Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

Join us to hear from a MacArthur genius awardee, former rocket engineer, and passionate leader in the social enterprise movement—Jim Fruchterman—about using technology for positive social change. To a lot of people in big business, the only worthy ideas are those that make a lot of money, preferably billions. But Jim Fruchterman believes there is a different path for technology. What if tech returned to its roots and made people more effective and powerful? What if the benefits of technology came to the 90 percent of humanity traditionally neglected by for-profit companies in favor of immense profits gained by focusing on the richest 10 percent? Fruchterman explores these questions in his book Technology for Good and delivers a comprehensive how-to for leaders who want to create, expand, join, support and improve organizations that see building technology as a key element of delivering on their social good mission. Fruchterman argues that tech is required for social change at scale. He offers guidance on ho

Was the Grand Alliance simply a partnership born of necessity? Or was it also a missed opportunity for post-war civilizational cooperation among the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union? Once it became clear that the Allies would eventually defeat Hitler’s Germany, the varying post-war ambitions and political goals of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt quickly brought cooperation to an end. Humanities West asks on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II: What were Stalin’s strategic goals for Russia’s and its neighbors’ futures as victory became assured? How did Churchill’s strategies to retain as much as possible of the British Empire interfere with those goals? And was an aging Roosevelt capable of thwarting both those strategies and imposing, however inadequately and insincerely, a vision of Pax Americana on the globe? "From Their Archives" Norman Naimark will attempt to untangle what Stalin was thinking about how he wanted to shape the future once it was clear that the Allies wou

Students are heading back to school, and in addition to all of the usual challenges of the school year, some children are carrying an extra weight: climate anxiety. Teachers are also swimming in tricky waters as conversations around the climate crisis — and renewable energy — become more polarized. Yet there are educators who have worked to create resources for students and teachers, to help bring climate education into the classroom. The question is: How can schools, parents and teachers better help young people navigate the ideas and feelings around a warming planet?  Guests:  Margaret Wang-Aghania, Executive Director and Co-Founder, SubjectToClimate Robin Cooper, Co-Founder and President, Climate Psychiatry Alliance Melissa Lau, High School Environmental Science Teacher, Piedmont, Oklahoma Leah Christenson, 2026 Piedmont High School Senior; Vice President, Piedmont High School Green Team  Alyson Dennie, 2026 Piedmont High School Senior; President Piedmont High School Green Team This episode featur

Join Lillian Samuel, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, at Commonwealth Club World Affairs for an inspiring talk: “When Kids Have Mentors, Cities Get Stronger.” Backed by powerful national economic data, Lillian will discuss how mentoring doesn’t just change one life—it uplifts entire communities. Youth with mentors are more likely to graduate high school, attend college, and earn significantly more as adults. Mentorship narrows income gaps and boosts local economies.  Through inspirational local case studies, she’ll share how even a single match between a Big and Little can ripple out to benefit families and neighborhoods. This is more than a program—it’s a proven strategy for creating stronger, more connected cities. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how one relationship can transform a life and a community. About the Speaker Lillian Samuel is the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, serving all nine counties. Under her leadership, the organization earned national recognition

According to one recent survey, Americans think about climate change more than abortion, immigration, or gun violence. And yet, while they care deeply about the issue, they don’t see it as a political issue. When asked by the Environmental Voter Project what actions should be taken to rein in climate disruption, those surveyed suggest taking small, personal steps, like recycling, over broader, political action, as they do with other top-of-mind issues.  Where does this disconnect come from? And what will it take to shift the narrative from the personal to the political? Guest: Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project *** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on ⁠Patreon⁠, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. ⁠Sign up today⁠. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions

Join us for an inspiring look at how culture leads the comeback—and why San Francisco’s creative heartbeat might be its greatest miracle.  "Jesus, San Francisco: The City’s Resurrection from Perceived Ashes" asks: What if the soul of the city was never dead, just hidden in plain sight? Community cultural/arts leaders shed light on the arts "resurrection from perceived ashes." An Arts 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. Organizer: Robert Melton  This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate doesn’t care where emissions cuts come from; what matters is that the world transitions to renewable energy quickly and cheaply. If it’s significantly cheaper to install solar panels in India than on a rooftop in California, then isn’t that where they should be built? Similarly, transferring money directly to local people with the greatest stake in preserving their land can have outsized impact in conservation. Where does a climate dollar go furthest?  Guests: Kinari Webb, Founder, Health in Harmony Premal Shah, Founder, kiva.org, renewables.org  Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project Highlights: 00:00 – Intro 04:30 – Origins of Kinari Webb’s nonprofit Health in Harmony 09:00 – Rainforests as lungs and heart of the planet 12:00 – Radical listening to communities about what they need 15:00 – Positive outcomes from responding to community needs directly 18:00 – Webb’s near-death experience from a jellyfish sting 22:00 – Rainforest conservation as

Charles Sumner is mainly known as the abolitionist statesman who suffered a brutal caning on the Senate floor by the proslavery congressman Preston Brooks in 1856. This violent episode has obscured Sumner’s status as the most passionate champion of equal rights and multiracial democracy of his time. A friend of Alexis de Tocqueville, an ally of Frederick Douglass, and an adviser to Abraham Lincoln, Sumner helped the Union win the Civil War and pass into law the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, the Freedmen’s Bureau, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875. In his new book Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation, Zaakir Tameez presents Sumner as one of America’s forgotten founding fathers, a constitutional visionary who helped to rewrite the post–Civil War Constitution and give birth to modern civil rights law. He also argues that Sumner was a gay man who battled with love and heartbreak at a time when homosexuality wasn’t accepted. And he explores Sumner’s critical partnerships with the nation’s

The Trump administration has taken aim at green energy, but one technology has largely been left untouched: batteries to store wind and solar electricity. California alone surpassed 13GW of battery storage last year, and Texas has become the fastest growing market for the technology. But producing batteries isn’t without its downsides, especially when it comes to mining the necessary raw materials. The upside is that those materials can be recycled and reused. If the recycling technology can reach scale and price targets, the environmental impact would drop significantly. And spent EV batteries could become a grid scale storage site even without breaking down the battery packs. How soon before renewables plus batteries can power our grid 24/7? This episode features a reported piece by Camila Domonoske that was originally broadcast on NPR’s All Things Considered on July 10, 2024  Guests:  Julian Spector, Senior Reporter, Canary Media David Klanecky, President, Cirba Solutions Sheila Davis, EV Battery Wast

In the wake of the Parkland shooting in 2018, David Hogg and his classmates' rallying cry, #NeverAgain, echoed across the nation. Unfortunately, since that tragic event, countless other locations—the Tree of Life Synagogue, El Paso, Uvalde, Half Moon Bay and many more—have joined the heartbreaking list of mass shootings. For each of the past five years, the number of mass shootings in the United States has exceeded the number of days in the year. These tragic events have upended workplaces, schools, places of worship, communities and daily life nationwide, resulting in thousands of lives lost. In response to this epidemic, many politicians have provided little more than clichéd thoughts and prayers. In August 2023, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released a report on gun violence that revealed the stunning statistic that 140,000 gun deaths in the United States could have been prevented over the last 10 years had the rest of the country matched California’s firearm death rate. Leading the California Dep

It's time for an end-of-summer discussion of politics and politicians.  Join us in-person or online for the Week to Week political roundtable. Learn more about the people, trends and topics driving the political news of the day.  Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our online programming. See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are we living in the Matrix? Rizwan Virk—an MIT computer scientist, leading video game pioneer, entrepreneur, film producer, venture capitalist, professor, and a founder of Play Labs @ MIT—is a leading authority on simulation theory. Now he comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to discuss the issues raised in his new book The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics, and Eastern Mystics All Agree We Are in a Video Game.  Virk says the evolution of our video games, including virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, will lead us to a technological singularity. We will reach the simulation point, he argues, where we can develop all-encompassing virtual worlds like the OASIS in Ready Player One or The Matrix—and in fact we are already likely inside such a simulation. Though that sounds like science fiction, many scientists, engineers, and professors have given the simulation hypothesis serious consideration, including Elon Musk

In 2013, 9-year-old Ella Roberta died from a severe asthma attack. She became the first person in the United Kingdom (and possibly the world) to have “air pollution” listed as the cause of death on her death certificate. Her mother, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, founded the Ella Roberta Foundation and has become a global voice for clean air. Globally, the World Health Organization says that air pollution is associated with 6 to 7 million premature deaths every year. Addressing the cause of these deaths would also go a long way to addressing climate disruption. And since talking about climate has become so politically fraught, should we reframe the conversation to focus on taking care of our air? Highlights: (00:00) Intro (03:00) Rosamund shares details of Ella’s young life and her early asthma attacks (08:00) Ella becomes first person to have “air pollution” listed as cause of death (13:00) Rosamund’s work sharing Ella’s story and raising awareness about air pollution (20:30) How poisonous transportation

Join us for an unforgettable evening of insight, rhythm and discussion. Hip-Hop Meditative Mindfulness blends two worlds that would seem to be at odds—the stillness of meditation and the vitality of hip-hop. Together, they invite you into a fascinating new space for powerful spiritual practice. Coupled with a discussion of how these practices can reach people immersed in popular culture and help them find the wisdom of mindfulness and Buddhism, this will be a memorable event. Led by Born I—a renowned meditation teacher on the Balance app, an author praised by Alice Walker, and a hip-hop artist with more than 20 million streams—our event will open with a grounding guided meditation and crystal singing bowl sound bath, followed by a discussion of healing, impermanence and street culture, drawing from Born I's experiences as a Buddhist, a father, a musician, and an author. Born I will also discuss his new book, Lyrical Dharma: Hip-Hop as Mindfulness, and his journey from the street to spirituality. "hell is b

We’re all feeling the effects of the fossil-fueled climate crisis, but young people will not let this threat to their future go unchallenged. They’re taking it to the courts. In the last year, youth plaintiffs have had notable legal successes in Montana and Hawaiʻi, challenging that those states were violating their constitutional rights in continuing to burn fossil fuels. In Hawaiʻi, the ruling compels the state department of transportation to quickly move to a zero-emission system.  But the biggest victory may have been outside of the U.S. The small island nation of Vanuatu led the charge to ask the International Court for Justice to grant a judgement on the legal obligation of countries to fight climate change. The judgment, released in late July, stated that countries do have a responsibility to address the climate crisis. Beyond their specific claims and remedies, these numerous cases ask: What do we owe our future generations, and how will we make good on those promises? Guests:  Vishal Prasad, Direc

While much of the focus in Washington is on fiscal debates, there’s another growing challenge with far-reaching implications for the United States and the global economy: the “youth deficit.”  A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) finds that declining birth rates and aging populations could undermine productivity and living standards around the world. Unless leaders take action, “younger people will inherit lower economic growth and shoulder the cost of more retirees, while the traditional flow of wealth between generations erodes,” the report warns.  MGI director and report co-author Chris Bradley will discuss the challenge and what the public and private sectors can do to prepare for these changing demographics. Join us for this timely conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a lively discussion of Christina Hillsberg's book Agents of Change: The Women Who Transformed the CIA. Hillsberg is a former intelligence operative who has written a narrative exploration of the agency’s history, told through exclusive interviews with current and former female CIA officers, many of whom have never spoken publicly until now. The book fills a necessary gap in the agency’s history and takes a critical view of the agency’s indisputable record of suppressing the women who would become its most valued trailblazers—and its most vocal troublemakers.  These were women who sacrificed their personal lives, risked their safety, defied expectations, and boldly navigated the male-dominated spy organization, routinely passed over for promotions, recruiting assets, and managing clandestine operations.  Terry Shames, who worked at the CIA and is an acclaimed, award winning mystery writer, will provide additional energy and knowledge of both the CIA and writing.  You won't want to miss this prog

Due to major cuts to Medicare, wildfire season, looming earthquakes, public health needs, and the increasing number of Californians without health insurance, now is the time to strengthen local health ecosystems statewide.  Join us to hear from leaders of social impact organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area about how they are building partnerships to address these challenges by working together and leveraging technology to build creative solutions to improve lives. About the Speakers  Isabel Navarrete is a sustainability analyst at UCSF Health; she has a deep passion for advancing sustainability in healthcare. Navarrete oversees the organization’s municipal waste program and has led impactful diversion initiatives, including launching a blue wrap recycling program, expanding medical donation efforts, and enhancing the collection of reprocessed materials. Navarrete received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, San Diego. She currently co-chairs the UC Health

Why are activists in Thailand, Hong Kong and Burma willing to court danger to help one another? Historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom met dozens of dissidents, including Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, known for his protests against compulsory Thai military service; Agnes Chow, co-founder of a political party now banned in Hong Kong; and Ye Myint Win (aka Nickey Diamond), who fled to Germany from Burma in the early 2020s, fearing reprisal from the junta for his human rights work. Activists like these three express solidarity with one another online and in the streets, and sometimes refer to themselves as belonging to the “Milk Tea Alliance,” a nod to their shared opposition to nationalistic Beijing loyalists and the fact that their cultures’ iconic drinks contain dairy, unlike mainland China’s traditional tea. The political situation in Burma, Thailand and Hong Kong are radically different. Only Burma is in a state of civil war. Only Hong Kong has changed in just a few years from a place with virtually no political pris

On a 90-degree day in Los Angeles, bus riders across the city line up behind the shadows cast by street signs and telephone poles, looking for a little relief from the sun’s glaring heat. Every summer such scenes play out in cities across the United States, and as Sam Bloch argues, we ignore the benefits of shade at our own peril. Heatwaves are now the country’s deadliest natural disasters with victims concentrated in poorer, less shady areas. Public health, mental health and crime statistics are worse in neighborhoods without it. For some, finding shade is a matter of life and death. Shade was once a staple of human civilization. In Mesopotamia and Northern Africa, cities were built densely so that courtyards and public passageways were in shadow in the heat of the day, with cool breezes flowing freely. The Greeks famously philosophized in shady agoras. Even today, in Spain’s sunny Seville, political careers are imperiled when leaders fail to put out the public shades that hang above sidewalks in time for s