Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

Six years ago, Richard Rothstein’s important book, Color of Law, made a powerful case that direct and indirect government action and policies at the federal, state and local levels had caused segregation and the resulting social problems throughout the United States. The book was a best seller and significantly influenced discussions of the systemic impact of segregated communities on a range of outcomes in education, health and workforce participation. It stands as one of the most important recent books on residential segregation published in the past few decades. What that book did not do was provide enough solutions for citizens to pursue to address the legacy of state-sanctioned segregation. In their new book, Just Action How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law, Rothstein and housing policy expert Leah Rothstein provide a blueprint on how to address segregation for concerned citizens and community leaders. The new book describes dozens of tangible strategies the Rothsteins say readers

As a child, Sarafina El-Badry Nance spent nearly every evening with her father gazing up at the flickering stars and pondering what secrets the night sky held. The daughter of an American father and Egyptian mother, Sarafina dreamed of becoming an astronomer. But it wasn’t long before she was told, both explicitly and implicitly, that girls just weren’t cut out for math and science. In a field that sees few women and women of color, Sarafina reflects on the obstacles that she faced to pursue her passion for the cosmos. Join us for an in-depth talk with astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who cleans up and rebuilds our communities after floods, fires, and hurricanes? COVID redefined America's definition of “essential workers,” but many who help communities recover from climate disasters remain underpaid and overlooked.  In 2006, labor organizer Saket Soni got an anonymous call from an Indian migrant worker in Mississippi who had scraped together $20,000 to apply for the “opportunity” to rebuild oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina. The caller was only one of hundreds lured into Gulf Coast labor camps, surrounded by barbed wire, and watched by armed guards. Since then, the frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters has only increased – and disaster recovery has become big business. How are the lives of people displaced by disasters intertwined with those helping to rebuild? Guests: Saket Soni, Founder and Director, Resilience Force Daniel Castellanos, Director Of Workforce Engagement, Resilience Force For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/p

Extreme heat kills more people per year than any other climate disaster. It preys on the poor, exacerbates racial inequalities, and there is a growing body of evidence that shows women and girls are increasingly susceptible to heat-health effects. Globally, women and girls represent 80% of climate refugees. They are more likely to be displaced, suffer violence and die in natural disasters. As temperatures rise, children’s test scores decrease, gender violence increases, and miscarriage rates go up. But preventing heat deaths is possible. From Europe to Africa, Chief Heat Officers throughout the world are implementing projects to make cities more climate-adaptive.  Guests: Kathy Baughman McLeod, Director, Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center; Senior VP, Atlantic Council  Eleni Myrivili, Global Chief Heat Officer, UN Habitat Eugenia Kargbo, Chief Heat Officer, Freetown, Sierra Leone  Freelance piece from Hellen Kabahukya on mud wattle construction in Uganda For show notes and related links

Please join us for clips and conversation with three award-winning Bay Area women documentary filmmakers. These women are changing the way we see our world through their important work. They will share their process of making the films, choosing, and developing their subjects as we view a clip from each of their latest films. They will also discuss the challenges they have faced as women in the industry and in getting their films funded and distributed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food is more than just sustenance or nourishment. Food brings us together and connects us to family, history, migration and beyond. Perhaps no one understands this better than food columnist Illyanna Maisonet, who has spent years documenting her family’s Puerto Rican recipes and preserving the island’s disappearing foodways through rigorous research. Maisonet was the first Puerto Rican food columnist in the continental United States. Her San Francisco Chronicle column, “Cocina Boricua,” was dedicated to safeguarding traditional Puerto Rican recipes and exploring food throughout the Puerto Rican diaspora. Maisonet’s cookbook, Diasporican, provides a visual record of Puerto Rican food, ingredients and techniques. She shares deeply personal recipes—some even passed down from her grandmother and mother—that trace the island’s flavor traditions to the Taino, Spanish, African, and even United States’ cultures that created it. Shaped by geography, immigration and colonization, these dishes reflect the ingenuity and

In a time of existential crisis, Pakistanis continue to believe that infusing the right "Islamic" spirit into the population will somehow see it through. Critics say that experience shows otherwise. Pakistanis—both religiously orthodox and liberal—believe that the founder of Pakistan had a game plan for the state after it came into being in 1947. There was none. Nationalist Hindus imagine India was populated in ancient times by a Hindu nation whereas nationalist Muslims tie Pakistan's origin with pre-existing Muslim identity and the first Muslim invader arriving on Indian soil. Historical evidence refutes both. The author will discuss these and other myths that are widely held in Pakistan as well as in India. Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from MIT and is also a prominent anti-nuclear activist. His earlier book was Confronting the Bomb: Pakistani and Indian Scientists Speak Out. As an advocate for science and reason in Islam, his first book was Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy a

David Ambroz is a living testament to the power of hope, strength and perseverance in overcoming some of life’s greatest challenges. Ambroz’s childhood was a harrowing tumult of poverty, homelessness and hunger as he, his siblings, and his mentally ill, abusive mother survived on the streets of New York. His subsequent experience in the foster system as a young gay man was similarly marked by neglect and abuse until he finally found stability. In his recent memoir, A Place Called Home, Ambroz vividly describes his story of survival and ultimately life success. Today, Ambroz is a law school graduate, a leading advocate for child welfare, and a national voice for improved foster care and homelessness policies. He is a head of Community Engagement (Southern California & Western U.S. Region) at Amazon, and has been recognized by former President Obama as an American Champion of Change. Please join us for a conversation with an inspirational person who is using his lived experience to help build a more humane and

Lawyer, author, professor and Supreme Court expert Stephen Vladeck—author of the new book The Shadow Docket—exposes the Court’s increasing reliance on secretive judicial processes that permit typically public hearings and discussions to occur behind closed doors. Having argued multiple cases before the Supreme Court himself, Vladeck explains how the Court’s expanded use of the “shadow docket” has enabled cryptic late-night rulings that leave the public without explanation for decisions affecting everything from immigration to COVID vaccine mandates. A University of Texas law professor and CNN’s lead Supreme Court analyst, Vladeck joins us to talk about the important issues raised in his book as well as the biggest cases facing the Court this term. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Land use, pollution and the climate crisis are driving what may be the largest mass extinction event since the dinosaurs. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the planet has seen an average 68% drop in mammal, bird, fish, reptile and amphibian populations since 1970. In order to help address species collapse, over 190 countries – signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biodiversity – recently agreed to an ambitious new plan, called 30x30, which aims to conserve 30% of the world’s land and waters by 2030. Will the framework be enough to bring biodiversity back from the breaking point?  This episode is supported in part by Resources Legacy Fund. Guests: Tanya Sanerib, International Legal Director, Center for Biological Diversity Ian Urbina, Director and Founder, The Outlaw Ocean Project  Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, Managing Director of Policy, Nia Tero  For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recent advances in artificial intelligence are raising hopes of a U.S. productivity boom by automating mundane tasks, improving decision-making, and opening up new business models and opportunities. At the same time, many workers are skeptical, fearing that the new tools may make them obsolete. What impact will AI have on businesses and employees in the long and short term? And how can we be more productive while also ensuring that the benefits will be distributed equally? A new report by the McKinsey Global Institute, "Rekindling Productivity for a New Era," sheds light on these questions. The study examines which sectors and geographic regions, such as California, have been the most innovative and productive, and what it took to achieve that success. "To unlock value from truly new technology, firms must reconfigure how they work, often over sustained periods, as they tinker with processes and workers adapt their skills," the report finds. The study also argues that maintaining the status quo is not an opti

In the 21st century, technology dominates all aspects of our lives. With the advent of artificial intelligence, some believe we are at a critical moment with our ability to control the very technology that humans built. And the decisions we make now will likely shape our society's progress on a range of variables in the future. According to economist and global thinker Simon Johnson, a thousand years of historical and contemporary evidence makes one thing clear: societal progress for all depends on the choices we make about technology. In his new book Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, Johnson explores the history and economics of major technological transformations up to and including the latest developments in artificial Intelligence. He finds that new ways of organizing production and communication can either serve the narrow interests of the elite or become the foundation for widespread prosperity for society. Johnson demonstrates that the path of technology was onc

Many on the left say that the growing climate crisis is the inevitable result of unbridled capitalism – industries seeking profits above all else. In “The Big Myth,” Naomi Oreskes (who brought us “Merchants of Doubt”) points to a concerted effort from American business groups to propagate the myth that only markets free of government regulation can generate prosperity and protect political freedom.  “If we actually had appropriate regulations, appropriate rules of the road, we wouldn't be in this position of having to beg corporate leaders not to destroy the planet,” Oreskes says. This myth has grown so pervasive that American citizens now put more faith in CEOs than in religious leaders, according to David Gelles, author of “The Man Who Broke Capitalism.” What should be done to change the narrative? Guests: Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science, Harvard  David Gelles, Reporter, The New York Times Kate Khatib, Co-Director, Seed Commons For show notes and related links, visit https://www.clima

Please join The Commonwealth Club for an evening with the leaders of the Buck Institute, one of the country's leading research organizations on aging. We'll hear from the leader of the Buck Institute on "Healthspan," then enjoy an in-person wine and cheese reception. "Healthspan" is the period of life in which an individual is healthy and free from chronic disease. Interventions that promote healthy aging, such as diet and exercise, can help increase healthspan and reduce the burden of age-related diseases. Dr. Eric Verdin will discuss his efforts and those of his colleagues at the Buck Institute in helping to advance our understanding of aging and develop new strategies for promoting healthy aging and extending healthspan. Eric Verdin, MD, is the president and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, a pioneering biomedical research institute dedicated to aging and age-related disease. A native of Belgium, Dr. Verdin received his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Liege and completed additi

Forbes magazine now reports there are more billionaires in China than in any other country in the world. Many of them, joined by grassroots donors as well, are interested in making a positive difference in their own countries, the Asia-Pacific region, and elsewhere in the world. Many of them partner with, and benefit from, the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS), headquartered in Hong Kong and helmed by Dr. Ruth A. Shapiro. The Centre conducts policy research, applied research, commissioned research and convening. In collaboration with its extensive network of local partners and support from Asian philanthropists across 18 Asian economies, CAPS generates evidence-based insights into how individuals, companies and governments can best address social challenges. What are those insights, and what progress is being made to best address the social challenges? Join Dr. Shapiro and fundraising consultant Ruyi Lu for an inspired conversation about recent trends in Asian philanthropy, the differences and

Nuclear deterrence has been a cornerstone of U.S. defense since the end of World War II, seeking to protect the country’s security and that of its allies by threatening unacceptable damage to any country that might attack with nuclear weapons or by other means. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been able to focus on reducing the role and number of nuclear weapons and strengthening nonproliferation. But now big changes are again afoot in the global context . . . will Russia’s current modernization of its nuclear arsenal and China’s buildup of strategic nuclear forces threaten the viability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent, including the extended deterrence the United States provides to its allies? Is arms control still possible?  China has historically maintained a “minimum” strategic nuclear deterrent but is now engaged in an unprecedented build up and diversification of its nuclear arsenal; a decade from now, it will match if not surpass the United States in deployed weapons. Russia is also u

Making the necessary changes to address climate disruption will take massive collective action. But sometimes, a single individual can make an extraordinary difference. At age nine, Nalleli Cobo, suffering headaches, heart palpitations, nosebleeds, and body spasms, became an activist, driven to fighting to shut down the local oil well responsible for her ailments. Separately, Marjan Minnesma brought a historic lawsuit holding the Dutch government accountable for its failure to protect its citizens from climate change. For these activists, addressing climate disruption isn’t just about preventing future harm, it’s about instigating change now.  Guests:  Nalleli Cobo, Cofounder, People Not Pozos Marjan Minnesma, Founder, Urgenda Foundation For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Told with candor and grace, this is a joyous reminder to be kind to yourself." —Actor and author Kai Penn on I Have Something to Tell You Today, Chasten Buttigieg is readily known by his unusual last name as the husband of former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. But as a child, growing up in a rural, conservative Michigan town, he knew he was unusual for another reason: He was gay. He kept that part of himself hidden for a long, painful time, but with the support of his loved ones, he eventually came out and learned the rewards of being true to himself. Finding acceptance and self-love can seem like a tremendous challenge, but it's never impossible. With honesty, courage and warmth, Chasten uses the young adult adaptation of his memoir to relay his experience about growing up in America and embracing his identity, while inspiring young people across the country to do the same. Join us live and in-person in San Francisco as Chasten Buttigieg discusses his life and the issues raised in his book I Have So

Justin Jones is an activist and community organizer in Nashville representing Tennessee's 52nd district. This April, Jones made national headlines and sparked debate on race, representation and activism after he was expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives for leading a gun control protest on the House floor. Just four days after his expulsion, the Metropolitan Nashville Council unanimously voted to reinstate Jones to his seat. Please join us on the UC Berkeley campus for a conversation between Representative Jones and Angela Glover Blackwell, founder of PolicyLink and Professor of Practice at the Goldman School of Public Policy. Presented in partnership with the Associated Students of the University of California Vote Coalition, the Goldman School, and the Fisk University Alumni Association, this promises to be a powerful and wide-ranging discussion about activism, gun violence, race and democracy. This event is part of the Creating Citizens Speaker Series at UC Berkeley, a partnership between Th

Amy Westervelt has made a career out of exploring the underbelly of the oil industry through complex and compelling storytelling. Through her investigative series Drilled, including her latest season Light Sweet Crude, focused on the new wave of oil colonialism, Westervelt dives deep into the true crimes of the fossil fuel industry’s biggest players, including their misinformation and PR campaigns about the climate emergency, their unfair dealing and record of environmental disasters. Her narrative podcasts shine a light on stories oil companies would rather keep in the dark, and on those individuals who try to hold them accountable.  Guest: Amy Westervelt, Investigative Journalist; Executive Producer, Critical Frequency Podcast Network For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices