Sustainability Now! from KSQD Radio

Cull of the Wild: Killing in the Name of Conservation with Hugh Warwick on Sustainability Now!  Sunday, July 6th, 2025, 5-6 PM Do you remember the Northern Spotted Owl, icon of the old-growth Redwood Wars of the 1990s?  Well, the Northern Spotted Owl is, once again, under threat.  This time, however, the threat comes from […]

Out, Out, Damned Carbon! with Dr. Barbara Haya & Dr. Stephen Lezak, Berkeley Carbon Trading Project Sustainability Now!  Sunday, June 22nd, 5-6 PM Carbon is a boon and a bane.  It is at the core of all life on Earth, past and present.  In the atmosphere, carbon is what keeps the Earth’s temperature at tolerable […]

What’s the Matter with California’s Electricity System? with Loretta Lynch On Sustainability Now!  Sunday, June 8th, 5-6 PM Everyone is angry with California’s private utilities.  Rates keep rising, the utilities lack accountability and they are running roughshod over small-scale renewable energy.  Why make your customers so mad? Is that anger justified? And what are the utilities [&#8...

The Return of Wolves to California with Amaroq Weiss, Center for Biological Diversity  Sustainability Now!  Sunday, May 25th Gray wolves were once ubiquitous across California but the state’s last surviving individual was killed in 1924.  In 2011, the first documented wolf since 1924 was observed crossing into California from Oregon.  Today, there are at least […]

Are Tariffs Good for the Environment? Bad? Or What? With Ronnie Lipschutz & Christine Barrington  Sustainability Now! Sunday, April 27th, 2025, 5-6 PM Tariffs are in the air and on the news. Tariffs are up and down.  Tariffs are in and out. Who knows where they might go and what they might do. But what […]

Titans of Industrial Agriculture How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why It Matters With Professor Jennifer Clapp   Sustainability Now! Sunday, April 13th, 5-6 PM Big agriculture is Big!  And it appears to be getting Bigger, as the leading companies in four critical sectors—equipment, seeds, fertilizers and chemicals—consolidate in […]

Let the Salmon Swim Freely–The Klamath Dam Removal Project with Brook Thompson Sustainability Now! Sunday, March 30th, 2025, 5-6 PM Until very recently, salmon and other fish attempting to spawn in Northern California’s Klamath River found a number of dams in their way. Over the past several years, in the largest project of its kind […]

Fire, Fire at Moss Landing! Why the batteries burned and what that means on Sustainability Now!  Sunday, March 16th, 5-6PM On January 16th, 2025, a fire broke out at the Vistra plant in Moss Landing, California burning for two days and scattering heavy metals and other toxic materials across the plant’s surroundings, including Elkhorn Slough.  […]

Food Apartheid and Food Hubs A Visit with Saba Grocers and co-founder Lina Ghanem Sustainability Now! Sunday, March 2nd,2025, 5-6 PM Food insecurity and food apartheid are a common challenge in many low-income and minority neighborhoods across the United States.  Big supermarket companies avoid those areas because stores are unprofitable and small stores find that […]

American Environmentalism, Then and Now (1965-2025) With Mark Dowie  Sustainability Now! Sunday, February 16, 2025, 5-6 PM Mark Dowie describes himself as “Cowhand, guitarist, investigative historian, poet” and journalist.  He’s probably best known as cofounder, editor and staff writer for Mother Jones, but during his more than 50-year career, over his he’s also written for […]

Life and Death Decision-making through Algorithms with Professor David Rehkopf and Derek Ouyang, Stanford University                                                                                  […]

From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture with author Stephanie Anderson Sustainability Now! Sunday, January 19th, 2025, 5-6 PM What is regenerative agriculture?  Who is practicing regenerative agriculture?  And what are its prospects?  In two weeks, join host Ronnie Lipschutz for a conversation with Stephanie Anderson, author of From the Ground Up: The […]

Will the U.S. Environment Survive Trump 2.0? With Dr. Andrew Rosenberg, University of New Hampshire On Sustainability Now! Sunday, January 5th, 2025, 5-6 PM  On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as President of the United States for his second term.  There is considerable trepidation in the environmental policy and activism sectors across […]

Eco-utopia or eco-catastrophe? on Sustainability Now! Sunday, December 22nd, 2024, 5-6 PM   As California looks forward (!) to the beginning of a new Presidential Administration, there is growing trepidation about what it might mean for the state.  Is it time to secede and join with other West Coast states to create a new country? […]

 Reading and Interpreting Your Electricity Bill A Talmudic Exegesis On Sustainability Now! Sunday, December 8th, 2024, 5-6 PM on KSQD You probably receive an electricity bill every month from your local utility and, after complaining about it, dutifully pay it.  But do you ever stop to read your electricity bill?  If you are a customer […]

A Just Transition for All: Workers and Communities for a Carbon-Free Future with Dr. J. Mijin Cha    Sustainability Now! Sunday, November 24, 2024, 5-6 PM   To avert the worst impacts of climate change, a transition away from fossil fuels is necessary. However, what this transition looks like and what would make a transition […]

What Does the Chicken Know? And other Animal Stories with Sy Montgomery Frequent listeners to Sustainability Now! know that, from time to time, interviews focus on animals, mostly from the perspective of animal rights and whether animals are people, too.  Join host Ronnie Lipschutz for a conversation with Sy Montgomery, adventurer, naturalist and author, who […]

Disabled Ecologies–Lessons from a Wounded Desert, with Professor Sunaura Taylor, UC Berkeley on Sustainability Now!  October 27th, from 5-6 PM Join Host Ronnie Lipschutz for a conversation with Dr. Sunaura Taylor, Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley.  Taylor is also an artist, writer, activist [&#823...

Can Protection of Forests, Farms & Waters be Reconciled with Economic Development? with Larry Selzer of The Conservation Fund on Sustainability Now!  October 13th, from 5-6 PM A longstanding debate in the environmental and conservation movements is whether protection of natural resources can be reconciled with their economic development?  Join host Ronnie Lipschutz for a […]

Dust to Dust or Earth to Earth? Composting as an Alternative after Death with Katrina Spade of Recompose What happens to your corporeal body, if and when it is buried in the earth?  According to Genesis in the Hebrew Torah, we come from dust and to dust we return.  The original text, however, uses the […]

How should we speak with children about climate change? with Dr. Elizabeth Bagley of Project Drawdown on Sustainability Now! Sunday, September 15th, 2024 How should we speak with children about climate change?  Should young children be taught about climate change, and how? During the Cold War, the existential threat of nuclear holocaust was always present […]

Protect San Benito County! with Andy Hsia-Coron, Chris Wilmers, Seth Adams and Valentine Lopez San Benito County is one of the unsung jewels of the Central California Coast.  Most people know of Gilroy, San Juan Bautista and the Pinnacles, but there is much, much more.  Two mountain ranges, broad valleys, rangelands, farmlands and biodiversity.  But […]

Is it Curtains for Glaciers? Slowing Down Polar Melting with Professor John Moore, University of Lapland on Sustainability Now! Sunday, August 18th As the Earth gets warmer, the world’s glaciers get smaller.  Land-based glaciers in the Earth’s polar regions hold enormous quantities of water and, as they melt, the runoff is raising sea levels and […]

Let’s go Fishin’! with Melissa Mahoney of the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust on Sustainability Now! Sunday, August 4th, 2024, 5-6 PM, KSQD 90.7 FM, KSQT 89.7 FM, K207FE(FX) 89.5 FM and KSQD.org  The Monterey Bay is the crown jewel of the Central California Coast. For well over a century, the Bay has been exploited for […]

Blast from the Past! Nature’s Best Hope with Professor Douglas Tallamy A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard According to those who know, we are in the midst of the Sixth Great Extinction, this one brought on by the activities of human civilization that are resulting in a species extinction rate that […]