Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Beyond his position as chairman of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, John Doerr rose to global prominence in the business world with his popularization of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), which he promoted in his best-selling book, Measure What Matters. Could the same set of management tools be applied to preventing the growing climate crisis? In Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now, John Doerr and Kleiner Perkins advisor Ryan Panchadsaram argue that it can. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: John Doerr, Chairman, Kleiner Perkins Ryan Panchadsaram, Advisor, Kleiner Perkins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's almost 2022, and it's time to gather together #IRL for our annual year-end Michelle Meow celebration. Join us for a celebration of another successful year of "The Michelle Meow Show" at The Commonwealth Club of California. Enjoy some great speakers, food and wine, artwork and fun. SPEAKERS César Cadabes Performance Artist; HIV/AIDS Activist; Advisory Board Member, Castro LGBTQ Cultural District Jacqueline Chiang Artist Anjali Rimi President and Co-Founder, Parivar; Board Member, The LGBT Asylum Project and San Francisco Pride; Rans Advisory Committee Member, Office of Transgender Initiatives, San Francisco Mayor's Office Michelle Mijung Kim Author, The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change Denise Huynh Owner, Tay Ho Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each year, Climate One gives an award to a natural or social scientist for excellence in science communication. This year’s recipient of the Stephen H. Schneider Award is marine biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab and co-creator of the All We Can Save project. “What gets me out of bed in the morning, what makes this work of communicating about climate science and policy so important, is that we have such a huge spectrum of possible futures available to us. And which one we get depends on what we do,” Johnson says. This episode also features past award winner and noted climate historian Naomi Oreskes discussing sexism in the sciences and the ongoing disinformation campaigns perpetrated by fossil fuel companies. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist, writer Naomi Oreskes, Professor, History of Science, Harvard University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Southeastern Virginia currently experiences the fastest rate of sea level rise on the Atlantic seaboard, and that’s only projected to accelerate. For many neighborhoods, it’s not a question of if they will go underwater, but when. On the west coast, between $8 billion and $10 billion of existing property in California is likely to be underwater by 2050, with an additional $6 billion to $10 billion at risk during high tides. Increasingly, local and regional governments are considering – and starting – buyouts of flood-prone properties. How will we manage the homes, farms, naval bases and infrastructure destined to go under water? How do federal and private insurance programs hamper or help moves away from climate-disrupted regions? And what are the equity issues with managed retreat? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Sam Turken, reporter, “At A Crossroads” series for WHRO Amy Chester, Managing Director, Rebuild By Design Kia Javanmardian, Senior Partner, McKinsey and Company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we begin to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we look forward to a discussion with long-time San Francisco Bay Area community leaders. These community leaders are leading community-based organizations that are spearheading the way regarding social justice and uplifting our diverse communities. Join us in-person or online as we discuss how they are helping people survive and thrive, even during a worldwide health crisis. Learn more about them and the amazing community work they have continued to do throughout the pandemic, as well as how others can support and uplift our own communities. After the program, please enjoy some light bites and drinks courtesy of the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good at the University of San Francisco In partnership with the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good at the University of San Francisco. The McCarthy Center is dedicated to inspiring and preparing students at USF to pursue lives and careers of ethical public service. It supports programs, curriculum and research that inform public policy and nurture purposeful lives. SPEAKERS Rudy Corpuz Jr. Founder and Executive Director, United Playaz Susana Rojas Executive Director, Calle 24 Latino Cultural District Jacqueline Flin Executive Director, APRI James Spingola Member, Juvenile Probation Commission of the City and County of San Francisco Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the second Commonwealth Club showcase of The Adachi Project, members of the San Francisco Public Defender's Office and its partners from Even/Odd Films and Compound will present their short film "From Inside" to amplify the voices and experiences of people who were inside San Francisco County Jail during the early days of the pandemic. The Young Women's Freedom Center will also join the discussion about the trial delays that are keeping hundreds of people in jail past their deadlines, the ongoing conditions in the jails, and the impact that the prolonged pandemic is having on the accused, their families and justice in San Francisco. SPEAKERS Julia Arroyo Managing Director, Young Women’s Freedom Center Santhosh Daniel Founding Partner, The Adachi Project; Writer; Producer; Creative Communications Strategist; Founder, Compound; Co-Founder, First Kitchen Media Mohammad Gorjestani Founding Partner, The Adachi Project; Filmmaker; Creative Director; Founder, Even/Odd Carolyn Ji Jong Goossen San Francisco Policy Director, San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 13th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent poll shows that in 2021, for the first time, a majority of Americans personally felt the effects of climate change. But has that growing awareness translated into action? This week, Climate One hosts Greg Dalton and Ariana Brocious review the top climate stories of the year – from Joe Biden’s climate agenda to the extreme weather events so many experienced, to the recent international climate summit in Glasgow, to the passage and signing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. This special episode features excerpts from some of Climate One’s most profound interviews of 2021, including conversations with such luminaries as Jay Inslee, Mark Carney, and Katharine Hayhoe. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Kathy Baughman-McLeod, Senior Vice President and Director, Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center Jay Inslee, Governor, State of Washington Carla Frisch, Principal Deputy Director, Office of Policy, U.S. Department of Energy Sasha Mackler, Executive Director, The Energy Project, Bipartisan Policy Center Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for America Rich Thau, Moderator, The Swing Voter Project Jiang Lin, Adjunct Professor, University of California Berkeley Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Amanda Machado, Writer and Social Justice Facilitator Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist Sister True Dedication, Thich Nhat Hanh student Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite California’s leadership role in the technology industry, the digital divide continues to impact many Golden State communities as it has since the rise of the internet over two decades ago. While some progress has been made on the issue over the past decade, the digital divide continues to separate the haves and have-nots, and many people still do not understand the magnitude of the problem, particularly as it relates to the availability of high-speed internet access in low-income households and rural areas. Although the divide has long been troubling, the issue became particularly dire during the pandemic. Throughout 2020, the impact of the digital divide on the educational system, in particular, became more glaringly obvious. As schools shifted to an online learning format, many students struggled—not just academically, but also due to the lack of broadband access to the internet at home and/or to a suitable device. In addition,. the digital divide also impacted basic activities of daily living for adults, such as grocery shopping, or telehealth doctor appointments. Those without high-speed access suffered more than those with this access. Funding for digital inclusion efforts have been included in recent federal and state legislative efforts, including the recent infrastructure package signed by President Biden. What is the view from the ground on the digital divide, including grassroots efforts to address this issue? What else can be done to address this ongoing problem in a region where the computer industry was born? This program will look at these topics with several California leaders working on the issue. NOTES This program is supported by AT&T. SPEAKERS Lorena Chavez Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy, Digital Equity Coalition; Trustee, East Side Union High School District Trustee Evan Marwell Founder and CEO, EducationSuperHighway Jessica Denson Director, Communications, Connected Nation, Inc.—Moderator Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As one of the most prominent drag performers today, Alaska is no stranger to fame. But Alaska’s story is more than her success as both a runner-up and winner in two different seasons of "RuPaul’s Drag Race," as well as her high-profile relationship and the equally public breakup that ended it. In her new book—My Name’s Yours, What’s Alaska?—Alaska goes beneath her glamorous surface to reveal a never-before told account of her unique life story. From humble beginnings as a small-town kid studying at theater school to her larger-than-life vibrance as one of drag’s most influential stars, Alaska’s perseverance over her struggles regarding the expression and discovery of her queerness is an inspiring story for the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond. At INFORUM, Alaska will bring the journey detailed in her new visual memoir to life. In doing so, she will provide motivation and representation for those belonging to communities who are too often unheard and underrepresented in the media and in popular culture. Whether you’re a die-hard RuPaul fan or an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community looking to hear more of their important stories, Alaska’s discussion here at INFORUM is sure to leave you with new understandings of what it means to embrace your identity and let it thrive. NOTE: This program contains EXPLICIT language. SPEAKERS Alaska Season two winner, "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars"; Author, My Name’s Yours, What’s Alaska?: A Memoir In Conversation with Honey Mahogany Chair, San Francisco Democratic Party; Co-Founder, Compton's Transgender Cultural District; Season Five Contestant, “RuPaul's Drag Race” In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 13th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China is rapidly connecting Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong Province into a regional finance, technology, manufacturing and tourism hub of 86 million people. Over the next decade, this Greater Bay Area (GBA) will mature into a global showcase for China’s economic model, “One Country-Two Systems” integration, and Belt and Road development strategy. GBA hopes to partner with comparable regions worldwide, including the San Francisco Bay Area, in areas such as clean energy, health care, mobility and fintech. A new report by the Bay Area Council and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council assesses the commercial opportunities and political obstacles amid U.S.-China tensions. Join the sponsors of the report for a deeper dive into the report's findings. About the Speakers Sean Randolph is senior director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, where he served as president & CEO from 1998-2015, and manages its science affiliate the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium (BASIC). Randolph previously served as director of international trade for the state of California, and prior to that as international director general of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC), a 1,000-member Asia-Pacific business organization. His professional career includes extensive experience in the U.S. Government, where he served on congressional staffs, on the White House staff, and in senior positions at the departments of State and Energy. Dr. Randolph holds a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center, a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts and Harvard Universities), a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, and studied at the London School of Economics. Louis Chan is principal economist for the Global Research Team of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. As the head of the Global Research Team, Louis provides leadership and direction for research on market developments in the Americas and Europe. To provide a macro view for SMEs to formulate export strategies, Louis and his team monitor and evaluate the performance, changing trends and competitiveness of Hong Kong’s trading, manufacturing and service sector, at the industry-specific levels. To facilitate SMEs’ sales efforts, they also keep a close eye on the emerging business opportunities, consumption and sourcing trends, as well as regulatory changes in the Americas, Europe and Central Asia. Moderator Scott Rozelle holds the Helen Farnsworth Endowed Professorship at Stanford University and is senior fellow and professor in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Dr. Rozelle's research focuses on the economics of poverty—with an emphasis on the economics of education and health. Dr. Rozelle is the co-director of the Rural Education Action Project and is an adjunct professor in 8 Chinese universities. In 2008, Dr. Rozelle was awarded the Friendship Award—the highest honor that can be endowed on a foreign citizen—by Premiere Wen Jiabao. MLF ORGANIZER Lillian Nakagawa NOTES MLF: Asia-Pacific Affairs SPEAKERS Louis Chan Principal Economist (Global Research Team), Hong Kong Trade Development Council Sean Randolph Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute Scott Rozelle Helen Farnsworth Professor, Stanford University, and Senior Fellow and Professor, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 9th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump family is one of the most talked about families in the United States. Donald Trump's presidency elevated that and helped put them on an international stage that brought the family to the forefront of the world. Over the last half decade, journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston has provided the American people with fascinating insight into the financial world of one of America's most influential families. Johnston talks about the financial life of the Trump Family in his new piece of work, The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family. This new book details the aspects of the Trump family's finances during the four years Donald Trump spent in office, leaving no details out, to give you the complete picture. Join us as David Cay Johnston offers an inside look into the financial world of the Trump family. SPEAKERS David Cay Johnston Co-Founder, DCReport.org; Author, The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family; Twitter @DavidCayJ In Conversation with Mitch Jeserich Host, "Letters and Politics," KPFA Radio In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 9th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This forum will explain how the assets of seniors and people with disabilities are often drained in order to pay the fees of a variety of attorneys in probate conservatorship proceedings. With vague or nonexistent rules and a lack of accountability, judges are making ad hoc and often arbitrary orders requiring conservatees and proposed conservatees to pay unreasonable or excessive legal fees. Not only are they required to pay the fees of lawyers appointed to represent them, they are forced to pay the fees of lawyers representing other parties in the case: petitioner, temporary conservator, guardian ad litem, objector, public guardian, or permanent conservator. Judges in conservatorship cases are supposed to be conserving the assets of adults who find themselves entangled in these proceedings. Courts know how to conserve assets when they want to or are required to. For example, there are strict procurement rules to follow when courts plan to spend money from the judicial branch budget. Specific guidelines must be followed. Competitive bidding is often required. But the culture of conservation does not exist when judges are spending the money of elderly and often vulnerable adults. The attorneys who are supposed to defend these adults in conservatorship proceedings are often silent when their colleagues in the probate bar are seeking to have the conservatee pay for their fees. The panelists in this forum will explain how they witnessed or experienced this “fee for all” depleting the assets of a conservatee. The moderator will explain how the Funding and Fees Project of Spectrum Institute plans to tackle this problem with a thorough study of what has been happening in local courts throughout the state. The project will issue a report and recommendations on how to tame this asset-eating beast. The forum will encourage viewers to make a donation to Spectrum Institute to help fund the research and report. The report will document how the current “fee for all” is unconstitutional and will propose specific new protections to preserve the assets of conservatees just as judges protect judicial assets and budgets. What’s good for judges should be good for conservatees: real protection and asset preservation. The report will also urge attorneys for conservatees to raise more objections to fees and file appeals MLF ORGANIZER Denise Michaud NOTES MLF: Grownups SPEAKERS Roz Alexander-Kasparik Was only allowed to be conservator for her fiancé David Rector after the court depleted David’s assets with payments of fees to the conservator and attorney Sharon Holmes Saw Theresa Jankowski suffer “legalized extortion” when lawyers wanted hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees in exchange for a dismissal of her conservatorship case Dr. Gloria Duffy CEO, The Commonwealth Club of California; published “Courts should not be a vehicle for elder financial abuse” based on experience with her mother’s conservatorship Evan Nelson Attorney; saw Catherine Dubro’s assets being drained when at one point the five attorneys were being paid from her estate, while Catherine herself had no attorney Debra Bookout Lead attorney of the Guardianship advocacy program, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada; they do not charge fees to clients and they challenge unreasonable fees from other attorneys Thomas F. Coleman Legal Director, Spectrum Institute; leads a team studying the “Fee for All” problem in conservatorships and will write a report with major reform proposals—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change science isn’t taught accurately — or equally — across the country. Investigative reporter Katie Worth dug into textbooks and talked with dozens of children and teachers to find out why. In her book, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in America, Worth unpacks the influence of the fossil fuel industry, state legislatures and school boards on school curricula in their effort to spread confusion and misinformation about the climate crisis. Some organizations skip the textbook battle entirely and try to reach children directly through assemblies and social media. How do teachers navigate these dynamics in the classroom? How can we ensure our children are learning to be engaged, educated and climate-aware citizens? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Katie Worth, investigative journalist, author, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in America Lea Dotson, Campaigner, Action for the Climate Emergency Ann Reid, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education Ben Graves, former science teacher in Delta County, CO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clinical trials represent the primary means to test new drugs before they become approved by the FDA for sale and marketing as a standard of care. The purpose of these trials is to test the safety and efficacy of new drugs and their combinations. Clinical trials must be performed with the highest ethical standards and must include geographically, genetically and socio-economically diverse populations. Trials provide completely free care for all participants, ensuring that any patient can participate. However, the vast majority of cutting-edge trials are performed in elite academic tertiary care centers, requiring patients not living in the immediate vicinity to undergo burdensome travel and long stays away from home. The Guardian Research Network was developed to address these issues by bringing novel trials to community health systems where most patients are treated, effectively democratizing clinical trial access. A new digital approach was developed to consenting patients, and collecting and reporting clinical data, and a network was formed using centralized approaches to save time and expense. Real-world data is used to submit comparator control arms to the FDA to support rapid drug approvals. Timothy J. Yeatman, M.D. is an adjunct professor of surgery at the University of Utah, where he has an active National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded laboratory, and he is a member of the Cell Response and Regulation Program of the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI). He has spent the past two and a half years directing the development of an integrated cancer program for Intermountain Healthcare and its 24 hospitals, and coordinating collaborations with the University of Utah and HCI. He recently joined Phenome Health as its chief clinical officer in charge of identifying and accruing 1million participants in the Beyond the Human Genome Project (BHG). MLF ORGANIZER Robert Lee Kilpatrick NOTES MLF: Health & Medicine SPEAKERS Dr. Timothy J. Yeatman M.D., Adjunct Professor of Surgery, University of Utah; Chief Clinical Officer, Phenome Health; Dr. Robert Lee Kilpatrick Ph.D., Chair, Health & Medicine Member-Led Forum—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 7th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us to learn more about America’s modern culinary history told through the lives of seven pathbreaking chefs and food writers. Who’s really behind America’s appetite for foods from around the globe? Award-winning author Mayukh Sen has produced a group biography about seven extraordinary women, all immigrants, who left an indelible mark on the way Americans eat today. His book Taste Makers stretches from World War II to the present, with absorbing and deeply researched portraits of figures including Mexican-born Elena Zelayeta, a blind chef; Marcella Hazan, the deity of Italian cuisine; and Norma Shirley, a champion of Jamaican dishes. Mayukh Sen―a queer, brown child of immigrants―reconstructs the lives of these women in vivid and empathetic detail, daring to ask why some were famous in their own time, but not in ours, and why others shine brightly even today. Weaving together histories of food, immigration and gender, Sen challenges the way people look at what’s on their plate―and the women whose labor, overlooked for so long, makes those meals possible. He'll be joined on our virtual stage by Alicia Kennedy, author of the popular newsletter "From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy" and a forthcoming book on eating ethnically. SPEAKERS Reem Assil Chef; Owner, Reem’s California and Reem’s California Mission Alicia Kennedy Writer; Author, "From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy" Newsletter; Twitter @aliciakennedy Mayukh Sen Author, Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America: Twitter @senatormayukh Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-Host John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 2nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take an illuminating literary voyage around the globe, without any Covid restrictions to hamper your travels, using classic and modern works that are in conversation with one another and with the world around them. David Damrosch explores how our idea of the world has been shaped by 80 exceptional books, following an itinerary from London to Venice, Tehran and points beyond, via authors from Woolf and Dante to Nobel Prize–winners Orhan Pamuk, Wole Soyinka, Mo Yan, and Olga Tokarczuk. To chart the expansive landscape of world literature today, Damrosch explores how writers live in two very different worlds: the world of their personal experience and the world of books that have enabled great writers to give shape and meaning to their lives. In his literary cartography, Damrosch includes compelling contemporary works as well as perennial classics, hard-bitten crime fiction as well as haunting works of fantasy, and the formative tales that introduce us as children to the world we’re entering. Taken together, these 80 books offer us fresh perspectives on enduring problems, from the social consequences of epidemics to the rising inequality that Thomas More designed Utopia to combat, as well as the patriarchal structures against which many heroines have to struggle—from the work of Murasaki Shikibu a millennium ago to Margaret Atwood today. NOTES MLF: Humanities This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS David Damrosch Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Comparative Literature, and Chair of Comparative Literature Department, Harvard University; Director, Harvard’s Institute for World Literature; Author, Around the World in 80 Books George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 2nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Peace Corps returned more than 7,000 volunteers to the United States from the countries around the world where they were based. There have been many discussions and conferences advocating for changes in the structure, mission, and goals of the Peace Corps as it celebrates the 60th year since its founding by President John F. Kennedy. The Peace Corps is passionate about working to strengthen the impact of its mission both at home and abroad as well as promoting diversity and inclusion to enhance the relativity and substance of its work. The Peace Corps, a government agency, is headed by Carol Spahn, the acting director. Currently, the mission of the Peace Corps is to promote world peace and friendship through community-based development and cross cultural understanding through three important core goals: building local capacity, sharing America with the world, and bringing the world back home. Glenn Blumhorst is the president of the National Peace Corps Association ,which is a mission-driven social impact non-government organization that encourages and celebrates lifelong commitment to Peace Corps ideals and assists the Peace Corps. Please join us as we discuss what the future of the Peace Corps will look like. SPEAKERS Carol Spahn Acting Director, Peace Corps Glenn Blumhorst President, National Peace Corps Association Frank Price Vice Chair, Commonwealth Club International Relations Member-Led Forum—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 2nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad Erickson, departing long-time Theatre Bay Area executive director, introduces top new Bay Area artistic leaders. They will challenge each other and viewers about repertory, risks, delights and post-COVID theatre-making. What's changed in the theatre producing community? What will (re)fill those seats? MLF ORGANIZER Anne W. Smith NOTES MLF: Arts In Association with Theatre Bay Area. SPEAKERS Sean San Jose Artistic Director, Magic Theatre Johanna Pfaelzer Artistic Director, Berkeley Repertory Theater Khalia Davis Artistic Director, Bay Area Children's Theatre Tim Bond Artistic Director, Theatreworks Brad Erickson Executive Director, Theatre Bay Area In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the current production of San Francisco Opera's Fidelio (October 14–30, 2021) at San Francisco's recently reopened War Memorial Opera House, there is an arts display about struggle and liberation. As part of the opera's ancillary events, the display relates to the Arts in Corrections programs with prisoners at San Quentin. Moderator Cole Thomason-Redus will share exhibit and production visuals at the meeting. Cole is educational content curator in the Department of Diversity, Equity and Community at San Francisco Opera. Artist Carol Newborg has said that the role of art in prison to help people heal and change confirms for her the necessity of art to life. For the past decade she has been the organizer of exhibitions and public panels and readings at the William James Association. San Francisco Opera singer Erin Neff is dedicated to advocating for incarcerated women in the California prison system. MLF ORGANIZER Anne W. Smith NOTES MLF: Arts In association with San Francisco Opera. SPEAKERS Erin Neff Singer; Stage Director; Voice Instructor; Advocate for incarcerated women Carol Newborg Artist; Exhibition and Public Panels/Readings Organizer, William James Association Cole Thomason-Redus Educational Content Curator, Department of Diversity, Equity & Community, San Francisco Opera—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden recently signed the biggest piece of climate legislation in U.S. history into law. To be sure, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act got pared down significantly from what was first put on the table, but the final measure still contains five times more money for projects aimed at mitigating the climate crisis than the best legislation the Obama administration could get through. What did it take to get 19 Republican senators (not to mention Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema) to vote with the Democrats? And with the states being given great latitude over how to spend the money, will the billions available for highways negate any positive climate impacts? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Carla Frisch, Principal Deputy Director, Office of Policy, U.S. Department of Energy Sasha Mackler, Executive Director, The Energy Project, Bipartisan Policy Center Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for America Michael Grunwald, journalist, author, The New New Deal Support our work: climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the devastating effects of climate change take hold around the world, young people are demanding action from global leaders and, increasingly, taking action themselves. Ask a teenager or young adult which issues they think are most pressing in the world today, and climate will often top the list. One of the goals of our Creating Citizens initiative is to provide a forum for youth to meet and learn from peers and civic leaders about the complex and often controversial issues that are important to them. So it is with special pride that we present a panel of young climate activists discussing their own work and the power of youth to address the climate crisis and issues of racial and social injustice around the world. SPEAKERS Samir Chowdhury Founder and Executive Director, Youth Climate Action Team, Inc. Vanessa Nakate Author, A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis Zaria Romero Climate Generation Delegate, COP26; Junior, University of Wisconsin-Madison Darren Zook Professor, Global Studies and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past four years, the United States Supreme Court has seen drastic changes to its members, from the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg to the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett. At the end of the 2019–20 term, followers of the Supreme Court noted that a new "center" of the court was holding under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts. By the end of the 2020–21 term, much about the nation's highest court had changed, reflecting a conservative supermajority enabled by jurors nominated by President Donald Trump. Many observers of the court expect these shifts to continue and deepen, making this past year a critical pivot point in the history of the Supreme Court, and American politics as a whole. In her new book, Linda Greenhouse, a Pulitizer Prize winner and one of the best-known chroniclers of the Supreme Court of her generation, explores the end of the 2020–21 term for the court, the changes that have occurred in the past year, and what the future holds for the court in these increasingly partisan times. Greenhouse covers everything from the death of Justice Ginsburg to the rise of Justice Comey Barrett, from the pandemic to the disputed 2020 election, putting the happenings around the Supreme Court at the center of the country's partisan political disputes. Please join us for an important conversation on the U.S. Supreme Court and its increasing role in American society with a writer who knows the court and its politics as well as anyone in America. SPEAKERS Linda Greenhouse Contributing Op-Ed Writer, The New York Times; Clinical Lecturer in Law, Senior Research Scholar in Law, Yale Law School; Author, Justice on the Brink In Conversation with Lara Bazelon Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinical Programs, University of San Francisco In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 30th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veteran journalist Jonathan Karl has known and covered Donald J. Trump longer than any other White House reporter. And during that time, he has been praised, taunted and branded an enemy of the people by President Trump himself. So possibly nobody is in a better position to tell the story of the shocking final chapter of the Trump show than Karl. In his new book Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, Karl takes us behind the scenes of some of the darkest days in American history and shares what happened during the final weeks of the Trump presidency, the aftermath that followed, and what it means for the future of the Republican Party. SPEAKERS Jonathan Karl Chief White House Correspondent and Chief Washington Correspondent, ABC News; Author, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show; Twitter @jonkarl In Conversation with Martha Raddatz ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and Co-Anchor of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”; Twitter @MarthaRaddatz In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever have a difficult conversation about climate? Pretty much everyone has. Knowing all the facts and figures only goes so far when talking to someone who just doesn’t agree. So how do we break through the barriers? Scientists trained to present information in a one-way lecture format face a particular challenge: they first need to unlearn old habits. “Everybody's trying to figure out ‘how do we move past this idea that just arming people with facts will lead to a better world,’ right, because we’ve just seen that that’s absolutely not true,” says Faith Kearns, author of Getting to the Heart of Science Communication. Kearns argues that we all need to move from an “information deficit” model of communication – where it’s assumed that the audience simply needs more information – to a relational model, where the science communicator does as much listening as talking in order to first find empathy and common ground. Guests: Faith Kearns, author, Getting to the Heart of Science Communication Katerina Gonzales, doctoral research fellow, Stanford University Support our work: climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For more than 30 years, Michael Eric Dyson has played a prominent role in the nation as a public intellectual, university professor, cultural critic, social activist and ordained Baptist minister. He has presented a rich and resourceful set of ideas about American history and culture. Now, for the first time, he brings together the various components of his multihued identity and eclectic pursuits. Entertaining Race: Performing Blackness in America dives into how Black people were forced to entertain white people in slavery, have been forced to entertain the idea of race from the start, and must find entertaining ways to make race an object of national conversation. Most of this work will be new to readers, a fresh light for many of his long-time fans, and an inspiring introduction for newcomers. Join us as Michael Eric Dyson takes us through his new work, and offers insight into the role of African American culture in American culture. SPEAKERS Michael Eric Dyson Distinguished University Professor of African American & Diaspora Studies, College of Arts & Science, and of Ethics & Society, Divinity School, and NEH Centennial Chair at Vanderbilt University; Author, Entertaining Race: Performing Blackness in America In Conversation with Lauren Sanders Journalist In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Hearts and Minds—A QTAPI Community Conversation Series, Session Three: FTAPIs—The Personal and the Political. Join us for an intergenerational panel discussion of QTAPI (queer and trans Asian Pacific Islander) people discussing and sharing stories of their personal involvement in politics and community organizing. The Asian and the Pacific Islander communities are not monoliths unto themselves, so no program can possibly speak to the breadth of diversity and uniqueness in those communities. But we will explore certain moments in the panelists' own personal histories and lived experiences as they reflect on questions such as: What got them involved in API and/or LGBTQ issues? Was there a specific moment that moved you to become involved? Who were your mentors? How has your involvement changed from when you started? What is the most rewarding aspect of this work? And more. SPEAKERS James Coleman Member, South San Francisco City Council Valli Kalei Kanuha Ph.D., Teaching Professor and Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, University of Washington Sammie Ablaza Wills Community Organizer; Outgoing Executive Director, APIENC Willy Wilkinson M.P.H., Writer; Public Health Consultant; Cultural Competency Trainer; Author, Born on the Edge of Race and Gender: A Voice for Cultural Competency Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary C. Daly is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She returns to The Commonwealth Club for a much-anticipated discussion on how to approach monetary policy amidst the uncertainty of an economy still struggling to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since taking office in October 2018, Dr. Daly has committed to making the San Francisco Fed a more community-engaged bank that is transparent and responsive to the people it serves. She works to connect economic principles to real-world concerns and concentrates on monetary policy, labor economics, and increasing diversity within the economics field. Dr. Daly began her career with the San Francisco Fed in 1996 as an economist specializing in labor market dynamics and economic inequality. She went on to become the bank’s executive vice president and director of research. She currently serves on advisory boards for the Center for First-generation Student Success and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She has also served on the advisory boards of the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Rehabilitation Research and Training, the Institute of Medicine, and the Library of Congress. Dr. Daly earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a master’s degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. from Syracuse University. She also completed a National Institute of Aging post-doctoral fellowship at Northwestern University. A native of Ballwin, Missouri, Dr. Daly now lives in Oakland, California, with her wife Shelly. SPEAKERS Mary C. Daly President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Lenny Mendonca Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, Director of the Office of Business and Economic Development, State of California; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her new book, A Hole in the Clouds, Maryles Casto shares how, as part of the dramatic economic growth of Silicon Valley, she built her travel business from a $1,500 startup to a $200 million company, serving the needs of the tech industry. She describes how advice from key industry pioneers—such as Intel’s Andy Grove and Robert Noyce and V.C.s William Bowes and Irwin Federman—contributed to her perspective on business, and offers invaluable lessons on her strategies that helped the business to thrive despite being in an industry threatened by extinction. She describes how her business success then led her to champion community and cultural organizations. When Maryles Casto left her family’s sugar plantation in the Philippines in 1959 and moved to the United States as a new bride, she brought with her a love for travel and the stellar customer-service experience she’d gained as a flight attendant for Philippine Airlines. She never imagined she’d be building a business from scratch in an unfamiliar country. But when her husband went back to school, she needed to find a job. She founded Casto Travel soon after, a company she ran for more than four decades. Join us as Maryles Casto discusses the true story of how she transformed her life from unemployed flight attendant into the CEO of one of the most successful travel companies in the country, and of the many interesting characters she has met along the way! NOTES This program is part of The Commonwealth Club's Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS Maryles Casto Chairman and CEO, MVC Solutions; Author, A Hole in the Clouds: From Flight Attendant to Silicon Valley CEO In Conversation with Dr. Gloria Duffy President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club of California In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 15th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2015, delegates from 196 nations entered into the legally binding treaty on climate change known as the Paris Agreement, which set a goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2 and preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.” Yet in August of this year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new assessment report that starkly illustrated the world’s collective failure to meet that target. Delegates from across the globe have just met in Glasgow for the international climate summit known as COP26, with the hope of strengthening commitments to keep emissions targets at that 1.5 degree level. After two weeks of negotiations, presentations and protests in Glasgow, COP26 is a wrap. This week we discuss what was achieved - and what wasn’t - at the summit. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan climate activist Jiang Lin, Adjunct Professor, University of California Berkeley Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Support our work: climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our distinguished, diverse panel will discuss the Abraham Accords, which began a new era of cooperation between the broader Middle East region and Israel, and inspired the development of entities such as the Sharaka Project. (Sharaka means "partnership" in Arabic.). The project was founded by young leaders in order to turn the vision of people-to-people peace into a reality and encourage citizen diplomacy. Sharaka is currently located in Bahrain, Israel, The UAE, the United States and soon will open in Morocco. The panelists will also share their personal stories and cultures that inspire them. MLF ORGANIZER Celia Menczel NOTES MLF: Middle East SPEAKERS Omar Al Busaidi CEO, Sharaka USA, Fulbright Scholar Hayvi Bouzo Journalist; Washington, D.C., Bureau chief, The Orient News Dan Feferman Director of Communications and Global Affairs, Sharaka; Fellow, The Jewish People Policy Institute Chama Mechtaly Artist; Founder and CEO, Moors and Saints Banafsheh Keynoush Ph.D., Vice-Chair, Commonwealth Club Middle East Member-Led Forum—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For more than 25 years, Heidi Kuhn, at the helm of Roots of Peace, has been dedicated to cultivating peace and to helping rebuild war-torn countries by turning the scourge of land-mined areas into profitable agricultural land. For example, in Afghanistan, a country 80-percent dependent on an agricultural economy, her esteemed charity has removed millions of landmines and planted millions of trees and vines, which greatly benefits countless Afghan farmers and their families. Kuhn will also discuss her recent efforts to help her female employees emigrate and how after the ending of America's "forever" war and despite the unexpected, rapid Taliban takeover, Roots of Peace continues in Afghanistan. MLF ORGANIZER Celia Menczel NOTES MLF: Middle East, International Relations SPEAKERS Heidi Kuhn Humanitarian; Founder and CEO, Roots of Peace Atta Arghandiwal Former Refugee; Author Lost Decency: The Untold Afghan Story In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 9th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Black communities have a long and complicated relationship with American soil. The ongoing call to address systemic racism, patterns of abuse, violence and dispossession have brought back to the mainstream the conversation of BIPOC communities' historical connections to land. What are the connections between this history and current "food apartheid" (food deserts)? How is the Black farming movement connected to changes in larger food systems and the growth of worker cooperatives? How are people incorporating environmental sustainability into their work? And what can we learn from both the rich history of resistance and current strategies to inform how we resource a world where all people have access to healthy, fresh and locally sourced food? Join the San Francisco Foundation and The Commonwealth Club of California as Doria Robinson, executive director of Urban Tilth, and Andrea Talley, worker-owner of the Mandela Grocery Cooperative, explore multiple issues and interconnections that surround farming and food access for BIPOC communities. In conversation with Natalie Baszile, noted author of Queen Sugar and We Are Each Other’s Harvest. SPEAKERS Doria Robinson Executive Director, Urban Tilth Andrea Talley Worker-Owner, Mandela Grocery Cooperative Natalie Baszile Author, Queen Sugar and We Are Each Other's Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Corporate America and our government both hold the power to shape our daily lives. However, Alex Ross says recently there seems to be a blur between big business and Congress in the “new Gilded Age”. Private companies have become as powerful as countries, leading many to wonder about the implications for everyday people. In the face of unprecedented global change, New York Times bestselling author Alec Ross proposes a new social contract to restore the balance of power between government, citizens and business in The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People—and the Fight for Our Future.Through interviews with the world’s most influential thinkers and stories of corporate activism and malfeasance, government failure and renewal, and innovative economic and political models, Ross proposes a new social contract―one that resets the equilibrium between corporations, the governing, and the governed. Join us as Alec Ross takes us through the changing landscape of the relationship between big business, government and people. SPEAKERS Alec Ross Distinguished Visiting Professor, The University of Bologna Business School; Former Senior Advisor for Innovation to the U.S. Secretary of State; Author, The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People—and the Fight for Our Future In Conversation with DJ Patil Former U.S. Chief Data Scientist; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, Americans have been engaged in a vast discussion on the state of race in America. Like many topics in the country, the issue has become a divisive, tense debate about how the country faces its racist past, the meaning of systemic racism, the role of critical race theory in K–12 schools and universities, and what it means to be "anti-racist" during this challenging moment in American civic life. Renowned linguist and award-winning writer John McWhorter feels this debate and discussion has been dominated by a "woke mob" that subscribes to theories that are illogical, unreachable and, ultimately, racist in their impact, however unintentional those effects may be. In his book Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, McWhorter argues that an "illiberal neoracism," disguised as antiracism, is hurting Black communities and weakening the American social fabric. In Woke Racism, McWhorter reveals the workings of this new progressive approach toward race, from the original sin of “white privilege” to the weaponization of cancel culture to ban heretics. His book sets out to show how efforts that claim to “dismantle racist structures” are actually harming his fellow Black Americans by infantilizing Black people, setting Black students up for failure, and passing policies that disproportionately damage Black communities. Some may call it “antiracism,” but to McWhorter, it features a racial essentialism that’s barely distinguishable from racist arguments of the past. Please join us for an important discussion on the limits of antiracism with an increasingly visible writer who has a different roadmap to justice that he believes will help, not hurt, Black America. SPEAKERS John McWhorter Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; Author, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America Debra J. Saunders Fellow, Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership; Columnist, Creators Syndicate—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 2nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2015, renowned writer Sam Quinones woke up many Americans to the dangers of the opioid epidemic with his award-winning book Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic. In his new book, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, Quinones follows up Dreamland with an exploration of the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic, and the stories of individuals and communities that have fought back. Quinones was among the first journalists to capture the true danger presented by synthetic drugs. In fentanyl, traffickers landed a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine, and laced it into cocaine, meth, and counterfeit pills, causing tens of thousands of deaths—at the same time as Mexican traffickers made methamphetamine cheaper and more potent than ever. Combined, these new synthetic drugs wrecked communities across the country, particularly rural areas, led to a surge of mental illness concerns, and fed a growing homelessness problem throughout the United States. Quinones explores these issues and more. At a time of great despair because of multiple drug epidemics, Quinones also finds sources of hope, in communities fighting back against rampant synthetic drug issues and helping individuals repair their lives. Quinones concludes that the nation has forsaken “what has made America great” and that “when drug traffickers act like corporations and corporations like drug traffickers, our best defense, perhaps our only defense, lies in bolstering community.” Please join us for an important conversation on one of the country's most challenging problems, and what we all can do to rise to the challenge. SPEAKERS Sam Quinones Journalist; Author, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth April Dembosky Health Correspondent, KQED—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a conversation with Jay Caspian Kang, who draws on a combination of family history and original reporting to explore—and reimagine—Asian American identity in a Black and white world. In 1965, a new immigration law lifted a century of restrictions against Asian immigrants to the United States. Nobody, including the lawmakers who passed the bill, expected it to transform the country’s demographics. But over the next four decades, millions arrived, including Jay Caspian Kang’s parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. The Loneliest Americans is the unforgettable story of Kang and his family as they move from a housing project in Cambridge to an idyllic college town in the South and eventually to the West Coast. Their story unfolds against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding Asian America, as millions more immigrants, many of them working-class or undocumented, stream into the country. At the same time, upwardly mobile urban professionals have struggled to reconcile their parents’ assimilationist goals with membership in a multicultural elite—all while trying to carve out a new kind of belonging for their own children. Kang recognizes this existential loneliness in himself and in other Asian Americans who try to locate themselves in what he calls the country’s racial binary. There are the businessmen turning Flushing into a center of immigrant wealth; the casualties of the Los Angeles riots; the impoverished parents in New York City who believe that admission to the city’s exam schools is the only way out; the men’s right’s activists on Reddit ranting about intermarriage; and the handful of protesters who show up at Black Lives Matter rallies holding “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power” signs. Kang ties these various strands together amid a wave of anti-Asian violence and he adds his call for a new form of immigrant solidarity—one rooted not in bubble tea and elite college admissions but in the struggles of refugees and the working class. About the Speaker Jay Caspian Kang is a writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine. His other work has appeared in The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker, and on "This American Life" and "Vice," where he worked as an Emmy-nominated correspondent. He is the author of the novel The Dead Do Not Improve, which The Boston Globe called “an extremely smart, funny debut, with moments of haunting beauty.” NOTES This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS Jay Caspian Kang Writer-at-Large, The New York Times Magazine; Author, The Loneliest Americans Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-Host John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Within months of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, public health systems in the United States (and around the world) were stretched to the brink of destruction. The virus infected millions, killed hundreds of thousands, and effectively made the country stand still. Nineteen months later, the pandemic continues. Yet America was already in poor health before COVID-19 appeared. The country's failure to address many issues—marginalization and socioeconomic inequality among them—left the United States vulnerable to COVID-19 and the ensuing global health crisis it became. Sandro Galea's new book, The Contagion Next Time, describes the foundational forces shaping health in our society and how we can strengthen them to prevent the next outbreak from becoming a pandemic. Had the country tackled these challenges 20 years ago, after the outbreak of SARS, perhaps COVID-19 could have been quickly contained. Instead, we allowed our systems to deteriorate. Galea, as he did in his previous book, Well, challenges all of us to tackle the deep-rooted obstacles preventing us from becoming a truly vibrant and equitable nation, and reminds us at this critical time that a country's health is a public good worth protecting as much as the country's physical infrastructure. Please join us for this important public health conversation. SPEAKERS Dr. Sandro Galea Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, Boston University School of Public Health Mark Zitter Chair, The Zetema Project—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Ridgeway estimates he’s spent about five years of his life sleeping in tents, often in the world’s most remote places alongside fellow outdoor adventure luminaries. Ridgeway worked for Patagonia for 15 years and was behind the company’s infamous “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad campaign, which paradoxically advocated sustainability and increased sales. Outdoor companies like Patagonia may push for sustainability, but they largely still present a mostly white, wealthy experience with nature, which can be off-putting for people of color. “You know if you can't see yourself in those spaces then it’s hard to feel invited or welcome in that movement,” says writer and social justice facilitator Amanda Machado. What is the role of corporations in conservation? And how can the outdoor industry help make nature more safe, accessible and welcoming for all? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Rick Ridgeway, former Vice President of Public Engagement, Patagonia Amanda Machado, writer and social justice facilitator Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Building upon decades of work, the field of psychiatry stands at the precipice of a new era as advancements in neuroscience and population health are being successfully applied to the treatment of mental health disorders. From personalized brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression to the use of technology to bring care to historically underserved groups, a wave of innovations is revolutionizing how mental health care is delivered in the Bay Area and around the globe. A panel of clinical and research experts from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences will discuss their efforts to transform our understanding and treatment of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, eating disorders, autism and substance use disorders. Part of The Commonwealth Club’s series on mental health, dedicated in memory of Nancy Friend Pritzker, with support from the John Pritzker Family Fund. SPEAKERS Christopher Bartley M.D., Ph.D., Adjunct Instructor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF; Hannah H. Grey Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Andrew Moses Lee M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Adjunct professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Katherine Scangos M.D., Ph.D., Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Fumi Mitsuishi M.D., M.S., Health sciences associate clinical professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Director, Citywide Case Management, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Department of Psychiatry Andrew Krystal M.D., M.S., Ray and Dagmar Dolby Distinguished Professor, Vice Chair, Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Professor in residence, UCSF Department of Neurology. Director, UCSF Dolby Family Center for Mood Disorders—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 5th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From his first day at West Point to his years of deployment in Afghanistan, retired four-star U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal is no stranger to the deadly risks of combat. Throughout his illustrious career and efforts helping business leaders navigate a global pandemic, General McChrystal has seen how individuals and organizations have failed to mitigate risk by focusing solely on the probability of something happening as opposed to the interface by which it can be managed. In his new book, Risk: A User’s Guide, McChrystal and co-author Anna Butrico offer a battle-tested system for detecting and responding to risk. This book offers an alternative way of maintaining a healthy "risk immune system" that involves monitoring 10 different dimensions of control the authors say can be adjusted at any time to effectively anticipate, identify, analyze and act upon the ever-present possibility that things will not go as planned. Join us as General McChrystal reveals an entirely new way to understand risk and master the unknown. SPEAKERS General Stanley McChrystal Retired Army General; Author, Risk: A User’s Guide; Twitter @StanMcChrystal In Conversation with Dan Ashley Co-Anchor, ABC 7 News; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @DanAshleyABC7 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 24th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is no version of America’s past, present or future that does not involve the Latinx community. As the second-largest ethnic group, the Latinx community has played a fundamental role in shaping our culture, our elections and our society. And yet, as Nuestra America Fund (NAF) founder Diana Campoamor argues, time and time again this community is undermined, their contributions are pushed to the wayside, and their voices are consistently hushed. Campoamor’s book, If We Want to Win: A Latine Vision for a New American Democracy, is a pushback against such silencing. Twenty Latinx visionaries from diverse causes come together in its pages to share their stories of growth, resilience and revolution. With a diversity of knowledge ranging from environmental justice to philanthropy, these stories cover a wealth of lived experiences. From this they mastermind a future in which harmful stereotypes are replaced with nuanced understandings of the community's diversity and their accurate portrayal sets the tone for a more representative and just democracy. At INFORUM, Campoamor will be in conversation with a panel of experts to recount their own stories of growing up in the Latinx community and validate the experiences of the community at large. With this shared wisdom on their side, they will reiterate the bounty to come from a more just future in which the Latinx community is accredited, vindicated, and cherished. SPEAKERS Diana Campoamor Founder, Nuestra America Fund (NAF); Editor, If We Want to Win: A Latine Vision for a New American Democracy Ana Marie Argilagos President and CEO, Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) Alexandra Aquino-Fike Vice President of Development, East Bay Community Foundation Chris Cardona Senior Program Officer for Philanthropy, Ford Foundation—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 3rd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ReGeneration has two meanings: It refers to regenerating life on earth, and it refers to a new generation of humans coming together to reverse global warming. Join Paul Hawken as he demonstrates, through his new work, a response to the urgency of the warming crisis with optimism and joy. You will come away with your own sense of purpose and next actions for renewal. SPEAKERS Paul Hawken Environmentalist; Author, Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation Elizabeth Carney Entrepreneur; Chair, Business and Leadership Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded Live on November 3rd, 2021 at the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a medical panel discussion about where we are in the COVID pandemic. What progress has been made? What failures have contributed most to making recovery so complicated? How do we, and should we, accelerate the vaccination programs in other countries? Do we have a realistic exit strategy? Or will we be living with COVID for the foreseeable future? And does that mean that the distrust in medical authorities and governments that the pandemic has exacerbated will prove to be a socially intractable problem for decades to come? The 11th Annual Lundberg Institute Lecture will once again deal with the major medical issue of our time, asking the questions that need to be answered if we are to find our way forward successfully. Join us in person in San Francisco, or by livestream, to ask your questions too. NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Dr. Leana Wen M.D., Emergency Physician; Visiting Prof. of Health Policy & Mgmt., Milken School of Public Health, George Washington U.; Fmr. Commissioner of Health, Baltimore City; TED MED Speaker; Author, Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health Dr. George Lundberg M.D., Editor in Chief, Cancer Commons; Editor at Large, Medscape; Executive Adviser, Cureus; Clinical Professor of Pathology, Northwestern University; President and Chair, The Lundberg Institute Dr. Susan Levenstein M.D., Primary Care Internist; Blogger, "Stethoscope On Rome"; Author, Dottoressa: An American Doctor in Rome George Hammond Author, Conversations with Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sebastian Junger returns, in person, to The Commonwealth Club to discuss the ideas in his latest book, Freedom. Throughout history, he says, humans have been driven by the quest for two cherished ideals: community and freedom. The two don’t coexist easily. We value individuality and self-reliance, yet are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. Junger examines that tension—which lies at the heart of what it means to be human. For much of a year, Junger and three friends—a conflict photographer and two Afghan War vets—walked the railroad lines of the East Coast. It was an experiment in personal autonomy, but also in interdependence. Dodging railroad cops, sleeping under bridges, cooking over fires, and drinking from creeks and rivers, the four men forged a unique reliance on one another. Junger weaves his account of this journey together with related digressions on primatology and boxing strategy, the history of labor strikes and Apache raiders, the role of women in resistance movements, and the brutal reality of life on the Pennsylvania frontier. Written in exquisite, razor-sharp prose, Freedom is a nuanced examination of the primary desire that defines us. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Sebastian Junger Author; Co-Director, Restrepo; Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair; Author, Freedom In Conversation with George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the latest IPCC Assessment Report, we’re currently on course for at least 3°C (5.4°F) of warming by 2100 even if all of the voluntary Paris Agreement emissions pledges are fulfilled. Clearly the world needs to do more to reduce emissions. But what if that’s still not enough? Solar geoengineering – such as putting sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of the sun’s heat from reaching the earth – could be one tool to slow warming temporarily. But it has become so politically fraught that even research into the subject is contentious. Who decides who should control our atmosphere? And what global governance structures should be put in place before any experimentation begins? This program is generously underwritten in part by the Laney and Pasha Thornton Foundation. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Janos Pasztor, Executive Director, Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative, former Assistant Secretary General, United Nations Sheila Jasanoff, Professor of science and technology studies, Harvard Kennedy School Albert Lin, Professor, University of California Davis School of Law David Keith, Professor of applied physics and public policy, Harvard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alyssa Milano’s renowned career is characterized by one success after another. If you don’t know her from one of her many TV or movie roles since her debut at age seven, then it's undoubtedly her activism in politics and the #MeToo movement that has put her on the radar. Milano’s life — being raised in the limelight of celebrity and being in the rooms others dream of — has given her unmatched insight into parts unknown. At the same time Milano is a wife, a mother of two (plus many animals), and has strived to maintain a sense of normalcy despite her powerful, star-turned-humanitarian persona. From within this unique well of knowledge comes Milano’s new book Sorry Not Sorry, a series of both unimaginable and wildly relatable tales from a life’s worth of playing many roles, including herself. At INFORUM, Milano will give an insider peek into the head that wears many hats — sharing relationship advice, tales borne from stardom, and a generous dose of humor. Sincere, striking and welcomingly blunt, Milano’s stories are sure to charm time and time again. SPEAKERS Alyssa Milano Actor; Activist; Author, Sorry Not Sorry Amber Tamblyn Actor; Director; Author; Founder & Global Leadership Board Member, Time's Up Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 28th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is only one room that bears witness to marriages, divorces, adoptions, and criminal proceedings—the courtroom. Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell has sat in this room and dedicated nearly five decades of her life to putting justice back into the justice system. As the first African American female judge to serve on the Superior Court in northern California and a trailblazer in many other respects, her years on the bench have put her, in the most literal terms, front and center to the societal microcosm that is the courtroom. In her debut book Her Honor: My Life on the Bench . . . What Works, What's Broken, and How to Change It, Judge Cordell gives an inside look into a judge's chamber. She shares real stories of the trials and tribulations involved in making life-changing, sometimes life-or-death decisions. Further, she presents hard-earned knowledge on the cracks in the system and how we can repair them with institutional accountability and equitable reconfigurations. At INFORUM Judge Cordell will detail a career that has been steadfast and powerful in its advancement of LGBTQ+ rights, police accountability, and elevating of BIPOC communities. She will draw on stories both heartwarming and painful to shed light on the good and bad in a system that she says should, must, and will serve all. This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS LaDoris Cordell Judge (Ret); Author, Her Honor: My Life on the Bench...What Works, What's Broken, and How to Change It In Conversation with Lara Bazelon Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinical Programs, University of San Francisco In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded live in San Francisco on October 27th, 2021 at the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many families don’t expect that dementia will be a factor in financial decisions, but it is more common than we think. The challenge is that people can start having trouble managing their finances years before being diagnosed with dementia. Our expert panel delves into this subject so you will recognize when a loved one's capacity is declining and what to do about it. They will explain a dementia diagnosis, the implications of this condition on our planning abilities, and suggestions on how to create an advance directive with this outcome in mind. They will also discuss how families can navigate their financial matters, with their advisors, if faced with the unexpected issues of dementia. They will share some examples of the best practices of individuals and families who successfully prepare for the possibility of dementia, and share some pitfalls of not planning ahead for this increasingly common experience. The concept of having or losing the capacity for financial decision-making is vague to most people. Yet it is understandable when you know the legal components of financial capacity. The concept of preparing for a loss of capacity can be a scary thing to face. Yet it can be comforting to learn the definite ways to manage your financial affairs, so they can be handled in your best interests and in line with your values and expectations. SPEAKERS Catherine A. Madison M.D., Founding Director, Ray Dolby Brain Health Center, California Pacific Medical Center Gretchen Hollstein CFP, Senior Wealth Advisor and Managing Director, Litman Gregory Wealth Management Natalie Oh CLU, Insurance Professional, Taran Insurance Advisory Denise Michaud Chair, Grownups Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 27th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dubbed the social justice manifesto, Until I Am Free, by author Keisha N. Blain, is a unique opportunity to hear about life from the perspective of a working, impoverished and disabled Black woman. Blain, an award-winning historian, details the life and accomplishments of Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights activist too often forgotten in the narrative of racial justice. Defying the layers of marginalization that threatened to hush her powerful words, Hamer is held by Blain in the same esteem as her contemporaries Rosa Parks and MLK. Through Blain, Hamer’s message is given new life in an age where the same issues remain pertinent. At INFORUM Blain will peel back the layers of Fannie Lou Hamer—layers that ostensibly would have taken power away from her but instead became the very source from which she drew it. This conversation will be moderated by Aimee Allison, founder and president of She the People. SPEAKERS Keisha N. Blain Ph.D., Historian; Associate Professor of History, University of Pittsburgh; President, African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS); Author, Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America Aimee Allison Founder and President, She the People—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With dazzling illustrations, sumptuous recipes, and its own curated playlist, Bryant Terry’s sixth book, Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora, is a feast for the senses. Terry, a renowned vegan culinary innovator, returns to dive into the depth and breadth of Black foodways spanning nations and time. Black Food celebrates both the creations and creators, pairing heartwarming stories of generational traditions with the soul-filling foods at the center of them. From tropical Afro-Caribbean dishes like jerk chicken to beloved Nigerian jollof rice and further on to southern sweet potato pie, this book is an ode to the African diaspora’s influence on food and culture. At INFORUM, Bryant Terry will share the stories, people, places and ingredients that make Black food the diverse and divine cuisine it is today. SPEAKERS Bryant Terry Chef; Author, Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora Anjali Menon Vice President, IfOnly; Member, INFORUM Advisory Board In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 20th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices