Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

John Mackey started a retail and organic food movement when he founded Whole Foods, bringing natural, organic food to the masses and not only changing the market, but breaking the mold. In his new book, Conscious Leadership, Mackey closely explores the vision, virtues and mindset that have informed Mackey’s own leadership journey, providing a roadmap for innovative, value-based leadership—in business and in society. The book is a follow up to groundbreaking bestseller, Conscious Capitalism, which revealed what it takes to lead a purpose-driven, sustainable business. In this book, Mackey demystifies strategies that have helped Mackey shepherd Whole Foods through four decades of incredible growth and innovation, including its recent sale to Amazon. Mackey challenges business leaders to rethink conventional business wisdom, through anecdotes, case studies, profiles of conscious leaders, and innovative techniques for self-development, culminating in an empowering call to action for entrepreneurs and trailblazers—to step up as leaders who see beyond the bottom line. At a transformative time for American business, the informed wisdom of John Mackey could not come at a better time. Please join us for a timely conversation. Note: This Program Contains Explicit Language Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a discussion with journalist Laura Flanders about the state of our country, politics, progressive talk radio, women in radio, and her brand new show on PBS. Laura Flanders is an Izzy-Award winning independent journalist, a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Media Center. By 1990 she was co-hosting "CounterSpin," the weekly radio report from the media watch group FAIR and reporting from Central America, the Middle East and Europe for media outlets like In These Times, New Directions For Women, Ms., Outweek, The Nation, and Pacifica Radio. The mega-mergers of the 1990s left the media landscape packed with ads and partisan punditry, but devoid of news from most of the country or the world. Invited to host a daily call-in, Laura launched “Your Call” on San Francisco's public radio station KALW in 2001 and then "The Laura Flanders Show" on Air America Radio to engage listeners in a deep-dive into the issues of the day. Supported by FreeSpeechTV, Laura moved to television in 2008, starting "GRITtv," a daily national news show that covered the financial crisis from the grassroots up. Laura emerged determined to introduce audiences to a wealth of people, places—and policy options—that other media ignored. Her latest endeavor is "The Laura Flanders Show," which launched on public television stations in September 2020. The same year, Flanders received a Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation “for her tireless work as an independent journalist, interviewing activists who are creating solutions to economic injustice and catastrophic environmental destruction. Her body of work helps the American public begin to imagine alternatives.” Don't miss this conversation with a pioneering journalist about the issues the media doesn't discuss enough, what it discusses too much, and why it matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the United States goes through its most seering domestic crisis in decades, navigating and defending free speech and cultivating a more inclusive public culture is critical for the future of the country, according to PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel. Nossel will discuss a way to promote free expression while also addressing online trolls and fascist chat groups, cancel culture, and controversial lectures on campus and elsewhere. In an era in which one tweet can launch—or end—your career, and free speech is often invoked as a principle but rarely understood, learning to maneuver the fast-changing, treacherous landscape of public discourse has never been more urgent. At a time when free speech is often pitted against other progressive axioms—namely diversity and equality—Nossel argues that the drive to create a more inclusive society need not, and must not, compromise robust protections for free speech. Nossel provides concrete guidance on how to reconcile these two often misunderstood sets of core values within universities, on social media and in daily life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2006, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown has enjoyed broad support across the political spectrum as a populist advocate for blue-collar workers, unions and the middle class. When Brown arrived on the Senate floor, he learned that his desk came with a proud history. In Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America, he tells the story of the senators who sat in the same space before him. They range from Hugo Black, who helped to lift millions of American workers out of poverty, to Robert F. Kennedy, who became an advocate for the poor after an eye-opening trip to the Mississippi Delta. Brown uses these stories to highlight the triumphs and failures of progressivism over the past century. By defying his state’s rightward turn while promoting the strength of labor unions and the working class, Brown also serves as a model for how progressive Democrats can win tough races throughout middle America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew Yglesias, cofounder of trend-setting news site Vox, has become an increasingly visible and provocative digital journalist, with a following that includes policy wonks of all ages, and top economic and political journalists. In his latest book, One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger, Yglesias outlines his belief that, at one of the most critical times in American history, the country has lost the will and the means to lead on some of the most important issues facing Americans. Yglesias believes that if America is to win its own future, the county will need to have more: more ideas, more ambition, more utilization of resources, more people. Quite simply, he thinks the county needs to think bigger, while taking the problems of decline seriously. What really contributes to national prosperity should not be controversial, according to Yglesias: supporting parents and children, welcoming immigrants and their contributions, and exploring creative policies that support growth—like more housing, better transportation, improved education, revitalized welfare, and climate change mitigation. Yet the country seems to have lost its ambition. Please join us for an important conversation about what America must do to regain its verve and stay on top forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From pipelines to clean power, the world’s biggest economies are brokering developments in oil, gas, and renewables that will shape climate and politics for years to come. But COVID, plummeting oil prices, and expectations for diversity and sustainability are changing the way successful industries must do business. “This isn't about supply and demand, this is about the economies being open or closed,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Yergn. Will the pursuit of energy and economic efficiency help solve our global dependence on fossil fuels — or leave many societies behind? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the exact 6-month anniversary of San Francisco’s shelter-in-place ordnance, UCSF infectious disease experts look back at what we’ve learned about the strengths and weaknesses of our public health systems and look forward to the next stage of the fight against COVID-19. Panelists will discuss how the pandemic has taken advantage of inequities in our society to continue spreading despite the region’s early response—and the growing understanding that stemming the tide of COVID-19 will require much greater support for low-income essential workers, incarcerated populations, and others least able to protect themselves. They will explore how partnerships between community leaders, UCSF scientists, and public health officials are pointing the way forward to a more just, equitable and effective response to the pandemic. Meet the panelists: Joe DeRisi, Ph.D., is Tomkins Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at UCSF and co-director of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, an independent research institute dedicated to eradicating disease. DeRisi has a long history as a “virus detective” and inventor. During the severe testing backlog at the start of the pandemic, his team built a state-of-the-art COVID-19 testing center in 8 days, which soon became the hub for processing test kits from public health departments across the state. Diane Havlir, M.D., is chief of the UCSF Division of HIV, Infectious Disease and Global Medicine. At the start of the pandemic, Havlir—who is a veteran of the fight against AIDS—joined forces with Latinx community leaders such as Jon Jacobo of the Latino Task Force for COVID-19, to document inequalities in the pandemic’s impact on low-income workers and their families, and to link those infected with the support they need to go into isolation. This “test-to-care” approach has become a model for similar efforts across the country. Jon Jacobo, of the Latino Task Force for COVID-19, helped spearhead the group’s partnership with UCSF, called Unidos En Salud, and has worked for policy changes to support low-income essential workers during the pandemic, in partnership with the City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health. Jacobo is director of engagement and policy for TODCO Group, a San Francisco affordable housing and advocacy nonprofit, and an appointed commissioner overseeing the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection. Brie Williams, M.D., M.S., is a professor in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics and founding director of UCSF Amend, an initiative dedicated to transforming correctional culture to improve the health of people living and working in America’s prisons. Her research has pushed for changes in how California’s prisons have handled outbreaks during the pandemic, not only to protect prisoners and prison workers, but to prevent spill-over into the community at large. Moderator Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Ph.D., M.D., M.A.S., is vice dean for population health and health equity at the UCSF School of Medicine and director of the UCSF COVID-19 Community Public Health Initiative. She has written about how the pandemic has created “two Californias”—those with the privilege of sheltering in place, and the low-income workers who have been forced to choose between keeping food on the table and protecting their families from the virus In association with UCSF Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On his wildly popular podcast “Making Sense,” Sam Harris and his guests explore some of the most important questions about the human mind, society and current events. Every week, he dives into some of the most controversial and thought-provoking issues we face in society today. Harris’ new book, Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality and the Future of Humanity, shares 12 discussions from “Making Sense” that are meant to push traditional conversations in unconventional directions. For Harris, honest conversation, no matter how difficult or controversial, represents the only path to moral and intellectual progress. Join Harris for a candid conversation as he discusses how we can all “make sense” of our complicated world with honesty, clarity and reason. Note: This program contains Explicit language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On August 10, 2018, veteran FBI agent Peter Strzok was fired after personal text messages from 2016 disparaging then-candidate Donald Trump were released. President Trump celebrated, writing on Twitter “Fired FBI Agent Peter Strzok is a fraud, as is the rigged investigation he started. There was no Collusion or Obstruction with Russia, and everybody, including the Democrats, know it.” But Strzok’s story is anything but straightforward. He led the FBI’s investigation into both Hillary Clinton’s private email server and Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, drawing the ire of conservative allies of the president. When his text messages were released, they provided ammunition for the conspiracy theory of a “deep state” out to undermine Trump’s presidency. Join Strzok as he tells his side of one of the 21st century’s most explosive stories. He’ll draw on lessons from a long career in law enforcement and explain why he’s convinced that the commander in chief has fallen under the sway of America’s adversary in the Kremlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary-Frances Winters will discuss the ideas in her new book, Black Fatigue, How Racism Erodes Mind, Body and Spirit, which will be published by BK Publishing this fall. The book describes a phenomenon Black people know well: the multifaceted physical and psychological damage wrought by simply living, day by day in a racist society. This is a vital resource for Black and non-Black people looking for ways to heal, learn and have productive and supportive conversations about racial injustice and trauma. NOTES MLF: Technology & Society Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us virtually for a conversation with Tamim Ansary about his latest book, The Invention of Yesterday. Ansary boldly looks for patterns in the last 50,000 years of human history. He argues that, since humans are basically narcissistic, for most of recorded history each successful civilization has seen the other civilizations on this planet as merely peripheral players. He also argues that the four major rivers along which large-scale human civilizations began—the Nile, the Tigris–Euphrates, the Indus and the Huang He—each had characteristic traits that contributed to the underlying cultural assumptions our ancestors made about the nature of reality, and so gave rise to the main points of cultural divergence. Ansary's conclusion is clear: we cannot continue to consider other cultures as peripheral if we are going to have any hope of managing those worldwide concerns that require a consensus to solve, like climate change, nuclear weapons and the spread of deadly viruses. As historians often understand, but too many politicians conveniently overlook, each human civilization has many points of similarity with every other civilization in our pursuit of happiness. The points of cultural divergence are the ones that are truly peripheral. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One nation under . . . guns? Is America destined to always be a violent nation? Why are Americans uniquely attached to themes of aggression and firearms that permeate our culture and policies? These are the questions Senator Chris Murphy explores in his new book, The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy. Searching for answers about why America continues to fall short on issues of safety, Murphy has dedicated his political career to the cause of gun violence and ensuring that all Americans feel safe. Murphy’s state of Connecticut was forever changed by the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, and he believes that in order to change something as horrific as gun violence, we must first understand it. which is why his book investigates our country’s violence-filled history in order to forge a comprehensive plan for our future. In The Violence Inside Us, he explains why the nation is still stuck fighting this battle and how we can forge a comprehensive plan for change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since its founding in 1997, Netflix has revolutionized the way we discover and enjoy entertainment. Originally founded as a DVD-by-mail rental service in the United States, Netflix has reinvented itself from DVD rentals to internet streaming, from licensing old shows and films to self-producing them, and from U.S.-based to global—amassing more than 193 million subscribers in more than 190 countries. As the co-founder and co-CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings led the effort to make Netflix the top player in internet entertainment. To achieve this, he developed a corporate philosophy and a set of management principles that rejected conventional wisdom, leading to a business culture that would make Netflix one of the most inventive companies in the world. Hastings’ new book, No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, chronicles how he built this radical management philosophy through decades of trial and error. His story is designed to be a useful resource for company leaders, entrepreneurs, founders and anyone looking to create a faster, more nimble and innovative workplace. Join Hastings to learn more about what might be the most inventive company of its time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Huckabee Sanders served as White House press secretary for President Donald J. Trump from 2017 to 2019. Her briefings with the press and her battles with the media made her one of the most visible people in Washington and earned her the trust of the president, who called her “irreplaceable,” a “warrior” and “very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job.” During her two and a half years at the White House, she advised the president on everything from press and communication strategy to personnel and policy. In her new book, Speaking for Myself, Sanders takes us behind the scenes and offers her unique perspective on what it was like working alongside the president inside the White House. Join us as she reflects on some of the professional challenges she faced, her relationship with the press and lessons she learned during that time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've heard of an October surprise—when a political campaign drops an unexpected bit of news highlighting (or making up) a scandal about the opponent? This entire campaign has been a surprise, so we certainly expect an early surprise or two or three in September. Join us for a special Election 2020 edition of Week to Week, the political roundtable from The Commonwealth Club. Our panelists will discuss the latest political developments with intelligence, civility and probably quite a bit of humor. We're all in this together—the pandemic, economic crisis, racial justice, campaign 2020, and murder hornets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a world of “fake news,” President Donald Trump has labeled one network as telling his “truth”—Fox News. The president has developed a symbiotic relationship with Fox. Since the day Trump announced his candidacy, its pundits have consistently slandered Trump’s enemies and promoted his vision of America. The president himself has also admitted to watching 6 hours of Fox News a day, even in the face of a disastrous pandemic and national economic crisis. He gets his brash personal and political actions legitimized by the network, and the network makes money off Trump-supporting viewers who willfully follow the network. In Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, CNN anchor and Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter tells the twisted story of the mutually beneficial relationship between President Trump and Fox News and dives into a relationship that he argues comes at the expense of the American people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wildfires are nothing new – they’ve been part of the west’s ecology for millennia. But burning fossil fuels and suppressing the burning of forests over the past century have led to larger, more frequent and ever-more catastrophic wildfires. And burning trees release carbon dioxide. California’s fires now are so big and fierce that they threaten to erase the state’s progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And even for those miles from the flames, the smoke from raging wildfires presents an extra danger in the age of coronavirus. How and when exposure to wildfire smoke increases the likelihood of infection with COVID-19, we’re still trying to figure that out, says Vin Gupta of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. But there is a clear symmetry between exposure and the likelihood of infection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the lead-up to former Vice President Joe Biden selecting California Senator Kamala Harris as his 2020 running mate, there was a lot of armchair prognostication and claims about Harris' past and future. Much was made of her time as San Francisco's district attorney; some used it to defend her as a tough-on-crime prosecutor; others used it to portray her as a far-left DA who was weak on crime. Niki Solis knows what Kamala Harris was really like as a DA, and she made her case for Harris in a recent op ed article in USA Today, "I worked with Kamala Harris. She was the most progressive DA in California." For nearly a quarter century, Solis has worked as a public defender. She is currently a deputy public defender in San Francisco; she was a manager in the public defender's office when Harris was the city's district attorney. Join us for a timely conversation about crime and punishment, mercy and justice, and big-stakes politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Charles Munger advocates good government, representative politics and a strong, responsible two-party system for California and the nation. Viewed by many as a moderate Republican, Dr. Munger campaigned in 2012 for California's current open "top two" primary and was the co-author of 2010's Proposition 20 to keep elected representatives separate from the process of creating congressional districts. He believes both have worked to encourage true representative government. Dr. Munger served as chairman of the Santa Clara County Republican Party from 2012 to 2015. He holds a Ph.D. in atomic physics from U.C. Berkeley and is one of 8 children of Charles Munger, the vice chairman of financial holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As we head toward the election, come hear his unique thoughts on the power of political reform in an era where gridlock and cynicism abound . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Right now, the Doomsday Clock reads “100 seconds to midnight,” according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists—midnight representing the end of humanity as we know it from two simultaneous existential dangers—nuclear war and climate change. This setting is closer than the world has ever been to doomsday before, even during the height of the Cold War. This unnerving development speaks to the urgent relevance of panelist Lesley Blume's book Fallout and the need to reflect on the 75th anniversary of the Bomb. The Hiroshima A-bomb was the single most destructive event of the 20th century, killing more than 100,000 people and decimating an entire city. Knowing this, Ms. Blume points out that the U.S. government embarked on a secret propaganda campaign to hide the true nature of the damage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki for fear that such blatant violence—mostly perpetrated against civilians—would tarnish our reputation at home and abroad. This cover-up included suppression of the Japanese and Western media, press junkets that downplayed the bombs’ radioactivity and any mention of sinister “Disease X” plaguing blast survivors, and misleading statements aimed at depicting the bomb as a humane and conventional weapon. This conversation comes as the current administration considers resuming nuclear testing and commits to spending trillions to "modernize" nuclear weapons, and as the the dangers of nuclear miscalculation and blunder grow amid tensions with Russia, North Korea, China and Iran. Join Blume and former California Governor Jerry Brown, executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and a longtime advocate for dialogue around nuclear issues, for an important discussion about the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and prospects for reducing the nuclear threat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veteran trial lawyer and author James Bostwick will outline his riveting story about a struggling young attorney who decides to take on the most famous lawyer in the country to get justice for a paralyzed youngster. It is a tale of love, friendship, sex and betrayal that also paints an authentic picture of the risks, dilemmas and tactics involved in high stakes litigation. Bostwick will provide interesting insights into this complex and competitive arena. He will also discuss the genesis and inspiration for his novel, as well as the writing process and how to get published—what works and what doesn’t. The story was inspired by a real trial occurring in San Francisco in the mid-'80s. San Franciscans might recognize some well-known legal icons of the era. James Bostwick has been a San Francisco trial lawyer specializing in catastrophic injuries for more than 40 years. He has obtained the largest medical malpractice verdict in U.S. history. Bostwick has long been listed as one of the top 100 trial lawyers in the United States. His first novel, Acts of Omission, was nominated for the 2020 Harper Lee Legal Fiction Award and is under contract to soon be a movie. MLF ORGANIZER Denise Michaud NOTES MLF: Grownups Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ambassador John Bolton’s name is synonymous with foreign policy service at the highest levels of government, having served four different presidents. Most recently, Bolton served as assistant to the president for national security affairs from April 9, 2018, until his resignation on September 10, 2019. He chronicled this experience in the recent best-selling book, The Room Where It Happened. From January 2007 until April 2018, John R. Bolton served as a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. He was appointed as United States permanent representative to the United Nations on August 1, 2005 and served until his resignation in December 2006. Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Bolton served as under secretary of state for arms control and international security from May 2001 to May 2005. Throughout his distinguished career, Ambassador Bolton has been a staunch defender of American interests. While under secretary of state, he repeatedly advocated tough measures against the nuclear weapons programs of both Iran and North Korea, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction worldwide. He led negotiations for America to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty so that the Bush Administration could proceed with a national missile-defense program. Ambassador Bolton has spent many years of his career in public service. Previous positions he has held include assistant secretary for international organization affairs at the Department of State, 1989–1993; assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice, 1985–1989; assistant administrator for program and policy coordination at the U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982–1983; and general counsel at the U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981–1982. Ambassador Bolton is the author of The Room Where it Happened, published by Simon & Schuster (June 2020) , Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the U.N. and Abroad, published by Simon & Shuster (November 2007), and How Barack Obama Is Endangering Our National Sovereignty, published by Encounter Books (April 2010). Ambassador Bolton graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale College in 1970, and received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1974. Please join us for this important conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As America enters the final stretch of the 2020 election, many of the debates and issues that continue to dominate the campaign at the national and local levels stem from a resurgent global right-wing populism that led to the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Four years later, this aggressive form of right-wing populism, infused with xenophobic nationalism, remains a powerful influence in the United States and around the world. Perhaps no one knows these issues better than Lawrence Rosenthal, the founder of the University of California Berkley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies. In his new book Empire of Resentment: Populism’s Toxic Embrace of Nationalism, Rosenthal paints a vivid sociological, political and psychological picture of the transnational quality of this movement, which is now in power in at least a dozen countries. In America and abroad, the current mobilization of right-wing populism has given life to long marginalized threats like white supremacy and anti-immigration fervor. In 2016, renowned UC Berkeley professor Arlie Hochschild was among the first major sociologists to help explain Trump’s election. Her award-winning book, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, helped readers understand why so many American voters were attracted to Trump’s populist message and its negative undertones. Please join us for a special conversation between two UC Berkeley stars—Rosenthal and Hochschild—as they discuss the how the transformation of the American far right made the Trump presidency possible—and what it portends for the future just two months out from the 2020 election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world is projected to generate 90 zettabytes of data this year and the next. That’s more than all the data produced since the arrival of computers, and if we still used DVD’s, we’d need 19 trillion to store it all. Swimming in this massive sea of information, humans are easily overwhelmed; studies suggest we avoid important information because it might make us miserable, while seeking out information of dubious value to make ourselves happy. What information do we need to know? What role should policymakers play in helping us find data that improves our well-being and filter out information—from calorie counts to credit card fees—that wastes our time or even endangers us? Cass Sunstein explains how we can make information work for us. NOTES Co-Hosted with Zócalo Public Square Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will COVID-19 change our food system for good? Increased coronavirus outbreaks in food markets, food plants and farmworker communities have impacted food access and put a spotlight on food insecurity. Farmers are hurting as supply chains for fresh, perishable foods shrivel. Meanwhile, food banks have seen a surge in demand that has required distribution support from the National Guard. What does COVID-19 mean for agriculture, our food supply systems—and our diets? Join us for a conversation with Lisa Held, senior reporter at Civil Eats, Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and Helene York, professor at the Food Business School of the Culinary Institute of America, on feeding a nation under quarantine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The cost and health burdens of electricity production have long been higher for low-income communities of color than for wealthy white ones. But when it comes to public engagement and trust, the oil and gas industry is often ahead of its clean energy competitors, presenting a friendly face to the same areas it supplies with jobs, tax dollars, and cheap energy. Is the industry an example of community leadership, manipulative greenwashing—or something in between? How can the renewable industry transform its model into one of diversity, equity and affordable energy for all? Join us for a conversation with Derrick Hollie, president of Reaching America; Jacqueline Patterson, director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice program; Ivan Penn, alternative energy reporter with The New York Times; and Vien Truong, director of climate justice for Tom Steyer PAC, on hard truths about the energy industry next door. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join San Francisco Pride and The Commonwealth Club for the latest edition of Lavender Talks, a moderated panel discussion emceed by Michelle Meow (host of "The Michelle Meow Show" and a former president of the SF Pride Board of Directors). In this program, we'll look at racism and discrimination in the Castro, San Francisco's world-famous LGBTQ district. In association with San Francisco Pride Made possible by the generous support of Gilead and Comcast And thanks to San Francisco Pride Legacy Partners: Bud Light Hilton San Francisco Union Square KPIX 5 CBS Bay Area Kaiser Permanente Genentech Gilead GLBT Historical Society KBCW TV Parc 55 San Francisco Smirnoff Recology T–Mobile Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Bernard Shaw once said that there is no love more sincere than the love of food. Pipo, the main character in the new children's book Every Night Is Pizza Night, holds the sincerest love of all… for pizza. Pipo is determined to prove that pizza is, in every aspect, the best food out there. However, by cooking and tasting foods with six new friends, Pipo discovers that what makes a food “the best” transcends taste as only one ingredient in the melting pot of tradition, family and friendship. Written by the Food Lab’s J. Kenji López-Alt and illustrated by artist Gianna Ruggerio, the book highlights the importance of gastronomic diversity for children and adults alike. Join them both at INFORUM where they will discuss how, like Pipo, even the pickiest eaters can grow an expansive palette and grow to appreciate the various cuisines around them. This conversation will be moderated by SF Chronicle food critic Soleil Ho. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether you’re pushing for something big like social change or something as small as getting your family to agree on a restaurant choice, success often relies on the ability to communicate and persuade. Trey Gowdy believes the secret to persuasion lies in asking the right questions to the right people. In his new book, Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Using the Power of Questions to Communicate, Connect, and Persuade, Gowdy draws on his own experiences in the courtroom and the halls of Congress to share what he has learned, giving advice that is tried and true. He believes anyone can learn how to identify an objective, understand their audience, and persuade with passion in a way that drives connection and understanding. Join Trey Gowdy as he shows us how to persuade, no matter the jury and no matter the cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us virtually for a conversation with Professors Mettler and Lieberman about the social trends that have often threatened our democracy. They have identified four major threats: political polarization, racism and nativism, economic inequality, and excessive executive power. And they have drawn lessons from five serious crises: the 1790s, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Depression, and Watergate. Each of these crises could have profoundly―even fatally―damaged the American democratic experiment. But what is most alarming now is that all four threats exist simultaneously―in the midst of a viral pandemic. This convergence could be cause for despair, but history provides valuable lessons about how democracy was eventually strengthened―or weakened―in the past. By revisiting how earlier generations of Americans faced similar threats to our constitutional principles, we can see more clearly what led us to today, and then chart a path toward repairing our civic fabric and renewing our democracy. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Miami might be the poster child of rising waters in the United States, but further inland, states are grappling with torrential flooding that is becoming the new norm. Last year, flooding in the southeast killed 12 people and caused $20 billion in damages. This year’s rains have already driven Mississippi into a state emergency, and Missouri is bracing itself with a levee system still in disrepair from last year’s storms. Can infrastructure like floodplains, wetlands, and engineered barriers save riverside states from their new, saturated norm? How are communities adapting to a changing, wetter climate in some of the most conservative parts of the country? Guests: Julia Kumari Drapkin, CEO and founder of ISeeChange Ed Kearns, chief data officer at First Street Foundation Martha Shulski, director of the Nebraska state climate office 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. This year, we will be saluting the winners virtually. The California Book Awards have often been on the vanguard, honoring previously unknown authors who go on to garner national acclaim. John Steinbeck received three gold medals—for Tortilla Flat in 1935, In Dubious Battle in 1936 and The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Award winners in recent years include Adam Johnson, Jared Diamond, Karen Fowler, Kay Ryan, Bill Vollman, Joyce Maynard, Andrew Sean Greer, Yiyun Li, Adrienne Rich, Chalmers Johnson, Richard Rodriguez, Michael Chabon, Philip Levine, Rebecca Solnit, Galen Rowell, Jonathan Lethem, Peter Orner and Kevin Starr. Join us for this special celebratory event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Death—it is the most human experience and yet the topic humans run away from at every opportunity. Why is this? What if we reimagined what death means to each of us personally and collectively as a society? Columbia University physician Dr. L.S. Dugdale sets out to answer these questions and change the approach to death in her new book, The Lost Art of Dying. Dr. Dugdale’s long career in medicine has forced her to become intimate with death in a way very few are, as she is often tasked with guiding her patients through their final phase. Her unique position has gifted her with a new perspective on death that she now hopes to share with the world. She says death is something that we as a culture should celebrate, not be frightened of—but in order to die well, we must first live well. By recovering our sense of finitude, confronting our fears, accepting how our bodies age, and involving our communities in end-of-life care, we can discover what it means to both live and die well. Join us for an honest and soulful conversation with Dr. Dugdale as we run toward the topic of death—freeing ourselves from the fear of the finite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are on the brink of a much-needed transformative moment for health care. The U.S. health care system is designed to be reactive instead of preventive. The result can be diagnoses that are too late and outcomes that are far worse than our level of spending should deliver. In recent years, U.S. life expectancy has been declining. Fundamental to realizing better health, and a more effective health-care system, is advancing the disruptive thinking that has spawned innovation in Silicon Valley and throughout the world. That's exactly what Stanford Medicine has done by proposing a new vision for health and health care. In Discovering Precision Health, Lloyd Minor and Matthew Rees describe a holistic approach designed to set health care on the right track: keep people healthy by preventing disease before it starts and personalize the treatment of individuals precisely, based on their specific profile. MLF ORGANIZER Patty James NOTES MLF: Health & Medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join artist and journalist Dana King as she interviews two scholars who traveled on the Club’s trip, “On the Road to Freedom: Understanding the Civil Rights Movement” in March of 2020. The group spent time in Jackson, Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery. Hear about key events and people involved in the movement, and what it means for these young women in terms of what is happening today and their vision for the future. NOTES In partnership with Cinnamongirl Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long before the coronavirus began disrupting America’s trillion-dollar meat industry, lab-grown proteins were upending the way we consume chicken, pork and beef. With an environmental footprint far smaller than traditional animal agriculture, are cell-cultured and plant-based meat products—now on the menus of major chains like Burger King—still the future of food? Will food science and tech help us make better-informed decisions for our bodies and the planet, or do we need to get back to basics? Join us for a conversation on the future of food with Sophie Egan, author of How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet, and Chase Purdy, author of Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech’s Race for the Future of Food. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us to learn about individuality, finding your voice amidst a sea of homogeneity, and the triumph of intellect over the ideologue. Local filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine explore these themes in their new film Boys State, airing on Apple TV+ beginning August 14. Boys State is a political coming-of-age story, examining the health of American democracy through an unusual experiment: a thousand 17-year-old boys from across Texas gather to build a representative government from the ground up. High-minded ideals collide with low-down dirty tricks as four boys of diverse backgrounds and political views navigate the challenges of organizing political parties, shaping consensus, and campaigning for the highest office at Texas Boys State—governor. In a primarily conservative setting, part of what makes the two prominent progressive participants—Steven and René—so extraordinary is their ability to self-advocate, their perseverance and their drive. The Boys State program epitomizes the real-world experience of many Americans and is how many of our leaders first engaged in the world of politics. Alumni of Boys State, such as Senator Cory Booker, President Bill Clinton, Senator Lamar Alexander and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, fall on both sides of the aisle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BlueSky initiative supports mental health for middle- and high school students in California by providing additional mental health clinicians in schools, training teachers on the signs of mental health issues, and empowering students with in-person and online mental health support resources. With schools now shuttered and distance learning part of the norm because of COVID-19, educators, mental health specialists ,and others are pivoting to address the need virtually. Join us for a special program to learn more about this important initiative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a rare visit with one of America's most trusted medical figures and leading experts on infectious disease, and take advantage of this unique opportunity to ask your questions directly. Dr. Fauci was appointed director of NIAID in 1984. He oversees an extensive portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat established infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, tuberculosis and malaria as well as emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika....and of course, COVID 19. He has advised six presidents on domestic and global health issues. He was one of the principal architects of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that has saved millions of lives throughout the developing world. Dr. Fauci is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest honor given to a civilian by the president of the United States) and the National Medal of Science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Images of dancers or sculptures don’t leap to mind with the mention of climate change. But artists are increasingly using the carbon conundrum as a creative lens, using their mediums to design cultural moments that bring people together. Storytellers and artists are reaching people on a deeper and more emotional level than the cerebral facts and charts often used to shape the climate narrative. Can art reach and activate people on climate in new and compelling ways? How can art convey the joy of nature and the grief of how humans are destroying it? Join us for a conversation about art, beauty and humanity in the age of climate disruption with celebrated choreographer Alonzo King, whose new dance is inspired by the beauty and tragedy unfolding in the Arctic. The world premier will be held in San Francisco later this year. Also joining is senior curator Nora Lawrence, whose 2018 exhibition at New York's Storm King Art Center, Indicators: Artists on Climate Change, was one of the first major museum exhibitions to address climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Science has given us a realistic picture of what Earth will look like with uninhibited levels of climate change: increased extreme weather events, crippled economies and a world where those with the least are the hardest hit. What would a radically re-envisioned future look like? What solutions do we need to replace tomorrow’s doom-and-gloom projections with thriving cities, renewed political consciousness, equitable societies and carbon-free economies? Join us with climate journalist and The Future Earth author Eric Holthaus and Project Drawdown Vice President Katharine Wikinson for a conversation on reimagining our role in creating climate solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Haven't had the opportunity for adventurous travel recently? Then join us for a virtual conversation with remote travel writer Sophy Roberts, direct from London, about her first book: The Lost Pianos of Siberia. Although Siberia’s story is usually one of exile, penal colonies and unmarked graves, there is another tale to tell about one of our planet's harshest landscapes. Dotted throughout this remote land are many pianos―grand instruments created during the boom years of the 19th century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights. These pianos bear witness to the enthusiasm with which Russians have taken to piano music ever since Catherine the Great's westernizing influences introduced it to Russian culture. Follow Roberts as she tracks pianos and their histories through a desolate land inhabited by wild tigers and deeply shaped by its dark history—from the piano that Maria Volkonsky, wife of an exiled Decembrist revolutionary, used to spread music east of the Urals, to those that brought reprieve to the Soviet gulag. That these pianos still exist in such a hostile landscape is remarkable. That they are still capable of making music in far-flung villages is nothing less than miraculous. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few people can reflect as deeply on the politics of political life like Katie Hill, a former U.S. representative for California’s 25th congressional district. She ran for Congress before turning 30 and won her seat in November 2018 as a Democrat, beating a 26-year Republican incumbent. Her win, along with many others that year, was part of a larger turning of the tides in American politics — one centered around young women who were determined to lead change. Then, a mere 11 months later, Hill experienced a major sex scandal that ultimately resulted in her untimely resignation. In her new book, She Will Rise: Becoming a Warrior in the Battle for True Equality, Hill recounts the complicated details of her story and the extreme sexism and abuse she faced at the hands of the highly invasive media. Join her at INFORUM, where she will share her experience with the longstanding double standard of sex and gender in politics, and how we can all play a part in dismantling these systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a stressful time, and it's difficult even for those with a naturally sunny personality to maintain the mood they want. So what about those of us who are coping with unwanted sadness, depression or irritability? And why does stigma still make it difficult to openly discuss these experiences? We have therefore asked Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of California Berkeley and of psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco, to join Dr. Brad Berman, M.D., for an hour of Q&A to discuss your questions about managing the sadder moods at this time of COVID-19. Learn how taking even small steps can help you to improve your mood, outlook and perhaps even help you feel more hopeful. Just write your questions on the chat channel during the talk, and we will forward them to Drs. Hinshaw and Berman anonymously for their answers. Our previous discussion about anxiety with Dr. Michael Tompkins used a similar format, and it was extremely successful. There were great questions that received excellent practical answers, so be sure to attend and ask those questions! Remember, thousands of people will download the podcast afterwards; the answer you get may lighten the day for hundreds of subsequent listeners. MLF ORGANIZER Brad Berman NOTES MLF: Personal Growth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one doubts that there is some corruption in America, as there is in every other country. But in her latest book, Sarah Chayes contends that the United States is showing symptoms distressingly similar to those of the most corrupt countries in the world. Corruption, as Chayes defines it, is an operating system of sophisticated networks in which government officials, key private-sector interests, and out-and-out criminals interweave. Their main objective: to maximize returns for network members. Chayes shows how corrupt systems are organized, how they enforce the rules so their crimes are rarely punished, how they are overlooked and downplayed—shrugged off with a roll of the eyes—by the richer and better educated, and how they shape our government, affecting all levels of society. Chayes also reviews the historical trends involved, beginning with the titans of America's Gilded Age (Carnegie, Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan), the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the Great Depression and FDR's New Deal, and Joe Kennedy's banking, bootlegging and machine politics financial empire, which led to the Kennedy presidency. She says all of that was soon followed by the deregulation of the Reagan Revolution, which undermined the middle class and the unions, the Clinton policies of political favors and personal enrichment, and most recently Trump's hydra-headed network of corrupt players, systematically undoing the Constitution and our laws. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In late 1976, Ronald Reagan was dismissed as a man without a political future: defeated in his nomination bid against a sitting president of his own party, blamed for President Gerald Ford’s defeat, too old to make another run. Four years later, the former California governor would win the White House and expand a conservative revolution begun with Barry Goldwater that continues to impact the country’s politics today. Reagan’s comeback was fueled by an extraordinary confluence: fundamentalist preachers and former segregationists reinventing themselves as militant crusaders against gay rights and feminism; business executives uniting against regulation in an era of economic decline; a cadre of secretive “New Right” organizers deploying state-of-the-art technology, bending political norms to the breaking point—and Reagan’s own unbending optimism, his ability to convey unshakable confidence in America as the world’s “shining city on a hill.” Backed by a reenergized conservative Republican base, Reagan ran on the campaign slogan “Make America Great Again”—and prevailed. Rick Perlstein’s new book Reaganland is the story of how this all happened, tracing conservatives’ tough strategies to gain power and explaining why they endure four decades later. Over two decades, Rick Perlstein has published three essential works about the emerging dominance of conservatism in modern American politics. Reaganland is the saga’s final installment, and it comes just as the country heads into the final stages of the 2020 election, in which many say the politics embraced and pushed by Reagan and his supporters could meet their final test. Please join us for this timely discussion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a virtual conversation between Alan Mikhail and Adam Hochschild about Mikhail's new book, God's Shadow. Although long neglected in European-centric world histories, the Ottoman Empire was a hub of intellectual fervor, geopolitical power and enlightened pluralistic rule. At the height of their authority in the 16th century, the Ottomans, with military dominance and monopolies over trade routes, controlled more territory and ruled over more people than any other world power of the time, forcing Europeans out of the Mediterranean and to the New World. Mikhail recasts this Ottoman history by retelling it through the dramatic biography of Sultan Selim I (1470–1520). Born to a concubine, the fourth of his sultan father’s 10 sons, Selim's charisma and military prowess―as well as the guidance of his mother Gülbahar―allowed him to claim power in 1512 and then nearly triple the empire's territory, building a governing structure that lasted into the 20th century. Selim also fostered religious diversity, encouraged learning and philosophy, and penned his own verse. Drawing on previously unexamined sources, Mikhail’s game-changing account adroitly uses Selim’s life to upend prevailing shibboleths about Islamic history, radically reshaping our understanding of the history of the modern world. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when wilderness meets wealth in the most iconic parts of the country? Teton County, Wyoming, is famous for pristine outdoors, recreation, ranching and land stewardship. It also leads the country in per capita income, with residents averaging a quarter of a million dollars annually. This massive accrual of wealth comes with far-reaching consequences for income inequality and the environment. How are public and private land interests competing in the American West? Can conservation and recreation coalesce in a way that is inclusive of all communities? Join us for a conversation with Justin Farrell, associate professor of sociology at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and author of Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West; Dina Gilio-Whitaker, American Indian studies lecturer at California State University, San Marcos; and Diane Regas, president and CEO of The Trust for Public Land. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As 2020 continues to challenge our way of life, young people are facing the brunt of this unrest. COVID-19 is quickly defining this era, but issues such as racial inequity, economic disparity, historic unemployment rates and the fast-approaching presidential election are also informing Generation Z’s worldview. How are young people processing the government’s role in this crisis? What is the current state of civics education in the United States and, most important, what can we do to make sure youth are civically engaged during this time of uncertainty and into the future? INFORUM and The Commonwealth Club's education initiative, Creating Citizens, have gathered a panel of experts in civics education and youth engagement to discuss how we can continue to educate young people on the structures that impact their lives, and how we can make sure they are an active part of political decision making. Join Generation Citizen’s Scott Warren, IGNITE National’s Sara Guillermo, Kidizenship's Amanda Little and iCivics’ Amber Coleman-Mortley for a conversation on the future of democracy in our country and how we can prepare our youth to save it. This program is generously supported by Levi Strauss & Co. We are grateful for their support and hope others will follow their example to support the Club during these uncertain times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Click. Share. Cyberwarfare. More than ever before, people are logging on, sharing posts, updating statuses, and posting picture after picture as social media offers a physically distant form of connection during the COVID-19 pandemic. But how is this rapid shift in media consumption and the information (and disinformation) that we share affecting democracy during an election year? For more than a decade, online platforms have provided people with much-needed virtual alternatives to in-person offices, classrooms, gyms, and now social activism. And yet with every check-in sent, story posted and account made comes a new bank of user information that can be hacked, data mined, and weaponized by both foreign and domestic threats. Alex Stamos has built his career on ensuring that internet users are safe and protected, especially as social media becomes more pervasive. As Facebook’s former chief security officer, Stamos is no stranger to the dangers of cybersecurity breaches and the widespread consequences of these types of breaches. With less than three months before a pivotal election, join us to discuss what tech companies can do to help safeguard democracy, what users can do to protect themselves, and how the cybersecurity industry is adapting to meet the rising calls for user protection in the age of digital democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices