Climate One At The Commonwealth Club

The Truth About Green Business: The Potential for Jobs and Prosperity Gil Friend, Founder/CEO, Natural Logic, Inc.; Author, The Truth About Green Business Running a profitable business that takes care of the environment, provides meaningful jobs, and helps the community is an oxymoron, right? Not so fast. Friend suggests that green business practices are good for business and the world. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on August 18, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World Bank: Driving Incomes Up, Carbon Down Katherine Sierra, Vice President for Sustainable Development, World Bank Group Awais Khan, Lead, Clean Tech Venture Capital Practice, KPMG Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One at The Commonwealth Club Are the world’s poor going to get shafted in the clean economy, just as they did in the dirty one? The World Bank is at the center of the great 21st-century challenge of reducing carbon while creating opportunity in emerging economies. When are those priorities in alignment? When do they conflict? How does the World Bank’s efforts relate to private capital and entrepreneurs? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on July 28, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Curtailing Suburban Sprawl in California Ted Droettboom, Joint Policy Director, Association of Bay Area Governments Laura Hall, Principal, Hall Alminana, Inc. Paul Campos, Vice President and General Counsel, Northern California Home Builders Association As California’s population has grown, so too has the state’s thirst for expansion and elbow-room. As a result, Californians are spending more time in their cars than ever before. Longer commutes equate to higher greenhouse gas emissions, with roughly 40 percent of the state’s current overall emissions resulting from the transportation sector. Panelists will discuss recent state legislation that was passed to curtail suburban sprawl, as well as the impact legislation will have on individual citizens and the state. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on July 7, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chevron + Sierra Club: Drilling for Common Ground Dave O’Reilly, CEO, Chevron Carl Pope, Executive Director, The Sierra Club Alan Murray, Deputy Managing Editor, The Wall Street Journal – Moderator Chevron and the Sierra Club both see renewable fuels as a growing part of our future. Yet as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy, they have different views on how that change should occur and who should bear the costs. Higher taxes? Voluntary conservation and efficiency? Government mandates? In their first-ever public conversation, O’Reilly and Pope discuss balancing energy and the environment in the 21st century. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on June 10, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Road to Copenhagen: Are We on Track? Bill Reilly, Chairman, Climate Works Foundation; Former Administrator, EPA Larry Schweiger, President, National Wildlife Federation; Board Member, Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection John Bryson, Retired CEO, Southern California Edison; Co-founder, National Resources Defense Council Greg Dalton, Vice President, Commonwealth Club of California In six months more than 180 nations will gather in Copenhagen to hammer out one of the most far-reaching international treaties since the post-war order was established nearly 70 years ago. The Obama administration is taking a proactive approach. Environmentalists and businesses are weighing in. Is the world on track to make a deal? What will it look like? How is California helping set the agenda? This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on June 9, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rethinking Buying and Building: A New Sustainability Chain Andy Ball, CEO, Webcor Builders Beth Springer, EVP, Clorox Dave Steiner, CEO, Waste Management, Inc. Greg Dalton, Vice President, Commonwealth Club, moderator Companies and consumers are being asked to think more about the full life-cycle of the products they make and buy. Whether making consumer goods or constructing skyscrapers, companies are coming around to such a cradle-to-cradle mentality. This panel, which includes the CEO of the country’s largest recycler, $14 billion Waste Management, will discuss innovations in design, materials and marketing that are convincing people and companies that being green is good for business and the planet. This program was recorded in front of a live audience on May 12, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clean Coal: Myth, or Reality? S. Julio Friedmann, Carbon Management Program Leader, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Ray Lane, Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Bruce Nilles, Director, Beyond Coal Campaign at Sierra Club Joe Lucas, Senior Vice President, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity Jeff Goodell, Author, Big Coal – Moderator Coal-fired power plants are the largest U.S. emitters of CO2 and human-generated mercury, yet our nation is poised to build many new coal plants in the future. Panelists will discuss new technologies for carbon capture and storage and IGCC, and the implications of energy policy decisions on the health of our economy and our planet. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on April 28, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Biologist Birute Mary Galdikas discusses the connection between Indonesian rainforests and climate change. In conversation with Greg Dalton, Commonwealth Club Vice President, founder of Climate One Deforestation in Indonesia, driven largely by large palm oil plantations, has caused that country to become the third largest emitter of greenhouses gases in the world. Galdikas, who studied under anthropologist Louis Leakey, has been studying orangutans in Borneo for nearly 40 years. She urges people to be aware of the impact palm oil, and biofuels, are having on one of the world’s largest carbon sinks. This program was recorded at The Commonwealth Club on April 27, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution Auden Schendler, Executive Director of Sustainability, Aspen Skiing Company; Author, Getting Green Done What does the mechanic say when you ask him to put french fry oil in his $250,000 tractor? How do you actually make sustainability happen? Schendler will give us a peek under the hood of the green movement – what it means, in the trenches, to implement actual solutions to climate change. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 7, 2009. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Vincent Alder, Senior Fellow, Institute for Environmental Security Holmes Hummel, Lecturer, Climate Policy, University of California, Berkeley Tom Spencer, Vice Chair, The Institute for Climate Security Greg Dalton, Vice President, The Commonwealth Club, Moderator What is the geopolitical context in which the “Carbon Quad” – The United States, European Union, China and India – are posturing regarding a global deal to reduce carbon pollution? What is the potential impact of the dwindling snow pack in the Tibetan plateau? How does water stress factor into the climate equation internationally and in California? A fast and furious roundtable explores these issues and touches on the lessons of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme, which is something of a model for the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clean Tech for California: Emerging Winners Jennifer Billock, Founder, Over the Moon Diapers – Air, Water, and Waste Winner Tuyen Vo, Founder and CTO, Viridis Earth – Energy Efficiency Winner Michael Looney, CEO and President, BottleStone – Green Building Winner Allen Bronstein, Founder and CTO, Focal Point Energy – Renewables Winner Donnie Foster, CEO and President, Power Assure – Smart Power Winner Fraser Smith, CEO, ElectraDrive – Transportation Winner Betsy Rosenberg, Founder, EcoTalk - Moderator Meet the winners of the Third Annual California Clean Tech Open 2008. This statewide competition focuses on keeping California the leader in commercialized green technologies. Learn about the progress that the six winning companies have made as they move their innovations from the lab into the marketplace, as well as the biggest challenges and opportunities for turning clean-technology concepts into viable business models. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Cl

Driving Toward Sustainability Dan Sperling, Founding Director, Institute of Transportation Studies; Board Member, California Air Resources Board By 2020, the number of cars on the planet will double to two billion. Without big changes to our cars, fuels and personal habits, the carbon footprint from transportation will rise above its current 25 percent of total emissions. Can we break the cycle of “shock and trance?” Join energy expert Sperling as he reveals what is at stake if we refuse to move quickly, and what opportunities exist if we act now. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on February 12, 2009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Letter to President Obama: A Path to a Greener Future Linda Adams, Secretary, California Environmental Protection Agency Carter Roberts, CEO, World Wildlife Fund U.S. Jim Wunderman, President and CEO, Bay Area Council Greg Dalton, Vice President Commonwealth Club Can President Obama heal the economy and turn it green at the same time? He says yes, he can – by pumping investment into modern infrastructure, renewable fuels and new technologies. Can he and his cabinet really do all that and also uphold promises to protect national parks, balance the needs for food and energy, and create new jobs? Perhaps he can if he develops a clearly defined roadmap that tackles today’s multi-faceted and intertwined problems of national and energy security, global poverty, and climate change. A leading policymaker, advocate and businessperson discuss what Obama should do to realize his vision for America, and what that means for California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alan Weisman, Author of "The World Without Us" Alan Weisman's reports from around the world have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Orion, Wilson Quarterly, Vanity Fair, Mother Jones, Discover, Audubon, Condé Nast Traveler, and in many anthologies, including Best American Science Writing 2006. In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; what of our everyday stuff may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cars: Clean Them or Crush Them? Kate Blumberg, Research Director,International Center for Clean Transportation Cornie Huizenga, Vice-Chair, Clean Air Initiative, Asia Center Michael O’Hare, Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley Lee Schipper, Project Scientist, Global Metropolitan Studies, UC Berkeley Greg Dalton, Commonwealth Club Vice President, Moderator The number of cars in the world may double in twenty years to 2 billion if the emerging middle class in India and China get their hands on a new set of wheels. The global economic recession is causing some countries to invest in rail and other cleaner modes of transportation. At the same time, the recession prompted China to to relax regulations on autos to boost its economy. What are the consequences for global climate and quality of life in Asia? What are the alternatives for personal mobility? Will Asian cities choose the problematic western model? How can the US improve its transportation policies and technologies? Is t

Getting Your Green Dream Job Nick Ellis, CEO, Bright Green Talent Liz Maw, Executive Director, Net Impact Jeff Horowitz, Founder, Avoided Deforestation Partners Peter Beadle, CEO, Green Jobs Joel Makower, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com; Author, Strategies for the Green Economy – Moderator Want a green job? INFORUM will tell you how to get it. In an increasingly green society, eco-friendly jobs are popping up everywhere. You don’t have to be an eco-expert to take advantage of this new market. Whether you’re just entering the workforce or looking to transition into a green career, our panel of experts will give you the ins and outs of finding a green-collar job. Following the panel discussion, INFORUM’s job fair features a wide variety of businesses, organizations, government sectors and schools that can help you take the next step in the green job market. The companies and organizations tabling at the job fair portion of the program are: Bay Area Air Quality Management District; Beautiful Communities;

Climate Countdown: Can the World Cut a Deal? Tony Brunello, Deputy Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, California Louis Blumberg, Director, CA Forest and Climate Policy, The Nature Conservancy Aimee Christensen, Founder and CEO, Christensen Global Strategies Greg Dalton, Vice President, The Commonwealth Club; Founder, Climate One – Moderator In 2009, the world will try to craft the next comprehensive environmental treaty. To move forward, there must be multi-lateral consensus on the priorities in the global climate crisis. Recently, the UN Climate Change Conference convened 11,000 people from nearly 190 nations to focus on these challenges. How will governments, business and civil society come together to create plans for action and real solutions? What part will the U.S. play in the next protocol? This panel of insiders will give you the scoop and update you on what you need to know about the U.N.'s negotiations on climate change. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at Th

Energy Efficiency Unplugged Jim Davis, President, Chevron Energy Solutions Ralph Cavanagh, Co-director, Energy Program, Natural Resources Defense Council Tim Draper, Founder and Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Alan Murray, Deputy Managing Editor and Executive Editor Online, The Wall Street Journal – Moderator Can we “save” our way to energy independence? Many energy companies contend the cheapest energy is unused energy. Changes in the construction and management of buildings help companies conserve, but is this a comprehensive strategy? What can we do in our personal lives to conserve, rather than consume? Turning off lights, pumping up tires and using the dishwasher’s “energy saver” mode are small, simple steps. Will they actually make a difference, or do we need more efficient technology to spur meaningful change? Join a panel of experts to discover what companies and consumers can do to become more energy efficient. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwe

City Planet Stewart Brand, Co-founder and President, Long Now Foundation Brand will discuss how increasing urbanization is accelerating economic development with remarkable speed. The consequences will be profound, he believes. Are we prepared? Brand has focused on such subjects as digital media, education and architecture. He’s perhaps best known for founding the Whole Earth Catalog. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on June 14, 2007 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author, The Long Emergency, James Howard Kunstler is an author, social critic, public speaker, and blogger. He is best known for his books The Geography of Nowhere (1994), a history of American suburbia and urban development, and the more recent The Long Emergency (2005), where he argues that declining oil production is likely to result in the end of industrialized society as we know it and force Americans to live in localized, agrarian communities. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on March 19, 2007 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices