Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
Dr. Susan Shaheen, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California-Berkeley, joins us this week to highlight the country’s current infrastructure and what more needs to be done to promote greater citizen mobility with bikes, scooters and other non-motor modes of transportation.
It’s been a century and a half since the fire that reshaped the Chicago landscape took hold across the city. Chicago History Museum curator Julius L. Jones joins us this week to discuss some interesting historical facts about the fire that you’ve probably never heard before.
Imagine working for hours on end outside in temperatures exceeding 90 or 100 degrees. On top of this, there’s little shade, minimal breaks and often not enough water. This is the reality for millions of laborers who work in agriculture, construction and other industries. Why aren’t there more legal guidelines protecting these essential workers?
Constructing a new building requires many resources, from hundreds of hours of labor to thousands of pounds of steel, cement, glass and other building materials. Design consultant Ned Cramer joins us this week to uncover how the industry is utilizing new technology to build more sustainably and lessen waste.
Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson both made history last month as they rocketed out of Earth’s atmosphere and successfully reached space. This trip was many years in the making as both billionaires built their own respective companies, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, to transport them to space as private civilians. Now, people are lining up and paying hefty …
It seems like lately almost everyone is heading to the airport. Whether you’re flying, driving or taking a train, vacations are a highly anticipated time to get away from everyday life. Everyone deserves relaxation, but is there a way to make sure that you’re traveling more consciously? Are you booking excursions with local, independent companies? Supporting …
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employee turnover at nursing homes in an average year is 74 percent. With high rates of turnover and not enough new workers entering the caregiving field, the U.S. is deep in a senior care crisis that’s only set to get worse. Two senior care experts join Viewpoints to discuss why no one wants these jobs and how …
Lake Mead, the reservoir created by the Hoover Dam, is at its lowest levels ever recorded. Drought is not a new problem in the West, but it is getting worse as the years go by. What’s being done to curb water consumption and increase supply so people’s taps don’t run dry?
The birth of the space shuttle in 1981 marked a new era of space travel. For the first time ever, NASA had a spacecraft that could launch into space and come back to earth and land like an airplane. While the shuttle had many successful flights, there were also some big catastrophes that ultimately led the program to cease operations in 2011. Former chief …
Congested roads. Crumbling parking lots. Vacant strip malls. These are some of the challenges that suburbs across the country are facing today. Architect June Williamson is a proponent of mixed-use developments that create more efficient suburbia. This vision creates a 15-minute suburb where basic amenities and activities are walkable, and spaces bring …
Today, a greater number of architects and developers are not only thinking about profit and supply, but the additional - sometimes invisible - factors at play when it comes to new buildouts. These include the true benefits to humans, the environmental toll and the most practical designs that are symbiotic with nature.
On a single night in the U.S. there are more than 550,000 people homeless – and this number is only set to rise as COVID-19 has forced millions out of work and shattered the stability of the U.S. economy. As a child or teen who has to deal with homelessness at a young age, it can be a tough road of shifting from temporary housing to another shelter.
In most states, construction is deemed an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic. With roadways fairly clear and schools temporarily closed, crews are getting to work while still adhering to social distancing rules. In effect, construction spending was up 4.7 percent in March 2020 compared to March 2019. Viewpoints speaks with two people working in …
The man-made waterway spanning 51 miles took more than a decade to complete and resulted in the deaths of thousands of workers. Why did so many thousands die? What challenges did engineers and laborers face? We answer these questions and more.
Cookie cutter houses, large backyards and shopping centers took hold during the rapid rise of suburbia during the second half of the 20th century. Now, towns across the U.S. are facing a new set of challenges from climate change to shifting demographics that require a different landscape than what was first constructed. We speak with two experts about the …
Canada’s Oak Island has mystified explorers for hundred of years, drawing many to its shores with the hope of finding buried pirate’s treasure under its oak trees. We speak with Randall Sullivan, the author of The Curse of Oak Island: The Story of the World’s Longest Treasure Hunt to learn more the area’s historical significance and this never-ending quest.
Racial segregation still persists throughout the U.S. One factor contributing to this inequality is the structure of our towns and cities. Richard Rothstein and Tonika Johnson talk about how past laws and our government created a divided demographic and the impact this has on certain populations.
Public libraries have existed for generations and have long been one of our most cherished community services. But with budget cuts has come a pinch on library staff and technology centers. Our guests discuss the value libraries still bring and why we should support these institutions of our citizenry.
We talk about the reasons for cities, their role as cultural epicenters, and a radical plan to stop American cities from decaying under our very feet.
We talk about the role cities play in our culture, about the problems facing our cities and ideas on how we can fix them.
As a kid, did you ever dream of becoming an astronaut and flying a rocket ship into space, but figured you weren’t good enough in science and math to do it? Our guest, a former U.S. astronaut admits he wasn’t the best young student in school in those subjects, but later on he grew fascinated by them and turned his new-found interest into becoming a Navy …
One fact that was brought out during the onslaught of that Hurricane Sandy was the need to update our nation’s weather forecasting and emergency management systems. We talk to a journalist and author who conducted research on the storm, the systems that tracked it and found out how our weather forecasting, tracking and evacuation protocols and equipment need …
Subscribe to get the latest from Viewpoints Radio directly in your inbox.
