Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

When Americans think about Mexico, many things may come to mind—complexities around immigration, perhaps, or travel involving beaches and food. Technology and innovation are probably not on that list, but increasingly a new reality is taking hold across Mexico: a growing technology and innovation sector with strong links to Silicon Valley and Bay Area investors, entrepreneurs and companies. Mexico’s young venture capital industry is growing rapidly. From $55 million in 2010, annual investment has grown to more than $1 billion. Softbank’s $5 billion Innovation Fund, created several years ago to invest in Latin America, was a turning point that put Mexico on the global venture map. Now the country boasts unicorns and fast-growing startups. More are on the way, supported by universities, accelerators and by large tech and startup conferences in cities such as Guadalajara and Monterrey. The roots of Mexico’s economic and cultural ties with the Bay Area run exceptionally deep, dating to Spain’s settlement of California during the 1700s. Linked by history, culture and family, the two economies have grown in parallel but on very different paths. A turning point came in 1994 with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which stimulated a wave of investment in manufacturing by U.S. and California companies in Mexico. More recently, a small but rapidly growing technology and innovation revolution has been taking place south of the border. Please join us to learn more about the growing ties between Silicon Valley and the Bay Area and Mexico's growing technology and innovation sectors. This program is based on the new Bay Area Council Economic Institute report, "Southern Connection: Innovation Clusters in Mexico and the Bridge to Silicon Valley." SPEAKERS Remedios Gómez Arnau Cónsul General, Consulado General de México en San Francisco Andy Tsao Managing Director, Silicon Valley Bank Lynne Bairstow Managing Partner, MITA Ventures Maritza Diaz CEO, ITJuana Sean Randolph Senior Director, Bay Area Economic Institute--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 September 21st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our distinguished panelists will give an overview of the present situation in Afghanistan following U.S. withdrawal and how quickly the Taliban took power. They will also explore how we might help our Afghan allies and others fleeing to the United States. Humaira Ghilzai, who instituted the Sister City relationship between Hayward, CA and Ghazni, Afghanistan, is a dedicated woman's advocate and Afghan cultural advisor. She will talk about how we might help Afghan women threatened with the loss of rights and freedoms. Ami Dodson is a JFCS East Bay volunteer services manager who has been helping to to resettle Afghan refugees in the SF Bay Area. JCSF works with HIAS, a global Jewish nonprofit, which protects and assists refugees of all faiths and ethnicities. Steve Miska was a White House director for Iraq on the National Security Council, and during combat tours, he led a team that created an underground railroad from Baghdad to the United States for military interpreters. MLF ORGANIZER Celia Menczel NOTES MLF: Middle East SPEAKERS Ami Dodson JFCS East Bay (Jewish Family and Community Services) Humaira Ghilzai Co-founder, Afghan Friends Network Steve Miska Colonel (ret.), U.S. Army; Author, Baghdad Underground Railroad Atta Arghandiwal Former Refugee; Humanitarian; Author, Lost Decency: The Untold Afghan Story—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 September 20th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a conversation with cosmologist Stephon Alexander, who argues that great physics requires one to think outside the mainstream—to improvise and to rely on intuition. His approach has led him to three principles that shape all theories of the universe: the principle of invariance, the quantum principle, and the principle of emergence. Alexander uses these three principles to explore some of physics' greatest mysteries, from what happened before the Big Bang to how the universe makes consciousness possible. Drawing on his experience as a Black physicist, Alexander makes a powerful case for diversifying our scientific communities because—after successfully incorporating a piece of life-changing advice that, in order to discover real physics, he needed to stop memorizing and start taking risks—Alexander has concluded that making further progress in physics probably requires embracing the excluded, listening to the unheard, and being unafraid of being wrong. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Stephon Alexander Professor of Physics, Brown University; Jazz Musician; Author, Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider's Guide to the Future of Physics 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 September 24th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed structural weaknesses and inequities that existed long before 2020. Like COVID-19, climate change is another “threat multiplier,” with the power to disrupt many of our social systems. In her new book, The Fight for Climate After COVID-19, Alice Hill says we need to adapt our thinking and our policies to combat the ever-increasing threat of climate change. Especially when we see more compound disasters – like a wildfire followed by a mudslide. “We need to come together to understand the risks, understand the vulnerabilities and then start making decisions with the support and the aid of the federal government to have better outcomes,” Hill says. What changes can we make now to better prepare for future risks and climate disasters? Guests: Alice Hill, author, The Fight for Climate After COVID-19, Senior Fellow for Climate Change Policy, Council on Foreign Relations Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Thomas P. Bostick, Former Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Francis Suarez, Mayor of Miami Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now making appearances on the film festival circuit, "Boy Culture: The Series" is a follow-up to the 2006's Boy Culture—the movie of the novel by the same name first published in the mid-1990s. In six brand-new 15-minute episodes, the series tells the story of X, portrayed by Derek Magyar, his roommate Andrew (Darryl Stephens), and their struggles. Join us for an exclusive conversation with Matthew Rettenmund, author of the book and the series, for a look at tackling controversial topics, filmmaking during a pandemic, his career as an LGBTQ author, crowdfunding a budget, and much more. Besides Boy Culture, Rettenmund is the author of Encyclopedia Madonnica, Blind Items: A (Love) Story and MLVC 60. He has forgotten more information about Madonna than most of us will ever know. He was also the founder and longtime editor of Popstar! magazine, and he blogs regularly at boyculture.com. Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language. SPEAKERS Matthew Rettenmund Author, Boy Culture, Blind Items & Encyclopedia Madonnica 20; Blogger, Boyculture.com; Twitter @mattrett John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host 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 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 September 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize-winner George F. Will has been one of this country’s leading columnists since 1974 and, as The Wall Street Journal once called him, “perhaps the most powerful journalist in America.” In his new collection titled American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent, 2008–2020, Will offers an in-depth account of a remarkably chaotic 13 years in our nation’s experience through his analysis of an impressively vast array of topics. In this stirring examination, George Will reveals the ways in which expertise, reason and manners are continually under attack in our institutions, courts, political arenas and social venues. Will covers topics including his perspective on American socialists, anti-capitalist conservatives, drug policy, the criminal justice system, climatology and the coronavirus. Join us as we delve into this stunning account of American politics and culture from one of the preeminent columnists and intellectuals of our time. SPEAKERS George F. Will Columnist, The Washington Post; Author, American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent, 2008-2020 In Conversation with Jonathan V. Last Editor, The Bulwark 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 September 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Film and television director Barry Sonnenfeld has outrageous and hilarious stories to tell—from his idiosyncratic upbringing in New York City to his breaking into film as a cinematographer with the Coen brothers to his unexpected career as the director behind such huge film franchises as The Addams Family and Men in Black and beloved work such as Get Shorty, Pushing Daises and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Barry Sonnenfeld's philosophy is, "Regret the Past. Fear the Present. Dread the Future." Will Smith once joked that he wanted to take Sonnenfeld to Philadelphia public schools and say, "If this guy could end up as a successful film director on big budget films, anyone can." Come for an engaging conversation that will inspire anyone who thinks they can't succeed in life because of a rough beginning. SPEAKERS Barry Sonnenfeld Director, Men in Black, Addams Family, Get Shorty; Author, Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker In Conversation with John Boland President Emeritus, KQED; 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 July 21st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book Say It Loud, acclaimed Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy chronicles his reactions over the past quarter-century to arguments, events and people that have compelled him to put pen to paper. Three beliefs that are sometimes in tension with one another infuse these pages. First, Professor Kennedy says a massive amount of cruel racial injustice continues to beset the United States, an ugly reality that Kennedy says has become alarmingly obvious with the ascendancy of Donald J. Trump and the various political, cultural and social pathologies that he and many of his followers display and reinforce. Second, Kennedy observes there is much about which to be inspired when surveying the African American journey from slavery to freedom to engagement in practically every aspect of life in the United States. Third, he says an openness to complexity, paradox and irony should attend any serious investigation of human affairs. Join a compelling conversation with this acclaimed legal scholar and public intellectual about what the past 25 years tell us about the future of race relations in America. SPEAKERS Randall Kennedy Michael R. Klein Professor, Harvard Law School; Author, Say It Loud In Conversation with Sheryl Davis Executive Director, San Francisco Human Rights Commission 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 September 15th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prior to the COVID–19 pandemic, many cities, particularly in the United States, were experiencing somewhat of a renaissance. Population was increasing, abandoned areas were being redeveloped into walkable neighborhoods, crime was dropping, and public spaces were engaging both a new generation of citizens and an older cohort who had moved to cities for the first time. In many ways, cities were fulfilling the vision of renowned urban economist Edward Glaeser as places that were the healthiest, greenest and richest (in both cultural and economic terms) places to live, and as areas that were rich in creativity and innovation. The 18 months since March 2020 have tremendously challenged this rosy view of cities, and today cities like San Francisco stand at an unexpected crossroads. During the global coronavirus crisis, cities grew silent as many office workers worked from home—if they could work at all. The normal forms of socializing ground to a halt. Theaters and restaurants were quiet, and cultural arts organizations scaled back public programming. Things were supposed to return to normal for cities this fall, but the delta variant of the coronavirus has raised new questions about urban life: How permanent are these changes? Advances in digital technology mean that many people can opt out of city life as never before. Will they? Are we on the brink of an unexpected, post-urban world? In their new book, Glaeser and his Harvard colleague David Cutler explore the future of cities. Though they believe city life will survive overall, individual cities face terrible risks, and a wave of urban failure could pose a threat not only to urban residents of particular cities but to all of those who rely on them. Glaeser and Cutler examine the evolution that is under way and describe the possible urban futures that lie before us: What will distinguish the cities that will flourish once again from the ones that won’t? The authors discuss San Francisco in the book and how COVID-19 allowed for wealthy citizens to flee the city in search of more space to do remote work. Please join us for an important conversation on the future of cities, and what it means for the future of the country. SPEAKERS Edward Glaeser Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University; Co-author, Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation David Cutler Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, Harvard University. Co-author, Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation Alicia John-Baptiste President and CEO, SPUR—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 September 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transforming your life can be easier than you think. In his New York Times best selling book, Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything, a world-renowned expert on habit formation shares his groundbreaking methods for the first time in print. A behavior scientist at Stanford University, BJ Fogg combines his academic research with his massive real-world experience (he has personally coached more than 40,000 people) to create a book full of new insights about how he says behavior really works. With true stories and concise examples, Fogg shares his systematic approach to design for lasting change using his simple and effective methods, including his trademarked Tiny Habits Method. No willpower required. You might be pleasantly surprised to learn about a major theme in this book: People change best by feeling good, not by feeling bad. In this talk, Fogg will explain how to tap into the precise emotion that will build new habits and ultimately transform your life. A lively speaker and an award-winning teacher, Fogg’s playful approach will surprise you—in the best way. You’ll discover why this landmark book is on so many reading lists. MLF ORGANIZER Patty James NOTES MLF: Health & Medicine SPEAKERS Dr. BJ Fogg Ph.D., Behavior Scientist; Director of Research and innovation, Behavior Design Lab, Stanford University Patty James Chair, Health & Medicine Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club—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 September 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On August 27, 2010, three CIA officers met with then-CIA Director Leon Panetta. Their secret session revealed a courier with deep Al Qaeda ties who had been tracked to a three-story, heavily protected fortress at the end of a dead end street in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Without ever having to say the name bin Laden, there exists a mutual understanding that finally, after nearly a decade, they may have just found the world’s most wanted man. In Countdown bin Laden, celebrated journalist and anchor of "Fox News Sunday" Chris Wallace delivers a thrilling account of the final 8 months of intelligence gathering, national security strategizing, and meticulous military planning that leads to the climactic mission when SEAL Team Six closes in on its target. Wallace reveals new information collected from in-depth interviews with more than a dozen central figures—including Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and the special operator who killed bin Laden. Personal accounts from families who fell victim to 9/11 and relatives of SEAL Team Six are brought to life in Wallace’s narrative, published on the 20th anniversary of the most consequential terrorist attack in American history. Join us as Chris Wallace brings us fresh reporting about the race to apprehend and bring to justice the architect of 9/11. SPEAKERS Chris Wallace Anchor, "Fox News Sunday"; Author, Countdown bin Laden: The Untold Story of the 247-Day Hunt to Bring the Mastermind of 9/11 to Justice In Conversation with Kirk Hanson Senior Fellow and Former Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University 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 September 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed millions, infected hundreds of millions, and laid bare the deep vulnerabilities and inequalities of our interconnected world. The ensuing economic collapse was the worst since the Great Depression, undoing more than two decades of progress in reducing extreme poverty. Tensions between the United States and China boiled over, and the worldwide contest between democracy and authoritarianism deepened. At a time when this global crisis required a truly collective response, international cooperation had almost entirely broken down, with key world leaders hardly on speaking terms. In Thomas Wright and Colin Kahl’s Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order, the two national security experts offer a definitive account of the global impact of COVID-19, the political shock waves it will have on the United States, and myriad ways in which the crisis exposed the limitations of the old world order. This comprehensive account of the year 2020 draws on interviews with officials around the world and extensive research to tell the story of how nationalism and major power rivalries constrained the response to the worst pandemic in a century. Co-author Thomas Wright is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He has written several extensively researched pieces analyzing Donald Trump’s foreign policy. Join us as Thomas Wright delves into his latest analysis of one of the strangest and most consequential years on record. SPEAKERS Thomas Wright Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Co-author, Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order In Conversation with Edward Luce Associate Editor, Financial Times 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 September 13th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a revolutionary new vision of human biology and the scientific breakthroughs that will transform our lives. Professor Daniel M. Davis shows how radical new possibilities are becoming realities thanks to the visionary efforts of scientists who are revealing the invisible and secret universe within each of us. Focusing on six important frontiers, Davis describes what we are learning about cells, the development of the fetus, the body's immune system, the brain, the microbiome, and the genome — areas of human biology that are usually understood in isolation. Bringing them together, Davis offers a new vision of the human body as a biological wonder of dizzying complexity and possibility. SPEAKERS Daniel M. Davis Ph.D., Professor of Immunology, University of Manchester (UK); Author, The Secret Body. How the New Science of The Human Body Is Changing the Way We Live; The Beautiful Cure and The Compatibility Gene Robert Lee Kilpatrick Ph.D., Chair, Health & Medicine Member-Led Forum, 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 September 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This September marks the 50th anniversary of the seminal work Diet for a Small Planet, in which Frances Moore Lappé argued that cattle constitute “a protein factory in reverse.” Lappé’s book inspired countless people to adopt vegetarian diets for environmental reasons. But in the last 50 years the industrial food systems in America have only grown bigger and more concentrated, and – as the Lappés would argue – more powerful. Together with her daughter Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Hot Planet, the two now focus on the intersections between democracy, environment, food, and justice. “It's really important that we understand that in order to change our food environment, we need to really work to get money out of politics, and we really need to work on how to take on that kind of consolidated power in the industry,” Anna Lappé says. Guests: Frances Moore Lappé, author, Diet for a Small Planet Anna Lappé, author, Diet for a Hot Planet Analena Hope Hassberg, Associate Professor, Ethnic and Women's Studies Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Ruth Richardson, Executive Director, Global Alliance for the Future of Food Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COVID-19 has disrupted many of our lives, with impacts ranging from job loss to housing changes, physical health issues to mental health challenges. At the same time, drug use has increased since the pandemic first struck and has deeply affected many LGBTQ people. Join us for an important discussion on the impact of drugs and the search for healthy ways of coping with the pandemic and life's other challenges. SPEAKERS Kristen Marshall Associate Director of San Francisco Programs, National Harm Reduction Coalition Wayne Rafus Manager of Contingency Management, 6th Street Harm Reduction Center Sister Roma Member, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; Entertainer; Activist Juniper Yun Artist, Director of Cultural Affairs, The Transgender District in San Francisco Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW 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 September 9th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan had near-unanimous public support at the time. Their goals were straightforward: defeat Al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. But after the Taliban was ousted from power, U.S. officials lost sight of their original objectives as the military became mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock brings us The Afghanistan Papers, which, similarly to the Pentagon Papers after Vietnam, contains startling revelations from people who played a direct role in the war, certain to change the public’s understanding of the conflict. From leaders in the White House and Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines, many are candidly admitting that the U.S. government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stronghold over their allies in the Afghan government. Whitlock’s account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the U.S. government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground—all upheld by three presidents unwilling to admit failure. Join us for this timely event with Craig Whitlock as he reveals the alarming truth behind the longest war in American history, forcing us to reckon with what went so horribly wrong in Afghanistan. SPEAKERS Craig Whitlock Investigative Reporter, The Washington Post; Author The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War 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 September 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Americans today face a deeply divided nation beset with political dysfunction. It is here in the United States where identity is questioned, equality is fought for, and history is debated. How can we face the past and simultaneously envision a new future? In her new book Renewal, lawyer and foreign policy analyst Anne-Marie Slaughter encourages self-reflection and growth to change the way individuals and institutions lead and learn. Slaughter’s years of government service, particularly as the former director of policy planning for the U.S. Department of State, has prepared her for understanding how identity and values shape the crisis America now faces. Through personal reflections and insights on the latest research in the social sciences, Slaughter will explain how to understand how our country must accept its past, renew, and face the future. Renewal highlights a story of crisis and change that can help us find renewed honesty and purpose in our personal and political lives. Join us as Anne-Marie Slaughter offers honesty and hope in this essential reading for change makers of tomorrow. SPEAKERS Anne-Marie Slaughter CEO, New America; Author, Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in Our Lives, Work, and Politics In Conversation with Lenny Mendonca Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, State of California; Director Emeritus, McKinsey & Company 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 September 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the country reflects on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, join us for a special 90-minute conversation focused on the state of homeland security today and looking ahead. Homeland security is a term that has evolved over the past two decades since the deadly terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. At first, it was a subject primarily focused on protecting the country from international terrorism, including Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, then ISIS, as well as affiliated terrorist organizations. Over the past several years and culminating on January 6 earlier this year, the phrase has also expanded to include domestic extremism and threats from within the United States. A high-level panel featuring former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napoliano, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow and cybersecurity expert Dr. Amy Zegart will discuss a range of issues related to homeland security, including civil liberties and technology. The program will explore our changing understanding of homeland security, what we have learned about keeping the country safe over the past 20 years, and what the trade-offs have been for the country’s citizens and the country itself. SPEAKERS Janet Napolitano Professor of Public Policy, Director of the Center for Security in Politics, and Former President, University of California; U.S Homeland Security Secretary Under President Obama; Former Governor, Arizona Anthony Romero Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union Amy Zegart Sr. Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Morris Arnold & Nona Jean Cox Sr. Fellow, Hoover Institution; Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science, Stanford University; Author, Spies, Lies, and Algorithms (forthcoming) Dina Temple-Raston Senior Correspondent, The Record by Recorded Future; Former National Security & Investigations Correspondent, National Public Radio—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 September 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Travel and tourism make up one of California’s most important and powerful industries. Every day before the pandemic of 2020, travelers injected hundreds of millions of dollars into communities across the Golden State, infusing hundreds of billions of dollars into the state’s economy. In 2019, this spending generated $12.2 billion in local and state tax revenue and supported 1.2 million jobs for Californians. That all changed when the pandemic spread in March 2020, and the tourism industry largely shut down, hitting cities like San Francisco particularly hard. The industry recovery began to take shape earlier in 2021. However, just as the pandemic was receding and the tourism economy was starting to recover, the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has again negatively impacted the tourism economy, slowing chances of a full recovery any time soon and raising questions about the future of the industry and, most important, the workers who rely on it for employment. These issues are particularly challenging in the Bay Area, as it is significantly impacted by shifts in tourism to San Francisco. As one of the most challenging periods in the state's tourism history continues, we are pleased to be joined by two of the state's top tourism leaders, as well as tourism workers directly impacted by the changes brought about by the pandemic, to discuss the future of the industry in the fifth-largest economy in the world, The discussion will touch upon why the tourism economy is so important to the California economy, why travel and tourism is so significant to all Californians, and what we all can do to support the industry and its workers during this challenging time. NOTES This program is funded by a grant from The California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness). The foundation’s mission is to improve the health of Californians. Cal Wellness is dedicated to promoting equity through advocacy and access. SPEAKERS Caroline Beteta President & CEO, Visit California Joe D'Alessandro President and CEO, SF Travel Daniela Puccinelli Director of Event Management, The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square Spud Hilton Former Travel Editor, San Francisco Chronicle; Editor, Where Traveler Magazine, San Francisco Bay Area Edition 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 September 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Water is essential for life, and throughout history we have sought to control and make use of it. As Giulio Boccaletti explores in his new book, Water: A Biography, that relationship with water has underpinned human civilization, forming an integral part of society, government and land use systems. But despite its essential nature, access to water has never been equal or entirely fair. Climate disruption will further destabilize the systems we’ve built to control water in our environment – even as it remains a public good without fair and equal public access. What can 10,000 years of history teach us about how we should handle water in our current and future climate? Guests: Giulio Boccaletti, Author, Water: A Biography Sara Aminzadeh, Vice President of Partnerships, U.S. Water Alliance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss is a special project of the Codex Foundation. Extraction is a multimedia, multi-venue, cross-border art intervention focused on the suicidal consumption of the planet’s natural resources, which the artists say is the most pressing environmental issue of our time, encompassing all others, including climate change. Extraction is an international "art ruckus" for 2021! Peter Koch's intervention includes a multimedia focus on dual aspects of Northern California and his native state of Montana and the impact of Extraction. The project is culminating in a constellation of nearly 50 overlapping exhibitions, performances, installations, site-specific work, land art, street art, publications, poetry readings and cross-media events throughout 2021 and beyond. NOTES MLF: Arts SPEAKERS Peter Koch Peter Koch Printers Sam Pelts Coordinator, Extraction Project Dr. Anne W. Smith Co-Chair, Arts 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 August 31st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As with many aspects of American life, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted BIPOC communities. For Black businesses, this meant closing their doors and for Black workers, either being laid off or made to work in unsafe conditions. In a system where Black workers are proportionally overrepresented in low-wage work and sharply underrepresented in executive positions, this negative impact is exacerbated. However discouraging this reality is, it serves as a call to action to close the wide, possibly widening, racial gap. At INFORUM, a panel of experts on the economic state of Black America will provide insight on what a path to equal and just recovery looks like, expanding upon research by McKinsey & Company. Further, juxtaposing the current reality with the prosperity offered by a better future, they will drive home the need to make change, and do so quickly. SPEAKERS Shelley Stewart III Partner, McKinsey & Company; Co-author, "The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be" Michael Chui Partner, McKinsey Global Institute; Co-author, "The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be" Dr. Kristen E. Broady Ph.D., Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution Jeffery Wallace CEO and President, LeadersUp Jennifer Ablan U.S. Assistant Managing Editor, Financial Times—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 August 27th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us as we discover and learn how these four dynamic returned women Peace Corps volunteers crafted their careers to become important leaders. We will also find out what hurdles they had to overcome and how they became influential and creative leaders. Their stories are valuable for all to hear, and we can all learn from their experiences. Lisa Curtis is the founder and CEO of Kuli Kuli, the leading brand pioneering the sustainably sourced superfood moringa. Kuli Kuli works with farmers in the developing world to access the nutritional power and economic opportunities of moringa. Curtis began working on Kuli Kuli while serving in the Peace Corps in Niger and has grown it into a multi-million dollar social enterprise. Previously, Lisa wrote political briefings for President Obama in the White House, served as a United Nations Environment Programme Youth Advisor, and worked at an impact investment firm in India. The moderator for today's program is Frank Price, the vice president of the Northern California Peace Corps Association and Shriver Circle Member of the National Peace Corps Association. Price served in the Peace Corps in Côte d'Ivoire. He is currently president of the Stewardship of the Commons Foundation MLF ORGANIZER Frank Price NOTES MLF: International Relations SPEAKERS Lisa Curtis Founder & CEO of Kuli Kuli; Served in Niger Karen DeWitt Journalist; Digital Newsroom Director, School of Global Journalism and Communication, Morgan State University; Served in Ethiopia Nalini Elkins CEO and Founder of Inside Products, Inc.; Served in Togo Rahama Wright Founder and CEO of Shea Yeleen Health and Beauty; Served in Ghana Frank Price Vice President, Northern California Peace Corps Association; Shriver Circle Member, National Peace Corps Association; Served in Côte d'Ivoire 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 August 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.C. Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky is one of the country's most respected constitutional scholars. In his new book Presumed Guilty, he says that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the perpetuation of racist policing by presuming that suspects, especially people of color, are guilty before being charged. Dean Chemerinsky argues that the fact that police are nine times more likely to kill Black men than other Americans is no accident but rather the result of an elaborate body of doctrines. He says the pro-defendant Warren Court was a only brief historical aberration and that this more liberal era ended with Nixon’s presidency and the ascendance of conservative justices, whose rulings have permitted stops and frisks, limited suits to reform police departments, and even abetted the use of chokeholds. Come hear Dean Chemerinsky's thoughts on necessary steps to create a more robust court system that will enhance civil rights. SPEAKERS Erwin Chemerinsky Dean, University of California, Berkeley, Law School; Author, Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights In conversation with Brian Watt KQED News Anchor 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 August 30th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Everyone’s someone’s somebody.” That’s the tagline of Miracle Messages, a nonprofit organization tackling homelessness by rekindling relationships and reconstructing support systems. Inspired by his Uncle Mark, CEO Kevin Adler launched Miracle Messages in 2014. Growing up, Kevin watched his beloved and loyal uncle, who suffered from schizophrenia, battle homelessness on-and-off for 30 years. When Mark passed away at the age of 50, Kevin’s family ensured that Mark’s life would never be forgotten within their own family. However, Kevin realized that while his uncle was lucky to have a family to remember and support him, thousands of others living on the streets were not connected to their family members or friends. Kevin and Miracle Messages volunteers offer homeless individuals a chance to reconnect with their family members and friends. Through Miracle Message’s reunion service, they have helped reunite over 425 people experiencing homelessness with support systems from which they have been separated, sometimes for decades. Dozens of reunions have resulted in individuals moving off the streets. Miracle Messages’ buddy system has also connected members of the homeless population with volunteers who offer companionship and support through calls and text messages. They provide cell phones so homeless individuals can stay in touch, and are experimenting on a small scale with universal basic income for those who are homeless. Our CEO, Dr. Gloria Duffy, will join Kevin for a conversation addressing how homelessness can be addressed on the individual and familial level. This topic is deeply personal for Gloria, as it is for Kevin, since a family member of hers has battled homelessness. Over the past 15 years, Gloria and her family have developed a system that supports her relative with a home and other basic needs. Please join us as Kevin and Gloria reimagine how we fight homelessness, and learn how Miracle Messages has reunited hundreds of families. SPEAKERS Kevin F. Adler Founder and CEO, Miracle Messages; Social Entrepreneur; Sociologist 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 August 30th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is your Commonwealth Club week in review. Hear what you missed this week, and what we’ve got lined up for you next week. We’re always adding new programs - check out commonwealthclub.org/online for all of our upcoming events. If you haven’t already - please consider becoming a member of the Club. Enjoy exclusive discounts and access to special programs all while knowing your contributions directly support our many public programs and civic initiatives. Visit commonwealthclub.org/special, for special rates on memberships. Thanks for your support and as always - thanks for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hundreds of people have been arrested in Minnesota in ongoing protests against Line 3, a pipeline that will move Canadian tar sands oil, and which could be operational as soon as this month. Pipeline advocates, like Mike Fernandez of Enbridge (Line 3’s builder), argue that as long as people are still using oil, we need a way to transport it — and pipelines are the safest, least carbon-intensive means of doing so. Opponents, like Sierra Club’s Kelly Sheehan Martin, argue that oil companies bolster markets for oil and gas as a way to justify continued profits from building pipelines and extracting oil. Sheehan Martin argues that to seriously address the climate crisis, we need to keep the oil in the ground, and listen to the voices of those worried about harm to waterways and tribal lands. Why have oil pipelines become such a point of contention in the environmental movement? And what can all sides agree on to work toward the same less-carbon-reliant future? Guests: Mike Fernandez, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability, Enbridge Daniel Raimi, Fellow, Resources for the Future Kelly Sheehan Martin, Senior Director of Energy Campaigns, Sierra Club Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I Love New York." "Keep Portland Weird." "Virginia Is For Lovers." "Don’t Mess with Texas." We all know them. We all say them—but how do we sum up the Bay Area? The Bay offers the world culture, diversity, natural beauty, innovation and commitment to progress. Yet the Bay wrestles with persistent housing challenges and news stories about the “Bay Area exodus.” Layer on the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's no surprise that regional pride and confidence in the Bay Area is taking a hit. But this moment of unprecedented crisis can be a turning point for the Bay Area. Join a panel of Bay Area locals and legends who will discuss how The Bay shaped who they have become, why they call this region home, and different solutions to rebuilding and strengthening the Bay Area. This panel will wrestle with how we can not only recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, but create the vibrant, equitable region that we all aspire to live in. NOTES In partnership with Tipping Point Community. SPEAKERS Sam Cobbs CEO, Tipping Point Community Heather Knight Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle Ned Segal Chief Financial Officer, Twitter Lenny Mendonca Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, State 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 August 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you gotten the feeling that this pandemic has also been spreading an epidemic of irrationality? From insisting that climate change is a hoax to believing that vaccinations cause autism, many are willing to reject outright even a solid scientific consensus. And though it may be somewhat amusing to hear COVID-19 being blamed on 5G networks, chemtrails or Bill Gates's insatiable greed, the amusement stops when bad thinking leads to bad acting, such as the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Nadler and Shapiro argue that the best antidotes for such bad thinking and acting are the insights and practical skills of philosophy. Their engaging tour through the basic principles of logic, argument, evidence and probability can make anyone a more reasonable and responsible citizen. They also demonstrate how you can spot and avoid flawed arguments and unreliable information; determine whether evidence supports or contradicts an idea; distinguish between merely believing something and knowing it; and much more. In doing so, they reveal how epistemology (which addresses the nature of belief and knowledge) and ethics (the study of moral principles for governing behavior) can reduce bad thinking and bad acting. Ironically, it turns out that the millennia-old advice to know thyself, to aim at leading a good, rational and examined life, remains just as relevant today—that is, if you personally desire to overcome the current version of our seemingly endless human predicament. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Steven Nadler William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Director, Institute for Research in the Humanities; Co-Author, When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People Lawrence Shapiro Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Co-Author, When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People 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 September 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A conservatorship, also known as a guardianship in most states, is the court-ordered assignment of the responsibility for care and the conservation of the estate of an incapacitated person to a third party. The probate court system, where these orders originate in California, has been highlighted in the media for decades for dysfunction that can provide a safe haven for predatory and parasitic attorneys. Too often, vulnerable adults under the “protection of the court” are not protected. Unscrupulous conservators and guardians protected by influential attorneys neglect and exploit the very people they claim to safeguard. The Britney Spears case exposed to the world what thousands of people nationwide each year are experiencing; the deceitful side of conservatorship. Meet four dedicated activists who are counseling victims and their loved ones, and demanding state and federal reforms to prevent abuse. They will speak about who the victims are and how estate trafficking and fraudulent adult guardianships and conservatorships occur. They will also explain important steps you can take to protect yourself or a loved one. What is needed for California and federal legislation to reform the system? Our experts will explore how the #FreeBritney movement will likely end. MLF ORGANIZER Denise Michaud NOTES MLF: Grownups SPEAKERS Rick Black Executive Director, CEAR (Charlotte, NC) Thomas Coleman Attorney; Executive Director and Founder, Spectrum Institute (Palm Springs, CA) Lisa MacCarley Attorney; Founder, Bettys Hope Leanne Simmons Human Rights Advocate; Entertainment Industry Professional; Co-manager, @FreeBritneyLA Dr. Gloria Duffy President and CEO, 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 August 30th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join John Hagel III and Alison Levine as they share their fear-busting methods for combating today’s uncertainty. Digital business disruption, the emergence of epidemics, and engaging social movements are changing the world before our eyes. Our panel will share their experiences in negotiating extreme environments. Levine led the American Women’s Everest Expedition, and Hagel is engaged in rapidly changing business environments as a business strategist. They will show us how to manage risk more fully in our own lives. Their methods and experiences can inspire us to become more confident in following our own dreams to succeed. Following our program, we will have a rooftop reception and book signing. MLF ORGANIZER Elizabeth Carney NOTES MLF: Business & Leadership SPEAKERS John Hagel III Business Strategist and Founder, Deloitte's Center for the Edge; Entrepreneur; Author, Journey Beyond Fear Alison Levine Team Captain, first American Women's Everest Expedition; Speaker; Author, On the Edge 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 via video conference on August 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a press conference following the conviction of wealthy socialite Ed Buck last month, journalist and political strategist Jasmyne Cannick said, "Ed Buck is going to pay for the crimes he committed, not just to their loved ones but to an entire community of Black men here." Buck was once well regarded in the West Hollywood LGBTQ community and a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser. But his conviction on nine charges, including involvement in the deaths of Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean, maintaining a drug den, distributing methamphetamines and solicitation of prostitutes, ended that. It's a sordid story that might never have come to light—or to court—without the persistence of journalists such as Cannick to bring justice to the victims. Join us for an exclusive talk with Cannick. About the Speaker Jasmyne Cannick founded Justice for Gemmel and All of Ed Buck’s Victims to extend her advocacy for the survivors and victims of Ed Buck beyond her journalism, leveraging both her political acumen and her community relationships. She is the co-founder of My Hood Votes along with Compton rapper Eric “Eazy-E” Wright’s son Lil E, a voter registration initiative focused on Los Angeles County’s roughest neighborhoods. Cannick is a proud co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition, the nation’s largest and oldest Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization. She is a former co-chair of the National Stonewall Democrats Black Caucus. She currently sits on the board of the Los Angeles African American Women’s Political Action Committee and the Black Alliance for Justice Immigration (BAJI) Political Action Committee. In 2020, she won a seat on the Los Angeles County Democratic Party's County Central Committee, representing the 53rd Assembly District. SPEAKERS Jasmyne Cannick Journalist; Political Strategist Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW 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 August 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us to discover how astronomer Vera Rubin's persistence, after her work was initially dismissed, finally convinced the scientific community that dark matter might exist. It is now taken for granted that the universe is mostly dark, made up of particles that are undetectable even by our most powerful telescopes. This discovery of the possible existence of dark matter signaled a Copernican-like revolution in astronomy: not only are we no longer the center of the universe, but even the stuff we’re made of appears to be insignificant. By showing that some astronomical objects seem to exaggerate gravity’s grip, Rubin played a pivotal role in this discovery. Yeager tells the story of Rubin’s childhood fascination with stars, and her scientific education at Vassar and Cornell. She became a rarity, a woman in science, and her findings were equally incredible to her colleagues. Since some observatories still restricted women from using their large telescopes, Rubin was unable to collect her own data until a decade after she had earned her Ph.D. But in 1993 she received the National Medal of Science for her groundbreaking work. She’s also been memorialized with a ridge on Mars, an asteroid, a galaxy, and most recently the Vera C. Rubin Observatory—the first national observatory named after a woman. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities Ashley Jean Yeager Associate News Editor, Science News; Author, Bright Galaxies, Dark Matter, and Beyond: The Life of Astronomer Vera Rubin 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 August 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paralyzed by indecision? Sukhinder Singh Cassidy’s debut book Choose Possibility: Take Risks and Thrive (Even When You Fail) is a new view on risk, proposing that we take rather than avoid risk and enjoy the opportunities that come along with it. In it, the Silicon Valley mogul makes easy math of the choices that we make each day that can put us on the path to success. She argues that it is not one big decision that cements our future, but the million small ones that open up doors, enabling us to see success through. With not one but three successful companies under her belt, Cassidy maintains that she is no stranger to mistakes. But in the face of pitfalls and misfires, what has set her apart and launched her success is her ability to adapt, overcome and grow from such setbacks. At INFORUM Sukhinder Singh Cassidy will crunch the numbers of risk, reveal the “seven myths of success”, all while guiding us on how to take the first step and all the ones that follow—making risk synonymous with opportunity rather than fear. SPEAKERS Sukhinder Singh Cassidy Founder & Chairman, theBoardlist; Board Member, Upstart; Author, Choose Possibility: How to Master Risk and Thrive Suzanne St. John-Crane CEO, American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley—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 August 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In November 2018, Paradise, California suffered through the nation's deadliest wildfire in a century. The Camp Fire leveled the mountain town, killing 85 people and destroying more than 18,000 structures. At the time, reporter Lizzie Johnson was a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Her definitive firsthand accounts of the fire and its wreckage helped tell the vivid story of this massive disaster. Three years later, Johnson's new book, Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, provides a detailed overview of the fire that destroyed Paradise, examines what went wrong and suggests ways to avert future tragedies as the climate crisis unfolds and California's drought worsens. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and reams of public records, including 911 calls and testimony from a grand jury investigation, Johnson provides a minute-by-minute account of the Camp Fire, following residents and first responders as they fight to save themselves and their town. As California enters what is usually the toughest part of its fire season during a historically dry year, please join us in a timely look back at the tragedy of Paradise, California, what is being done to bring that city back, and what we all need to be aware of regarding the increasing dangers from wildfires in our "new normal." SPEAKERS Lizzie Johnson Staff Writer, The Washington Post; Author, Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive An American Wildfire In Conversation with Elizabeth Weil Reporter, ProPublica 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 August 24th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This special family event will feature a multigenerational panel of adult civic leaders and educators talking together with their children about practices and opportunities for engaging young people in civic life. Increasingly, youth have been speaking up about the importance of having parents and teachers who model civic engagement and encourage them to get involved in their communities. But how can we get our kids involved in ways that are both meaningful and rewarding? How can families engage in civic work together? What can kids do on their own, and how do they want adults to support them? A lifetime of civic engagement begins in youth. We encourage you to watch this special program with your family. This program is presented by Creating Citizens, an education initiative of The Commonwealth Club. About the Speakers Amber Coleman-Mortley’s passion is focused on elevating diverse voices and perspectives in the civic education space, working with students, educators and parent communities for more equitable outcomes. She holds a B.A. in African American Studies from Oberlin College and an M.A. from American University in Media Entrepreneurship. Coleman-Mortley is a former decorated college athlete, former educator and athletic coach. She covers civics, K–12 education and family life at MomOfAllCapes and on her podcast with her daughters, "Lets K12 Better." She has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian magazine, and a variety of other broadcast, podcast and online media outlets. Suzanne Ford is a fierce activist working toward equal rights for the trans community. She is employed as a regional sales manager at Revere Packaging, being named by Plastics News as one of the Women Breaking the Mold in the Packaging Industry in 2017. Ford serves as president of the Spahr Center in Marin County and as a board member and vice president of SF Pride. She also works on the board at Trans Heartline. Ford lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife Beverly and son Daniel. She is available to speak to groups or employers about trans issues and her experience facing the world as a trans woman. Lateefah Simon is a nationally recognized advocate for civil rights and racial justice in Oakland and the Bay Area. She has been the president of Akonadi Foundation since 2016. That same year—driven by Oscar Grant's death—she was elected to the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors and served as its president. Since 2015, Simon also has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the California State University, the nation's largest public university system, and state officials often turn to her for strategic advice on policy matters related to racial justice. Simon spearheaded San Francisco's first reentry anti-recidivism youth services division under then-District Attorney Kamala Harris' leadership. Simon received the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award in 2003, making her the youngest woman to receive the award —in recognition of her work as executive director of the Young Women's Freedom Center. SPEAKERS Amber Coleman-Mortley Host, "Let's K12 Better" Podcast Suzanne Ford Activist; President, Spahr Center Lateefah Simon President, Akonadi Foundation Kimberly Ellis Director, San Francisco Department on the Status of Women—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 August 24th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listener Advisory: This episode contains some content related to a suicide. If you or someone you love is thinking about suicide, the National 24-hour Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. This summer, the climate crisis seems to be unfolding faster than ever before — with catastrophic floods, huge wildfires, and killer heat. It’s becoming increasingly hard to mentally set climate aside as a future problem — it is here, real in our present moment. How do we grapple with the weight of these changes, and process our fear for what is coming for us, and for the next generation? And how do those emotions affect our decisions about whether or not to have children, who in many ways represent an embodied version of our hope for the future? Guests: Daniel Sherrell, Author, Warmth, Coming of Age at the End of Our World Seb Gould, physics teacher Irène Mathieu, pediatrician and poet Virginie Le Masson, co-director of the Centre for Gender and Disaster at University College London Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the 2008 publication of the global bestseller Nudge, co-authored by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, the word “nudge” has entered the vocabulary of many businesspeople, policymakers, engaged citizens and consumers everywhere. It has taught us how to use thoughtful “choice architecture”—a concept the authors invented—to help us make better decisions for ourselves, our families and our society. "Nudging" is a simple change that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. It’s the option to opt out of your company’s 401k retirement program as opposed to opting in, or the placement of fruits and vegetables at eye level in grocery stores to encourage healthier eating. In 2021, the authors have rewritten the book from cover to cover, building Nudge: The Final Edition out of the last dozen years’ worth of new research, insight, and experience. The book touches on a wide variety of issues we face in our daily lives—COVID-19, personal finance, home mortgages, climate change and more. Co-author and economist Richard Thaler is the professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago and, in 2017, won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to the field of behavioral economics. Join us as Thaler reveals the power of understanding decision-making in modern society, existing in the gap between economics and psychology. SPEAKERS Richard Thaler Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Co-Author, Nudge: The Final Edition; Twitter @R_Thaler In Conversation with Kirk Hanson Senior Fellow and Former Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University; Twitter @kirkohanson 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 August 18th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, discrimination, verbal assaults, and physical violence against members of the AAPI community have skyrocketed, disproportionately harming vulnerable members of the community, including women, youth and elders. This racism takes its toll. Please join us to learn what you can do to help combat anti-Asian racism in everyday living and support the AAPI community. Topics will include: understanding the problem of racism; practical, actionable steps to disrupt racism and overcome unconscious biases; and ways to create a safe space to speak up against racism. NOTES MLF: Psychology SPEAKERS Dr. Tam Nguyen Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist; Director of Ambulatory and Addiction Care, Sutter Health Dr. Sarah Nguyen M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles; Associate Director, Integrative Psychiatry Clinic Dr. Jennifer Tran D.O., Family Medicine Doctor, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Dr. Uyen-Khanh Quang-Dang M.D., Geriatric Psychiatrist, Palo Alto Medical Foundation; Member, APA Foundation Board of Directors Dr. Patrick O'Reilly Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist; Chair, Psychology 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 August 5th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian and journalist Kai Bird's new book, The Outlier, is being acclaimed as a definitive account of President Jimmy Carter's presidency, including how President Carter’s often-controversial policies and initiatives appear in historical perspective. Carter assisted Bird in his research, giving him exclusive access to the private papers of Charles Kirbo, Carter’s longtime personal lawyer and political adviser, as well as to the unpublished diaries of Carter White House aides Langdon Butler, Tim Kraft and Jerome Doolittle. Bird points out that as president, Jimmy Carter was not merely an outsider: he was an outlier. He was the only president in a century to grow up in the heart of the Deep South, and his born-again Christianity made him the most openly religious president in memory. Bird says this outlier brought to the White House a rare mix of humility, candor and unnerving self-confidence that neither Washington nor America was ready to embrace. Bird traces the arc of Carter’s administration, from his aggressive domestic agenda to his controversial foreign policy record, taking readers inside the Oval Office and through Carter’s battles with both a political establishment and a Washington press corps that proved as adversarial as any foreign power. Mr. Bird shows how issues still hotly debated today—from national health care to growing inequality and racism to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—burned at the heart of Carter’s America, and consumed a president who found a moral duty in solving them. Bird won the Pulitzer Prize for biography for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. His work includes critical writings on the Vietnam War, Hiroshima, nuclear weapons, the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the CIA. Now, join a fascinating conversation with Kai Bird about this highly regarded American leader whose presidential legacy Mr. Bird says has been deeply misunderstood. SPEAKERS Kai Bird Executive Director and Distinguished Lecturer, City University of New York Leon Levy Center for Biography; Pulitzer Prize Winning Historian and Journalist; Author, The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter In Conversation with Dr. Gloria Duffy President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club of California; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Clinton Program Chair: Dr. Mary Bitterman President, Bernard Osher Foundation; 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 August 18th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9/11 transformed American political and cultural life. Post-9/11 Americans were hyper-concerned with national security, public safety and the War on Terror. Now, looking back at the years of contention between the United States and terrorist organizations, journalists like Spencer Ackerman believe the military campaign set the stage for authoritarianism to rise in the United States. As a national security editor for The Guardian, Ackerman was part of the team that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism for their reporting on Edward Snowden's surveillance revelations. Now, he’s looking to understand the endless conflict known as the War on Terror in his new book, Reign of Terror. After 9/11, policies threatening the safety of Muslims and immigrants turned the War on Terror into a cultural and tribal struggle. It bolstered nativism and inspired bipartisanship. It paved the way for authoritarian leaders to rise to power and exploit sectors of political strength. By analyzing the decisions of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Ackerman sets an argument for how the war became a broader and bitter culture struggle allowing demagogues to emerge. Join us as Spencer Ackerman couples together journalism and history to transform how Americans understand national security policies and their detrimental impact on political life. SPEAKERS Spencer Ackerman Contributing Editor, The Daily Beast; Author, Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump In Conversation with Melissa Caen Attorney; Author; Political Analyst 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 August 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid a widespread shutdown of economic and social life, a little-watched effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom suddenly got traction, easily gaining the number of signatures needed to trigger a special election that could remove him from office. Join us for a special edition of the Club's Week to Week Political Roundtable, as we focus on the high-stakes gubernatorial recall election. How did it come to this? Who is behind the recall? Who is running to replace Newsom? How has Newsom responded? Just how does a recall election happen? We'll dig into all of that and more with our panelists who are experts in state politics. SPEAKERS Carla Marinucci Senior Writer, Politico California Playbook; Twitter @cmarinucci Scott Shafer Senior Editor, KQED's Politics and Government Desk; Twitter @scottshafer Dan Schnur Professor, University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communications; Professor, University of California Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies; Host, "Politics in the Time of Coronavirus" Webinar; Twitter @danschnur John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—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 August 23rd 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2020, The Peace Corps recalled every volunteer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since that moment, the National Peace Corps Association, a 501(c)(3) enterprise, has held many town hall meetings, advocacy meetings, consultations with congressional representatives and senators, and more to help bring back into the field a Peace Corps that is stronger, more responsive to social needs, more diverse and more robust. While NPCA is not a government agency, it has worked tirelessly with the Peace Corps, a government agency, to help launch a new vision. NPCA President Glenn Blumhorst will discuss the future of this important agency and how it will be better and more important than before. Blumhorst is the president and CEO of the National Peace Corps Association, an enterprise at the center of a community of more than 180 grassroots affiliate groups and 235,000 individuals who share the Peace Corps experience. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., NPCA’s mission is “to champion lifelong commitment to Peace Corps ideals.” During his tenure, Blumhorst has led NPCA’s historic transformation from a dues-based alumni association to a community-driven social impact organization. He also served as country representative and chief of party on several major USAID-funded projects throughout Central and South America. Blumhorst launched his career by serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 1988 to 1991. He holds a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious University of Missouri Faculty-Alumni Award. SPEAKERS Glenn Blumhorst President and CEO, National Peace Corps Association Frank Price Moderator, International Relations MLF Co-Chair 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 August 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Americans owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, almost $700 billion more than the total U.S. credit card debt. Student loans have proved to be one of the most pressing problems young Americans face, and critics say the college industry is in part to blame. Originally, well-intentioned government reforms for college access quickly turned into reckless lending and runaway tuition. Easy access to loans allowed colleges to raise tuition to soaring levels. Even the private banks that fronted the money made huge profits on interest. Together, everyone in this business formed an exploitative system that relies on students failing to pay back their debt. In his new book The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe, Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Mitchell uncovers the broken student loan system that was created, and then exploited, by loan company Sallie Mae and the United States Congress. He explains what he says are the ill-advised decisions made that drove Americans into massive debt and continue to wreak havoc today. SPEAKERS Josh Mitchell Economy and Higher Education Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Author, The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe In Conversation with Bethany McLean Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair 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 August 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christian. Pastor. Transgender. Join us to hear from Dr. Paula Stone Williams about her experience journeying from male to female and from despair to joy. As a father of three, married to a wonderful woman and holding several prominent jobs within the Christian community, Dr. Paula Stone Williams made the life-changing decision to physically transition from male to female at the age of sixty. Almost instantly, her power and influence in the evangelical world disappeared and her family had to grapple with intense feelings of loss and confusion. Feeling utterly alone and at a loss after being expelled from the evangelical churches she had once spearheaded, Paula struggled to create a new safe space for herself where she could reconcile her faith, her identity, and her desire to be a leader. Much to her surprise, the key to her new career as a woman came with a deeper awareness of the inequities she had overlooked before her transition. Where her opinions were once celebrated and amplified, now she found herself sidelined and ignored. New questions emerged. Why are women’s opinions devalued in favor of men’s? Why does love and intimacy feel so different? And was it possible to find a new spirituality in her own image? In her book As a Woman, Paula pulled back the curtain on her transition journey and shed light on the gendered landscape that impacts many in the LGBTQ+ community. Williams shares her lived experience of both genders and offers a truly unique perspective on the universal struggle to understand what it means to be male, female, and simply, human. SPEAKERS Paula Stone Williams Pastor, Left Hand Church (Longmont, CO); Author, As a Woman Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW 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 August 12th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In early August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report unequivocally connecting global warming and extreme weather to human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, and warning of much more dramatic climate futures if we don’t change course soon. Since the 2020 election, Rich Thau’s Swing Voter Project has been querying those who shifted from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020 about a range of issues. How will their views affect the 2022 midterms and the 2024 election? Where does climate rate on their list of issues? And does the accelerating climate crisis matter enough to affect their votes? Guests: Rich Thau, Moderator, The Swing Voter Project; Co-founder and President, Engagious Andrew Freedman, Climate and Energy Reporter, Axios Venkatachalam “Ram” Ramaswamy, Director of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WeWork revolutionized working spaces. By investing in commercial real estate and converting property into flexible shared workspaces, WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann was set to transform the way people get work done. The company offered more than shared space, investing in education and housing initiatives through its WeGrow schools and WeLive residences. Israeli businessman Adam Neumann was on track to become the world’s first trillionaire, but the company soon found itself burning through money with a last hope attempt through a Hail Mary IPO. From the minds of Wall Street Journal reporters Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell, The Cult of We uncovers the wins, hiccups, and turmoil of tech startups. Eliot Brown has spent his career covering startups, venture capital, commercial real estate and economic development. Similarly, Maureen Farrell focuses on the role of initial public offerings and capital markets in creating a successful business. Together, Brown and Farrell delve into the case of WeWork founder Adam Neumann to better understand how startups can revolutionize the world and what happens when they fail to do so. Join us as Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell, along with program moderator Charles Duhigg, uncover the gripping reality of tech startup culture. SPEAKERS Eliot Brown Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Co-author, The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion; Twitter @eliotwb Maureen Farrell Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Co-author, The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion; Twitter @maureenmfarrell In Conversation with Charles Duhigg Contributor, The New Yorker; Author, Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity 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 August 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 1931, the California Book Awards have honored the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers. Each year a select jury considers hundreds of books from around the state in search of the very best in literary achievement. Over its 90 years, the California Book Awards have honored the writers who have come to define California to the world. Among them are John Steinbeck, Wallace Stegner, MFK Fisher, Thom Gunn, Richard Rodriquez, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joan Didion, Ishmael Reed, and Amy Tan. Recent award winners include Hector Tobar, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Susan Orlean, Rachel Kushner, Rachel Khong, Tommy Orange, Morgan Parker and Steph Cha. This year’s winners include: GOLD MEDALSFICTION A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth, Daniel Mason, Little, Brown and Company FIRST FICTION How Much of These Hills Is Gold, C Pam Zhang, Riverhead Books NONFICTION South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War, Alice L. Baumgartner, Basic Books JUVENILE Efrén Divided, Ernesto Cisneros, Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers YOUNG ADULT Private Lessons, Cynthia Salaysay, Candlewick Press POETRY Quiet Orient Riot, Nathalie Khankan, Omnidawn CALIFORNIANA California Exposures: Envisioning Myth and History, Richard White, with photos by Jesse Amble White, W.W. Norton & Company CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLISHING A Natural History of the Anza-Borrego Region, Marie Simovich and Mike Wells, Sunbelt Publications SILVER MEDALSFICTION Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu, Pantheon/Vintage NONFICTION Golden Gates: The Housing Crisis and a Reckoning for the American Dream, Conor Dougherty, Penguin Press YOUNG ADULT The Black Kids, Christina Hammonds Reed, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers SPEAKERS Julia Flynn Siler Juror, California Book Awards—Moderator Peter Fish Jury Chair, California Book Awards—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 August 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Courtney E. Martin is an author, organizer and entrepreneur known for provocative writing and for helping found important content-based organizations that help tell the story of America's diverse future. She is the co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network and FRESH Speakers Bureau, and often works with organizations—TED, the Aspen Institute, The Obama Foundation, and The Sundance Institute—on how to make impactful, story-rich social change. Her newest book, Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter's School, explores her own story about finding the right school for her daughter in Oakland. While many of the white families in her gentrifying neighborhood largely avoided the majority-Black, poorly-rated school near her home, she chose differently. Moving beyond hashtags and yard signs as a way to make a difference, Courtney discovered that her local public school, the foundation of our fragile democracy, was a powerful place to dig deeper to change the country, herself and her family. Martin examines her own fears, assumptions and conversations with other parents as they navigate choosing what school is right for their child. The book provides a vivid portrait of integration’s virtues and complexities, and yes, the palpable joy of trying to live differently in a country re-making itself around racial issues. Please join us for an important conversation on education, integration and how the schools we choose for our kids can shape the world we live in and the world we want. ** Note: This Podcast Contains Explicit Language ** SPEAKERS Courtney Martin Co-founder, Solutions Journalism Network and FRESH Speakers Bureau; Editor, "Examined Family" Newsletter; Author, Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter's School Ashley McBride Education Equity Reporter, The Oaklandside--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 live stream video conference on August 3rd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Thursday morning, July 25, 2019, then-President Donald Trump made a congratulatory phone call to Ukraine’s newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky. In the months that followed, the true nature of that conversation would be revealed to the American public due to the moral stance of one man: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. Faced with a moment of truth for his nation, Vindman felt duty-bound to report it up the chain of command that the president of the United States had extorted a foreign ally to damage a political challenger at home. Now, for the first time, Alexander Vindman is telling his story of how he ended up at the center of a firestorm for his decision to report the infamous phone call that led to the presidential impeachment. As an immigrant raised by a father who fled the Soviet Union in pursuit of a better life for his children, Vindman had to learn how to build a life from scratch and take big risks to achieve important goals. In his new book, Here, Right Matters, he discusses how, in the face of sure-fire career derailment and intense public scrutiny, he put it all on the line to protect American democracy. Join us for Alexander Vindman’s passionate and candid account of his family, his career and his exposure of what he considered a grave abuse of power. SPEAKERS Alexander Vindman Former Director for European Affairs, United States National Security Council; Author, Here, Right Matters: An American Story In Conversation with Tim Miller Writer-at-Large, The Bulwark; Political Analyst, MSNBC; Twitter @Timodc 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 August 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices