Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

Pathways for reducing carbon emissions include electrifying transportation, replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar power. But in this time of national reckoning on racial and economic disparities there is growing support for a more holistic approach. This view holds that the climate crisis won’t be resolved until we first address the systemic imbalances that have fueled it - racism, capitalism, white supremacy and patriarchy. In their new book, All We Can Save:Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, co-editors Katharine Wilkinson and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson bring together the voices of women artists, writers and changemakers who are at the forefront of climate action. “The work that we’re doing is instigating or nurturing a feminist climate renaissance,” says Johnson, “which is what we feel the climate movement so desperately needs right now.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ibram X. Kendi is one of America’s foremost authorities on anti-racism, authoring books such as the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning and the number-one New York Times bestseller How to Be an Antiracist. Kendi’s new book, Be Antiracist: A Journal for Awareness, Reflection, and Action, gives the reader a space to reflect on their personal journey in becoming an anti-racist. At INFORUM, Kendi will discuss how changing one’s outlook on race in America is not easy—becoming a true anti-racist requires careful introspection. While progress toward anti-racism does not look the same for everyone, it is a goal that everyone can and should take on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Technology has helped the world survive, thrive and stay connected through the COVID-19 lockdown. As countries look toward re-opening in a post-pandemic world, does tech hold the same promise in the fight to solve climate change? From mapping weather patterns with pinpoint accuracy using artificial intelligence, to engineering algae that gobbles up carbon dioxide, climate tech is ripe with breakthroughs. “The technology is there,” says inventor and entrepreneur Saul Griffith, ”it’s now down to the politics and the financing.” Guests: Saul Griffith, Founder & Chief Scientist, Otherlab Valerie Shen, Chief Operating Officer, G2VP Michael Wilshire, Head of Strategy, Bloomberg NEF This program was recorded on August 18, 2020. For full show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Curious minds seeking more information on the untold secrets (literally) surrounding them should look no further than "99% Invisible," the podcast hosted by Roman Mars that reports on how our lives are impacted by the architecture, transportation and infrastructure of our cities. "99% Invisible" episodes address a wide variety of issues, from the effects of American car culture on policing to the confusions of print and virtual mapmaking. In their new book The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design, Mars and "99% Invisible" digital director and producer Kurt Kohlstedt share stories from the podcast that will both enlighten readers and encourage them to think more critically about their living environments. Join them both at INFORUM, where they will discuss the small marvels that make up our big world and the role that people played in building them. This conversation will be moderated by The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch

Our distinguished panel will discuss the U.S.-mediated deal (which President Trump calls "The Abraham Accord") between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and its impact on the Arab world, Iran and Turkey, and neighboring states. Some observers consider that this tentative public declaration of peace was a historic shift legitimizing Israel in the Arab world, which fears Iran and opposes Israeli annexation of the West Bank. Others consider the efforts to be politically motivated by the Trump and Netanyahu administrations. The expert panel will also discuss how a potential formal peace treaty, the first between the Arab world and Israel in 25 years, could lead to greater peace in the region. MLF ORGANIZER Celia Menczel NOTES MLF: Middle East Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Master Chef Jacques Pépin has been influencing American tastes and cooking techniques for generations. The winner of 16 James Beard Awards, Chef Pépin has written 29 cookbooks and spent 4 decades on television. In this era when so many of us are confined at home, Chef Pepin says you don’t need a state of the art kitchen or pantry full of expensive ingredients to create a delicious meal. More important, cooking quick and simple dishes doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice quality and flavor. Come get some kitchen inspiration from this legendary culinary artist. NOTES Part of our Food Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's October, which means some people in California will have already voted early and others are planning to do it soon. Regardless of where your political sympathies lie, Election 2020 is a watershed election, and the decisions voters make on their November ballots will have far-reaching effects locally, statewide, and nationally. Join us for the latest edition of our Week to Week political roundtable, in which we bring together a panel of politics experts to discuss the latest political news with insight, civility, and humor. This time, we'll be focusing on the fall election from a California perspective—looking at the candidates and propositions voters are being asked to consider. NOTES In partnership with the Silicon Valley Capital Club See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reading the self-help literature could leave you with the impression that the goal in life is to maximize your confidence. On the other hand, research on overconfidence highlights all the ways in which people can get themselves into trouble by being too confident. Expert Don Moore will explore this tension by examining the psychology of confidence. Evidence underscores risks on both sides. Overconfidence leads people to delude themselves with wishful thinking, take too many risks, pursue impossible goals and waste their time on doomed ventures. Under-confidence dissuades people from taking risks that would pay off and scares them away from trying things they would enjoy. The evidence highlights a promising middle way between these twin risks. Don Moore holds the Lorraine Tyson Mitchell Chair in Leadership at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley. His research interests include overconfidence, including when people think they are better than they actually are, when people think t

Over the last several years, and especially since the 2016 election, the extraordinary impact of technology, particularly social media, on our privacy, democracy, economy, kids and families, race and gender roles, climate change and mental health, among other topics, has become an issue of urgent national concern. These are all issues that James P. Steyer, founder & CEO of Common Sense Media, knows well. Since 2003, under Steyer’s leadership, Common Sense Media has helped millions of parents and educators navigate the digital world with their kids and students. And now, in a new book (to be released on October 13, 2020), Which Side of History? How Technology Is Reshaping Democracy and Our Lives, Steyer and some of the country’s leading writers and thinkers take on these issues from an even broader perspective to help shape conversations on how approaches and policies related to technology can be improved. In this program, Steyer and Franklin Foer, a writer for The Atlantic, will discuss big issues related to

In an America that seems increasingly divided, how can we regain trust in our government and in each other? Pete Buttigieg gained a comprehensive view of American democracy during his time as a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Now, in his new book Trust: America’s Best Chance, Buttigieg argues that re-building trust as an American ideal is the key to tackling our country’s biggest challenges. Buttigieg returns to INFORUM to share a vision that urges us to reject our divided present in favor of a future that is more inclusive, conciliatory and trusting. Through this path, he states, American democracy can truly live up to its guiding tenets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In these increasingly divisive and unstable times, it is more apparent than ever that the health of our democracy depends on educating and empowering young people to participate. But the barriers to their involvement can seem insurmountable: from the lack of civics in schools, indifferent local legislators, and partisan efforts to suppress voting and spark social unrest. Combined, these numerous factors conspire to deny youth the tools and information they need to become involved. Yet young people have a powerful voice, and they are increasingly using it to challenge all of us to step up, pay attention, and solve pressing social and political issues. In this program, we bring together four youth leaders from across the United States, whose diverse perspectives will provide insights into the experiences of young Americans today. Join us to hear first-hand what it means to grow up during this unique historic moment, to learn about the actions young people are taking to effect meaningful change in their schools

Foreign policy experts Rebecca Lissner and Mira Rapp-Hooper paint a provocative picture of the United States’ future. As the country prepares for a presidential election of historic significance and charts its course in a post-pandemic world, they say the United States must reject the temptation to embrace nationalistic calls for closure, global disengagement or self-sufficiency, and instead redouble its commitment to international leadership, economic interdependence and alliances in an “open world.” They say that despite considerable foreign threats, the greatest dangers to the United States come from within: decades of underinvestment in the American people, economy and democracy; misalignment of the tech sector with the nation’s vital interests; and acute partisan polarization. Come for an engaging discussion on how the future of American power in a post-COVID world must build on the foundation of 21st century competitiveness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COVID-19 has been a startling wake-up call and exposed the medical and economic challenges of dealing with a pandemic. As the death toll continues to rise, what can be done to keep people safe? And why are some countries handling the crisis better than others? Economic journalists Micklethwait and Wooldridge identify the problems that global leaders face and outline a detailed plan to ensure we are better prepared and responsive to any disruptive events in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The early 1970s were a tumultuous time for the Republican Party—not unlike today. The party was battling national security risks, wrestling with the expansion of civil rights, and dealing with the political fallout of an embattled president. In order to survive, the Republican Party needed someone to guide them. That someone was James A. Baker III. Baker was the right-hand man of presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and a major player in constructing modern conservatism, yet his story has gone largely untold until now. Revered political journalists (and husband and wife) Peter Baker of The New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker have teamed up to tell the story of the man behind the curtain. In their book The Man Who Ran Washington, they describe that man who pieced the Republican Party back together, leading with vision and a loyalty to the party, but also in service to all Americans. Join us as Baker and Glasser discuss the story of a power broker who influenced America’s future for gene

Join us for a virtual conversation with Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Fredrik Logevall, who has written a revealing biography about our iconic, yet still elusive, 35th president. At the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a wealthy Irish American family, JFK developed political ambition at an early age. His meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president helped mythologize him, as did the many hagiographic portrayals of his dazzling charisma. Reports of his extramarital affairs, and disagreements over his political legacy, have also proliferated since his untimely death, but all these accounts fail to capture the full person. Attracted by this gap in our historical knowledge, Logevall spent the last decade searching for the “real” JFK. The result is a two-volume biography that effectively

At the recent Global Training in July 2020, former Vice President Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project continued their call to prioritize and center the environmental justice work of communities of color and indigenous communities. In this spirit, we invite you to learn about and engage with Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice's "We Can't Breathe" campaign in San Francisco's Bayview and Hunters Point (BVHP) neighborhoods, a low-income community of color (33.7 percent African American, 30.7 percent Asian, and 24.9 percent Latinx per the 2010 Census) where residents suffer from high rates of asthma and cancer and where radioactive waste and toxic contamination at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Superfund site and multiple other contaminated sites are located. As one of the lowest-lying points in San Francisco, BVHP will also be first impacted by rising oceans, which have already risen by almost 8 inches as of 2016 and which threaten to create flooding of hazardous and radioactive waste of neigh

Ken Follett is one of the world's best-loved authors, selling more than 170 million copies of his 31 books. Follett's first bestseller was Eye of the Needle, a spy story set in the Second World War. In 1989, The Pillars of the Earth was published and has since become Follett's most popular novel. It reached number one on bestseller lists around the world and was an Oprah's Book Club pick. Its sequels, World Without End and A Column of Fire, proved equally popular, and the Kingsbridge series has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Mr. Follett's latest novel, The Evening and the Morning—a prequel to The Pillars of The Earth—takes readers on an epic journey back to the year 997, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns. Join us for a rare and intimate conversation with this renow

John Lithgow’s acclaimed acting career has seen him star in shows like "3rd Rock from the Sun" and "The Crown" and films such as Bombshell and The World According to Garp. Now, he’s following up last year’s best-selling book, Dumpty, with a brand-new collection of satirical poems chronicling the age of President Donald Trump. Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown is darker and more hard-hitting than ever. Lithgow writes and draws with wit and fury as he takes readers through another year of shocking events involving Trump and his administration. His uproarious poems and illustrations encompass Trump's impeachment, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, and much more. Join Lithgow as we laugh and pause to remember some of the most defining moments in recent history—as he skewers the reign of “King Dumpty” one stanza at a time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stoicism has found a new audience among those who seek greatness, from athletes to politicians and everyone in between. Its embrace of self-mastery, virtue and indifference to that which we cannot control is as urgent today as it was in the chaos of the Roman Empire. Join Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, for a conversation with number 1 bestselling author Ryan Holiday to learn more about the fascinating lives of the men and women who strove to live by the timeless Stoic virtues of courage, justice, temperance and wisdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a virtual medical panel discussion about whether the COVID-19 crisis will end up trimming some of the waste out of America's health-care system or changing it more fundamentally. For this 10th Annual Lundberg Institute Lecture, previous TLI lecturers will join Dr. George Lundberg in a reprise of some of the health-care topics covered in the last 10 years, including medical treatment of the dying, Medicare for All, improving the quality of health care and patient safety, decreasing diagnostic and treatment errors, and removing "business ethics" as a model for health-care management. The TLI panel will also compare the health-care platforms of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices