Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

Join us for this lively Transforming Our Region forum program on network leadership and building community, featuring Jane Wei-Skillern. Together, we will explore how to collaborate in ways that catalyze systems change for a Bay Area where people and nature thrive. Strong communities are built not just through programs and organizations, but through relationships, trust, and shared leadership. In this highly interactive program, participants will explore key principles of network leadership and learn practical approaches for strengthening collaboration across individuals, organizations, and sectors to catalyze systems change. Through facilitated small-group discussions, participants will experience firsthand how networks create value by connecting people, sharing resources, and mobilizing collective action. Whether you are leading an organization, community initiative, or volunteering in your community, this session will provide tools and insights to help cultivate stronger, more resilient communities across

Join us this evening for a deep-dive military and geopolitical program analyzing the decades-long regional cold and hot wars, proxy conflicts, and strategic power struggles for dominance in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Iran.  At the heart of this analysis lies their relationship with the United States, which is a linchpin of the Saudi-Iranian conflict and the solution to ending it. A Middle East Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. ORGANIZERBanafsheh KeynoushNOTES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A desire to simplify, an upcoming move, a remodel, and general overwhelm are among the many reasons we are called to rightsize our lives. The things that occupy our closets and shelves have all sorts of memories and hopes attached to them. Those same things can also be obligations or burdens. Deciding what to shed and how to go about it can be overwhelming in its own way.  That’s where life organizer Debra Baida comes in. For close to 20 years, she has been empowering and guiding people through their life transitions. She is an empathic facilitator with a focus on making the paring-down process as navigable and sustainable as possible. Creating space while simultaneously holding space are among her superpowers. Deb is also a go-to resource for donating and rehoming unwanted items. Keeping useful things out of landfill is essential to her work ethic.  About the Speakers Debra Baida is a life organizer and founder of Liberated Spaces, which she opened in 2007 after two decades working as a picture

For critics of the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, much attention and ire is focused on the new justices appointed by President Donald Trump. But journalist Alex Wagner says the key president to note is Ronald Reagan, whose 1980 election marked a distinct right turn for American governance. Wagner, host of Crooked Media’s “Runaway Country,” says Reagan’s election marked the return to power of the conservative right after many decades on the fringes: Tax cuts, aggressive foreign policy, and law and order would soon become the cornerstones of Reagan’s agenda. But, behind the scenes, a select group of administration officials and ideological allies had their eyes set on something much more valuable: an institution with the power to shape the country’s legal, cultural and existential identity, long after any presidential term ended. Wagner says California’s own Ed Meese, an Alameda County district attorney, lawyer and aide to Reagan from his days as governor, knew exactly what he had to do to s

What happens when community knowledge, nonprofit purpose, business expertise, and long-term philanthropy come together to solve a basic neighborhood need? San Francisco’s Sunnydale Market offers a compelling and nutritious answer. Created in response to residents’ love of neighborhood, and their need for fresh and affordable groceries, the Sunnydale Market is catalyzed by community voices, the nonprofit 18 Reasons, and the for-profit Bi-Rite Family of Businesses. The Sunnydale Market partnership finds its home in a larger redevelopment made possible by Mercy Housing, Related Companies, and HOPE SF. It is important that this partnership is made financially possible by a long-term commitment from Crankstart. Crankstart funding covers core operating costs so that fresh groceries can be offered to the Sunnydale community at wholesale cost. Sunnydale Market will anchor a thriving neighborhood hub, provide new and better jobs, and attract customers and visitors to Sunnydale to boost other neighborhood businesses

Francis Fukuyama, a leading public intellectual—including repeated popular appearances at the Club—is well-known for his significant, bestselling works of political philosophy and history. Now, for the first time, he examines his own political and intellectual evolution across five transformative decades.  In his new memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man, Fukuyama invites us to follow him from the circle of students around the conservative intellectual Allan Bloom at Cornell, into the halls of power in Washington and at the RAND Corporation, and into private conversations with world leaders from Muammar Qaddhafi to China’s powerful elite. Fukuyama touches on his family’s story, including his relatives’ internment during World War II along with other Japanese Americans. And, in surprisingly personal terms, he reflects on the experiences that led him to reevaluate his own thinking, most notably his dramatic public break with the neoconservative movement over the invasion of Iraq. Join us as Francis F

Emily Wilson, whose translations of Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad have captured a generation’s imagination, joins us virtually to explore the complicated terrain of reading and writing about the ancient past. Drawing on 20 years of scholarship and teaching, Wilson reviews the difficult choices that translators must make, the pleasures of finding new solutions to old problems, and the inevitable frustrations of never fully capturing what is in the original work. Ranging from the politics of Helen of Troy to the obscenities of Aristophanes, from Roman imitations of Greek models to contemporary debates over “foreignizing” and “domesticizing” styles, Wilson examines how modern norms of gender, sexuality, violence, humor and power complicate our readings of ancient works. And how, even though translation always risks denaturing what is unique and strange about the ancient world, it continues to enrich our understanding of it. In Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea, Wilson has created an introduction

How should Democrats campaign on climate? Some are quietly shelving climate-specific language ahead of the midterms in favor of terms like “energy crisis” and “affordability.”  But Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island has been talking about climate change on the Senate floor for more than a decade, and he has no plans to stop now.  “The most important thing that can be accomplished on the climate front is to end the pollute-for-free business model of the fossil fuel industry. It is morally wrong, it is economically wrong, it is an environmental sin, and there's literally no merit to it, which is why the fossil fuel industry has to prop it up with all this dark money and lies,” he says. Plus, geothermal energy is having a moment – getting interest from data center developers and support from the Trump administration at a time when other renewable energy sources are getting the ax. What should we expect from the industry in the next five years? Guests: Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator (D-RI)

Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada has spent years examining the books, ideas and figures that shape American politics. Now, as America marks its 250th anniversary, he turns to the country’s global role. In Lozada’s view, the United States has gone from the leader of the free world to a “dangerous nation.”Whether in the war in Iran, the jailing of Venezuela’s president, or Trump’s stated desire to “take Cuba,” Lozada sees a consistent pattern. Under Trump, he writes, U.S. leadership has been remade “from authority to domination, from persuasion to bullying, from nurturing alliances to wrecking them.”Lozada argues that Pax Americana has given way to “Lax Americana”—a superpower that still expects the benefits of global leadership while shedding the obligations that once came with it. Before joining The New York Times in 2022, Lozada served as The Washington Post’s nonfiction book critic, Outlook editor, national security editor and economics editor. Prev

Come hear the story of a single nuclear bomb’s deep origins, brief life during the Cold War, and lasting environmental and political legacies―and how some are viewing the entire sweep of the American nuclear enterprise. A grave reminder of the frightening truth about nuclear testing, as international norms waver. As the United States and Russia let one treaty after another falter and expire, Jon Else reminds us of the terrible price of those tests. In his new book Frenchman Flat, Else recounts the science, politics and human experience of those who developed nuclear weapons, suffered the consequences of their testing, and fought for and against arms control between the 1940s and 1990s. The throughline of this vast, complex story is a 37-kiloton atomic bomb dubbed “Priscilla” that was exploded above a custom-built mini-civilization at Frenchman Flat, Nevada, in 1957. Jon Else uses Priscilla and the bombs that preceded and followed to highlight the terrifying ways we have considered to blow ourselves to bits w

After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Sarah Longwell did what she's done nearly every week for the past eight years: She sat down with voters. She conducted hundreds of focus groups, listening to thousands of ordinary Americans―Republicans, Democrats, and the politically homeless―with the goal of understanding politics through the eyes of the people who will decide our country’s future.  American voters, and what they want for their country, are at the heart of her new book How to Eat an Elephant. Longwell, the founder of The Bulwark and a popular political communicator, lays out the playbook for building a coalition big enough, bold enough, and tough enough to defeat authoritarian populism for good. Not with a single election. Not by doing another poll or debating the benefits of being more progressive or more moderate, but by building something new: A modern pro-democracy movement that can create its own communications infrastructure―just like the right has done for decades―achieve narrative

The Social Impact Forum examines how promising approaches to social challenges translate into measurable results. This conversation will explore not only the role of belonging and connection in addressing homelessness, but also questions of effectiveness, accountability, duplication of existing services, and whether organizations practice the relational values they promote. Homelessness is one of the most vexing issues in the social impact field. Despite countless attempts and huge budgets to address it, and everyone anxious for results, it persists. Many talk of housing first, what other inputs can achieve results, and how can they be measured? Join moderator Kevin F. Adler, founder of Miracle Messages, for an intimate roundtable exploring a critical but often overlooked dimension of homelessness: the need for connection, relationships and belonging alongside housing and material support. Through lived experience, direct service, policy and systems-change perspectives, panelists Lawrence Lincoln, Khadijah

As the 2026 midterms approach, voters are contending with concerns around affordability, the AI boom, and climate disruption in their daily lives. AI data centers have become the wild card in energy politics, driving up energy demand and utility bills, and playing a large role in a battleground House primary. A year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act rolled back key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, many climate advocates assumed the energy transition was stalled out, but new research suggests otherwise.  How will climate and energy shape the ballot box this year? And what's it like to campaign on those issues in a swing state? William Lawrence, Candidate, US Congress MI-07; Co-founder, Sunrise Movement Leah Stokes, Associate Professor, UC Santa Barbara; Author, “The Carbon Wave” Lily Bermel, Visiting Fellow, Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy. For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit our ⁠⁠episode page⁠⁠ at ClimateOne.org Highlights: 00:00:00 Intro 00:03:25 Wi

Join us on Thursday, September 10 at the Commonwealth Club for “Reading the Signals: Predictions, Polls & the 2026 Midterms,” featuring renowned nonpartisan election analyst Nathan Gonzales, editor & publisher of Inside Elections and election analyst for CQ Roll Call. At Inside Elections, Nathan he analyzes every competitive race in the country. With more than two decades covering presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races, Nathan is widely recognized for delivering clear, objective, data-driven analysis that cuts through speculation and partisan spin. A frequent political analyst for CNN, NPR, CBS News, and other major national media, he is known for providing clear, objective insights that cut through the noise and identify the trends that truly matter. During this interactive session, Nathan will explore: which races will determine control of Congress—and why; the political, economic and demographic forces shaping voter behavior; and  the scenarios most likely to unfold—and the su

When families have support, children and youth do better at home, in school and in their communities. Yet many conversations about “student success” focus narrowly on classrooms and test scores, overlooking the pregnancy, early childhood, housing, mental health, special‑needs and basic‑needs supports that shape whether children can show up ready to learn in the first place. This program will explore how family resource centers and other family support services operate in San Francisco, drawing on the experiences of community leaders and parents who know these systems firsthand. Through stories from their work and lives, the panel will highlight how family support helps families navigate complex systems, build stability, and prevent crises before they escalate. The conversation will also consider what we can all do to support cradle‑to‑career supports for families, so that all San Francisco children and youth can thrive.About the Speakers Our moderator will be Kula Koenig, the chief policy officer at Safe &

Note: This podcast contains explicit language. Is American democracy doomed? Robert Reich doesn’t think so, even though he is more than capable of pointing out how it has fallen short and is being challenged by powerful anti-democratic forces. He says we can reclaim a sense of community and a democratic capitalism based on American ideals we still have the power to salvage. To know where to go next, it helps to know how we got here, and in his new book Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, Reich tells us how he got here. Born just 9 months after World War II, Reich came into a united America with a bright future—which went unrealized for so many as, he says, big money took over our democracy. His encounter with school bullies on account of his height—4’11" as an adult—made him determined to spend his life fighting American bullies of every sort. He recounts the death of a friend in the Civil Rights Movement; his political coming of age witnessing the Berkeley free speech movement; working for Bobby

Skye Perryman—a Time 100 honoree and CEO of Democracy Forward—offers an urgent, inspiring blueprint for how ordinary people can fight for freedom in extraordinary times. She says the future of our country lies in all of our hands. From protecting voting rights and public schools to finding courage in the face of fear, Skye Perryman makes the case that defending democracy isn’t the job of lawyers or politicians alone—it’s a role for every one of us, seasoned and brand-new activists alike. Drawing on her frontline experience challenging threats to democracy in courtrooms across the nation, Perryman combines gripping personal stories with practical “how-to” guides that empower readers to take action in their own communities. Accessible, hopeful, and deeply practical, this inspiring book shows that the path forward begins not in the halls of power but at our kitchen tables, in our neighborhoods, and through the everyday choices we make to speak up, build community, and protect our future. Learn more

Note: This podcast contains explicit language. Dating and relationships can be messy. The apps, the expectations, the endless options—it’s a lot. But there’s real science behind how people connect, commit and build a relationship with someone who will “be there when you need them the most.” So how to find such a person, especially in such a world? Fortunately we have a guide! Dr. Justin Garcia is the executive director of the Kinsey Institute, the premier research center on human sexuality and relationships, where he leads a team that has been delving into precisely those questions for almost 80 years. He’ll discuss how people have evolved to need relationships, what we need in a relationship (sometimes not what we think we need!), and how people are negotiating the desires for intimacy and committed relationship in a landscape characterized by casual sex, casual dating and rapidly changing technologies. In addition, Dr. Garcia will discuss what science has found about the realities of modern relati

Growing power demands – coupled with increasingly frequent climate-driven disasters – have led even staunch environmentalists like NRDC head Manish Bapna to rethink their past opposition to nuclear power.  Three Mile Island didn't kill anyone or cause major public harm, but it fundamentally changed U.S. nuclear policy for 40 years. Why did an accident with a relatively contained consequence have such a chilling effect – and what’s really different today? With dozens of new, purportedly safer designs at various stages of development and construction around the world, is it time for all of us to give nuclear energy a fresh look? Guests: Manish Bapna, President and CEO, NRDC  Denia Djokić, Assistant Research Scientist, University of Michigan Josh Freed, Senior Vice President for Climate and Energy, Third Way Edwin Lyman, Director of Nuclear Power Safety, Union of Concerned Scientists  Highlights: 00:00 – Introduction  02:30 – Manish Bapna explains shift in posture on nuclear power 0

Amidst a backdrop of unprecedented attacks on trans athletes, Schuyler, Chella, and Cal teamed up to take on the Ironman 70.3 relay in Oceanside, California, together on March 28, 2026—placing third in the men’s relay category. Schuyler in the water, Chella on wheels, and Cal hitting the pavement, these trans masculine athletes defy the erasure so commonly perpetuated against them, leaning into movement as essential empowerment, teamwork as vital community, and self-love as fuel.  On June 29, Schuyler, Chella, and Cal invite us into their Ironman journey for a special event at the Commonwealth Club, with a panel discussion of their experience followed by a group run and reception. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices