The United States is in a moment like no other in recent history, says Deb Haaland, former President Joe Biden's secretary of the Interior Department from 2021 to 2025. Every day, she says, it seems a new pillar of the American government is under attack. But what makes this moment unique aren’t these crises themselves, but the attack on the idea that problems can be solved at all.

“We face a creeping cynicism that suggests that our real enemy is our desire to make a difference,” she said during the keynote address at the Goldman School of Public Policy’s Annual Conference and Alumni Gathering in September. “We face attacks on the very idea of wanting to make things better. That's why the Goldman School of Public Policy is so vital. Without places like this, without people like those in this room today, America wouldn't have a prayer of meeting this moment.”

In this Berkeley Talks episode, Haaland discusses how policy — not politics — is the only path to real change, and why we need a unified effort grounded in moral courage and diverse perspectives to meet the challenges facing the country.

“Part of the reason I wanted to join you today is to speak to the importance of faith in the possibility of what we can do together,” she says. “And I use the word ‘faith’ deliberately. Especially in times like these, it takes belief, moral courage and determination in the face of despair to keep going. We have to find it inside ourselves, nurture that flame and keep it lit.”

More about the speaker:

Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe in New Mexico and the first Native American to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary. Before that, she was the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 1st Congressional District from 2019 to 2021, one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress. She is running for governor of New Mexico in the 2026 election.

Watch a video of Haaland’s keynote, followed by a conversation with Goldman School of Public Policy Dean David Wilson.

Listen to the episode and read the transcript on UC Berkeley News (news.berkeley.edu/podcasts/berkeley-talks).

Music by HoliznaCC0.

U.S. House Office of Photography photo by Franmarie Metzler.

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UC Berkeley is widely considered a leader in innovation and startups. Pitchbook university rankings from 2025 announced, for the third year in a row, that Berkeley graduates have founded more venture-backed companies than undergraduate alumni from any other university in the world.

Some might wonder, says Chancellor Rich Lyons, if this entrepreneurial energy clashes with Berkeley’s tradition of top-tier research and teaching. But Lyons sees it differently: These forces fuel each other, combining to drive the campus’s ultimate goal of making a lasting difference in the world. It’s a dynamic duo, he says, that keeps the campus pushing boundaries and shaping the future.

In this Berkeley Talks episode, a panel of prominent Berkeley faculty and an alum join Lyons to discuss how the campus’s startup culture has powered their work and encourages the next generation of scholars to grow their ideas.

The panel, which took place on Oct. 6 during Homecoming weekend, includes:

• Ana Claudia Arias, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences
• Ken Goldberg, professor of engineering
• Marco Lobba, alum and co-founder and CEO of CatenaBio.
• Chancellor Rich Lyons (moderator)

Watch a video of the conversation.

Read more about the event.

Listen to the episode and read the transcript on UC Berkeley News (news.berkeley.edu/podcasts/berkeley-talks).

Music by HoliznaCC0.

UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser.

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In this Berkeley Talks episode, renowned marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco discusses how a persistent narrative that the ocean is “too big to fail” has led to its degradation. While many now believe its problems are “too big to fix,” Lubchenco explains why we need to embrace a new narrative: That it’s too central to our future to ignore.

“There is a historic narrative about the ocean, one that has framed the way people have talked about the ocean and have treated the ocean for almost all of human history,” Lubchenko told the audience at a UC Berkeley event in March. “The ocean, for thousands and thousands of years, was seen as so immense, so endlessly bountiful that people thought it must be infinitely resilient and impossible to deplete or disrupt.”

But now, she said, the impossible has happened — “it’s depleted, it’s disrupted, it’s polluted, it’s warmer, it’s more acidic, it’s deoxygenated" — and we need to create a new narrative, one that acknowledges that a healthy ocean is central to a just and prosperous future on Earth.

While she admits there are “huge challenges,” Lubchenco stresses that there are solutions that already exist that can be scaled up, like enabling sustainable aquaculture, reforming fisheries management, employing nature-based blue carbon ecosystems and creating and strengthening marine protected areas.

“This ocean that we have, that connects us all, that feeds us all, is at the center of climate change solutions, health solutions, food security, recreational opportunities,” she said. “This is really all one ocean. It is possible to use it without using it up. We're not there yet. But given what I've said, it's not impossible. And I think that these findings and these actions and these results are leading to the emergence of a new narrative for the ocean.”

Lubchenco spoke at Berkeley on March 13, 2025, as part of the Martha Charles M. and Martha Hitchcock Lectures series. This lecture was one of two given by Lubchenco for the series, together titled “Agency, Urgency, and Hope: Science and Scientists Serving Society.”

Watch the event on the UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures YouTube page.

Lubchenco is former deputy director for climate and environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology and University Distinguished Professor at Oregon State University.

Listen to the episode and read the transcript on UC Berkeley News (news.berkeley.edu/podcasts/berkeley-talks).

Photo by Daniel J. Schwarz for Unsplash.

Music by HoliznaCC0.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.