Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

Laughter can be good medicine, but when is it okay to laugh at something as deadly serious as the climate crisis? Jokes help us remember information that otherwise might not be retained. A snappy punchline can be a powerful way to get a message through to an audience. Comedy can also be a way for performers and audiences alike to cope with a shared societal problem, like climate or social justice. Humor has a way of slipping through our perceived biases and giving us a new way of looking at challenges. How can we all learn to use humor both as a coping tool and a tool for change?  Guests:  Rollie Williams, Comedian, Host, Climate Town Caty Borum, Provost Assoc. Professor, American University For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a challenge to make the best decisions in a world that is unpredictable and full of contradictions. Help is now available in the form of advice from quantum physicist Jim Al-Khalili, who shares 8 lessons from the heart of science that he says can help people get the most out of life. As he writes in The Joy of Science, Al-Khalili invites people to engage with the world as scientists have been trained to do. The scientific method has served mankind well in its quest to see things as they really are. Underpinning the scientific method are core principles that can be deployed outside of the laboratory too, in our own lives. Knowing the nature of truth and uncertainty, the role of doubt, the pros and cons of simplification, the value of guarding against bias, the importance of evidence-based thinking and more—Al-Khalili says these are all deeply relevant to everyday lives. Jim Al-Khalili is distinguished professor of theoretical physics at the University of Surrey and is one of Britain’s best-known science c

As CNN’s anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper is one of the most respected journalists in news today. He is also a best-selling author, and his heart-pounding new thriller All the Demons Are Here takes us back to the 1970s, with two unforgettable characters encountering many of the real-life figures and events that defined one of the wildest and most dangerous decades in American history. Hear more about his latest work and his take on the current political landscape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck San Francisco, catching most of the city asleep. For approximately one minute, shockwaves buckled streets, shattered water mains, collapsed buildings, crushed hundreds of residents to death and trapped many alive. For the next three days, fires ignited and nearly destroyed what was then the largest city in the American West. Join us in-person as Matthew Davenport describes the massive devastation and combines history and science to tell the dramatic true story of one of the greatest disasters in American history. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES A Humanities 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. This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disasters caused by burning fossil fuels are becoming more frequent, and in the aftermath of hurricanes, floods and wildfires, federal and state responses are often slow or insufficient. There is a growing body of research showing that neighborhood ties can be the difference between life and death: Socially connected neighbors are less likely to die from excessive heat or other extreme weather events. Community-based action, like mutual aid, can bring resources to people overlooked by overburdened governments. What tools can a community use to prepare for fossil fueled disasters?  Guests: Tanya Gulliver Garcia, Director of learning and partnerships, Center for Disaster Philanthropy Chenier “Klie” Kliebert, Executive Director, Imagine Water Works Amee Raval, Research and Policy Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) Justin Hollander, Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy Planning, Tufts University Reverend Vernon K. Walker, Climate Justice Program Director, Clean Water Action For show notes

Join us for the 13th annual Lundberg Institute Lecture, featuring Bob Matthews of MediSync discussing the advances artificial intelligence is making in health care. AI’s advances into various health-care fields have recently burst into public consciousness—generating excitement, concern and confusion among lay and professional observers. AI has already been relied upon in genomic medicine and in the automated analysis of diagnostic studies, but ChatGPT and Bard have liberated imaginations to consider many more potential applications. The task at hand, though, is determining whether those liberated imaginations are being realistic or unrealistic. Medical news tends to focus on the newest and most technically glitzy innovations. even though they sometimes perform less well than advertised. Matthews will explore the immediate opportunities AI has for affecting the care of the most prevalent and important medical conditions, like chronic diseases, as that could quickly influence both the quality and the total cos

Bestselling author and popular speaker Suneel Gupta knows what it's like to fail and to succeed. He's done both, and he says the key to creating a balanced, joyous life that integrates ambition, work and well-being is to find your dharma—your inner calling. He says we’ve been conditioned, from an early age, to believe that one day we’ll reach a moment of “arrival.” But no matter how much we achieve or acquire we still don’t feel as satisfied or as fulfilled as we thought we would be. Exhausted, we become burned out and cynical, questioning the purpose of it all. An expert on happiness and work, Gupta argues that for too long we have compartmentalized work and well-being and ignored the fact that both are essential for sustained success. We’ve assumed that outer success leads to inner well-being, despite history showing us otherwise. In his latest book, Everyday Dharma, Gupta weaves personal stories, history, science, Eastern philosophy, and Western modalities in this prescriptive book.  Gupta, a visiting scho

