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Public Talks

Free! All Talks are at 518 Valencia (near 16th Street, one block from 16th Street BART) and begin at 7:30 pm  unless otherwise noted.


Our Public Talks are partly underwritten by the City Lights Foundation and Rainbow Grocery Cooperative.




 Download the Fall 2025 calendar as a pdf
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Archive of past talks

All our Talks have been integrated into our digital archive at Foundsf.org, and may be easier to access there.

Topic areas of our audio recordings of public talks going back to 2006:

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Wednesday, November 5, 7:30pm

Auto Row to Robo-cars: A Century of Protesting Carmageddon

Public Talk at 518 Valencia

A look back at the rise of the Automobile on the streets of San Francisco from the 1920s onward… civil resistance on Auto Row in the 1960s, Tesla Takedown this year… the protests of Uber and Lyft drivers and before that the role of cabbies in converting to electric vehicles. And now the streets are full of robo-cars… what does EV saturation mean for daily street life in SF? And public transportation?

With Tenderloin Museum, Safe Streets Rebel, and SF Neon

We welcome donations. Donate now!

Wednesday, November 19, 7:30pm

Logistics, Containers, Tariffs

Public Talk at 518 Valencia

The term “supply chain” is part of our everyday vocabulary since the pandemic impacted world trade, and even more so now with tariffs impacting transnational goods and markets. Our presenters take us into the human aspects of logistics, labor issues, regulation skirting, local impact of global shipping, and San Francisco Bay Area history. With Sam Levens of the International Transport Workers Federation we look into the conditions seafarers face and work to organize people working on container ships. Alexis Madrigal brings in themes from his new book, The Pacific Circuit and draws on his radio documentary series Containers, to look at the transformation of the economy and us through global capitalism. Chris Carlsson reminds us of forced labor in the history of San Francisco in the practice of Shanghaiing during the 19th century.

We welcome donations. Donate now!

Wednesday, December 10, 7:30pm

Nuclear Waste in our Midst

Public Talk at 518 Valencia

Percolating just out of sight and mind at the former Naval Shipyards at Hunters Point is one of the nation's most severe toxic hotspots. Radioactive debris from the H-Bomb tests in the 1940s and 1950s was brought back to Hunters Point for testing and cleaning. Ensuing waste ended up in the soil. The countless toxic chemicals used in naval operations also accumulated below the landfill, all ready to be pushed back to the surface by rising sea levels and groundwater. Hear from author Lindsay Dillon Toxic City, the Public Press special reporter Chris Roberts, and longtime shipyard artist Stacey Carter, who has produced a fantastic and unprecedented history of the shipyard.

We welcome donations. Donate now!