Green Grid Radio returns to the topic of food. This time, we go all the way back to the farm, and to the promise of the tractor. The tractor that promised to make life for farmers easier and our farms more productive.
In today’s episode, however, we meet a man who shares a story about the true impact the tractor had on farmers, and ultimately on our ability to grow food.
Hosted by Diane Wu, produced by Erik Olesund and featuring Matt Rothe.
Music used in this piece:
This week we returned to the topic of meat production and food systems, exploring political and economic barriers to change in the U.S. and abroad, ways to move toward a less environmentally and socially destructive food system, and our own thoughts and perspectives on these critical issues. Like last week, we followed the wisdom of one of our guests, Dan Blumstein, and experimented with talking about food over food; Green Grid Radio team members Mallory, Adam, Erik and Diane discussed politics, education, climate change and energy, the world food economy, interconnections in the food system, local food, diversification, American eating habits and social norms, top-down versus bottom-up change, and more!
Image attributed to Meriwether, American Meat (2013)
Guests include: Stanford undergraduate student Caroline Hodge; Matt Rothe, Fellow at the Institute of Design at Stanford; Environmental Earth System Science Professor Rosamond Naylor, of the Center on Food Security and the Environment; Graham Meriwether, Director of the documentary American Meat; Eli Zigas, Food Systems and Urban Agriculture Program Manager at San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association; UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Professor Dan Blumstein, author of Eating Our Way to Civility; Professor Christopher Gardner of the Stanford School of Medicine; Vasile Stanescu, Stanford PhD candidate in the Program of Modern Thought and Literature; and Debra Dunn, co-founder of FEED Collaborative and Professor at the Institute of Design at Stanford.
Hosted by Mallory Smith and Erik Olesund.
Resources mentioned in this podcast: the American “Farm Bill“; “Quinoa’s Global Success Creates Quandary at Home,” from the New York Times (2011); “High-yield agriculture slows pace of global warming, say Stanford researchers,” from Stanford News (2010); Carnegie Mellon study comparing carbon emission reductions of eating local versus reducing meat consumption (2008); American Meat documentary.
Music featured by James Pants, Candlegravity, Dexter Britain, Sycamore Drive, Podington Bear, and Gable.
Neal Gorenflo sharing a ride at SXSW 2011.
Welcome back to a new season of Green Grid Radio. Our first episode of season three will focus on The Rise of the Sharing Economy. The sharing economy is a movement that is gaining more and more momentum both here in the U.S. and around the world. In this episode we dig into what the environmental, social and economic benefits are of sharing compared to the current way of meeting our needs through consumption.
The episode features interviews with users of various services in the sharing economy realm: Couchsurfing and the Stanford Free store. You’ll also hear Neal Gorenflo, founder of Shareable and Andy Ruben, co-founder of yerdle talk about their experiences with the sharing economy and why they’re currently dedicating their careers to promoting it.
Tune into KZSU Stanford 90.1FM on Thursday April 4th, 2013, 6-7PM PST or catch the episode in our iTunes podcast.
Dr. Jim Salinger, New Zealand climate scientist, IPCC author, and recent visiting professor at Stanford talks about how a changing climate contributes to both increased severity and frequency of extreme weather events such as Superstorm Sandy. Matt Chalmers, a JD student at UC Davis joins us live over the phone to discuss how the inertia of U.S. government effectively hinders the timely development of policies for climate change mitigation, and whether technological progress and economic growth can solve the problem they took part in creating.
As always, we also highlight the latest energy related news and present insightful comments and questions from our team members here at Green Grid Radio. Hosted by Sophia Vo, Adam Pearson, Erik Olesund, Kara Fong, Darren Handoko and Mallory Smith.
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Student guests Sara Orton, Alan Propp, and Sophie Harrison visit our studio to talk about grassroots and bottom-up strategies to spur behavioral change and further education on climate change.
Orton and Propp describe how they have worked on developing a climate change education curriculum in local high schools. Harrison, who leads the Fossil Free Stanford movement, talks about the campaign to encourage the Board of Trustees to divest from fossil fuel investments. Our discussion also touches upon how climate change needs to be communicated in a less “doomsday”-like context, and instead framed in a way that highlights the positive results of a sustainable lifestyle (rather than a life of deprivation). As always the episode features the most recent news on energy and environmental issues.
This first episode of season two of Green Grid Radio was hosted by Adam Pearson, Sophia Vo, Kara Fong and Erik Olesund.
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Justin Allegro, who manages National Wildlife Federation’s Renewable Energy and Wildlife Program, is the final featured guest of Green Grid Radio’s first season. Before the season came to an end, we talked about the tension between the ‘green’ conservation movement and the ‘green’ energy interests, species of conservation concern at wind sites, and what recent US Fish & Wildlife Service measures have been implemented to encourage stakeholders to work together. Your hosts: Sophia Vo, Kara Fong, Adam Pearson and Erik Olesund discussed the interview and wrapped season 1 up with a discussion on subsidies. “We need to stop subsidizing global warming” says Erik.
Green Grid Radio will be back on Thursday January 17 at 6-7PM PST at KZSU Stanford 90.1FM or kzsulive.stanford.edu. Please take note, the show is now airing on Thursdays between 6-7PM. As always, each new episode will be available in our free podcast “Green Grid Radio” that can be found in the iTunes store.
Thanks for tuning into Green Grid Radio this season. Happy holidays!
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Our last show of season 1 features Justin Allegro who manages National Wildlife Federation’s Renewable Energy and Wildlife Program. He joins us to talk about the ways in which the Department of Interior is involved in Renewable Energy, how the National Wildlife Federation approaches conservation and energy development projects, and the possible expiration of the Production Tax Credit.
Tune into KZSU Stanford 90.1FM on Tuesday December 18th, 1-2PM PST or listen live at http://kzsulive.stanford.edu. The show is presented by Adam Pearson, Sophia Vo, Kara Fong and Erik Olesund.
Rob Best, Andrew Ponec and Tim Burke in the studio.
Tim Burke, Andrew Ponec, and Rob Best are guests. For our season finale we invited back three of our favorite panelists from the Stanford community, Tim Burke (Engineers for a Sustainable World), Andrew Ponec (Stanford Grid Alternatives), and Rob Best (Solar Decathlon) for a roundtable discussion on some of the topics we’ve covered throughout the fall. We played segments from previous shows and talked about everything from the recent UNFCCC Conference of Parties 18 in Doha last week to solar technology markets to the integration of variable renewable resources onto the electricity grid.
The show was presented by Adam Pearson and Erik Olesund.
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On Tuesday December 11 we’re rounding of the first season of Green Grid Radio with a big finale! The show will feature highlights from the first season such as climate change discussions with Rt. Honorable Helen Clark and Philip Duffy, the possibilities stemming from green buildings and solar panels and much more. Some of our favorite guests Rob Best, Andrew Ponec, and Tim Burke are coming back to the studio to provide the voice of the Stanford community. Your hosts, Adam Pearson and Erik Olesund, will tie things together and perhaps give you a sneak peak of what is to come in Season 2. So tune in on Tuesday from 1-2 PM at 90.1FM or kzsulive.stanford.edu for a show filled with goodies!
Dr Phil Duffy
Dr. Philip Duffy, senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, is our guest this week. He led us on a discussion of how climate change events can shift renewable energy policies, what kind of climate change adaptation techniques make sense financially, and what Superstorm Sandy means to the environmental movement in this country. Certainly a timely interview.
Andrew Ponec, an undergraduate student leader of Grid Alternatives at Stanford University speaks about their efforts to install solar power on resident buildings in the bay area as our new segment “Energy on the Farm” premiers.
Presented by Adam Pearson, Sophia Vo, Kara Fong and Erik Olesund.
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In the upcoming episode of Green Grid Radio we are joined by Dr. Phil Duffy of Lawrence Livermore National Labs. He speaks about the increased interest in climate change adaptation and mitigation after super storm Sandy and various political initiatives to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases such as the Clean Air Act and more recently the Climate And Clear Air Coalition launched by Hilary Clinton in February 2012.
Dr. Philip Duffy is a Senior Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Most recently, he was Senior Policy Analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Prior to his time in Washington, Duffy worked as Chief Scientist at Climate Central, Adjunct Associate Professor at UC Merced. He has also been Director at the University of California Institute for Research on Climate Change and its Societal Impacts and a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Institute for Science. He has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers on many components of climate science, atomic physics, water variability, and biodiversity. Dr. Duffy contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC’s work was recognized with the part of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford.
Tune in on Tuesday December 4, 1-2PM PST at 90.1FM or at kzsulive.stanford.edu. The episode will be made available here at greengridradio.org or via our iTunes podcast shortly after the airing.
Danny Kennedy, co-founder of Sungevity and longtime environmental activist, joins us in this week’s episode of Green Grid Radio. Kennedy makes the case for residential photovoltaic solar energy across the US, explaining the unique Sungevity Remote Solar Design and Solar Lease programs. Also, we spoke a bit about his 2012 book Rooftop Revolution, the King CONG lobbying industry that stands in the way of renewable energy, and to what degree the California Solar Initiative has been effective.
Student panelist Laura Vogel visits the studio to comment on the interview with Kennedy and to discuss some of here experience of implementing solar power panels. Laura is a second year master’s student in the Atmosphere & Energy program at Stanford. Since last spring, she has been working with Vituo Technologies, a Stanford startup installing photovoltaic solutions in East Africa. Over the summer she worked in Nairobi, giving workshops on PV technology, doing interviews and electrical surveys for potential customers, and helping prepare for the first 15 kW installation which was completed earlier this fall.
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Helen Clark, United Nations Development Programme Administrator, was our guest this week. Green Grid Radio had the opportunity for an exclusive interview with the Right Honorable Clark, a former three-term Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1999 – 2008 and the current UNDP Adminstrator
Ms. Clark joined us to speak about Climate Change with regards to development. We discussed the challenges of tackling long-term issues within short-term political cycles, multi-sectorial approaches to addressing climate change, and mechanisms for low carbon development in developing nations, among other topics.
We were also joined by Matt Chalmers. He is a recent Stanford graduate and current J.D. student at U.C. Davis who firmly believes that many of the great challenges of our time must be met with interdisciplinary solutions. In his time at Stanford, Matt wedded a strong background in the physical sciences to the study of the complex social, financial, and policy obstacles to progress on climate change posed by the political and economic structure of our world today.
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Our next episode of Green Grid Radio will feature a very special guest: Right Honorable Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and current United Nations Development Programme Administrator. Clark speaks about ways for the developing world to make advances in societal development while simultaneously keeping fossil fuel use down, why there are no current international climate agreements, and what kind of climate impacts we will start seeing over the next few years.
This exclusive interview will air on Tuesday November 20, 1-2PM PST at 90.1FM or at kzsulive.stanford.edu. As always the episode will feature a summary of the latest Energy in the News as well as some comments from a panel of Stanford students. The episode will be made available here at greengridradio.org or via our iTunes podcast shortly after the airing.
Craig Lewis, founder and Executive Director of the Clean Coalition, joins us to speak about smart grids, legislation for clean, local, accessible energy, and regulation in favor of distributed generation.
Student panelists Erik Olesund and Shankhayan Dutta from the department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University discuss some of the policy proposals made by Lewis and provide listeners with their personal favorites for increasing the penetration of renewables on the grid in the future.
Hosted by Adam Pearson and Kara Fong.
Craig Lewis, Shankhayan Dutta and Erik Olesund in the studio at KZSU.
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To listen to the full interview with Craig Lewis, head over to our archive of recordings.
In the upcoming episode of Green Grid Radio Craig Lewis, founder and Executive Director of the Clean Coalition, joins us to speak about smart grids, legislation for clean, local, accessible energy, and regulation in favor of distributed generation. The Clean Coalition’s mission is to accelerate the transition to local energy systems through innovative policies and programs that deliver cost-effective renewable energy, strengthen local economies, foster environmental sustainability, and enhance energy security. Active at local, state, and national level, the non-profit influences and promotes policies that can result in a timely transition to clean energy and yielding economic benefits.
As always the episode will feature a summary of the latest Energy in the News as well as some comments from a panel of Stanford students. Tune in on Tuesday November 6, 1-2PM PST at 90.1FM or at kzsulive.stanford.edu. The episode will be made available here at greengridradio.org or via our iTunes podcast shortly after the airing.
This week on Green Grid Radio we’ll hold an encore presentation of an earlier episode.
As usual it will air on Tuesday October 30th, 1-2 PM PST on 90.1FM or kzsulive.stanford.edu. Make sure to tune in Nov 6th for our next new episode, featuring Craig Lewis of the Clean Coalition. As always, you can listen to previous episodes here or in the Green Grid Radio Podcast on iTunes.
Laura Wisland, Senior Energy Analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, visits Green Grid Radio to discuss state policies that would effectively increase the amount of renewable energy used in California.
Student panelist in this week’s episode is Amit Desai a PhD student in Materials Science & Engineering and Vice President of Outreach for the Stanford Energy Club.
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Student panelist Amit (left) and Nick together with Laura Wisland in the studio (right).
Eric Corey Freed, author and organic architect, speaks on green buildings, oil companies, and what he calls “dodo sapiens.” Student panelist Jacob Schaffert discusses his thoughts on energy efficiency and sustainability initiatives in local government.
Presented by Adam Pearson, Nick McIntyre and Sophia Vo.
Stanford students speak about their renewable energy projects. Panelists discuss “Is the energy problem a behavioral problem?” and “How do we get Americans to use less energy or produce less waste?”
Guests: Derek Ouyang and Rob Best from Stanford’s Solar Decathlon team and Tim Burke from Engineers for a Sustainable World.
Presented by Adam Pearson, Nick McIntyre and Sophia Vo.
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