For thousands of years, the American buffalo evolved alongside Indigenous people who relied on them for food and shelter, and, in exchange for killing them, revered the animal. For millennia, this totemic animal lived in symbiotic relationship with grasslands throughout North America, then – in less than 100 years – new settlers and hunters brought their numbers from 30 million to the mere hundreds, while in the same era glorifying them as our iconic national animal. It’s a classic and cautionary tale of our ability to destroy the natural world – and potentially, to bring it back.  Guests: Ken Burns, Director, The American Buffalo Rosalyn LaPier, Indigenous environmental historian and ethnobotanist For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The past three years of the pandemic and the widespread practice of working from home have had a huge impact on our cities, businesses, individuals, and real estate of all types around the world. What will the future look like when considering long-term trends in population, employment, office attendance, housing prices, and other factors? Join us for a special presentation featuring the results of a new McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report, "Empty spaces and hybrid places: The pandemic’s lasting impact on real estate." MGI Director Jonathan Woetzel will take the lead in a discussion of the report's findings and implications, such as the ripple effects of hybrid work on the way we live, work, and shop; the resulting impact on demand for office, residential, and retail space in cities; and how urban stakeholders can adapt to the new reality. He will be joined by Peter Calthorpe, urban design and planning principal at HDR. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Joe Biden took his oath of office, the trajectory of his presidency—and the fate of our nation—remained unknown. Thousands of Americans were still sick with COVID, former presidents and first ladies sat masked on the balcony of the Capitol building—while Biden’s predecessor was notably absent. Just two weeks prior, the same building was under siege by a group of insurrectionists who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election. On top of it all, suffering from the many unforeseen consequences of the pandemic, the American economy faced a looming economic crisis.  As a staff writer for The Atlantic, Franklin Foer had exclusive access to Biden and his inner circle. Foer revisits the challenging and consequential formative years of the Biden presidency from an insider’s perspective in his forthcoming book, The Last Politician. Join us for a conversation with one of our nation’s leading political journalists as we cover topics ranging from the withdrawal of the last troops from Afghanistan, to the war

Congressman Ro Khanna has made a name for himself as a pragmatic progressive and critic of Big Oil. He grilled oil company CEOs under oath and helped negotiate with Senator Joe Manchin to keep climate policy in the Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest piece of climate legislation ever passed in the United States. Despite being one of the more progressive voters in Congress, Khanna has a reputation for coalition building; he got more bills passed than any other Democrat during the previous administration. Now that Republicans control the House of Representatives and are looking to claw back climate provisions of the IRA, what levers can he still pull to address the climate crisis?  Guest: Ro Khanna, U.S. Congressman For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you one in a million? One in a billion? What if an app could pick you out of a crowd based on your face alone?  New York Times tech reporter Kashmir Hill was skeptical when she got a tip about a mysterious app called Clearview AI that claimed it could, with 99 percent accuracy, identify anyone based on just one snapshot of their face. The app could supposedly scan a face and, in just seconds, surface every detail of a person’s online life: their name, social media profiles, friends and family members, home address, and photos that they might not have even known existed. If it was everything it claimed to be, it would be the ultimate surveillance tool, and it would open the door to everything from stalking to totalitarian state control. Could it be true? Hill tracked the improbable rise of Clearview AI and its astounding collection of billions of faces from the internet. Google and Facebook decided that a tool to identify strangers was too radical to release, but Clearview forged ahead, sharing the app wit

Who is the most successful woman ever to compete on "Jeopardy"? Amy Schneider’s impressive 40-game winning streak was accompanied by an even greater prize—the joy of being herself on national television and blazing a trail for openly queer and transgender people around the world. Her new memoir, In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life explores some of the innumerable topics that have fascinated Amy throughout her life—books and music, Tarot and astrology, popular culture and computers, sex and relationships—but they all share the same purpose: to illustrate, and celebrate, the results of a lifetime spent asking, why? Join Amy as she returns to The Commonwealth Club and shares her singular journey that led to becoming an unlikely icon and hero to millions.  NOTES This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. See more  Michelle Meow Show programs at The Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc

Jane Fonda has spent the last several decades fighting for Indigenous peoples' rights, economic justice, LGBTQ rights, peace, gender equality and more. Now, she is devoting herself to the climate emergency, beginning with Fire Drill Fridays, the national movement to protest government inaction on climate change she started in October 2019. Now, through the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, she is focused on defeating political allies of the fossil fuel industry. At 85, Fonda continues to fight for the most vulnerable among us, consistently pointing out the intersection between the myriad of causes. What keeps the iconic Jane Fonda going strong? Guest: Jane Fonda, actor, activist For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/jane-fonda-lifetime-activism Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feel like you are always running out of time? What would you do differently with an extra 25 years of longevity to build a fulfilled life?  Please join us for a conversation on making the most of our increased longevity and designing lives with greater well-being, meaning and purpose. Dr. Laura Carstensen and Mark T. Johnsen will touch on the multiple facets of building a wealthier life with increased life spans. Health—align health spans to life spans: One-hundred-year lives are quickly becoming commonplace, but healthy long lives require us to consider what we should be doing at all life stages to promote well-being.  Career—working more flexible years to provide well-being beyond just financial stability: Having a fulfilling career helps give us a sense of purpose but can also be taxing on us in this fast-paced world, particularly when we have so many obligations to our families, friends and communities. How should we be thinking of education and work in order to foster meaningful and healthy career spans?

The climate crisis can be difficult to cover in a way that most people can relate to. The mechanism of harm goes from a person's gas car or stove to the Earth's atmosphere and back again in the form of floods and fires. That's why true stories of individuals and families experiencing the fallout of the climate crisis can be so impactful. They help us relate to each other on a more direct level, the way humans naturally do: person to person. Covering Climate Now Journalism Award winners Naomi Klein and Carolyn Beeler bring those stories to light.  This episode was produced in collaboration with Covering Climate Now. Guests:  Carolyn Beeler, Environment Reporter, Editor, The World Naomi Klein, author, social activist For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/naomi-klein-and-carolyn-beeler-covering-big-ideas-and-personal-stories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bay Lights by artist Leo Villareal first went live on March 5, 2013. Exactly one decade later, the beloved artwork went dark. Ben Davis is the driving force behind The Bay Lights and the effort to bring the artwork back with twice the number of LEDs in a radically accessible new configuration. With the project 75 percent funded—and $2.5 million more needed to proceed—Davis will reveal what's next for the historic effort: organizational vulnerability.  Davis is the founder and leader of Illuminate, the art nonprofit behind many of San Francisco's large-scale and iconic public artworks, including lighting The Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks, activation of the Golden Mile on JFK Promenade, the Summer of Love lighting on the Conservatory of Flowers, Grace Light in Grace Cathedral, the revival of the Golden Gate Bandshell, and the series of giant laser art installations across San Francisco this summer.  Davis will also talk about his vision for San Francisco as the City of Awe.  The program talk will be followed

Fourteen years after receiving its permit, the nation’s first new nuclear reactors in decades just fired up in Georgia. Massive, traditional nuclear reactors like this have faced so many cost overruns and construction delays that the investment market for them all but vanished. Despite a handful of recent technical breakthroughs in fusion power, its promise of virtually limitless power remains just a promise. But could a new wave of small, modular fission reactors bring new carbon-free power onto the market faster and cheaper (and safer?) than traditional nuclear plants in time to help the world decarbonize? Guests: Melissa Lott, Senior Research Scholar and the Senior Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University Jacopo Buongiorno, TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT  Allison MacFarlane, Director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia; Former Chair, Nuclear Regulatory Commission For show notes and related links,

In recent years, political and social turbulence have given rise to a new urgency around civics education in the United States. Civic leaders, educators and politicians across the ideological spectrum claim that reviving civics in schools will compensate for decades of neglect and ensure the future of our fragile democracy. But more civics learning doesn’t necessarily mean better civics learning. Even when civics is taught, it is typically relegated to history-social science classes, isolating it from core subjects and offering students limited support to help them understand and act on the real-world issues they see and experience in their everyday lives. "Civics Across the Curriculum" brings together a panel of educators whose teaching and research offer new possibilities for making civics education relevant and impactful. Rather than treating it as a discrete content area, they use disciplines as varied as math, literature and gender studies to help students investigate and reason about complex civic issue

Join us for a discussion with journalist Katie Hafner, who covers scientific advances, especially those by women, and her husband, Dr. Robert Wachter of UCSF, who is on the forefront of the digital transformation of health care and has been influential in advancing public understanding of the COVID crisis. Dr. Wachter coined the term “hospitalist” in 1996 and has overseen that medical specialty, the fastest growing specialty in modern medical history. His tweets on COVID-19 have been a trusted source of information on the clinical, public health, and policy issues surrounding the pandemic, garnering more than 500 million views. Hafner and Wachter are at the center of advancing public understanding of science and health care through various media. We will discuss Hafner’s popular "Lost Women of Science" podcast, her groundbreaking nonfiction books, and her recent switch to fiction with The Boys. We’ll also discuss Dr. Wachter’s perspective on COVID—including lessons learned—as we enter a new phase of the pande