market distortion, the biggest market failure the world has ever seen,” he said. The $10,000 Stephen Schneider Award is given every year in memory of the late Stanford researcher Stephen H. Schneider, a founding father of modern climate science. The award recognizes people that create new understanding in the physical and social sciences, and communicate to a broad public. Lord Nicholas Stern, former World Bank Chief Economist, Professor of Economics, London School of Economics This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on December 11, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Climate change is not some academic thing, it's pervasive – you see the signs of change everywhere,” said Ben Santer, a climate scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “It’s profoundly sad that future generations may not experience the coral reefs or these fragile, high alpine environments in the same way that we did, and we’ve experienced these changes over a human lifetime.” Santer joined Jane Lubchenco, former administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to discuss extreme weather and the future of the warming planet. While hurricane and tsunamis will become more intense, heat waves are among the most damaging natural disasters, according to Lubchenco. But there’s still hope. “Many more people are beginning to see climate not as an economic issue, not as a political issue, but as a moral issue,” Lubchenco said. “Changing the way we think about the problem, I think, is part of the solution.” Jane Lubchenco, Former Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ben Santer, Climate Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on December 11, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I wish more companies would come out of the closet, so to speak, and talk about what they’re doing,” said Sissel Waage, director of biodiversity and ecosystem services at Business for Social Responsibility. Climate change is happening and carbon-emitting businesses need to hold themselves accountable, she said. Some companies are getting on board by investing in forests and their communities. "It's the least expensive way for us to reduce emissions today," said Mike Korchinsky, project developer for REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), and founder and CEO of Wildlife Works. Microsoft made a pledge to be carbon neutral in July 2012 and "the organization got behind it very quickly," said TJ DiCaprio, senior director of environmental sustainability at Microsoft Corporation. "We're driving efficiency." This discussion looks at how some business leaders are overcoming risks to take a stand for the trees. Mike Korchinsky, Project Developer, REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation); Founder and CEO, Wildlife Works TJ DiCaprio, Senior Director, Environmental Sustainability, Microsoft Corporation Sissel Waage, Director of Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services, Business for Social Responsibility This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on December 4, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"We could end up being part of the problem, even when we're right," said Jim Hoggan, co-Founder of the DeSmog Blog and chair of the David Suzuki Foundation. "Self-righteousness is like a virus, and a lot of the time, it's so subtle you don't know you have it." Hoggan discussed the challenges of communicating climate science and bridging the chasm between skeptics and supporters. "I think we're at a real risk of furthering the information gap," said Bud Ward, editor of the Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media. Skeptical Science founder John Cook said climate change denial isn't the result of lack of knowledge; it's driven by cultural factors and political ideology. “I tend to examine the behavior, rather than the motive behind it,” Cook said. “If someone’s misinforming people, you can’t comment on whether they’re lying or whether they genuinely believe it.” In this conversation on climate change media, experts discuss current coverage and how to address global issues for a clean energy future. Bud Ward, Editor, Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media Jim Hoggan, Co-Founder, DeSmog Blog Chair, The David Suzuki Foundation John Cook, Founder, Skeptical Science; Co-Author, Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on December 10, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We could start by being rational about how we spend the money that we have,” said U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell about taking care of national parks. She discussed programs for engaging youth and veterans on public lands, and how to balance our energy needs and carbon reduction goals. According to Jewell, climate change is everywhere and it’s very real. “This is a job where you actually have an opportunity to do something about it,” Jewell said. “And it’s important for all of us to do something.” She covered Obama’s plans to mitigate global warming, her opinions on fracking, water problems in California, and fielded a long line of live audience questions. “I’ve had nothing but support from my boss and the administration broadly on the conservation agenda,” Jewell said. “There’s tremendous interest in doing what’s right for the American people.” Sally Jewell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on November 7, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"A clean-energy economy, I think, is the future,” according to 75th U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who leads America’s Navy and Marine Corps. One of the world’s largest fuel consumers, the Navy has committed to obtaining 50 percent of its total energy consumption from alternative sources by 2020. Mabus said he's “absolutely convinced” that goal will be met. “Now is exactly the time that we have to do this,” Mabus said. “A tightening budget situation makes it even more urgent, even more critical.” He discussed concerns about sea level rise in the Pacific, melting ice in the Arctic and the Navy’s power to help move the market into a lower carbon future. "We don't pick and choose what we protect right now – we protect the world," Mabus said. This conversation covers the Navy’s outlook on the road toward a cleaner energy economy, as well as its political challenges. “I have been sort of honored by the push back," Mabus said about the Navy’s move to use biofuels. "What it says to me is that what we're doing is working." U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on January 6, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“For us, a drought means human misery, economic devastation to some natural assets and certainly an unproductive living standard for the majority of our people,” said California state senator Jean Fuller (R), who represents the Central Valley. With the state’s rainfall hitting record lows in 2013, California’s drought is a pressing issue in this election year. The shortage will be felt most by farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, and while many fields have been converted to water-conserving drip irrigation, “there’s still a large percentage of crops in California that are irrigated by flood irrigation,” according to Matt Weiser, senior writer at The Sacramento Bee. But conservation can’t be limited to agriculture – all sectors need to recognize that water is a limited resource, according to state senator Lois Wolk (D). "If you tie the amount of water to the price, you create an immediate incentive for conservation," Wolk said. Experts debate management and policy opportunities as California faces its third year of drought. Lois Wolk, California State Senator (D-Davis) Jean Fuller, California State Senator (R-Bakersfield) Matt Weiser, Senior Writer, The Sacramento Bee This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on January 10, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“For us, a drought means human misery, economic devastation to some natural assets and certainly an unproductive living standard for the majority of our people,” said California state senator Jean Fuller ®, who represents the Central Valley. With the state’s rainfall hitting record lows in 2013, California’s drought is a pressing issue in this election year. The shortage will be felt most by farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, and while many fields have been converted to water-conserving drip irrigation, “there’s still a large percentage of crops in California that are irrigated by flood irrigation,” according to Matt Weiser, senior writer at The Sacramento Bee. But conservation can’t be limited to agriculture – all sectors need to recognize that water is a limited resource, according to state senator Lois Wolk (D). “If you tie the amount of water to the price, you create an immediate incentive for conservation,” Wolk said. Experts debate management and policy opportunities as California faces its third year of drought. Lois Wolk, California State Senator (D-Davis) Jean Fuller, California State Senator (R-Bakersfield) Matt Weiser, Senior Writer, The Sacramento Bee This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on January 10, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who should take responsibility for reducing the amount of plastic debris that litters our cities, waterways and oceans? While many consumers have given up their plastic grocery bags, most still rely on the convenience of plastic water bottles, liquid soap and fast food in styrofoam containers. “Many of our companies are looking at bio-based materials and other kinds of plastics,” says Keith Christman of the American Chemistry Council. “High density polyethylene, made from sugarcane, is one of the largest uses today of bioplastics.” But is plant-based plastic the answer? As Molly Morse of Mango Materials points out, without oxygen to break them down, bioplastics can last as long as or longer than conventional plastic. Her company is working to create plastic out of methane gas harvested from wastewater treatment plants. “It can break down in the ocean,” she says. Bridgett Luther, President of Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, helps steer companies toward more responsible solutions for design, manufacturing and packaging their products. She points out that this approach led to market success for one company that eschewed the use of non-recyclable foam in their chairs. “ [Herman Miller] developed one of the fastest selling office chairs ever, the Aeron Chair. The end of use of that Herman Miller chair was a lot of super valuable materials that can be easily recycled.” The household cleaning company Method Products has been harvesting discarded plastic from beaches in Hawaii to produce their Ocean Plastic bottle. “Using the plastic that's already on the planet is a solution that we have today,” says co-founder Adam Lowry. “So I tend to favor solutions that we can employ right now rather than saying, “Yes. The technology is coming.” Despite these promising steps, all agree that it’s going to take a village -- manufacturers, consumers and legislators -- to work together if we’re going to rid our world of plastic waste. Keith Christman, Managing Director for Plastics Markets, American Chemistry Council; Co-chair, Global Action Committee on Marine Litter Adam Lowry, Co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper, Method Products PBC Bridgett Luther, President, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute Molly Morse, CEO, Mango Materials This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on January 30, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland last year achieved modest progress toward an international agreement on reducing carbon pollution. In 2015, the heads of nearly 200 nations will again meet, this time in Paris, and the hope is that they can seal a deal that would take effect in 2020. But rich and developing countries are still far apart on who should bear responsibility for increasing human impacts of severe weather. Even some of the most vigorous proponents of moving away from fossil fuels doubt the UN process will ever produce a treaty with teeth. Ambassador Todd Stern is US Special Envoy for Climate Change, a position he also held during the Clinton administration. Stern started his talk at the Commonwealth Club with a summary of where we are in a process that started two years ago: “[At the] Conference of the Parties, the COP in South Africa, there was a decision to start a new negotiation that would cover the period of the 2020s, in which the parties would negotiate an agreement, legal in some way.” And its due date is 2015. “As it turns out, the big climate meeting at the end of 2015 is going to be in Paris. So we sit right in the middle of that process, about halfway through.” Ambassador Todd Stern, United States Special Envoy for Climate Change This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 19, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Swelling sea levels used to be a concern associated with future generations and faraway lands. Then Superstorm Sandy poured the Atlantic Ocean into the New York subway. Here on the west coast, we’re no less vulnerable to the rising tide, and it’s not only our coastal communities that will be affected. From shoreline to bay to Delta and beyond, California’s economy is bound together by highways, railways and airports. Cities and states are beginning to realize they need to start planning now for tides heading their way. The citizens of Redwood City have already made the issue of rising sea levels a priority. But as Alicia Aguirre, that city’s former mayor, points out, the problem is not limited to one community. “It's not just fixing what's happening in Redwood City, it's fixing what's happening all along the bay and along the coast as well. How do you work with developers and politicians and county government…and say, "This is what we can do?” Larry Goltzband, Executive Director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, agrees that for Californians, focusing on one area is short-sighted. “Those ships you see…docking at the port of Oakland, many times carry product that employs people in Redding or employs people in Tulare County…. So, it is in the best interest of all of California, whether you touch the bay, whether you see the bay on a daily basis, to actually invest in the bay for economic and environmental reasons.” Adding to the big picture, Julian Potter of San Francisco International Airport points out the ripple effect that damage to the region’s airports would cause worldwide. “The economic impact is not singular to any one side -- everybody gets impacted by it, whether or not you’re near water. Chicago will be impacted by it, any of these hub cities.” Goltzband says retreating from the shoreline is not an option. “People will always want to build near the water,” he says. “I think that's probably just part of our DNA after thousands of years. The question that we…have to figure out is, how do we ensure that as the water rises, economic vitality and our community's vitality continues to grow?” Whether it’s due to a hurricane, tsunami or just the slowly rising tide, it’s inevitable that our coastline will be changing dramatically in the coming decades, and with it our economy, our environment and our way of life. Sandbags and levees aren’t enough – Californians must come together to create and enact real solutions, or we’ll all be in over our head. Laura Tam, Sustainable Development Policy Director, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association Larry Goldzband, Executive Director, Bay Conservation and Development Commission Alicia Aguirre, member of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, former Mayor, Redwood City Julian Potter, Chief of Staff, San Francisco International Airport This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 11, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland last year achieved modest progress toward an international agreement on reducing carbon pollution. In 2015, the heads of nearly 200 nations will again meet, this time in Paris, and the hope is that they can seal a deal that would take effect in 2020. But rich and developing countries are still far apart on who should bear responsibility for increasing human impacts of severe weather. Even some of the most vigorous proponents of moving away from fossil fuels doubt the UN process will ever produce a treaty with teeth. Ambassador Todd Stern is US Special Envoy for Climate Change, a position he also held during the Clinton administration. Stern started his talk at the Commonwealth Club with a summary of where we are in a process that started two years ago: “[At the] Conference of the Parties, the COP in South Africa, there was a decision to start a new negotiation that would cover the period of the 2020s, in which the parties would negotiate an agreement, legal in some way.” And its due date is 2015. “As it turns out, the big climate meeting at the end of 2015 is going to be in Paris. So we sit right in the middle of that process, about halfway through.” Todd Stern, United States Special Envoy for Climate Change This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 19, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Breathing, eating and consuming, an individual human being produces tons of carbon every year – population may be the key to curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Populations are expected to skyrocket in developing areas like sub-saharan Africa, generating even more carbon pollution. Reducing population growth could also help fight climate change, but in the wake of India’s forced sterilizations in the 1970s and China's mandatory one-child policy, nationwide family planning has a stigma. Malcolm Potts, a professor of family planning at UC Berkeley, believes talking about condoms should be as natural as talking about cabbages. “They're not a medical thing. They are choices, they should be available. Like cabbages, they should be where your vegetables are.” Alan Weisman’s most recent book Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth addresses the question of the world’s teeming masses head on. Weisman and Potts recently sat down at The Commonwealth Club to tackle the sensitive topic of our growing population and its part in straining the earth’s resources. Both Weisman and Potts emphasized that education is key to reducing growth rates, and in particular, the education of girls. And the reverse is true as well. “People in developing countries want fewer children,” says Potts, “because they all know the power of education and they all know if you have a smaller family, your kids are more likely to get educated. But if we remove the barriers between family planning, the knowledge and means to do it, then even illiterate people will have fewer children.” Equating the world’s bourgeoning population with climate change, says Weisman, is a no-brainer. “We’ve jet propelled society. We can do all these incredible things. We have electricity but we also have these waste products and they float up into the atmosphere. And the more of us demanding this stuff, the more carbon dioxide is up there. There's more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere right now than there has been in 3 million years.” Solving our climate problem could be simpler – and less expensive – than we think. “Carbon-free energy, we don't know how to do that really well yet, but even if we did, it would be really expensive.” Weisman says. But birth control? “This doesn't involve any technological leaps. To make contraception universally available, it's been calculated that it would cost about a little over $8 billion per year.” “For 200,000 years, there was not a population explosion. We were roughly in balance with our environment” says Potts. “We've done wonderful things to reduce infant mortality. And we're being blind and stupid and curious about not offering people family planning at the same time.” Alan Weisman, Senior Radio Producer, Homelands Productions; Author, Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? (Little, Brown & Company, 2013) Malcolm Potts, Fred H. Bixby Endowed Chair in Population and Family Planning, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 25, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Koopman is a fourth-generation rancher; his family has been raising cattle on their ranch in Alameda County since 1918 and he now heads the California Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). David Robinson Simon is the author of a book that lambasts industrialized meat production. What did these two advocates from “opposite sides of the steer” have to say to each other when they sat down to debate the ethical, nutritional and environmental costs of animal agriculture? Host Greg Dalton started things off on the hot-button topic of animal cruelty. According to Simon, large factory farms have lobbied heavily to eliminate anti-cruelty protections for their industry. “So what we’ve seen the last several decades is that literally, anti-cruelty protections that once protected farm animals from abusive behavior have simply been eliminated in virtually every state in this country.” Koopman said that the demonization of his industry is based on inaccuracies; ranchers, he says, care about their animals. “It’s disturbing for us as livestock producers to have this perception that production basically lives on the backs of animals that are abused from the time they’re born until the time they’re slaughtered.” He was quick to point out that his 200-some head of cattle are treated with respect, nurtured and allowed to roam freely. And he adds that the 3,000 members of the CCA are equally vigilant. “Our membership is very cognizant of and very aware of… animal treatment, all the good things that go along with the nurturing of these animals. We will fight against the mistreatment of animals just as much as David or anybody else would.” Dalton next brought up the connection between livestock, methane emissions and climate change. According to the UN publication Livestock’s Long Shadow, nearly twenty percent of all greenhouse gases can be attributed to the livestock industry. Koopman challenged that figure, saying it was closer to three percent; Simon, not surprisingly, contends that the UN figures are conservative. Both men agree, however, that methane emission is a problem that needs to be addressed. Ironically, grass-fed cattle may be making things worse, not better, says Simon: “The unfortunate result is that they produce four times as much methane as grain-fed animals and so we get this very bizarre result that organically-fed cattle are not necessarily more eco-friendly than inorganically raised animals.” One solution, says Koopman, is genetic improvement, which has led to an overall reduction in the number of cows nationwide. Fewer cows, he points out, means less gas. But there are other reasons to believe ranching is straining our resources. “It takes on average, five times as much land to produce animal protein as it does plant protein,” says Simon. “It takes 11 times the fossil fuels and it takes 40 times or more water to produce animal protein than plant protein… that’s a major sustainability problem.” Koopman disagrees. With two-thirds of the land in the U.S. not farmable, he sees cattle ranching as a necessary part of global food sourcing. “We’ve got an increasing world population with huge demand for protein as a part of their diet. And on the absence of grazing livestock and having that land available to produce food, I think we would be in a lot worse shape than we are.” David Robinson Simon, Author, Meatonomics: How the Rigged Economics of Meat and Dairy Make You Consume Too Much – and How to Eat Better, Live Longer, and Spend Smarter Tim Koopman, President, California Cattlemen’s Association This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 24, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 1989, The Goldman Environmental Prize has honored more than 150 grassroots heroes who are fighting on the front lines to deliver clean water, clean air and preserve the world’s ecosystems. Brothers John and Douglas Goldman are carrying on the work of their parents, environmental activists Richard and Rhoda Goldman, who founded the prize. “My mom was a recycler before the term was ever coined,” remembers John. “She was far ahead of her time.” The most important impact of the award, says Douglas, is its role in spotlighting the often unrewarding work of environmental activism. John adds that there’s a common thread among the past winners: “[These are] individuals whose force of nature really made a difference, their impact was significant, and they may have had significant personal risk.” One of those people is Maria Gunnoe, who received the prize in 2009. Beginning with her successful effort to stop the coal industry from devastating the hollows of her native Appalachia, she has become a leading voice in the push to expose the environmental hazards of coal production. But, she says, she didn’t start out to be an activist. “I didn't really get into fighting the industry; the industry took me on,” she laughs. “They challenged me and my love for my property.” Kimberly Wasserman’s battle to close toxin-spewing coal-fired power plants in southwest Chicago was an equally personal one. “Feeling the impacts that countless parents in our community feel, of having children with asthma, just triggered that voice in me to…want to do something about it,” says Wasserman, adding, “there is no greater threat than a mom who's mad!” She was awarded the prize in 2013. Both women have continued to fight for clean air and water, and have even linked their causes together, stressing that, no matter which end of the coal conveyer belt your family is on, we’re all in this together. “Environmental impact doesn't just happen to any singular community,” says Wasserman. “It's happening across the board to low-income people, and we need to be united and be coming together to fight this.” John Goldman, President, Goldman Environmental Foundation Douglas Goldman, Vice President, Goldman Environmental Foundation Maria Gunnoe, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Goldman Environmental Prize Winner, 2009 Kimberly Wasserman, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Goldman Environmental Prize Winner, 2013 This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on March 6, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Egyptian irrigation systems to Roman aqueducts to the dikes and canals of The Netherlands, the world’s civilizations have long found innovative ways to harness and conserve their water supply. But with California entering the third year of an historic drought, what 21st century technologies are on the horizon to help us deal with an ever-shrinking pool of water? Peter Yolles is the CEO of Watersmart Software, which takes a grass-roots approach to the issue by educating residential and commercial customers on how to save water. For most residential customers, says Yolles, saving water is part of the social compact. “Research tells us that only 1 out of 10 people will change their behavior to save money.” Yolles says. “Only 1 out of 10 people will change their behavior to save the environment. But 8 out of 10 will do so because of what’s happening around them.” Comparing water usage within a community, he says, is the first step. “That really motivates people to say, “Gosh, I’m using a lot more than my neighbors. What can I do to save water?” Tamin Pechet is the Chairman of Imagine H20, which seeks out and funds start-ups in the water industry. He says the need for new ideas is greater than ever. “Over the past couple of decades, the pressures on our water system have increased,” says Pechet. “When we face an acute event, like a drought or…a heavy series of rains that causes more water to enter into our storm and sewer systems, we don’t have the same level of excess capacity to deal with that as we used to. We essentially need a new wave of innovation to address those problems.” And a new wave of entrepreneurs and innovators are out there, exploring solutions from desalination to wastewater treatment to mining satellite data. Despite dire predictions for California’s reservoirs and rivers, Pechet says the future of water technology is promising. “There’s a lot of really cool stuff out there,” he told the Commonwealth Club audience. “The history of water in civilization is one of innovation. And so just about anything that you dream up…is something that someone could innovate and come up with. If you look hard enough, you can find a company doing it.” Steven Hartmeier, CEO, mOasis Tamin Pechet, CEO, Banyan Water, Chairman, Imagine H2O Peter Yolles, CEO, WaterSmart Software This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on March 11, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who should take responsibility for reducing the amount of plastic debris that litters our cities, waterways and oceans? While many consumers have given up their plastic grocery bags, most still rely on the convenience of plastic water bottles, liquid soap and fast food in styrofoam containers. “Many of our companies are looking at bio-based materials and other kinds of plastics,” says Keith Christman of the American Chemistry Council. “High density polyethylene, made from sugarcane, is one of the largest uses today of bioplastics.” But is plant-based plastic the answer? As Molly Morse of Mango Materials points out, without oxygen to break them down, bioplastics can last as long as or longer than conventional plastic. Her company is working to create plastic out of methane gas harvested from wastewater treatment plants. “It can break down in the ocean,” she says. Bridgett Luther, President of Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, helps steer companies toward more responsible solutions for design, manufacturing and packaging their products. She points out that this approach led to market success for one company that eschewed the use of non-recyclable foam in their chairs. “ [Herman Miller] developed one of the fastest selling office chairs ever, the Aeron Chair. The end of use of that Herman Miller chair was a lot of super valuable materials that can be easily recycled.” The household cleaning company Method Products has been harvesting discarded plastic from beaches in Hawaii to produce their Ocean Plastic bottle. “Using the plastic that’s already on the planet is a solution that we have today,” says co-founder Adam Lowry. “So I tend to favor solutions that we can employ right now rather than saying, “Yes. The technology is coming.” Despite these promising steps, all agree that it’s going to take a village — manufacturers, consumers and legislators — to work together if we’re going to rid our world of plastic waste. Keith Christman, Managing Director for Plastics Markets, American Chemistry Council; Co-chair, Global Action Committee on Marine Litter Adam Lowry, Co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper, Method Products PBC Bridgett Luther, President, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute Molly Morse, CEO, Mango Materials This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on January 30, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America is in the midst of a fracking boom. Most new oil and gas wells in this country are drilled using hydraulic fracturing, the injection of a cocktail of water and chemicals at high pressure to release bubbles of oil or gas trapped in shale rock. Thanks to fracking, America is awash in cheap natural gas and is poised to become the world’s largest petroleum producer next year. That would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. “People thought that the United States was tapped out.” says Russell Gold, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, and author of The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World. “There’s more energy than we frankly know what to do with right now.” But some say the boom comes with a cost. Opponents of fracking cite risks to groundwater supplies, and argue that it’s not climate friendly. Mark Zoback, a professor of Geophysics at Stanford agrees that when dealing with a large industrial process like fracking, things can go wrong, but that fracking itself isn’t the problem. “The real problem is well construction,” Zoback says, “and if you do a good job of building a well, and we know how to build wells, we really can prevent the kinds of problems we should worry about below the earth’s surface, and that is the leakage that could contaminate aquifers that could leak gas to the atmosphere and obviate the benefit of using natural gas instead of coal, for example, for greenhouse gas emissions.” Gold and Zoback recently sat down at the Commonwealth Club to weigh in on the costs and benefits of fracking, along with Trevor Houser, co-author of Fueling Up: The Economic Implications of America’s Oil and Gas Boom. Houser speaks to the economic benefit of fracking, but cautions against believing any hype. “The climate consequences of the gas boom have been oversold by environmentalists, the climate benefits of the gas boom have been oversold by the industry,” Houser says. “Same as the economic story….it’s not as good as you think, it’s not as bad as you think.” Hype or not, it’s a boom that’s taking place right in our own backyard, says Russell Gold. “This is not an energy boom that’s happening above the Arctic Circle in Alaska or way off in Gulf of Mexico over the horizon,” Gold says. “This is happening in county after county in many places. And while that is intrusive and while we are talking about an industrial process, if we’re not doing it here in the United States, it’s going to be done somewhere else.” Russell Gold, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Author, The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World Trevor Houser, Partner, Rhodium Group; Co-Author, Fueling Up: The Economic Implications of America’s Oil and Gas Boom Mark Zoback, Professor of Geophysics at Stanford, former member of the Secretary of Energy’s Committee on Shale Gas Development from 2011 to 2012 This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 1, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three years after Fukushima is nuclear power dead in the water? Or is it poised for revival due to the world’s desperate need for carbon-free energy? Every day the Fukushima reactors dump 70,000 gallons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, and there is no end in sight. In the United States, the industry faces more systemic challenges - abundant and cheap natural gases are making new nukes uneconomic, despite the efforts of the Obama administration to jumpstart a nuclear renaissance. Per Peterson, a professor of Nuclear Engineering at UC Berkeley and a former member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, says the Fukushima disaster has had a significant impact on how engineers design the nuclear power plants of the future, and their safety systems. He says it has led to the development of what is called “passive safety” – the ability for the plant to shut down without needing external sources of electrical power. Two new plants are currently being constructed in South Carolina and Georgia, but at a staggering cost - $10+ billion per project. Peterson says that cost is due in part to major improvements over previous designs. “One of them is the passive safety…but the other is the use of modular construction technology which now does the majority of the fabrication of the buildings and the equipment modules and factories.” Peterson says. “And the implementation of modular construction does have the potential to give you much better control over schedule and cost. This said, it’s still a puzzle why the construction prices are as high as they are…there must be some way to bring these numbers closer together.” Dozens of old plants are receiving a new lease on life from regulators who have approved letting them run another decade or two. But what happens when plants are run beyond their expected lifetimes? “We’ve had nuclear power plants in the United States get into trouble in far shorter than their lifetimes.” says Dave Lochbaum, Director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “We’ve also had some nuclear power plants running longer than 40 years. So it’s not what the calendar says; it’s how well you maintain the plant and ensure that safety measures are maintained, whether it’s one year or 41 years.” Jon Koomey, a research fellow at the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford, and author of the book “Cold Cash, Cool Climate” says it’s important to recognize that all energy technologies have risks. “We need to figure out a way to innovate not just in technology but also in our institutional structures, in our incentives, in the ways that we encourage people to report problems,” Koomey says. “And if we don’t do institutional innovation as well as technological innovation, then we’re not going to be able to count on many of these technologies that we would like to count on to reduce climate risks.” Dave Lochbaum, Director, Nuclear Safety Project, Union of Concerned Scientists Jon Koomey, Research Fellow, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, Stanford University Per Peterson, Member, Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future; Professor of Nuclear Engineering, UC Berkeley This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 3, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s teenagers, also known as Millenials or Generation Y, now have a new moniker: Greenagers. That’s because they are coming of age in an era plagued by the effects of climate change. Severe floods, storms and fires on the rise and are forecast to increase further as carbon pollution increases. What are high school students learning about the causes and consequences of climate volatility? And what steps can they take now to secure a more optimistic future for the earth’s ecology? In this episode of Climate One, panelists cite changing the planet for the better can come from “doing one thing,” sourcing cafeteria food locally, and fighting apathy. “We need a transformation of the way we teach these things because it’s not just a matter of getting the information out there about climate change and energy and food,” says Mark McCaffrey, Program and Policy Director at the National Center for Science Education. “We need to be able to get that information out in a way that is building knowledge and know-how…to be able to transform the world, to be able to minimize the impacts, and be able to be ready for whatever changes (are) in store for us.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco on March 25, 2014. AshEl Eldridge, Education and Leadership Manager, Alliance for Climate Education Heather Frambach, Statewide Food Systems Coordinator, Community Alliance with Family Farmers Mark McCaffrey, Program and Policy Director, National Center for Science Education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s really preventing us from enacting environmental change? Blame our brains, says Daniel Goleman, author of Ecological Intelligence. As he explains it, “The problem comes down to a design flaw in the human brain.” Evolution fine-tuned our brains to protect us from immediate survival threats – lions, tigers and bears. But long-term dangers, such as those that threaten our planet today, don’t register. “The problem is that we don’t perceive, nor are we alarmed by, these changes,” says Goleman. “And so we’re in this dilemma where we can show people, “Well, you know, your carbon footprint is this,” but it doesn’t really register in the same way as “there’s a tiger around the block.” Facts alone aren’t enough, he adds, “We need to find a more powerful way of framing them…a way which will activate the right set of emotions and get us moving.” George Lakoff, a linguistics professor at U.C. Berkeley, sees the issue as a moral, rather than environmental, crisis: “…the greatest moral crisis we have ever been in. It is the moral issue of our times and it’s seen just as an environmental issue.” But morality can mean different things to different people. This sets up a debate that quickly goes from the political to the personal, as Josh Freedman, author of Inside Change, points out. “When we start saying, “okay, they’re good, and they’re bad,” what happens is we’re actually fueling this threat system that is what’s in the way of us actually solving these problems.” So what is the solution? How do we retune our primitive brains – and those of our political and business leaders — to focus on a less than clear, less than present danger? Throughout the discussion, several key avenues rose to the top: economics, education and emotional appeal. If major institutions can be persuaded to divest from environmentally unsound companies, says Lakoff, “then what will happen is that the prices of the stocks will go down for those energy companies. When they go down that way, they stay down…you have an opportunity to shift investment away in a way that has an exponential feedback loop.” Educating today’s youth was a powerful and recurring theme for all the speakers. “What kids learn and tell their parents is important,” Goleman said. “Schools are a big counterforce that we can do a much better job of deploying in this battle for minds and heart.” Despite our primitive wiring, the speakers concluded, we humans do have the capacity for the ecological intelligence – and the morality – to effect global change. “Your morality is what defines who you are as a human being,” says Lakoff, “it’s who you are emotionally and morally as a human being that matters in your life, what you do every day. This isn’t a matter of compromise…we have, like, 35 years to turn this around, period. That’s not long.” “All change starts on the inside,” says Freedman, “If we can support children and adults to connect with that capability and to develop what’s already there, then things are going to get a lot better.” Daniel Goleman, Author, Ecological Intelligence: The Hidden Impacts of What We Buy (Crown Business, 2010) Joshua Freedman, CEO, Six Seconds; Author, Inside Change: Transforming Your Organization With Emotional Intelligence (Six Seconds, 2010) George Lakoff, Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and author of many books, including The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist’s Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics (Penguin Books, 2009) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 1, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Swelling sea levels used to be a concern associated with future generations and faraway lands. Then Superstorm Sandy poured the Atlantic Ocean into the New York subway. Here on the west coast, we’re no less vulnerable to the rising tide, and it’s not only our coastal communities that will be affected. From shoreline to bay to Delta and beyond, California’s economy is bound together by highways, railways and airports. Cities and states are beginning to realize they need to start planning now for tides heading their way. The citizens of Redwood City have already made the issue of rising sea levels a priority. But as Alicia Aguirre, that city’s former mayor, points out, the problem is not limited to one community. “It's not just fixing what's happening in Redwood City, it's fixing what's happening all along the bay and along the coast as well. How do you work with developers and politicians and county government…and say, "This is what we can do?” Larry Goltzband, Executive Director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, agrees that for Californians, focusing on one area is short-sighted. “Those ships you see…docking at the port of Oakland, many times carry product that employs people in Redding or employs people in Tulare County…. So, it is in the best interest of all of California, whether you touch the bay, whether you see the bay on a daily basis, to actually invest in the bay for economic and environmental reasons.” Adding to the big picture, Julian Potter of San Francisco International Airport points out the ripple effect that damage to the region’s airports would cause worldwide. “The economic impact is not singular to any one side -- everybody gets impacted by it, whether or not you’re near water. Chicago will be impacted by it, any of these hub cities.” Goltzband says retreating from the shoreline is not an option. “People will always want to build near the water,” he says. “I think that's probably just part of our DNA after thousands of years. The question that we…have to figure out is, how do we ensure that as the water rises, economic vitality and our community's vitality continues to grow?” Whether it’s due to a hurricane, tsunami or just the slowly rising tide, it’s inevitable that our coastline will be changing dramatically in the coming decades, and with it our economy, our environment and our way of life. Sandbags and levees aren’t enough – Californians must come together to create and enact real solutions, or we’ll all be in over our head. Laura Tam, Sustainable Development Policy Director, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association Larry Goldzband, Executive Director, Bay Conservation and Development Commission Alicia Aguirre, member of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, former Mayor, Redwood City Julian Potter, Chief of Staff, San Francisco International Airport This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 11, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who should take responsibility for reducing the amount of plastic debris that litters our cities, waterways and oceans? While many consumers have given up their plastic grocery bags, most still rely on the convenience of plastic water bottles, liquid soap and fast food in styrofoam containers. “Many of our companies are looking at bio-based materials and other kinds of plastics,” says Keith Christman of the American Chemistry Council. “High density polyethylene, made from sugarcane, is one of the largest uses today of bioplastics.” But is plant-based plastic the answer? As Molly Morse of Mango Materials points out, without oxygen to break them down, bioplastics can last as long as or longer than conventional plastic. Her company is working to create plastic out of methane gas harvested from wastewater treatment plants. “It can break down in the ocean,” she says. Bridgett Luther, President of Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, helps steer companies toward more responsible solutions for design, manufacturing and packaging their products. She points out that this approach led to market success for one company that eschewed the use of non-recyclable foam in their chairs. “ [Herman Miller] developed one of the fastest selling office chairs ever, the Aeron Chair. The end of use of that Herman Miller chair was a lot of super valuable materials that can be easily recycled.” The household cleaning company Method Products has been harvesting discarded plastic from beaches in Hawaii to produce their Ocean Plastic bottle. “Using the plastic that’s already on the planet is a solution that we have today,” says co-founder Adam Lowry. “So I tend to favor solutions that we can employ right now rather than saying, “Yes. The technology is coming.” Despite these promising steps, all agree that it’s going to take a village — manufacturers, consumers and legislators — to work together if we’re going to rid our world of plastic waste. Keith Christman, Managing Director for Plastics Markets, American Chemistry Council; Co-chair, Global Action Committee on Marine Litter Adam Lowry, Co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper, Method Products PBC Bridgett Luther, President, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute Molly Morse, CEO, Mango Materials This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on January 30, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An emerging area of economics aims to put a price on nature as a way of justifying preserving it in societies dominated by the wisdom of markets. A mountain stream, for example, provides many economic benefits beyond people who own property near it or drink water from it. The same is said of bees that pollinate our food, wetlands that cleans water, and trees that drink up carbon dioxide. If nature were a corporation it would be a large cap stock. Putting a precise tag on something long seen as free is a conceptual leap. However many large companies are starting to realize the extent to which their profits rely on well operating ecosystems. Larry Goulder, Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Stanford Tony Juniper, Associate Professor, University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership; Special Advisor to The Prince of Wales International Sustainability Unit This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on July 25, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Koopman is a fourth-generation rancher; his family has been raising cattle on their ranch in Alameda County since 1918 and he now heads the California Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). David Robinson Simon is the author of a book that lambasts industrialized meat production. What did these two advocates from “opposite sides of the steer” have to say to each other when they sat down to debate the ethical, nutritional and environmental costs of animal agriculture? Host Greg Dalton started things off on the hot-button topic of animal cruelty. According to Simon, large factory farms have lobbied heavily to eliminate anti-cruelty protections for their industry. “So what we’ve seen the last several decades is that literally, anti-cruelty protections that once protected farm animals from abusive behavior have simply been eliminated in virtually every state in this country.” Koopman said that the demonization of his industry is based on inaccuracies; ranchers, he says, care about their animals. “It’s disturbing for us as livestock producers to have this perception that production basically lives on the backs of animals that are abused from the time they’re born until the time they’re slaughtered.” He was quick to point out that his 200-some head of cattle are treated with respect, nurtured and allowed to roam freely. And he adds that the 3,000 members of the CCA are equally vigilant. “Our membership is very cognizant of and very aware of… animal treatment, all the good things that go along with the nurturing of these animals. We will fight against the mistreatment of animals just as much as David or anybody else would.” Dalton next brought up the connection between livestock, methane emissions and climate change. According to the UN publication Livestock’s Long Shadow, nearly twenty percent of all greenhouse gases can be attributed to the livestock industry. Koopman challenged that figure, saying it was closer to three percent; Simon, not surprisingly, contends that the UN figures are conservative. Both men agree, however, that methane emission is a problem that needs to be addressed. Ironically, grass-fed cattle may be making things worse, not better, says Simon: “The unfortunate result is that they produce four times as much methane as grain-fed animals and so we get this very bizarre result that organically-fed cattle are not necessarily more eco-friendly than inorganically raised animals.” One solution, says Koopman, is genetic improvement, which has led to an overall reduction in the number of cows nationwide. Fewer cows, he points out, means less gas. But there are other reasons to believe ranching is straining our resources. “It takes on average, five times as much land to produce animal protein as it does plant protein,” says Simon. “It takes 11 times the fossil fuels and it takes 40 times or more water to produce animal protein than plant protein… that’s a major sustainability problem.” Koopman disagrees. With two-thirds of the land in the U.S. not farmable, he sees cattle ranching as a necessary part of global food sourcing. “We’ve got an increasing world population with huge demand for protein as a part of their diet. And on the absence of grazing livestock and having that land available to produce food, I think we would be in a lot worse shape than we are.” David Robinson Simon, Author, Meatonomics: How the Rigged Economics of Meat and Dairy Make You Consume Too Much – and How to Eat Better, Live Longer, and Spend Smarter Tim Koopman, President, California Cattlemen’s Association This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 24, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is risky business – but how risky is it for business? With temperatures predicted to rise anywhere from one to four degrees this century, droughts, floods and extreme weather present risks that will impact American families, businesses and habitats. Rebecca Shaw of the Environmental Defense Fund sees a global attitude shift towards adaptation. One example is the wine industry. “As climate shifts, there will be some places where wine grapes are grown today that won’t be suitable in the future,” she says. A move north may be imminent, and some growers are already doing that. But as competition for resources heats up between agribusiness, communities and wildlife, sacrifices may be in order. “We’re really going to have to think about what we’re going to grow here,” cautions Shaw. “Some crops are going to be less viable because water will be more scarce in the future.” Later in the program, financial industry experts discuss shifts on Wall Street wrought by climate change. As Lisa Goldberg of Aperio notes, climate change awareness is nothing new. “But in terms of its impact on economic markets, I think that it’s just really now coming to the consciousness of mainstream investors.” Recent high-profile divestments have put large-cap fossil fuel companies under Wall Street’s microscope. But is shareholder pressure an effective tool for change? “Just having that conversation publicly is a huge step,” says shareholder advocate Andrew Behar. “I think it’s a real milestone.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 3, 2014. Guests - Part I: Stephen Bennett, Senior Vice President, Verisk Climate Noah Diffenbaugh, Associate Professor, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University Rebecca Shaw, Associate Vice President and Lead Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund Guests - Part II: Andrew Behar, CEO, As You Sow Lisa Goldberg, Director of Research, Aperio Group; former Director of Research, MSCI Josh Schein, Senior Portfolio Manager, Morgan Stanley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s two billion middle class consumers will more than double globally over the next two decades. But while cities in China, India and other developing countries will be teeming with citizens in need of housing, cars and electronic gadgets, natural resources are dwindling. The silver lining? Consumer demand has sparked a third industrial revolution - one that is driving massive innovation, from Teslas to smart meters to less wasteful building methods. How are companies adapting to meet the demands of a changing world? Matt Rogers co-authored “Resource Revolution: How to Capture the Biggest Business Opportunity in a Century.” “If you see two and a half billion new people entering the middle class, you say, my goodness, we are going to run out of resources,” says Rogers. But in researching the book, he says, they found enormous potential instead. Changing the way we both produce and use resources, Rogers adds, will avert the economic and environmental disasters that seem to threaten us. “Companies and technologies are in fact changing fast enough,” concludes Rogers. “It’s going to be one crazy ride for the next 20 years, but…we’re going to end up in a very good place.” John Hofmeister, Former President, Shell Oil Company Amy Myers Jaffe, Executive Director, Energy and Sustainability, UC Davis Graduate School of Management Matt Rogers, Director, McKinsey & Co.; Co-Author (with Stefan Heck), Resource Revolution: How to Capture the Biggest Business Opportunity in a Century (New Harvest, 2014) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Biotechnology promises weed-resistant crops, bigger yields, more food for a growing population. But are genetically modified fruits and vegetables safe? Are they healthy? “Man has been improving crops from the beginning of time, whether it’s the tomato or the corn or all of our fresh fruits and vegetables,” says Robert Fraley of Monsanto. “There’s a whole set of tools that we’re going to need to be able to meet the challenge of food production for the future.” “This is about chemical companies selling chemicals,” says Andrew Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety. “It’s not about feeding the earth. We have yet to see a GMO crop that has greater yield, that does anything about malnutrition, about a better taste, a lower cost.” In the face of climate change and its agricultural challenges, is biotechnology the answer? Should we be working to strengthen the world’s rural farming communities? Or is there a sustainable balance between Big Ag and the family farm? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 11, 2014. Robert Fraley, Chief Technology Officer, Monsanto Company Nathanael Johnson, Food Writer, Grist; Author, All Natural: A Skeptic’s Quest to Discover If the Natural Approach to Diet, Childbirth, Healing, and the Environment Really Keeps Us Healthier and Happier (Rodale, 2013) Andrew Kimbrell, Founder and Executive Director, Center for Food Safety Jessica Lundberg, Seed Nursery Manager, Lundberg Family Farms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s really preventing us from enacting environmental change? Blame our brains, says Daniel Goleman, author of Ecological Intelligence. As he explains it, “The problem comes down to a design flaw in the human brain.” Evolution fine-tuned our brains to protect us from immediate survival threats – lions, tigers and bears. But long-term dangers, such as those that threaten our planet today, don’t register. “The problem is that we don’t perceive, nor are we alarmed by, these changes,” says Goleman. “And so we’re in this dilemma where we can show people, “Well, you know, your carbon footprint is this,” but it doesn’t really register in the same way as “there’s a tiger around the block.” Facts alone aren’t enough, he adds, “We need to find a more powerful way of framing them…a way which will activate the right set of emotions and get us moving.” George Lakoff, a linguistics professor at U.C. Berkeley, sees the issue as a moral, rather than environmental, crisis: “…the greatest moral crisis we have ever been in. It is the moral issue of our times and it’s seen just as an environmental issue.” But morality can mean different things to different people. This sets up a debate that quickly goes from the political to the personal, as Josh Freedman, author of Inside Change, points out. “When we start saying, “okay, they’re good, and they’re bad,” what happens is we’re actually fueling this threat system that is what’s in the way of us actually solving these problems.” So what is the solution? How do we retune our primitive brains – and those of our political and business leaders — to focus on a less than clear, less than present danger? Throughout the discussion, several key avenues rose to the top: economics, education and emotional appeal. If major institutions can be persuaded to divest from environmentally unsound companies, says Lakoff, “then what will happen is that the prices of the stocks will go down for those energy companies. When they go down that way, they stay down…you have an opportunity to shift investment away in a way that has an exponential feedback loop.” Educating today’s youth was a powerful and recurring theme for all the speakers. “What kids learn and tell their parents is important,” Goleman said. “Schools are a big counterforce that we can do a much better job of deploying in this battle for minds and heart.” Despite our primitive wiring, the speakers concluded, we humans do have the capacity for the ecological intelligence – and the morality – to effect global change. “Your morality is what defines who you are as a human being,” says Lakoff, “it’s who you are emotionally and morally as a human being that matters in your life, what you do every day. This isn’t a matter of compromise…we have, like, 35 years to turn this around, period. That’s not long.” “All change starts on the inside,” says Freedman, “If we can support children and adults to connect with that capability and to develop what’s already there, then things are going to get a lot better.” Daniel Goleman, Author, Ecological Intelligence: The Hidden Impacts of What We Buy (Crown Business, 2010) Joshua Freedman, CEO, Six Seconds; Author, Inside Change: Transforming Your Organization With Emotional Intelligence (Six Seconds, 2010) George Lakoff, Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and author of many books, including The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist’s Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics (Penguin Books, 2009) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 1, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s so funny about climate change? Stand-up economist Yoram Bauman uses humor to explain carbon tax, cap and trade and the ‘Five Chinas’ theory. Yoram Bauman, PhD., Co-author, The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change (with Grady Klein) (Island Press, 2014) Jonah Sachs, CEO, Free Range Studios This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on July 8, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Egyptian irrigation systems to Roman aqueducts to the dikes and canals of The Netherlands, the world’s civilizations have long found innovative ways to harness and conserve their water supply. But with California entering the third year of an historic drought, what 21st century technologies are on the horizon to help us deal with an ever-shrinking pool of water? Peter Yolles is the CEO of Watersmart Software, which takes a grass-roots approach to the issue by educating residential and commercial customers on how to save water. For most residential customers, says Yolles, saving water is part of the social compact. “Research tells us that only 1 out of 10 people will change their behavior to save money.” Yolles says. “Only 1 out of 10 people will change their behavior to save the environment. But 8 out of 10 will do so because of what’s happening around them.” Comparing water usage within a community, he says, is the first step. “That really motivates people to say, “Gosh, I’m using a lot more than my neighbors. What can I do to save water?” Tamin Pechet is the Chairman of Imagine H20, which seeks out and funds start-ups in the water industry. He says the need for new ideas is greater than ever. “Over the past couple of decades, the pressures on our water system have increased,” says Pechet. “When we face an acute event, like a drought or…a heavy series of rains that causes more water to enter into our storm and sewer systems, we don’t have the same level of excess capacity to deal with that as we used to. We essentially need a new wave of innovation to address those problems.” And a new wave of entrepreneurs and innovators are out there, exploring solutions from desalination to wastewater treatment to mining satellite data. Despite dire predictions for California’s reservoirs and rivers, Pechet says the future of water technology is promising. “There’s a lot of really cool stuff out there,” he told the Commonwealth Club audience. “The history of water in civilization is one of innovation. And so just about anything that you dream up…is something that someone could innovate and come up with. If you look hard enough, you can find a company doing it.” Steven Hartmeier, CEO, mOasis Tamin Pechet, CEO, Banyan Water, Chairman, Imagine H2O Peter Yolles, CEO, WaterSmart Software This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on March 11, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Rick Perry believes a Texas-style spirit of innovation and competition could solve America’s economic woes and lead to energy independence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are the issues that link the Latino community to the environmental movement? For many, it comes down to la familia. Latinos, who make up nearly 40 percent of California’s population, still tend to live in the state’s most polluted areas, in close proximity to freeways and ports. That translates to increased rates of asthma among Latino children. Other community issues include lack of green space, reduced access to bus service and the internet, and economic barriers to things like electric cars and home ownership. According to Adrianna Quintero of the Natural Resources Defense Council, for Latinos, climate change is less a political issue than personal: it’s “about protecting family members…about thinking about the ties that bind us to people in other parts of the world, whether we arrived two years ago, 10 years ago, or were here before the borders were drawn.” As the three panelists note, Latinos have long embraced the culture of conservation. They point to examples from their own experience – reusing foil, taking grocery bags to the store, sharing resources with extended family members. “I think most Latinos are conservationists,” says Orson Aguilar, Executive Director of The Greenlining Institute, “and I think the question is, is it something cultural, is it something in our DNA, or have we been forced to conserve given our economic circumstances?” Whatever their reasons, Quintero points out that 9 out of 10 Latinos surveyed support action to fight climate change. “Those are enormous numbers,” she says. “It shows that we've underestimated this community for years. We've underestimated the power, we've underestimated the commitment to protecting the environment and we're doing that to our own disservice truly. We need to recognize that there's a tremendous amount of awareness and power in this community.” In this election year, how can the environmental movement engage the diverse community of Latinos to demand change in their own communities, and beyond? Catherine Sandoval, Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission Orson Aguilar, Executive Director, The Greenlining Institute Adrianna Quintero, Senior Attorney, The Natural Resources Defense Council. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on February 7, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During dry times, water is a precious liquid asset – and our savings are depleting. Will historic drought drive us to improve our conservation habits? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on August 13, 2014 Debbie Davis, Community & Rural Affairs Advisor, Office of Planning and Research, State of California Felicia Marcus, Chair, State Water Resources Control Board Barton Thompson, Jr., Professor of Natural Resources Law, Stanford Law School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Companies big and small are conjuring up new technologies, production methods and delivery systems to capitalize on the trend towards a green economy. Greg Dalton, Founder and Host, Climate One David Crane, CEO, NRG Energy, Inc. Katie Fehrenbacher, Reporter, GigaOm.com Adam Lowry, Co-Founder and Chief Greenskeeper, Method Products PBC Arun Majumdar, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University; former Vice President for Energy, Google This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 15, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will a change in consciousness help us end our dependence on fossil fuels? Yes, according to well-known author and speaker Deepak Chopra and investor and entrepreneur Rinaldo Brutico, the guests of this week’s episode of Climate One. The two have joined forces to create Just Capital, an organization dedicated to helping executives of financial institutions and members of the public sector make sustainability a number one priority. “Our collective consciousness is what creates a change in behavior,” Chopra says. “There was a time when everybody was smoking in public spaces, but collective consciousness chose to change that. There was a time when you could drive and drink at the same time, but collective consciousness changed that. And that’s the only solution.” Deepak Chopra, MD, Founder, The Chopra Foundation; Author Rinaldo Brutoco, President, Chopra Foundation; Founding President, World Business Academy; Author, Freedom from Mid-East Oil Greg Dalton, Host and Founder, Climate One – Moderator This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 15, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transitioning from fossil to solar power means jobs, profits and an energy renaissance. How can businesses and investors profit from the solar economy? Brad Mattson, CEO, Siva Power; Author, The Solar Phoenix: How America Can Rise from the Ashes of Solyndra to World Leadership in Solar 2.0 Jigar Shah, Founder, SunEdison; Author, Creating Climate Wealth: Unlocking the Impact Economy Greg Dalton, Host and Founder, Climate One – Moderator This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 16, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite abundant evidence that climate change threatens our planet, public concern is on the decline. How do we foster awareness of the imminent danger? Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology, UC Berkeley George Marshall, Author, Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change (Bloomsbury USA, 2014) Greg Dalton, Host and Founder, Climate One – Moderator This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 12, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crude oil is riding the rails to East Bay refineries at an increasing rate. How can local communities safeguard themselves against potential disaster? Speakers John Avalos, Member, Bay Area Air Quality Management District and San Francisco Board of Supervisors Jess Dervin-Ackerman, Conservation Program Coordinator, Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter Molly Samuel, Reporter, KQED Science Tupper Hull, Vice President, Strategic Communications Western States Petroleum Association Greg Dalton, Host and Founder, Climate One – Moderator This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 3, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a big year for water politics in California. Will voters approve a $7.12 billion bond for water projects to help get us through a record drought? John Coleman, president, Association of California Water Agencies; board member, East Bay Municipal Utility District Danny Merkley, director of water resources, California Farm Bureau Federation Anthony Rendon, California Assemblyman (D-63); Chairman, State Water Parks and Wildlife Committee Lauren Sommer, reporter, KQED Science This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California in Lafayette on September 12, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can America balance its energy boom with the need to reduce carbon pollution? A discussion with U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 23, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change exacerbates effects of both drought and flood conditions worldwide. Too much, then too little – how do we make sense of “water whiplash”? Brian Richter, Chief Water Scientist, The Nature Conservancy; Author, Chasing Water: A Guide for Moving from Scarcity to Sustainability (Island Press, 2014) Peter Gleick, President, Co-Founder, The Pacific Institute; Author, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water (Island Press, 2011) Brooke Barton, Director, Water Program at Ceres This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 28, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By land, by sea or via the Keystone Pipeline, Canadian oil is coming to satisfy our energy thirst. But is our need for fossil fuel a foregone conclusion? David Baker, Energy Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle John Cushman, Author, Keystone and Beyond: Tar Sands and the National Interest in the Era of Climate Change (Inside Climate News, 2014); former New York Times reporter Dan Matross, Trade Commissioner on Science and Sustainable Technologies at the Consulate General of Canada This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 30, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The amount of food needed to feed the earth’s growing population is expected to double by mid-century. How will we manage the world’s food supply? Karen Ross, California Secretary of Food and Agriculture; former Deputy US Secretary of Agriculture Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, California Academy of Sciences Helene York, Director, Google Global Accounts at Bon Appétit Management Company This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on November 28, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite abundant evidence that climate change threatens our planet, public concern is on the decline. How do we foster awareness of the imminent danger? Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology, UC Berkeley George Marshall, Author, Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change (Bloomsbury USA, 2014) Greg Dalton, Host and Founder, Climate One – Moderator This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 12, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The way we think influences what we think about wild weather. The human brain shapes how we see the risks of fossil fueled storms and the opportunities of clean energy. Our next program looks at the stories we tell ourselves – and each other. And how these stories can protect the climate and the economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coffee, beer and chocolate – oh my! How is global warming affecting our beloved guilty pleasures? Can growers and producers adapt to a changing climate? Ken Grossman, Co-Founder & CEO, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Paul Katzeff, Founder & CEO, Thanksgiving Coffee Company Brad Kintzer, Chief Chocolate Maker, TCHO Chocolate This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on November 20, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Companies big and small are conjuring up new technologies, production methods and delivery systems to capitalize on the trend towards a green economy. Greg Dalton, Founder and Host, Climate One David Crane, CEO, NRG Energy, Inc. Katie Fehrenbacher, Reporter, GigaOm.com Adam Lowry, Co-Founder and Chief Greenskeeper, Method Products PBC Arun Majumdar, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University; former Vice President for Energy, Google This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 15, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you believe in climate denial? According to climate scientists, it’s all around us. How can scientists learn to communicate to a skeptical public? Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science, Harvard; Co-Author, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco to Global Warming (Bloomsbury Press, 2011) Joe Romm, Founding Editor, Climate Progress; Author, Language Intelligence: Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga (CreateSpace, 2012) Eugenie Scott, Chair, National Center for Science Education This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on December 16, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jane Lubchenco oversaw NOAA during the worst 4-year weather period in U.S. history. What can we do to predict – or mitigate – future weather disasters? Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D. Ecology, Harvard; Former Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Former President of American Academy of Arts and Sciences Alex Bakir, Director of Business Development, Planet Labs This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on December 16, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The way we think influences what we think about wild weather. The human brain shapes how we see the risks of fossil fueled storms and the opportunities of clean energy. Our next program looks at the stories we tell ourselves – and each other. And how these stories can protect the climate and the economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Biotechnology promises weed-resistant crops, bigger yields, more food for a growing population. But are genetically modified fruits and vegetables safe? Are they healthy? “Man has been improving crops from the beginning of time, whether it’s the tomato or the corn or all of our fresh fruits and vegetables,” says Robert Fraley of Monsanto. “There’s a whole set of tools that we’re going to need to be able to meet the challenge of food production for the future.” “This is about chemical companies selling chemicals,” says Andrew Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety. “It’s not about feeding the earth. We have yet to see a GMO crop that has greater yield, that does anything about malnutrition, about a better taste, a lower cost.” In the face of climate change and its agricultural challenges, is biotechnology the answer? Should we be working to strengthen the world’s rural farming communities? Or is there a sustainable balance between Big Ag and the family farm? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 11, 2014. Robert Fraley, Chief Technology Officer, Monsanto Company Nathanael Johnson, Food Writer, Grist; Author, All Natural: A Skeptic’s Quest to Discover If the Natural Approach to Diet, Childbirth, Healing, and the Environment Really Keeps Us Healthier and Happier (Rodale, 2013) Andrew Kimbrell, Founder and Executive Director, Center for Food Safety Jessica Lundberg, Seed Nursery Manager, Lundberg Family Farms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With gas prices plummeting and support growing for a reduction on fossil fuels, what does the future hold for the oil industry? Must they adapt or perish? Lou Allstadt, Member, Citizens Climate Lobby; Former Executive Vice President, Mobil Oil Angus Gillespie, Vice President for CO2, Shell Oil Company Mary Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 12, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple tries to make conservation cool with energy-efficient products and green manufacturing practices. Can they lead the way to cleaner capitalism? Lisa Jackson, Vice President, Environmental Initiatives, Apple; Former Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency Rajendra Pachauri, Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 14, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We tackle the facts and fantasies of clean energy. Using satellites in space to peer into the ocean deep; untangling the knot of oil, coal, nuclear and green power; and learning how storytelling can be a scientist’s best friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The meat industry has been much maligned for its part in climate change. But can raising cattle in pastures help turn global warming into global greening? Diana Donlon, Director, Cool Foods Campaign, Center for Food Safety Nicolette Hahn Niman, Author, Defending Beef: The Case for Sustainable Meat Production (Chelsea Green, 2014) Whendee Silver, Professor of Ecology, University of California, Berkeley This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 29, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new American Dream is an energy-efficient home in a healthy, green community, and HUD Secretary Julián Castro wants to make it affordable for everyone. Julián Castro, Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s Climate One program looks at innovative policies and products that could power a new era of clean and affordable energy. Is it possible to capture the CO2 pouring out of coal smokestacks? Can we make plastic bottles that break down in the ocean and become fish food? What if drivers paid the true cost of burning fossil fuels? These are some of the solutions that could create a new path to both a sound economy and a healthy environment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is more than a plot device – it’s our reality, and the signs are all around us. Can Cli-Fi help rally the troops in our battle to save the planet? Jason Mark, Editor, Earth Island Journal Kim Stanley Robinson, Author, 2312 (Thorndike Press, 2015) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Red/Blue divide in American politics is really a rainbow of perspectives. And they are colored by who you are, where you live and what you believe. How does this color our discussion on the economy and the environment? Today, our guests will look at how issues of big government, population growth and the growing Hispanic vote influence our views on climate change. While Texas Governor Rick Perry maintains that regulation by big government is hindering, not helping energy innovation, leaders in the Latino green movement think that preserving the environment is linked to issues of inequality. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change exacerbates effects of both drought and flood conditions worldwide. Too much, then too little – how do we make sense of “water whiplash”? Brian Richter, Chief Water Scientist, The Nature Conservancy; Author, Chasing Water: A Guide for Moving from Scarcity to Sustainability (Island Press, 2014) Peter Gleick, President, Co-Founder, The Pacific Institute; Author, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water (Island Press, 2011) Brooke Barton, Director, Water Program at Ceres This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 28, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The global energy economy is undergoing tectonic shifts. America is poised to be an oil exporter - something unthinkable a decade ago - and severe weather and climate disruption are driving a push toward clean fuels. On the next Climate One, Host Greg Dalton talks with business leaders, scientists and authors about the path toward a prosperous and sustainable economy. He will also talk about what is driving the droughts, floods and other freaky weather around the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gas prices are plunging, and Americans can get back on the road again. What are the economic, geopolitical and environmental consequences of cheap oil? Jason Bordoff, Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University; Former Special Advisor to President Obama, National Security Council Staff Kate Gordon, Senior VP and Director, Energy & Climate Program, Next Generation Bill Reilly, Former Board Member, ConocoPhillips; Senior Advisor, TPG Capital This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 27, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From hurricanes and superstorms to drought, fire and floods -- what’s causing our country’s extreme weather events, and how can they be prevented? Louise Bedsworth, Deputy Director, California Governor's Office of Planning and Research Kathryn Sullivan, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hunter Cutting, Director of Strategic Communications, Climate Nexus This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 3, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate disruption is changing weather around the world. Parts of America are seeing fierce droughts and then punishing storms and flooding. Scientists say the wets will get wetter and the dry periods will get drier. Water systems are stressed and farmers, city dwellers and fish are all affected. In response, new farming methods are being tried out. Creative conservation practices and new technologies are helping stretch each gallon. But the question remains: How much water will we have in the future? What will it cost? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many Silicon Valley companies have committed to going 100% renewable. What are Facebook, Ebay and Yahoo! doing to build a cleaner, greener digital world? Gary Cook, Senior Policy Analyst, Greenpeace International Lori Duvall, Global Director, Green, eBay Christina Page, Global Director, Energy and Sustainability Strategy, Yahoo! Bill Weihl, Sustainability Guru, Facebook This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 3, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unpredictable weather has always been the farmer’s Achilles heel. And the weather is getting wilder, stressing water supplies and changing where crops can grow. How do we address food security for a growing global population? One approach is getting back to basics. Protecting the soil, growing food for people – not for cows – and cutting down food waste. Simple solutions can create a big pay-back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As supply grows and demand decreases, oil prices are dropping by the barrel. Are we truly in a “carbon bubble”? What can we do to protect our investments? Kurt Billick, Chief Investment Officer, Bocage Capital Anthony Hobley, CEO, Carbon Tracker Initiative Anne Simpson, Director of Global Governance, CalPERS This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 12, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you believe in climate denial? According to climate scientists, it’s all around us. How can scientists learn to communicate to a skeptical public? Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science, Harvard; Co-Author, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco to Global Warming (Bloomsbury Press, 2011) Joe Romm, Founding Editor, Climate Progress; Author, Language Intelligence: Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga (CreateSpace, 2012) Eugenie Scott, Chair, National Center for Science Education This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on December 16, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will the U.S. oil boom cripple OPEC? Could oil reach $100 a barrel again? What’s ahead for renewables? A conversation with the Oracle of Oil, Boone Pickens. T. Boone Pickens, Chairman and CEO, BP Capital Management This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 24, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The amount of food needed to feed the earth’s growing population is expected to double by mid-century. How will we manage the world’s food supply? Karen Ross, California Secretary of Food and Agriculture; former Deputy US Secretary of Agriculture Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, California Academy of Sciences Helene York, Director, Google Global Accounts at Bon Appétit Management Company This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on November 28, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Low gas prices are pumping up sales of SUVs and trucks. And since transportation accounts for almost a third of America’s greenhouse gasses, that’s bad news for the climate. But America is awash in big ideas for how to create a healthy economy and healthy communities. One idea is to put a price on carbon. Everyone from oil companies to environmentalists are talking about what might happen if consumers paid the real price for coal and gasoline. Some think it just might boost the economy while also trimming carbon pollution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coffee, beer and chocolate – oh my! How is global warming affecting our beloved guilty pleasures? Can growers and producers adapt to a changing climate? Ken Grossman, Co-Founder & CEO, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Paul Katzeff, Founder & CEO, Thanksgiving Coffee Company Brad Kintzer, Chief Chocolate Maker, TCHO Chocolate This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on November 20, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coal provides cheap energy and economic prosperity – along with greenhouse gases and lung disease. Can we wean ourselves, and our planet, off coal for good? Richard Martin, Author, Coal Wars: The Future of Energy and the Fate of the Planet (Palgrave Macmillan Trade, 2015) Bruce Nilles, Senior Director, Beyond Coal Campaign, Sierra Club Frank Wolak, Director, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford University Brian Yu, Senior Analyst, Citi Research This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 22, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China is both our economic competitor and an ally in the climate change fight. But can it reduce its carbon footprint while lifting its people out of poverty? Henry Paulson, Former United States Secretary of the Treasury and author of “Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower” (Twelve, 2015) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 28, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite soggy prices the outlook for American oil and gas is still promising. Cycles of boom and bust have always been part of the energy industry, which delivers big profits. At the same time, clean energy is creating jobs and clean communities. Rooftop solar for home owners is increasing rapidly and electric cars are gaining cache. In this episode of Climate One’s National Magazine we are looking at the power brokers who are moving the ball forward on renewable energy and those still making a bundle on fossil fuels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spray painting the sky to deflect sunlight and cool the earth sounds like science fiction. But could geoengineering buy us time against global warming? Ken Caldeira, Atmospheric Scientist, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford University Albert Lin, Professor, UC Davis School of Law Jane Long, Co-chair, Task Force on Geoengineering, Bipartisan Policy Center Armand Neukermans, Physicist and Inventor This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 8, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From fisheries to food safety, California drought to Toledo tapwater, the EPA is waging the battle against climate change both domestically and globally. Gina McCarthy, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 13, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sure, there are climate deniers – but even those who accept global warming as reality often fail to act on it. What will inspire both awareness and change? George Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics, UC Berkeley; Author, Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate (Chelsea Green, 2004) Kari Norgaard, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon; Author, Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life (MIT Press, 2011) Per Espen Stoknes, Economist; Psychologist; Author, What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming (Chelsea Green, 2015) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 12, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the health of our oceans go, so goes the health of our planet. But climate change, overfishing and pollution have taken their toll – what can we do to help? Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer in Residence This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 27, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is impacting much more than the environment. It’s also slowly changing the political landscape – in Washington and beyond. What’s the best way to move our economy towards a renewable future? More environmental regulation or less? More financial oversight or freer markets? And with mega economies like China and India creating ever-increasing carbon pollution, how do we bring our international friends – and foes – along with us? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As supply grows and demand decreases, oil prices are dropping by the barrel. Are we truly in a “carbon bubble”? What can we do to protect our investments? Kurt Billick, Chief Investment Officer, Bocage Capital Anthony Hobley, CEO, Carbon Tracker Initiative Anne Simpson, Director of Global Governance, CalPERS This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 12, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Past conferences have failed to reach consensus on addressing climate change. Can the Paris summit produce a lasting, effective and equitable solution? Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change William K. Reilly, Senior Advisor, TPG Capital This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 16, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many Silicon Valley companies have committed to going 100% renewable. What are Facebook, Ebay and Yahoo! doing to build a cleaner, greener digital world? Gary Cook, Senior Policy Analyst, Greenpeace International Lori Duvall, Global Director, Green, eBay Christina Page, Global Director, Energy and Sustainability Strategy, Yahoo! Bill Weihl, Sustainability Guru, Facebook This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 3, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ride-sharing, biking, bussing – when it comes to getting around, there’s a growing menu of ala carte wheels to choose from. Can we curb our cars for good? Tom Nolan, Chairman of the Board, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Jeff Hobson, Acting Executive Director, TransForm Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Staff Reporter, San Francisco Examiner Padden Murphy, Head of Public Policy & Business Development, Getaround Chakib Ayadi, Executive Board Member, San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance Ozzie Arce, driver for Lyft This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 22, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who’s really wasting our water? As the state heats up, so is the finger-pointing. Can Californians come together to find solutions to the drought? Ellen Hanak, Senior Fellow and Center Director, Public Policy Institute of California Felicia Marcus, Chair, State Water Resources Control Board Paul Wenger, President, California Farm Bureau Federation Marguerite Young, Director, Ward 3, East Bay Municipal Utility District Board This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 30, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fossil fuels are at the core of the climate challenge. Even Saudi Arabia’s oil minister has said the fossil fuel merry-go-round will wind down one day. But are companies actually going to leave their oil, coal and gas assets in the ground? That won’t make stock holders very happy. As we look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint familiar culprits come to mind: the car’s tailpipe, the air conditioner, even our hamburger. But our laptops? Really? How much of a carbon impact are we making from posting, liking, tweeting and buying online? Climate One explores the path to a clean and cool planet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is more than a plot device – it’s our reality, and the signs are all around us. Can Cli-Fi help rally the troops in our battle to save the planet? Jason Mark, Editor, Earth Island Journal Kim Stanley Robinson, Author, 2312 (Thorndike Press, 2015) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Asian economy booms, its people have paid the price in polluted air and water. Can business and government solve Asia’s environmental problems? Mark Clifford, Author, The Greening of Asia: The Business Case for Solving Asia’s Environmental Emergency (Columbia University Press, 2015) Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Center on U.S.-China Relations, Asia Society in New York Stella Li, Senior Vice President, BYD Company Ltd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the drought drags on, water is becoming an ever more precious resource. It’s time to rethink the ways that we use, reuse, share, sell and save every drop. Anna Michalak, Faculty Member, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science Martha Davis, Executive Manager for Policy Development, Inland Empire Utilities Agency Abrahm Lustgarten, Reporter, ProPublica Tamin Pechet, CEO, Banyan Water and Chairman, Imagine H2O David Sedlak, Professor of Mineral Engineering and Co-director of Berkeley Water Center, UC Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sure, there are climate deniers – but even those who accept global warming as reality often fail to act on it. What will inspire both awareness and change? George Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics, UC Berkeley; Author, Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate (Chelsea Green, 2004) Kari Norgaard, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon; Author, Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life (MIT Press, 2011) Per Espen Stoknes, Economist; Psychologist; Author, What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming (Chelsea Green, 2015) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 12, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our next program is all about water. We love gold. We fight over oil. But we can not live without water. And as snowpacks melt and aquifers drop, water is slipping through our fingers. How can we make the best use of this most precious resource in our cities and down on the farm? We can’t find solutions if we can’t face the issues. And talking about climate change can be a conversation killer. But it’s easy to talk about the weather. And the increasingly wild weather can give us an opening to talk about the bigger issue of climate disruption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From hurricanes and superstorms to drought, fire and floods -- what’s causing our country’s extreme weather events, and how can they be prevented? Louise Bedsworth, Deputy Director, California Governor's Office of Planning and Research Kathryn Sullivan, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hunter Cutting, Director of Strategic Communications, Climate Nexus This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 3, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China is both our economic competitor and an ally in the climate change fight. But can it reduce its carbon footprint while lifting its people out of poverty? Henry Paulson, Former United States Secretary of the Treasury and author of “Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower” (Twelve, 2015) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 28, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From fisheries to food safety, California drought to Toledo tapwater, the EPA is waging the battle against climate change both domestically and globally. Gina McCarthy, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 13, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pope Francis’ bold statement on global warming has prompted a discussion of stewardship across faiths. Can his upcoming visit change the climate in Congress? Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, Founder and President, Regeneration Project Father Paul Fitzgerald, President, University of San Francisco Sam Liccardo, Mayor, San Jose, California This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 10, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we look at fact and fiction in our approach to the climate challenge. A handful of scientists want to tinker with the sky in a process called geo-engineering. Others call this arrogance. Most Americans simply aren’t talking about climate change at all. Why not? Meanwhile, Hollywood has taken notice. It’s rolling out movies depicting a climate catastrophe. Science fiction thrillers describe people resorting to eating bugs after the climate apocalypse. Is truth stranger than fiction? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spray painting the sky to deflect sunlight and cool the earth sounds like science fiction. But could geoengineering buy us time against global warming? Ken Caldeira, Atmospheric Scientist, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford University Albert Lin, Professor, UC Davis School of Law Jane Long, Co-chair, Task Force on Geoengineering, Bipartisan Policy Center Armand Neukermans, Physicist and Inventor This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 8, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the health of our oceans go, so goes the health of our planet. But climate change, overfishing and pollution have taken their toll – what can we do to help? Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer in Residence This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 27, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few of us will ever venture to the faraway Arctic. But our entire planet is affected by environmental and economic changes happening in the frozen north. William Collins,Director, Climate and Ecosystem Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Alex Levinson, Executive Director, Pacific Environment Sergey Petrov, Consul General of the Russian Federation in San Francisco Hilde Janne Skorpen, Consul General for Norway in San Francisco This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 22, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Consumers in Marin and Sonoma already have freedom of choice when it comes to renewable power. Now San Francisco voters are about to have their say. Dawn Weisz, CEO, Marin Clean Energy Geof Syphers, CEO, Sonoma Clean Power Matthew Freedman, Staff Attorney, The Utility Reform Network Phil Ting, California State Assemblymember (D-19) London Breed, President, Board of Supervisors, San Francisco Barbara Hale, Assistant General Manager, San Francisco Public Utility Commission’s Power Enterprise Hunter Stern, Business Representative, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 24, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to climate change, the wild corners of the planet are shrinking or disappearing altogether. How can we preserve the natural world and its creatures? Bernie Krause, Soundscape Artist; Author, Voices of the Wild: Animal Songs, Human Din, and the Call to Save Natural Soundscapes (Yale University Press, 2015) Jason Mark, Editor, Earth Island Journal; Author, Satellites in the High Country: Searching for the Wild in the Age of Man (Island Press, 2015) Tanya Peterson, Director, San Francisco Zoo This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 24, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pope Francis – in his new encyclical, and in his recent talks at both the U.N. and U.S. Congress – says that it is our moral obligation to the poor to address climate change. This time, the world may be listening. In preparation for the upcoming climate talks in Paris this December, China, along with most major nations around the globe, has announced a plan to cut down on fossil fuel pollution. Some say it’s too little, too late. Others are hopeful that we can begin to move the ball forward. China, the Pope and Paris: on the next Climate One. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

El Niño is waiting in the wings, and heat waves, sea level rise and drought are in the forecast as well. How prepared are we to weather the next big disaster? Nile Malloy, former Director, Communities for a Better Environment Patrick Otellini, Chief Resilience Officer, San Francisco Laura Tam, Sustainable Development Policy Director, SPUR This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Exploratorium with the Commonwealth Club of California on October 5, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

PG&E hopes to become 50% renewable by 2030 by transitioning to renewable power sources and investing in a 21st century grid. Can they reach their goal? Anthony Earley, Jr., Chairman, CEO and President, PG&E Corporation This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Exploratorium with the Commonwealth Club of California on October 15, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California has an ambitious plan to reduce carbon emissions. Can EVs and driverless cars save the day? Or will they just add to our already clogged roads? Shad Balch, Environment and Energy Communications Manager, General Motors Alexandre Bayen, Liao-Cho Professor of Engineering and Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley Hector De La Torre, Member, California Air Resources Board Diarmuid O’Connell, Vice President of Business Development, Tesla This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Exploratorium with the Commonwealth Club of California on November 2, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change awareness and action are growing. Solutions are being implemented, with more in the wings. Are we experiencing an “atmosphere of hope?” Tim Flannery, Scientist, Explorer, Author, Atmosphere of Hope (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2015) Ben Santer, Climate Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Rebecca Shaw, Associate Vice President and Lead Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Exploratorium with the Commonwealth Club of California on November 10, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Human activity has touched every corner of the Earth. The Arctic, the Amazon, the bottom of the deep, blue sea. Places you and I will most likely never visit – and can hardly even imagine. Yet oil drilling and industrial fishing are changing even these places. And changes there are impacting us at home as well. It’s a small world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Past conferences have failed to reach consensus on addressing climate change. Can the Paris summit produce a lasting, effective and equitable solution? Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change William K. Reilly, Senior Advisor, TPG Capital This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 16, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate One went on the road to check out the action in and around the UN Climate Summit in Paris. While negotiators from 180 countries drilled down on the details of the treaty, a number of side events buzzed with activity. Entrepreneurs and innovators brought their ideas for green technology to the Sustainable Innovations Forum. At the Global Landscapes Forum, agriculture and food security was the focus, with farmers taking a soil-to-table approach. And in the nearby Green Zone, artists and activists gathered to share the eco-excitement and make their voices heard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will the U.S. oil boom cripple OPEC? Could oil reach $100 a barrel again? What’s ahead for renewables? A conversation with the Oracle of Oil, Boone Pickens. T. Boone Pickens, Chairman and CEO, BP Capital Management This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on March 24, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The path towards a clean energy future entails reducing our carbon footprint. But can we actually shrink that footprint down to nothing? That’s the idea behind “net zero” – using no more energy than the clean, green energy we can create. Landfills are another target of the zero movement; put nothing at all in the trash bin. Solutions range from recycling competitions to carrying your trash on your back – just to feel how garbage is weighing us down. Around the country, states, communities and individuals are racing to zero. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The meat industry has been much maligned for its part in climate change. But can raising cattle in pastures help turn global warming into global greening? Diana Donlon, Director, Cool Foods Campaign, Center for Food Safety Nicolette Hahn Niman, Author, Defending Beef: The Case for Sustainable Meat Production (Chelsea Green, 2014) Whendee Silver, Professor of Ecology, University of California, Berkeley This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 29, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The latest recipient of the Stephen Schneider Award calls COP21 “a turning point,” but warns that there’s still much to be done to combat global warming. Chris Field, Director, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science Ken Alex, Director, Governor Brown’s Office of Planning and Research Jane Lubchenco, University Distinguished Professor and Advisor in Marine Studies, Oregon State University and U.S. Science Envoy for the Ocean This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on December 15, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new American Dream is an energy-efficient home in a healthy, green community, and HUD Secretary Julián Castro wants to make it affordable for everyone. Julián Castro, Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Asian economy booms, its people have paid the price in polluted air and water. Can business and government solve Asia’s environmental problems? Mark Clifford, Author, The Greening of Asia: The Business Case for Solving Asia’s Environmental Emergency (Columbia University Press, 2015) Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Center on U.S.-China Relations, Asia Society in New York Stella Li, Senior Vice President, BYD Company Ltd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ride-sharing, biking, bussing – when it comes to getting around, there’s a growing menu of ala carte wheels to choose from. Can we curb our cars for good? Tom Nolan, Chairman of the Board, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Jeff Hobson, Acting Executive Director, TransForm Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Staff Reporter, San Francisco Examiner Padden Murphy, Head of Public Policy & Business Development, Getaround Chakib Ayadi, Executive Board Member, San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance Ozzie Arce, driver for Lyft This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 22, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ll never win the climate change challenge if we don’t change the way we make and drive cars. In the U.S. personal vehicles account for nearly one fifth of all our greenhouse gas emissions. And if you add in trucks, trains, planes and ships, it’s more than a quarter of our contribution to climate pollution. So how do we cut down on carbon coming out of the tailpipe? Or… maybe it’s time to give up on gasoline altogether. Is the carbon-free, electric vehicle ready for primetime? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Radical protestersTim DeChristopher and Georgia Hirsty put the “active” in “activism.” But is civil disobedience the best way to effect real change? Tim DeChristopher, Founder, Climate Disobedience Center Georgia Hirsty, National Warehouse Program Manager, Greenpeace Brendon Steele, Director of Stakeholder Engagement, Future 500 This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 19, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly 200 countries have pledged to go on a carbon diet. But does what happens in Paris, stay in Paris? How does the US plan to keep its climate promises? Ernest Moniz, U.S. Secretary of Energy Hal Harvey, CEO, Energy Innovation Danny Kennedy, Managing Director, California Clean Energy Fund Lyndon Rive, Co-founder and CEO, SolarCity This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 26, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If climate change makes you feel anxious, depressed or powerless, psychologists say you’re not alone. Can talking it out help drive change? Joshua Freedman, CEO, Six Seconds; Author, Inside Change: Transforming Your Organization with Emotional Intelligence (Six Seconds, 2010) Renee Lertzman, Climate Engagement Strategist Joan Blades, Co-founder, LivingRoomConversations.org This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 27, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connecting the dots between the foods we love and our environment may be one way to engage people in the climate change fight – one cup of coffee at a time. Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, California Academy of Sciences Simran Sethi, Author, Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love Helene York, Global Director, Responsible Business, Compass Group@Google This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 18, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Communities of color are most affected by pollution, yet they’ve been overlooked by the green movement. How can we ensure environmental justice for all? Manuel Pastor, Director, University of Southern California Program for Environmental and Regional Equity Vien Truong, National Director, Green for All Miya Yoshitani, Executive Director, Asia Pacific Environmental Network This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 9, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices