KQED's Forum

This week, California implements a minimum wage of $20 per hour for fast food workers. Proponents of the measure believe that it will not only allow workers to meet essential needs, but potentially move them up the economic ladder to greater financial security. Restaurant owners and operators contend that they may need to cut back on employee hours, eliminate jobs, and increase their prices. We’ll look at how this measure will impact the Bay Area.Guests:Saru Jayaraman, director, Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley; president, One Fair Wage; co-founder, Restaurant Opportunities Centers UnitedJeanne Kuang, reporter, CalMattersScott Rodrick, founder, Rodrick Group; McDonald's franchisee in San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our current growth-based economic systems do not take into account their human cost, argues journalist Nick Romeo. And while there are economic initiatives and programs around the world that have been shown to improve local citizens’ lives, these are few and far between. Yet they provide models, like “true price” initiatives — price tags that account for human labor costs and environmental impacts. Or job guarantee programs, which ensure every member of a community has access to employment. In Romeo’s new book, “The Alternative: How to Build a Just Economy,” he calls for the return of ethics into economics and offers examples around the world — as well as some in California. We’ll talk to him about what works, what doesn’t and what we have to gain if economists take an alternative approach to structuring, teaching and thinking about our economy.Guests:Nick Romeo, journalist, The New Yorker; lecturer, UC Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As fighting between Israel and Hamas continues, what will happen after the war ends? The so-called two state solution has long been one of the most prominent ideas, where independent states of Israel and Palestine exist side-by-side, but previous attempts to solidify an agreement have fallen short. We’ll talk with members of A Land For All, a group of Palestinian and Israeli leaders, activists and scholars who have a new political vision of how to live together with “pragmatic and viable solutions to the obstacles that have stymied prior negotiations, moving us from a paradigm of separation towards a future based on power sharing and shared interests.” We’ll talk about their vision for a road to peace and an intertwined future.Guests:Omar Dajani, professor of law, University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law; board member, "A Land For All"; former senior legal advisor, Palestine Liberation Organization's Negotiations Support UnitMay Pundak, co-leader and executive director, the Israeli branch of “A Land for All”Rula Hardal, lecturer, Arab-American University; research fellow, the Shalom Hartman Institute; co-leader, "A Land For All" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Culinary scientist Arielle Johnson describes flavor as “the thing that drives us to drop serious money on heirloom tomatoes. The reason we don’t just subsist on Soylent. The town where Guy Fieri lives.” Flavor is also molecules, according to Johnson, whose new book “Flavorama” explores how the chemistry of flavor informs how we perceive foods as salty or herbal, sour or sweet. Johnson, who also co-founded the fermentation lab at the critically acclaimed restaurant Noma, joins us to talk about the science of flavor, the complex interactions between our senses of taste and smell and how to create intense and unexpected flavors in our everyday cooking.Guests:Arielle Johnson, food scientist; author, "Flavorama: A Guide to Unlocking the Art and Science of Flavor"; co-founder and fermentation lab and science director, Noma in Copenhagen - a three-Michelin-star restaurant considered the best in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Radio host, journalist, musician, and musicologist Jesse “Chuy” Varela has been a treasured fixture of the Bay Area jazz scene for more than 40 years. When the Jazz Journalists Association honored him with their “Jazz Hero” award last year they wrote that “his deep knowledge of Latin American and Caribbean music has nurtured the boundaryless nature of the Bay Area’s scene, in which musicians prominently collaborate across the jazz/Latin jazz divide.” The KCSM program and music director will join us to talk about the history of Latin Jazz, including the Bay Area’s role…and play some of his favorite tunes.Guests:Jesse "Chuy" Varela, program and music director, KCSM JAZZ 91.1; host, "The Latin Jazz Show” on Sundays at 2 PM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adrian Ballinger, a mountain guide based in California, has reached Mt. Everest’s peak 8 times – including once without supplemental oxygen. Now that China has reopened the less-traversed north side route to foreigners, he’s headed back next month for the first time in four years. We talk to him about what draws hundreds of climbers to attempt to summit Mt. Everest every year, how to climb ethically and sustainably as ever more visitors descend on the mountain and what it feels like to be on top of the tallest peak in the world.Guests:Adrian Ballinger, mountain guide; founder, Alpenglow ExpeditionsGraham Cooper, member of Mt. Everest expedition team Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Department of Justice, along with 16 states including California, filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple last week. The government alleges that the trillion-dollar company’s practices around its iPhone have quashed competition by limiting access to its app store, constraining the ability to send messages across different platforms and blocking alternative wallet payment systems. The suit is part of a suite of antitrust legal actions aimed at breaking alleged monopolies by tech behemoths including Google, Meta, and Amazon. We’ll talk about what these suits mean for Apple’s devoted user base and the tech industry.Guests:Aaron Tilley, reporter, Wall Street JournalTim Wu, professor of law, science and technology, Columbia Law School; author, "The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age"Margaret O'Mara, Scott and Dorothy Bullitt professor of American History, University of Washington; author, "The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and author Abrahm Lustgarten discusses the potential mass migration in the U.S. due to climate change, projecting tens of millions of Americans relocating to escape wildfires, floods, and extreme heat. Insights on the impacts of climate change on agriculture and communities, wet bulb temperatures, and challenges individuals face when considering relocation for environmental reasons are explored.

You might not think that 224 pages devoted to a sixth grader’s tricky journey with braces would make for a bestseller, but since its publication in 2010, Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novel “Smile” has remained hugely popular with the kid set. And her follow ups “Guts,” “Drama” and “Ghosts” have earned her rave reviews from kids, tweens, parents and librarians for the humorous, hopeful, and honest depictions of life as an anxious kid. We’ll talk to Telgemeier, a Bay Area native, about her work and how she taps into the zeitgeist of adolescence.Guests:Raina Telgemeier, author of "Smile," "Guts," and "Sisters," among other popular graphic novels for teens and kids Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exploring the challenges of modern romance in the digital age, from Gen Z's disillusionment with dating apps to the rise of specialized platforms for diverse relationships. Discussions on transitioning from online to in-person connections, the value of meaningful relationships over superficial attractions, and the trend of detailed Google Docs for dating purposes.