Please join the University of California, Merced on Monday, 4/3 at 3 PM PT for an AMA with Richard Munson.
Biography: Richard Munson is the author of several books with the most recent being Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reimagining Food (Island Press 2021). In this book, the reader is introduced to some of the most creative entrepreneurs advancing technological solutions to our industrialized food system. These entrepreneurs come from various places and professions, identities, and backgrounds. But they share an outsider’s perspective and an idealistic, sometimes aggressive, ambition to rethink the food system.
Munson’s other works include Tesla: Inventor of the Modern; a biography of Jacques Cousteau, the undersea explorer and filmmaker; a history of electricity; and a behind-the-scenes look at how congressional appropriators spend taxpayer money. Based near Chicago, he has worked on environmental and clean-energy issues at nonprofits, within universities, in the private sector, and on Capitol Hill.
This virtual event is free and open to the public.
Can't attend, but have a question for them? Email emeyer4@ucmerced.edu the question.

Ask Me Anything Featuring Richard Munson
Monday, April 3, 2023 - 3:00pm PDT

Finding Equity in the Low-Car City. Guests: Chris & Melissa Bruntlett. Modacity.
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 - 11:00am EDT
Finding Equity in the Low-Car City.
Guests: Chris Bruntlett, Marketing & Communication Manager, Dutch Cycling Embassy and Melissa Bruntlett, Communications & Engagement Advisor, Mobycon. Both are Canadians, living with children in the Netherlands. Both are the authors of Building the Cycling City and Curbing Traffic.

On the Park Bench - Car-free urbanism
Tuesday, April 11, 2023 - 12:00pm EDT
Join us in a conversation with urban designers/architects involved with Culdesac Tempe and Culdesac Atlanta, two highly watched developments that are eliminating cars in residential areas, which allows for innovative urban design solutions. The program includes Dan Parolek of Opticos Design, and author of Missing Middle Housing, and Eric Kronberg of Kronberg Architects + Urbanists.
This webinar is available for 1 AICP continuing education credit if viewed live as well as 1 CNU-A continuing education credit if viewed live or recorded.

Climate Reality Book Club and Island Press Present: Humanity's Moment with Joëlle Gergis
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 - 6:00pm EDT
Join us for a conversation with author Joëlle Gergis on her book Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope on April 25 at 6PM ET/April 26 at 10 AM AET. Joëlle will be joined by Environmental Music Prize founder Edwina Floch, an organization which amplifies the voices of artists who inspire action for climate and conservation. After the discussion, we'll open it up to audience Q&A. We hope to see you there!

2023 National Shared Mobility Summit
Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 12:00pm CDT
All Together Now: Action + Accountablility for People-Foucsed Mobility. Happening in Chicago from May 2 - 4. Alison Sant, author of From the Ground Up, keynoting the conference.
Funding & Affordability
- How might we sustainably fund the expansion of shared mobility infrastructure the same way we subsidize private car use?
- What are the new and creative ways to expand and sustain shared mobility?
- How can we advance from experimenting with and piloting shared mobility to scaling and replicating projects that enable more people to access more mobility options?
Tools & Incentives
- How can we support our households and communities to shift to use more shared mobility options available to them?
- What opportunities can we develop to engage and listen to our communities to understand their social, financial, historical and cultural contexts?
- What tools and incentives are currently working to encourage households and communities towards opting for shared mobility options over the private car?
Infrastructure
- What should be standard components of shared mobility in transportation infrastructure?
- How can we equitably connect information between shared mobility services and users?
- What land-use decisions should we prioritize to help shape the viability and feasibility of infrastructure for shared mobility?
Metrics & Outcomes
- How is shared mobility helping households reduce their dependence on private car use?
- What is our standard way to measure the carbon savings from shared mobility and supporting land uses?
- How is shared mobility making our communities and society fairer and less unequal?

Ask Me Anything Featuring Nicoletta Batini
Monday, May 8, 2023 - 3:00pm EDT
Please join the University of California, Merced on Monday, 5/8 at 3 PM PDT for an Ask Me Anything with Nicoletta Batini.
Biography: Nicoletta Batini is an Italian economist, notable as a scholar of innovative monetary and fiscal policy practices. During the crisis she pioneered the IMF work exposing the dangers of excessive fiscal austerity and designed ways to consolidate public debt successfully during phases of financial deleveraging. Since 2003 at the International Monetary Fund, she has served as Advisor of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee between 2000-2003 and was Professor of Economics at the University of Surrey (2007-2012), and Director of the International Economics and Policy office of the Department of the Treasury of Italy’s Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze (MEF) between 2013-2015. Batini's fields of expertise include monetary policy, public finance, open economy macroeconomics, labor economics, energy and environmental economics, and economic modeling. She has handled extensive consultancy roles in the public sector in advanced and emerging market countries. She holds a Ph.D. in international finance from the Scuola Superiore S. Anna and a Ph.D. in monetary economics from the University of Oxford.
She is the author of The Economics of Sustainable Food: Smart Policies for Health and the Planet which illustrates how to transform our broken system, alleviating its severe financial and human burden. The key is smart macroeconomic policy that moves us toward methods that protect the environment like regenerative land and sea farming, low-impact urban farming, and alternative protein farming, and toward healthy diets.

SPUR Book Talk: Justice and the Interstates
Thursday, May 25, 2023 - 12:30pm PDT
When the U.S. interstate system was constructed, spurred by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, many highways were purposefully routed through poor communities and communities of color, which were destroyed, isolated from the rest of the city, or left to deteriorate. Justice and the Interstates examines the toll taken on these communities over the past seven decades, details efforts to restore these often-segregated communities, and makes recommendations for moving forward. It opens up new areas for historical inquiry, while also calling on engineers, urban planners, transportation professionals, and policymakers to account for the legacies of their practices.
- Amanda Phillips de Lucas / Author
- Ryan Reft / Author
- Jackson Nutt-Beers / SPUR

Ask Me Anything Featuring Steve Buchmann
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 - 3:00pm PDT
Biography: Stephen Buchmann, a pollination ecologist specializing in bees, is the author of the new book, What a Bee Knows: Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees (Island Press, 2023). This book is a lively journey into a bee’s mind reminds us that the world is more complex than our senses can tell us.
Buchmann is also an adjunct professor with the departments of Entomology and of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. A Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, he has published over 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers and eleven books, including The Forgotten Pollinators with Gary Nabhan (Island Press, 1996) and The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives (Scribner, 2015).
Buchmann is a frequent guest on many public media venues including NPR’s All Things Considered, and Science Friday. Reviews of his books have appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time and Discover magazines and other national publications. He is an engaging public speaker on topics of flowers, pollinators, and the natural world. His many awards include the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, and an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book.
This virtual event is free and open to the public.
Can't attend, but have a question for them? Email emeyer4@ucmerced.edu the question.

More than a cycle lane: How investment in better walking and cycling networks improves accessibility for people with disabilities
Wednesday, June 21, 2023 - 3:00pm EDT
When planning for universal access design focus is often on technical guidelines, HOW to design more inclusive streets for people with disabilities. Perhaps less often discussed is understanding WHY investment in accessible public spaces is vital for their greater inclusion in daily life. Without this plans with good intentions can miss critical elements that may unintentionally hinder someone with mobility challenges.
In this webinar Melissa Bruntlett, urban mobility advocate and advisor with Mobycon, and Maya Levi, a dietician researcher who has Multiple Sclerosis and uses a combination of mobility scooter and elbow crutches for her daily mobility, discuss how communities with well-connected networks of traffic calmed streets, cycleways, and pedestrian spaces allow for greater inclusivity for people with varying abilities. Combining Maya's lived experience with Melissa's research into accessible and inclusive communities they will discuss public spaces that enable more human-scale travel and the benefits they offer, including improved physical, mental, and social health. Participants will gain a better understanding of the importance of ensuring people with disabilities maintain autonomous access to mobility, and how sustainable networks, especially for walking and cycling, improve their inclusion in daily civic life.