Tag Archives: climate change

A Shakedown of the Metropolitan Water District’s Priorities

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My guests for the full hour are two water activists who’ve been monitoring consequential infrastructure decisions over the decades: Sierra Club Water Committee Chair and Vice Chair of Environmental and Social Justice Charming Evelyn; and Conner Everts, Executive Director of the Southern California Watershed Alliance and facilitator of the Environmental Water Caucus. They attend innumerable water board meetings so that you and I don’t have to! Today’s focus is on some Metropolitan Water District board of directors’ maneuvering to oust the forward thinking general manager Adel Hagekhalil. Charming ad Conner connect the dots between this power struggle and the Newsom administration’s top priority – the $20+ billion Delta Tunnel project. Actually we learn it’s more like $38 billion, not counting the much anticipated cost over-runs.

Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa – album; Bill Beach, “Aqua De Beber,” Letting Go – album.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/EvelynEverts6-18-24.mp3

An Engineer and a Chemist Walk Up to the Energy Buffet

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Taking the heat down a few notches are today’s guests: Mark Nelson, engineer and founder and managing director of Radiant Energy Group; and A. J. Shaka, UCI chemistry professor and director of the UCI Nuclear Reactor Facility. We go local and zoom out to international cases with their consideration of the viability of nuclear power in the energy mix, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gases overall. An extension of this interview is provided below.

Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa – album; Terry Riley, “A Rainbow in Curved Air.” 

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/NelsonShaka5-14-23Pod.mp3

An Engineer and A Chemist Close this Round at the Buffet

This is the continuation of Mark and A.J.’s discussion of nuclear power, including an industrial application of a closed loop system. http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/NelsonShakaPod25-16-23.mp3

Energy Choices Driving Climate in Irvine and Orange County

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Ayn Craciun, Orange County Policy Advocate with the Climate Action Campaign brings you energy in three parts: the City of Irvine’s newly adopted electrification ordinance, the Climate Action plans, and the Orange County Power Authority.

Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa- album; Ann Callaway, “Thoughts and Prayers.”

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/Craciun4-4-23.mp3

Cutting Edge Climate Science AND Edgy Digital Art

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Lots happening around the U. C. Irvine campus – from forging ahead researching climate change to exhibiting provocative contemporary art. In the first segment earth system scientists: professor Keith Moore and researcher Yi Liu, will talk about their deeply concerning findings on climate changes’ impacts on ocean currents, recently published in Nature Climate Change.

In the second segment (minute 31:29), co-curators Tina Rivers Ryan and Paul Vanouse, present their brand new installation at UCI’s Beall Center for Art + Technology, “Difference Machines: Technology & Identity in Contemporary Art.” The exhibit will remain through April 29th. Details at: https://beallcenter.uci.edu/. An additional, separate segment, from this interview covers three of the artists presented at the installation: Keith Piper, the Mongrel Project, and Hasan Elahi. The installation will be on display through 4-29-23.

Music credits: Chimora, “African Americano,” Sounds of Africa- album; Claude Debussy, La Mer, “Waves”; Sounds of Liberation, “Billie One,” Sounds of Liberation – album.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/OceansBeall1-31-23.mp3 http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/ExtendedBeall1-31-23.mp3

Meet MWDOC Division 5 Candidate Randall Crane AND Meet Irvine Mayoral Candidate Branda Lin

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Today we crowd three plus hours worth of civics in under 1 hour! There won’t be a quiz after the show, but voters must complete all their ballots, which includes these two races. First, Randall Crane, Professor Emeritus at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs and Irvine resident, is running in Division 5 of the Municipal Water District of Orange County. In the second segment (minute 35:13), Branda Lin, co-founder of Irvine Watchdog, this time dons her candidate hat, in her bid to run for Mayor of Irvine. She is one of 4 candidates challenging the incumbent mayor.

Music credits: Chimora, “African Americano,” Sounds of Africa- album; Bill Beach, “Aqua de Beber,” Letting Go – album; Magwinya, “Magwinya Mangola neWhite Liver,” Spaza – album.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/CraneLin09-20-22.mp3

Anti-CRT Mapping Project AND Poetry Talking Truth With Power

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CRT Forward Tracking Project Director Taifa Alexander at UCLA’s Law School brings her Anti-CRT Mapping Project. Last spring on this show, involved O C parents zoomed in on their district. Director Alexander zooms out onto the national effort: to identify, track, and analyze local, state, and federal activity aimed at restricting the ability to speak truthfully about race, racism, and systemic racism.

In the second segment (minute 30:35), UCI ethnographer and anthropologist Roxanne Varzi has raised her creative game during Covid staying in place, with some beautiful, intentional pieces she’s created and produced, gauging our capacity to deal with challenges like oh climate, and Covid and the next scourge.

Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,e” Sounds of Africa- album; Antibalas “Gold Rush” Where the Gods Are in Peace – album; Roxann Varzi “Birds,” spoken word. http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/AlexanderVarzi8-23-22.mp3

“Global Burning; Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate Crisis” AND “Collective Rage”

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UCI Professor of global & international Studies, Eve Darian-Smith brings her brand new book, “Global Burning; Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate Crisis,” published by Stanford University Press. Her accessible read, is another tome published by an academic who is sufficiently concerned about these times. In the second segment (minute 31:00), Brooke Aston Harper returns to talk about the upcoming play that she’s directing at The Wayward Artist), Collection of Rage; A Play in 5 Betties, a play by Jen Silverman. Tickets are available now, for the July 15-24 shows.

Music credits: Aura Msimang, “Kuala,” African Odyssey – album; Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra and Choir, “A Moonlight Night,” Chick Corea and Bela Fleck, “Señorita, The Enchantment – album.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/Darian-SmithAston-Harper6-14-22.mp3

Burning Down the Woods AND “Inside the 45th” Part 4

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Returning to the show is Shane Coffield, UCI Earth System Science PhD Candidate, bringing his latest findings about how California’s forests are losing their capacity to stash our carbon emissions. This recent UCI study on how higher heat will limit ecosystem’s role in removing atmospheric CO2, was published in the American Geophysical Union Journal. Joining Shane and James Randerson on this project were: Kyle Hemes, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University; Charles Koven, Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and Michael Goulden, UCI professor of Earth system science and ecology & evolutionary biology.
“Inside the 45th” Part 4 (minute 38:44) is Evan Duran, Irvine resident and soon to be graduate of Cal. State Fullerton University business administration major. Listeners are invited to contact the host at: cshambaugh@kuci.org to participate in the “Inside the 45th” segment, or comment on the show’s programming.

Music credits: Greg Foat, “Symphonie Pacifique;” Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers, “More Bad Weather,” Rare Bird Alert; Kamasi Washington, “Final Thought,” Epic – album. http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/CoffieldDuranPod7-27-21.mp3

Blockchain in Your Town AND Safety Net For All

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Ben Leffel, Ph.D. candidate in the Dept. of Sociology and Public Impact Distinguished Fellow at UCI, returns with leading edge opportunities for municipal leadership to take up toward climate change, especially in the age of COVID. In the second segment, My Nguyen, community organizer at OC Communities Organized for Responsible Development, brings to our attention a new campaign: Safety Net For All of Us, offering some relief to undocumented residents in need during the pandemic: https://act.wpusa.org/we_need_a_safety_net_for_all_of_us

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/LeffelNguyenShow6-2-20.mp3

Climate Change in the age of COVID AND Families Forward Rallies in OC

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As “Ask A Leader” becomes “Ask A Neighbor,” we continue our hyper-local focus, to serve our community in the age of COVID. We hear first from atmospheric researcher and lecturer and climate activist Shahir Masri, who returns on the heels of the 50th annual commemoration of Earth Day, taking up the pandemic collision course with climate change and how Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, squares with climate policy.
In the second segment (minute 36:27), Madelynn Hirneise, Chief Executive Officer of Families Forward, speaks to how her a nonprofit is meeting a multitude of needs of local families in extraordinary times. Operation notes: 8 Thomas Irvine, M-F 10am-2 pm, 949-552-2727, and https://www.families-forward.org.http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/984/MasriHirneisepod4-28-20.mp3