How do we feed a growing population and engineer crops that are resilient to climate change? How do we increase crop yields and fight crop diseases and pests while preserving our soils and water sources? The rapid advance of gene editing and other technologies has provided a new tool kit to address these questions and more, and they have already made an impact at a global scale, just at the moment when global-scale solutions are needed most. Brian Staskawicz (UC Berkeley) and Pam Ronald (UC Davis) discuss the latest advances in using genome editing and other genetic technologies to promote sustainable agriculture at scale, both promises and potential pitfalls, and how we move from lab to field safely and equitably.
Watch videoVideos and Virtual
Upcoming virtual events with live Q&A, and videos from previous events.
Outside For All: Investing in Parks to Build Community Power
The Trust for Public Land and Community Leaders
Join Diane Regas, President and CEO of The Trust for Public Land, Teresa Bendito, co-founder of Parque Padrinos, and Taylor Toynes, Executive Director of For Oak Cliff, in a discussion on parks and community power.
Watch video
Of Virulent Viruses and Reservoir Hosts
Join professor Britt Glaunsinger and postdoc Cara Brook in a Berkeley Conversation webinar on lethal viruses, pathogen transfers to humans, and more.
Watch video
Half-Earth: How to Save the Natural World
Edward O. Wilson
Half-Earth is a clarion call to protect half the land and sea in order to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity, and ourselves. At this critical moment for our planet, the Half-Earth Project is bringing together the unique expertise and experience of scientists and thought leaders from around to world to achieve this important moonshot and solve the current environmental crisis. Renowned biologist and naturalist E.O. Wilson joined former U.S. secretary of the interior Sally Jewell for a discussion as part of the Albright Lecture in Conservation.
Watch video
2019 Spring Albright Lecture in Conservation
Ana M. Alvarez
Ana M. Alvarez serves as the Deputy General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, the largest local park agency in the United States. Ana’s professional accomplishments demonstrate a strong acumen for proactive and meaningful civic engagement, community building based on public trust and sustainability planning based on science, which she believes are paramount for the vibrancy of healthy communities.
Watch video
Planet Vision
Dr. Jonathan Foley
Dr. Foley, Executive Director of the California Academy of Sciences, will speak on why we need to build a shared, positive vision of the future to address our environmental challenges.
Watch video
Can Nature Save Us? Stories from the Natural World
M. Sanjayan, Ph.D.
At a time when humanity’s demands on the natural world have never been greater, Dr. M. Sanjayan’s keynote address highlights nature’s essential role in creating a livable future for people everywhere.
Watch video
Activism in Business
Rose Marcario
Rose Marcario, President and CEO of Patagonia, and Robert Strand discussed the role of progressive business leaders in the current era.
Watch video
Our Environmental Destiny
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeepers, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, and president-at-large of the Waterkeeper Alliance.
Watch video
America's Two Best Ideas—Public Education and Public Lands
A conversation with U.S. Secretary of the Interior The Honorable Sally Jewell, President of the University of California Janet Napolitano, Historian and Author Douglas Brinkley, and Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley Nicholas B. Dirks
Watch video