On this episode of The Common, Boston Globe Climate Reporter Erin Douglas joins the show to discuss how many Boston neighborhoods are built on artificial land, putting them at risk of flooding due climate change. Then, Team Common takes over the WBUR kitchen with senior correspondent Deborah Becker.

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If you listen to WBUR, you are probably familiar with Deb Becker’s voice. You might have heard any number of her reports as a senior correspondent on issues like mental health, addiction and the criminal legal system. Or, maybe you’re more familiar with her as a host on many WBUR Programs.

But, we learned when she has some time away from her work Deb loves to cook. So, a little while back, Team Common took over the WBUR kitchen so Deb could show us how to make one of her signature summer side dishes, while also dishing about her love of food, and her long journalism career.

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Deborah Becker’s vegan summer orzo salad

Ingredients:

• Fresh cherry tomatoes, halved
• Cucumbers, peeled, seeds removed and diced
• Scallions, roughly chopped One jar pitted calamari olives
• One can of garbanzo beans
• Fresh basil and parsley, chopped (lots of it!)
• A good olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Orzo
• Salt and pepper to season

1. Bring a pot of water to boil, season boiling water with salt. Add orzo.
2. While orzo cooks, prepare vegetables and herbs, combine in a large bowl.
3. When orzo is cooked, strain and rinse under cold water until cooled. Coat lightly with olive oil to keep pasta from sticking together.
4. Combine balsamic, olive oil and sugar in a small bowl to create a dressing
5. Combine strained and cooled orzo with vegetables in bowl. Mix together with dressing and season with and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Enjoy!

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

On this episode of The Common, WBUR associate producer for digital Katie Cole joins the show to discuss Massachusetts' various shark species and the important role they play in our ocean ecosystem. Then, we sit down with author and podcast host Mark Cecil to talk about the value of deep conversations among men and why it is difficult for some men to open up with one another.

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Sharks get a bad rap, especially around these parts where great white sightings are a normal part of Massachusetts' summer. But great whites are far from the only shark species cruising through Bay State waters, and for the most part, they're all just minding their own business.

After the episode, take our quiz to test your shark knowledge!

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

On this episode of The Common, WBUR State House reporter Walter Wuthmann joins host Darryl C. Murphy to recap the end of the state's legislative session. He tells us about the few bills that did get passed, and more importantly all the ones that didn't, and why. Then, Team Common hikes the Boston Walking City Trail with with founder, Boston-based journalist and trail builder Miles Howard. Listen to the podcast to hear the full episode.

Looking to enjoy the outdoors without leaving the city? The Boston Walking City Trail might be the perfect thing. Established in 2022 by Miles Howard (a journalist and urban trail builder based in Boston), the Walking City Trail is a community project connecting many of the city's most immersive green spaces into a continuous 27-mile route.

The Common's team hiked the Franklin Park section with the trail-builder to learn more about how it came to be, as well as the benefits of urban hiking as an accessible entry into the outdoors for city residents.

Here are some of our favorite things along the route:

• The Wizard of Franklin Park: Miles Howard claims that there's a hollowed out tree trunk in which someone painted a depiction of a Gandalf-like wizard. (We couldn't get through the brush to see it in person, though. But maybe you can! Send us a picture if you do.)
• Roxbury puddingstone: There's a lot of this in Franklin Park, and even around the neighborhood. It's a natural conglomerate, with small rocks and pebbles embedded inside. Fun fact: it's Massachusetts' official state rock.
• Bear dens: When the Franklin Park Zoo was built back in the late 1800s, it housed bears in these circular, caged-in dens, with spikes along the top to keep bears from climbing out. The abandoned cages are still there, all overgrown with plants, and all creatures are free to pass in and out these days.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

The Common is back. Thank you to the listeners who stuck around while we planned for our new weekly format, and if you're new here, welcome to the party!

Today, WBUR transportation reporter Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez joins host Darryl C. Murphy to give us the full download on the MBTA's new contactless fare system.

Then, to kick off August, WBUR CitySpace assistant director Candice Springer gives us suggestions for how to spend the final hazy days of summer.

Candice recommends...

The Queen of Versailles Musical

Bostonians have the opportunity to see this brand new, Broadway-bound musical adaptation of the 2012 documentary of the same name until Aug. 25. "The Queen of Versailles," starring Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham, is being staged at the Emerson Colonial Theater in Boston.

Independent Film Festival Boston's Hot Summer Nights

IFFBoston, inspired by the series on the podcast You Must Remember This about erotic films from the '80s and '90s, presents a month-long retrospective into steamy movies from that era. You can catch classics like "Showgirls" (1995) and "Cruel Intentions" (1999) until Aug. 31 at the Somerville Theatre.

Archery Games Boston

Speaking of steam, maybe you need to let off a little with this unconventional athletic activity. Archery Games Boston lets you play out your wildest Katniss Everdeen dreams with competitive combat archery. Join a communal game or reserve a private one with friends, family or coworkers or at the Chelsea location. Don't worry, all projectiles are foam-tipped so no one will be taking an arrow to the knee here any time soon. (Please note that you have to be 7 years or older to join in a communal game.)

The Moth StorySLAM: HOT MESS

The Moth StorySLAM is an open-mic storytelling competition, open to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the night’s theme. The theme of this month's StorySLAM on Aug. 13 is "HOT MESS." Participants should prepare a five-minute story about spectacular chaos. Disheveled dramas and situations so tangled there is no hope of straightening things out. Come tell a story...or just enjoy the show!

Field Trip: Board Game Night

Back by popular demand, WBUR CitySpace is hosting another game night on Aug. 14. Free to all, come with friends or meet new ones playing a variety of games provided by Knight Moves Board Game Cafe. Snacks will be provided, grog available for purchase.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Team Common is still working on relaunching The Common as a longer weekly show. And we thank you so much for your patience. In the meantime, we want to share with you a project by WBUR’s own Barbara Moran and Science Quickly, a podcast from Scientific American.

The past two days we’ve been sharing Barb’s in-depth reporting on Cape Cod’s water, and the pollution that has been increasingly threatening its safety. We also heard about some of the costly solutions the community is considering to help prevent further wastewater pollution.

But what if there was a way to clean up the Cape’s waters without spending hundreds of millions of dollars? Some of you may have heard of it before on The Common…it’s called urine diversion, or “pee-cycling.”

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Team Common is still working on relaunching The Common as a longer weekly show. And we thank you so much for your patience. In the meantime, we want to share with you a project by WBUR’s own Barbara Moran and Science Quickly, a podcast from Scientific American.

In today's episode, Barb looks at some of the big-ticket solutions that could help solve the Cape’s water problems — for a price.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Team Common is still working on relaunching The Common as a longer weekly show. And we thank you so much for your patience. In the meantime, we want to share with you a project by WBUR’s own Barbara Moran and Science Quickly, a podcast from Scientific American.

If you’re a regular listener of The Common, you might remember our episode with Barb on something taking place on Cape Cod called pee-cycling. Well, this series is a three-part deeper dive that looks into water pollution on Cape Cod, what’s causing it and how the Cape community is scrambling to fix it.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

Seniors are healthier, better educated and living longer than in generations past. In his series "The Third Act," WBUR Senior Political Reporter Anthony Brooks tells the stories of people who have embraced these years of late and mid-life to improve and re-invented themselves.

Today, Anthony joins The Common with more on these stories, and what we can all take away from watching others age with purpose, regardless of our own life stage.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.