

KQED's Forum
KQED
Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alexis host conversations that inform, challenge and unify listeners with big ideas and different viewpoints.Want to call/submit your comments during our live Forum program Mon-Fri, 9am-11am? We'd love to hear from you! Please dial 866.SF.FORUM or (866) 733-6786 or email forum@kqed.org, tweet, or post on Facebook.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 10, 2022 • 56min
Oakland Will Be The First City in California to Give Land Back to Native Americans
For thousands of years and hundreds of generations, the Ohlone people have lived on the land that is now known as the East Bay. They were forcibly removed from their land with the arrival of Europeans beginning in the 18th Century. To begin to address the historic harms of the city’s founding, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and tribal Chairperson Corrina Gould started a conversation in 2018 that has grown into a partnership between the City of Oakland and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. With final city council approval in November, the trust will be given the rights to a section of Joaquin Miller park known as Sequoia Point, and Oakland will become the first city in California to use municipal property as reparations for land stolen from Native American territories. On this Indigenous Peoples day, we’ll talk to Corrina Gould and Mayor Schaaf about what this means for the Native community in the Bay and how it can serve as precedent for other cities. Related articles:Rematriate the Land Fund - The Sogorea Te Land TrustGuests:Corrina Gould, Director, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust; spokeswoman and Tribal Chair of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone; Co-Founder and Lead Organizer, Indian People Organizing for Change.Libby Schaaf, Mayor, Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 7, 2022 • 56min
Homelessness in California vs. Massachusetts
In San Francisco, more than half of people experiencing homelessness are unsheltered. In contrast, just three percent of Boston’s unhoused people are living on the streets. With another winter coming on, what steps might California take? What can we learn from Massachusetts?Guests:Darrell Steinberg, Mayor, SacramentoErin Baldassari, housing affordability reporter, KQEDLyndia Downie, president and executive director, Pine Street Inn - a homeless services provider in Boston, MAJennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director, Coalition on Homelessness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 7, 2022 • 56min
Tapping into California’s Craft Beer Boom
Craft beer has a long history in California with breweries such as Anchor Steam that started in San Francisco in the mid-1800s and still brews there today. But lately, the industry has exploded. In the past decade the number of craft breweries in California has tripled to 1,100 – and growing. It’s a competitive landscape out there for small, independent beer makers. We’ll talk about what is driving the growth of craft beer in California, why IPAs still dominate beer lists and hear your picks for your favorite local brews.Guests:Barry Braden, co-founder and owner, Fieldwork BrewingEric Ortega, craft beer specialist and taproom coordinator, Almanac Beer CompanyHerlinda Heras, artisan beverage expert and co-host of Brew HaHa, a craft beer show, KSRO in Sonoma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 6, 2022 • 56min
Under Threat of Draft, Russians Face Realities of Ukraine War
After Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans last month to mobilize more troops to wage his campaign against Ukraine, the reality of the war is setting in for ordinary Russians, according to the Washington Post’s Mary Ilyushina, who’s reporting near the region. Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled to neighboring countries to avoid the draft, and anti-war protests are mounting. We’ll look at how the mobilization is changing how Russians perceive the war and their government.Guests:Michael Kimmage, professor and history department chair, Catholic University of America; co-author, "What Mobilization Means for Russia: The End of Putin's Bargain with the People"Mary Ilyushina, Russia reporter, Washington Post Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 6, 2022 • 56min
Can California’s New Housing Laws Put a Dent In The State’s Housing Shortage?
Many California lawmakers agree that the lack of unaffordable housing is a huge challenge, but for years they have not agreed on how to fix the problem. This year, the Legislature passed more than 40 laws that promise to boost housing construction. One law allows developers to turn empty strip malls and office buildings into housing. Other laws reduce parking requirements for new housing developments and make it easier for school districts to build teacher housing. Advocates say that though the laws are mostly incremental tweaks to existing policies, they could add up to big changes in the long run. We’ll take a look at this year’s new housing laws and what they could mean for you.Guests:David Garcia, policy director, Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC BerkeleyBuffy Wicks, member, California State Assembly - She represents California’s 15th Assembly District, which includes all or portions of the cities of Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley, Emeryville, Albany, El Cerrito, San Pablo, Pinole, El Sobrante, Hercules, Kensington, and Piedmont.Alfred Twu, architect; housing activist; commissioner, Berkeley Planning and Landmarks commissions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 5, 2022 • 56min
Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is Hard. And Climate Change Is Making It Harder.
Stretching 2,600 miles from Mexico to Canada, the Pacific Crest Trail winds through the Mojave Desert, up to the Sierras and along the Cascades. Backpackers who have hit the trail rave about its beauty and many include “thru hiking” the entirety of the trail on their bucket lists. But what has always been a difficult journey is now getting even harder due to climate change. We’ll talk about how extreme weather, drought and wildfires have impacted the trail, known as the PCT, from beginning to end. Have you hiked the PCT? What was your journey like?Guests:Rowan Moore Gerety, Reporter, Gerety's recent piece for the New York Times is titled "Heat, Water, Fire: How Climate Change Is Transforming the Pacific Crest Trail."Jazmin Ortega, Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hiker, Ortega thru hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 2019. Her trail name is Flamethrower.Scott Wilkinson, Content Development Director, Pacific Crest Trail Association, a nonprofit focused on protecting and preserving thePacific Crest National Scenic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 5, 2022 • 56min
Rising Sea Levels Threaten the Bay Area’s Low-Income Communities with Toxic Flooding
Many of the Bay Area’s industrial sites are situated on the waterfront, right next to communities of color. As climate change causes groundwater levels to rise, toxic chemicals buried there threaten to release into the neighborhoods, exacerbating a decades-long pattern of environmental and economic injustice. Now some community advocates are calling for reparations in the form of climate justice, asking for money and services to repair the harms caused by the decision to allow toxic industries in their communities. Forum talks about the threat of toxic flooding and what can be done to prevent it.Guests:Kristina Hill, director, Institute for Urban and Regional Development, College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley.Ezra David Romero, climate reporter, KQEDMargaret Gordon, co-director, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 4, 2022 • 56min
What Determines the Music We Love?
Most everyone recognizes Prince's masterpiece "Purple Rain," the Grammy Award-winning album engineered by Susan Rogers. But do you know why you love this record? In her new book "This is What It Sounds Like," Rogers explains that we all have a unique "listener profile," determined by how we respond to seven musical elements, such as lyrics, melody and timbre. Rogers joins us to explain what the music we love says about us.Guests:Susan Rogers, cognitive neuroscientist and a professor, Berklee College of Music; multiplatinum record producer; sound engineer for Prince’s; recipient of the Music Producer’s Guild Outstanding Contribution to U.K. Music award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 4, 2022 • 56min
Oakland City Leaders Take Your Questions on Safety and the Surge of Violent Crime
Two Berkeley High School students were shot and killed at an Oakland birthday party on Saturday. On Wednesday six adults were shot at an Oakland school. The week before, two men were killed near their mosque after attending services, and in a shooting outside of city hall during a city council meeting, one man was killed, one injured. Forum talks with Oakland’s mayor, chief of police, and the city’s chief of violence prevention about what explains the surge in violent crime and what can be done about it.Guests:Libby Schaaf, Oakland mayorLeRonne Armstrong, police chief, Oakland Police DepartmentGuillermo Cespedes, chief of Violence Prevention, City of Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 3, 2022 • 56min
Is it Time to Stop Rebuilding After Wildfire?
Many small California towns that were devastated by recent wildfires are determined to rebuild, such as Greenville, which is the community at the focus of the Los Angeles Times series "Rebuild,Reburn." But as climate change intensifies wildfires -- and political extremism -- the state is facing a dilemma as resources dwindle. How long will it be sustainable to send aid to rebuild towns that face continual danger from wildfires? We'll talk with journalists who investigated the unrest growing in rural towns and what people on both sides have to say.Guests:Erika D. Smith, columnist, Los Angeles Times.Anita Chabria, columnist, Los Angeles Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices


