Climate One At The Commonwealth Club

“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

“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. Kr

"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 In

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

“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 t

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 y

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

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

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 Californi

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

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 Californi

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

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

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 Califo

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 progra

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 journal

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 progr

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

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/a

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 int