CCEP Podcasts - Exploring Policy and Ethics in California

Uncertain Forecast, Episode 7 - How the Unhoused Experience Climate Extremes

Welcome to Uncertain Forecast, a podcast series created by the California Center for Ethics and Policy--or “CCEP”--at Cal Poly Pomona. The focus of our podcast is on climate justice, an issue that affects people worldwide, particularly where inequality is greatest, but which is often disguised or invisible.

In this episode of the series, CCEP student fellows Ana Ruiz and Cristian Arduz examine the connection between housing insecurity and climate change. Specifically, they ask the difficult question of how unhoused individuals deal with current and future climate extremes. Their two episodes include powerful interviews with a variety of stakeholders--including unhoused individuals themselves--about this issue and what can be done to address it.

We ask that if you like what you hear, if you care about these issues, please share our podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Uncertain Forecast, Episode 6 - The Gold of California

Welcome to Uncertain Forecast, a podcast series created by the California Center for Ethics and Policy--or “CCEP”--at Cal Poly Pomona. The focus of our podcast is on climate justice, an issue that affects people worldwide, particularly where inequality is greatest, but which is often disguised or invisible.

In this episode of the series, CCEP student fellow Victoria Tran examines what it means to be Asian American in the Golden State. She navigates the turbulent history of Asian immigrants in California, issues if environmental justice, and white supremacy. Her narrative is personal and moving, and highlights the likeness and difference between various Asian American experiences.

We ask that if you like what you hear, if you care about these issues, please share our podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Uncertain Forecast, Episode 5 - Looking for Nature in the San Gabriel River

Welcome to Uncertain Forecast, a podcast series created by the California Center for Ethics and Policy--or “CCEP”--at Cal Poly Pomona. The focus of our podcast is on climate justice, an issue that affects people worldwide, particularly where inequality is greatest, but which is often disguised or invisible.

In this episode of the series, CCEP student fellow Rebecca Prentice records a walking journey along the San Gabriel Valley, capturing the sound of the environment around her and reflecting on the meaning of nature as it relates to cities and the built environment. In doing so, she forces us to challenge notions of the natural and unnatural.

We ask that if you like what you hear, if you care about these issues, please share our podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Uncertain Forecast, Episode 4 - California Wildfires and Climate Justice

Welcome to Uncertain Forecast, a podcast series created by the California Center for Ethics and Policy--or “CCEP”--at Cal Poly Pomona. The focus of our podcast is on climate justice, an issue that affects people worldwide, particularly where inequality is greatest, but which is often disguised or invisible.

In this episode of the series we share with you a panel discussion hosted by CCEP on the topic of wildfires, an important topic for California. For this conversation, which I had the pleasure of moderating, we brought together four individuals leading the fight for equitable access to wildfire mitigation and adaptation measures in California. We were joined by researchers, scholars, and people working in the field on behalf of the public and the ecosystems affected by extreme wildfire events, each of whom had unique insight into the many ways wildfires affect people and communities in ways that often don’t make the headlines – invisible to many, listen in to hear how vulnerability and exposure in the face of wildfire are heightened for some, not all.

We ask that if you like what you hear, if you care about these issues, please share our podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Uncertain Forecast, Episode 3 - Three Stories of Extreme Heat

Welcome to Uncertain Forecast, a podcast series created by the California Center for Ethics and Policy--or “CCEP”--at Cal Poly Pomona. The focus of our podcast is on climate justice, an issue that affects people worldwide, particularly where inequality is greatest, but which is often disguised or invisible.

In this episode of the series, CPP political science student Melane Olmeda takes a close look at how the most invisible yet deadliest climate change-related issue, that of extreme heat, affects the lives of ordinary people. Melane is interested specifically on how extreme heat is affecting three different communities: a young representative for Latinx communities who is involved with a local activist group, a roof contractor who is part of a group installing solar on roofs in Southern California, and a resident of Pomona. Melane weaves in other seemingly tangential climate issues, such as wildfires, that greatly exacerbate extreme heat events, and asks of the people she interviews what impact such events have on their everyday lives and the lives of those around them – as well as what they are doing about it with the resources they have.

We ask that if you like what you hear, if you care about these issues, please share our podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Uncertain Forecast, Episode 2 - How the Unhoused Experience Climate Change

Welcome to Uncertain Forecast, a podcast series created by the California Center for Ethics and Policy--or “CCEP”--at Cal Poly Pomona. The focus of our podcast is on climate justice, an issue that affects people worldwide, particularly where inequality is greatest, but which is often disguised or invisible.

In our second episode of the series, CPP philosophy student Emily Reyes looks specifically at the impact of climate change on houseless people in Pomona, the surrounding community outside of the Cal Poly Pomona campus. Emily interviews key organizers and stakeholders to highlight two key issues in Pomona: access to food and access to adequate shelter by those most in need – the houseless population. With an eye towards understanding the challenges houseless peoples in Pomona face, Emily interviews a wide range of people on the ground, experiencing these issues first-hand, as well as people working for organizations attempting to mitigate some of these challenges.

We ask that if you like what you hear, if you care about these issues, please share our podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Uncertain Forecast, Episode 1 - What Is Plastic?

Welcome to Uncertain Forecast, a podcast series created by the California Center for Ethics and Policy--or “CCEP”--at Cal Poly Pomona. The focus of our podcast is on climate justice, an issue that affects people worldwide, particularly where inequality is greatest, but which is often disguised or invisible.

In this first episode, CPP bio student Alec Iskenderian takes a close look at what people think of plastics. Inspired by an exotoxicology class where Alec learned that it takes about 500 years for plastic to degrade into a form of energy that can be used for living things, Alec interviews everyone he can, random people on the street, and a professor at Cal Poly Pomona, to find out more about the impact of plastics in our lives and the lives of the ecosystems and organisms around us. But he also looks at where we, people and their everyday lives, figure into this class of materials called plastic – how much do we produce, how does it affect public health, what is the relationship between plastic and climate change, and what, exactly, is plastic? 

We ask that if you like what you hear, if you care about these issues, please share our podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Securing Justice Episode 8 - Three Stories About Housing and Music

This is the eighth and final episode in our series, and therefore we wanted to offer something special. CCEP recently hosted Betto Arcos, who is a journalist and storyteller, to recite three stories at the intersection of housing and music. A native of Xalapa in Veracruz, Mexico, Betto now lives in LA where he is a frequent contributor to KPCC and PRX Radio. He is also the author of Music Stories from the Cosmic Barrio.

If you’ve been listening to this podcast all season, these stories bridge many of the themes we’ve already explored, such as identity, adversity, and the importance of community building.

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit calhum.org. 

Securing Justice Episode 7 - Reflections on Housing and Home

This is the seventh episode in our series, which focuses on housing insecurity in California. This episode was created by two CCEP’s 2020-21 student fellows, Octavio Cuevas and Victoria Torres. As I mentioned in past episodes, each year CCEP recruits a new group of student fellows, whose coursework and research focuses on the year’s theme. 

For Octavio and Victoria’s episode on “housing insecurity”, they offer us a unique listening experience. It begins with their own meditations on the meaning of home and how housing access has shaped their lives. Then, they interview a friend and fellow student who has experienced homelessness. The student details their struggle and how it impacted their ability to learn and succeed academically. 

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit calhum.org. 

Securing Justice Episode 6 - Racial Gaps in Homeownership, Income, and Savings (And Why They Matter)

In this episode, we share with you our final 2021 panel discussion hosted by CCEP, titled “Racial Gaps in Homeownership, Income, and Savings”, which brought together three experts on the history of housing and wealth inequality in the US, and Los Angeles more specifically. 

This conversation is special because the moderator, Alvaro Huerta, Associate Professor in Urban and Regional Planning and Ethnic and Women’s Studies at Cal Poly Pomona, provokes our panelists to talk about their personal experiences--experiences with housing, poverty, and racism. These personal reflections lay the foundation for a discussion about historical and contemporary forms of discrimination in homeownership and other forms of institutional oppression that perpetuate wealth inequality along racial and ethnic lines. 

Panelists:

• Dr. Gary Painter, Chair, USC Department of Public Policy; Director, Sol Price Center for Social Innovation; Director, USC Homeless Policy Research Institute
• Lori Gay, President & CEO, Neighborhood Housing Services Los Angeles
• Dr. Anaid Yerena, Assistant Professor, University of Washington, Tacoma

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit calhum.org.