Audio Library
The Institute for Social Transformation’s faculty director, Galina Hale, hosts a monthly podcast and radio show on KSQD 90.7 FM, KSQD Cutting Edge, which highlights exciting research and advocacy efforts making a positive impact on our local communities and around the world.
Browse the episodes on this page to hear from inspiring changemakers who share their personal and professional expertise and experiences in tackling the biggest social and environmental challenges of our time.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #363: The vastness of the universe and the future of our planet with Sandy Faber
Sandy Faber is a University Professor Emerita at UCSC and a staff member of the Lick Observatory. She is an observational astronomer with research interests in cosmology and galaxy formation. Some of her major discoveries include the first structural scaling law for galaxies (called the Faber–Jackson law), large-scale flow perturbations in the expansion of the Universe, and super-massive black holes at the centers of galaxies. She founded the Earth Futures Institute and the Osterbrock Graduate Leadership Program for Astronomy PhD students at UCSC. We discuss her discoveries, the future of our planet, and the possibility of economic growth.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #359 How can nature protect us from the effects of climate change with Mike Beck
Michael W. Beck is the Director of the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience & AXA Chair in Coastal Resilience at the University of California Santa Cruz. He was Lead Marine Scientist at The Nature Conservancy for 20 years. We discuss his work on nature-based solutions for climate adaptation and resilience.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #351: How can we predict social justice implications of climate policies? with Professor Peter Christensen
Peter Christensen is an economics Professor at UCSC and a member of the Executive Board of the Institute for Social Transformation who is working on mitigating climate change, but in the right way. His research focus is on the social justice aspects of climate policies. But his efforts are not limited to his own academic research. With the support of Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal), he leads an effort to evaluate potential social impacts of climate mitigation policies that fosters collaboration between governments and researchers across fields. This effort is conducted under the umbrella of the Climate Action Learning Lab, which supports governments in not only evaluating policy impacts but also in designing policies in a way that does not exacerbate (and hopefully reduces) social injustice.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #346: “Voting is at the Core of our Democracy – with CA Assemblymember Gail Pellerin”
After a life-long career in public service, Assemblymember Gail Pellerin was elected as CA 28th Assembly District representative in November 2022. Her contributions to CA policies range from elevating the banana slug to the official state slug status to working on bills that protect nature, mental health, and women’s rights. She is eager to hear from UCSC faculty regarding state legislation that may be impeding change for good or legislation that is needed – she is ready to bring our voices to Sacramento. Just call her Sacramento or local office. She is also calling on our faculty to encourage students to vote and offers some ideas on how to do it interactively.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #337: “Turning climate activism into climate solutions reality with Will Wiseman”
His goal is to fund $1 billion per year of renewable energy projects within 5 years. Together with the team at Climatize, he’s building the financial network for climate action that will enable anyone to invest in any renewable energy project from anywhere in the world. Will Wiseman talks to Galina Hale about challenges in funding community-scale solar and EV-charging projects. They share a passion for funding creative ways to increase investments in greening our way of life. Will is also a leader of the Santa Cruz community of sustainability innovators.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #333: New Host Galina Hale talks to Chris Benner about his work at the Institute for Social Transformation and his recent work on Lithium Valley
As Chris is stepping down as a host of the Cutting Edge and passing the baton to Galina Hale, Galina takes an opportunity to turn the tables on Chris and interview him about his experience as a faculty director of the Institute for Social Transformation at UCSC, his approach to bringing the community and academic research together, his work on Solidarity Economics and on the future of lithium in the Imperial Valley, CA, discussed in his new book Charging Forward. Chris shares his excitement as well as his concerns about lithium mining in the Salton Sea.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #328: Community Based Climate Justice Learning
Many young people today experience a sense of helplessness and despair when learning about climate change, given the enormity of the crisis. But UCSC Education professor Emily Reigh and Regeneración Pajaro Valley Special Project Manager Eloy Ortiz are developing alternatives. Working with teachers and youth in Pajaro Valley and beyond, they are developing climate justice curriculum and pedagogy that links global climate change with local climate actions and successful advocacy efforts, helping students more easily envision transformation action. In this episode of the cutting edge, they discuss these efforts to date and plans for future efforts. Key resources referenced in this episode include a powerful photovoice project developed by Regeneración, a documentary film on the Pajaro levee breaches called Too Little Too late, and a dynamic 2019 Bioneers keynote talk by Isha Clarke, from Youth Vs. Apocalypse.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #320: Master’s Tools with Mike McCarthy
In today’s political climate, many people point to the ways that the tech sector has contributed to the undermining of our democracy, but UCSC professor and director of the Community Studies program Mike McCarthy argues that the financial sector has had an even greater impace. In this episode of The Cutting Edge, Dr. McCarthy discusses his 2025 book The Master’s Tools: How FInance Wrecked Democracy (And a Radical Plan to Rebuild It), which shines a bright light on the ways that finance guides and constrains our politics, but most importantly, pointing to the ways we can transform financial institutions to better serve people and our economy. McCarthy provides powerful insights on why and how we can build more economic democracy in this country, to help counter the growing corporate oligarchy.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #311: Talk about the book Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles and a Just Future, by Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor
The recent fire at the battery energy storage system in Moss Landing underscores the importance of accountability along the entire lithium battery supply chain, from extraction, through production, operations and recycling. These are precisely the themes of Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles and a Just Future. In this episode of The Cutting Edge, we play a slightly edited version of a talk given by book authors Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor at the UC Center in Washington DC. The book and talk focus on California’s Salton Sea, home to some of the worst environmental health conditions in the country, but also ground zero in the new “lithium gold rush”–the race to power the rapidly expanding electric vehicle and renewable energy storage market. For more information, see: https://www.chargingforwardbook.org/
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #307: Dr. Galina Hale, Associate Faculty Director, Institute for Social Transformation, Professor of Economics and Coastal Science and Policy, UC Santa Cruz
In this episode of The Cutting Edge, host Chris Benner welcomes Galina Hale as the new Associate Faculty Director and incoming Faculty Director (beginning July 2025) of the Institute for Social Transformation. The discussion centers on climate change finance, emphasizing the $6 trillion per year needed globally to mitigate and adapt to climate change, equivalent to $750 per person annually. Hale highlights how financial institutions control trillions in assets but often fail to invest in climate solutions due to a lack of expertise and incentives.
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KSQD Cutting Edge Episode #302: A Just Transition to a Carbon Free Future
To meet the greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, a transition away from fossil fuels must occur, as quickly as possible. In this episode of The Cutting Edge, Environmental Studies professor Mijin Cha discusses why attention to the jobs and communities most affected by this transition is important, not just for ensuring social justice in the process, but for helping ensure the transition is a true transformation away from fossil fuels, and not just cosmetic reforms. Dr. Cha is the author of A Just Transition for All: Workers and Communities for a Carbon Free Future