Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

After the events that took place over the course of 2020, America remains more divided than ever. When faced with a global health crisis and widespread cries for racial justice, leadership crumbled and the Republican Party suffered defeat in the 2020 election. According to Keith Boykin, Republican leaders have responded with inciting white Americans in a last-ditch race against time to stop the rise of a new majority.  Keith Boykin, CNN political commentator and New York Times best-selling author, has been at the center of this broader conversation of race and politics for three decades. He has seen America fail time and time again from its negligence in making a long-overdue reckoning with a shameful history of racialized violence. His new book Race Against Time: The Politics of a Darkening America discusses what he says is the dwindling white majority's resentment toward the emerging multiracial tide; this animosity toward change and social progress has created a political stalemate initiated by the GOP. He

Join us for a celebration of the winners of the 91st annual California Book Awards! Since 1931, the California Book Awards have honored the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers. Each year a select jury considers hundreds of books from around the state in search of the very best in literary achievement. Over its 90 years, the California Book Awards have honored the writers who have come to define California to the world. Among them are John Steinbeck, Wallace Stegner, MFK Fisher, Thom Gunn, Richard Rodriquez, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joan Didion, Ishmael Reed, and Amy Tan. Recent award winners include Hector Tobar, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Susan Orlean, Rachel Kushner, Rachel Khong, Tommy Orange, Morgan Parker and Steph Cha. This year’s winners include: GOLD MEDALS FICTION The Archer, Shruti Swamy, Algonquin Books, an imprint of Workman Publishing, Hachette Book Group FIRST FICTION Skinship, Yoon Choi, Alfred A. Knopf NONFICTION­ Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire,

The CIA beginning in the early 1980s made a series of stunning arrests—three high-profile Russian spies, Aldrich Ames, Edward Lee Howard, and Robert Hanssen, were uncovered as some of the most damaging leaks the agency had ever seen. Yet, as told by former CIA officer Robert Baer, the investigation for a “fourth man” ensued shortly after, and now relates the never-before-told story about the hunt for what may very well be the greatest traitor in American history. Robert Baer is a New York Times bestselling author and former CIA case officer with 21 years of service. He is the intelligence columnist for Time, intelligence and security analyst for CNN, and his works have appeared in The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Baer’s book See No Evil was the basis for the acclaimed film Syriana, and he was the co-host for the History Channel series Hunting Hitler. In his latest book, The Fourth Man, Baer recounts a thrilling tale of hunting a so-called “super mole” who was believed to have more destructive

Roughly every five years, the U.S. designs and implements a new farm bill, which sets federal policy on agriculture across a huge swath of programs, including subsidies, food assistance, land practices and more. As the discussion around what to include in the 2023 farm bill intensifies, many are pushing for climate mitigation and adaptation measures to be a primary focus of the legislation. Then there’s equity. Since the 1930s, the Federal Government has supported farmers with subsidies, credit, and crop insurance. Yet historically, Black, Indigenous, and other farmers of color have been excluded from these benefits. Can we make progress on equity and climate today that we couldn’t in the past? Guests: Chuck Conner, President and CEO, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives Scott Faber, Senior VP, Government Affairs, EWG Jonathan Coppess, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois John W. Boyd, Jr., President, National Black Farmers Association Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Angela Garbes, the acclaimed author of Like a Mother, reflects on the state of caregiving in America. In her new book Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change, Garbes explores assumptions about care, work and deservedness, offering a deeply personal and rigorously reported look at what mothering is and can be. She places mothering in a global context to critically examine her perspectives of the complicated relationship to care work as a first-generation Filipino-American. Despite the mentally and physically demanding work mothers must endure in the absence of a social safety net to support them, she reframes caregiving as an opportunity to find meaning, to nurture a more profound sense of self, pleasure and belonging. Join Angela Garbes and Jenny Odell for a powerful conversation on mothering as social change and how the act of caregiving offers the potential to create a more equitable society. NOTES This program is part of The Commonwealth Club's Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundat

An APA Heritage Month special: Join us for an online panel discussion with two AAPI women touching on the lived experiences of being an AAPI woman today. They'll cover a wide range of issues, including the mental health impact of issues such as racism, gender violence, and oppression. Show editorially warning About the SpeakersOakland City Council President Pro Tem Sheng Thao grew up in poverty, the 7th of 10 kids. Her parents met in a refugee camp in Thailand after each fled their home country of Laos and the genocide against the Hmong people. Thao’s parents immigrated to America, settling in Stockton, where they would make a living farming vegetables. It was here Thao was born. She left home at the age of 17. When her son Ben was 10 months old, Thao got a job at Merritt College and also started taking classes. And, with the help of welfare and a Head Start program for Ben, she put herself through school. She became class valedictorian, then transferred to UC Berkeley, where she co-founded a food access prog

America faces a mental health crisis. Problems with mental health care preceded the pandemic, but over the past two years we've seen these problems grow into a crisis as young people were more likely to die from deaths of despair than from COVID-19. This presentation describes the path to solve this mental health crisis. Dr. Tom Insel says part of the solution involves fixing the care system—moving from a crisis-driven sick-care system to a comprehensive, continuous health-care system. Innovative technology will be part of this fix. So will innovative policy. But mental health is about more than mental health care. Insel says the path to mental health requires a focus on recovery defined by the 3 P's: people, place and purpose. Join us as Insel urges that we reframe our approach to mental illness, recognizing that the problem is medical but the solutions are social, environmental and political. Show editorially warning About the SpeakerTom lnsel, M.D., a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, has been a national le

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other economic pressures disrupt global energy markets, even insiders are scrambling to make sense of this moment. Ahead of the midterm elections, the Biden administration has signaled it wants more oil and gas now to ease the pain of surging fuel prices while maintaining support for cutting carbon emissions. Oil and gas aren’t the only commodities affected by market chaos. The supply chain, including for clean energy technology, has also been disrupted. How are surging fossil fuel prices, changes in policy, and supply chain turmoil affecting US climate goals?  Guests:  Kate Larsen, Partner, Rhodium Group  David M. Turk, Deputy Secretary, US Department of Energy  Justin Guay, Director, Global Climate Strategy, Sunrise Project Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kwame Onwuachi holds countless, monumental accolades. From being the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the year to being dubbed “the most important chef in America” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Onwuachi is an expert restaurateur and chef. Moreover he joyously seeks to flaunt the diversity of American food by bringing to life the dishes of his own America. In his forthcoming book My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef, Kwame brings the nation and world together, both in his stories and on the plate.  More than 125 recipes accompany Onwuachi’s personal tales and connections to the dishes, creating an intimate cookbook that celebrates the people and flavors of the African Diaspora. The globe-spanning recipes include sumptuous fares such as Trinidadian callaloo and shrimp étouffé. Considering My America opens with a “Spice Blends” section, we readily forecast many flavorsome, powerhouse meals to come. At Inforum, Kwame Onwuachi will elucidate and familiarize us with the flavors that comprise his

Rural voters. For the past several years, the voting behaviors, interests, cultures and beliefs of those who live far outside cities have been an obsession for many in the media as well as politicians and political strategists in both parties. Rural voters clearly played a role in the election of former President Trump in 2016, and they are expected to play an outsized role in the 2022 and 2024 elections as American continues to divide into "red" and "blue" areas. The general belief is that Democrats have lost rural voters to Republicans for the foreseeable future. For Maine State Senator Chloe Maxmin, a progressive politician, nothing could be farther from the truth. As the youngest person ever elected to the Maine senate, Maxmin won successful elections in rural red districts that few thought could be won by a Democrat. She and her campaign manager, Canyon Woodward, saw how, in their view, the Democratic Party has focused for too long on the interests of elite leaders and big donors, forcing the party to ab

When President Joe Biden took office, the problems the new president faced were similar to the challenges faced by another U.S. president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: decreasing opportunity for the average American, disproportionate power of the mega-wealthy, and a starkly divided political system. To help address these issues nearly a century ago, FDR launched The New Deal, forever changing American society. To longtime political analyst Robert Kuttner, the similarities between 2022 and 1932 means President Biden has a similar opportunity to transform the country through major public investments. In his latest book, Going Big, Kuttner draws on the striking similarities between the circumstances of FDR and Biden, including the major crossroads of American politics that marked both their terms. With democratic backsliding, deep partisan divides and the ever-growing power of corporate interests, Kuttner says President Biden’s vision for the future will have critical implications for the future of the country—and

As San Francisco decides whether or not to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin on June 7, join us for a nonpartisan forum to hear from both sides on this important choice. Boudin was elected in 2019 on a progressive platform of decarceration and criminal justice reform. While many applaud these efforts, doubts about the effectiveness of Boudin’s policies, coupled with highly-publicized crimes, have dogged Boudin’s office (and city leadership at-large). Increasing fears of disorder in the city and questions about the district attorney’s job performance have led to San Francisco’s second recall election this year. To break down the Boudin recall, The Commonwealth Club has invited two leading voices with opposing views on this important election. Lara Bazelon is a professor of law and the director of the Criminal Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinical Programs at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Her writings on the justice system and its shortcomings have appeared in The Atlantic and The Ne

Can democracy, as we know it, ever work again? This is the question that New York Times political journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns asks after examining the 2020 election and the first year of Joe Biden’s presidency, and going behind the scenes of this 18-month crisis in American democracy. In their latest book, This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future, Martin and Burns give the account of the events that led to and from the 2020 presidential election in stunning detail. Walking through the coronavirus pandemic, the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and the political brinkmanship of Biden’s first year in office, Martin and Burns provide in-the-room descriptions of Trump’s assault on the election, the behind the scenes story of how Kamala Harris became Biden’s vice presidential pick, and how the two-party electoral system was strained to its limit. Join us, as Martin and Burns provide never-before-seen descriptions of the events behind one of American democracy’s

We must solve our housing crisis if we are going to build a Bay Area where people of all races and backgrounds can thrive in safe, affordable, and vibrant communities. From homelessness to innovative regional approaches and new zoning flexibilities, the Bay Area has a new set of housing tools that can help us accelerate our efforts. The current inequalities and issues are rooted in policies and practices that we collectively have the power to change. Join The Commonwealth Club of California and the San Francisco Foundation to learn from a powerful panel of leaders. What makes them optimistic about the future and what will it take to build a better Bay Area? Speakers include: Fred Blackwell, San Francisco Foundation CEO; Tomiquia Moss, All Home CEO and founder; Cindy Chavez, Santa Clara County supervisor, and Dan Sawislak, executive director of Resources for Community Development. NOTES This program is supported by the San Francisco Foundation's Bay Area Leads Fund donors. SPEAKERS Cindy Chavez Santa Clara Cou

Though the COVID-19 pandemic isn't over, it is heading into a new phase, particularly in Western countries such as the United States and throughout Europe. Increasingly, citizens want a return to normal, with fewer restrictions, and are showing willingness to find ways to live with and manage the virus. As government leaders around the world strive to transition their countries to this new normal, they are also starting to talk about what happens next and how we can prevent another pandemic from once again killing millions of people and devastating the global economy. But given the controversies around fighting COVID-19, is this even possible?  Bill Gates believes the answer is yes.  In his new book, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic, Gates lays out what he believes the world can learn from COVID-19 and what can be done to ward off another disaster like it. Relying on the knowledge of the world's foremost experts and his own experience combating fatal diseases with the Gates Foundation, his new book shows us h

According to the World Bank, land managed by Indigenous peoples is associated with lower rates of deforestation, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and better biodiversity protection. But in many places, Indigenous people have been displaced from their ancestral lands through outright theft, land grabs, violence and war — sacrificing both indigenous livelihoods and the traditional knowledge that has protected their lands for centuries. Still, across the U.S. we can find examples of land access, stewardship and ownership being restored to Indigenous people – and more efforts being made to involve tribal nations in conservation and climate resilience.  “Climate change isn't just about protecting the natural world; it’s also about protecting our culture and who we are because we've resisted against so many colonial forces for so long,” says Julia Fay Bernal, director of the Pueblo Action Alliance.  Guests: Jessica Hernandez, author, Fresh Banana Leaves Priscilla Hunter, Board Chairwoman, Intertribal Sinkyone Wild

Ending poverty in the Bay Area will require innovation, partnership, and pro-active, anti-racist strategies. Join us as we come together to outline how we can build a future where everyone has a stable home that enables us to pursue our dreams, raise our families, and build the lives we want to live. In this virtual “fireside chat,” we’ll hear from a variety of voices across the movement to end poverty in the Bay Area, including former Stockton mayor and founder of End Poverty in California (EPIC) Michael Tubbs and All Home CEO Tomiquia Moss, as we explore the ways that housing instability is interconnected with racial inequality, poverty and homelessness.  This virtual event in honor of Affordable Housing Month in May will begin with a chat with former mayor of Stockton Michael Tubbs, moderated by Tomiquia Moss, outlining his five-point platform for ending poverty in California. Then a panel discussion with representatives from broad cross-sector partners will take the conversation from principles and concep

In recent years, an influx of racially motivated attacks against people of color in local communities has made national headlines: and the cases of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have sparked international conversations. In today’s age, exposure to racial injustice is more accessible than ever with the rise of video recording and the intimacy of technology. The power to spread information globally, all with the touch of a button, is reshaping the civil rights movement and pushing social justice forward. Marc Lamont Hill and Todd Brewster are both award-winning journalists and bestselling authors who reveal the common thread between these harrowing incidents. They recognize that technology has irrevocably changed our conversations about race and, in many instances, tipped the levers of power in favor of the historically disadvantaged. In their newest book, Seen and Unseen: Technology, Social Media, and the Fight for Racial Justice, Hill and Brewster draw on the increasing role of media in the r

When noted political scientist Francis Fukuyama predicted the "end of history," it seemed that the Western form of traditional classical liberalism and democracy—rule of law, equal treatment, individualism, and political freedom—was on the march in countries around the world, and that a new political order would be established around the globe. However, as the Russian attack on Ukraine shows, the battle between autocracy and classic liberalism will continue to shape global relations in the present and the future, and as history it will tell the story of this complicated period in world history. In his latest book Liberalism and Its Discontents, Fukuyama explains the troubled history of the American realization of classical liberalism here in the United States, and the challenges from both sides of the political spectrum arising in recent decades. With the right demanding economic freedom above all else, and the left making its core ideal the elevation of identity above the universality of humanity, Fukuyama a

After a 2-year hiatus, The Commonwealth Club and the University of San Francisco's School of Management are pleased to reinstate the Innovate for Good annual conference, an event where the intersection of business and social good takes center stage. Join us this year as we address the climate crisis.  In an increasingly digital and global economy, our cities and organizations are at a unique inflection point, where the most pressing issue of our time is how we sustain our planet. As was seen during proceedings in Glasgow at COP 26, public and private entities need to urgently accelerate innovations in energy, clean tech, fintech, and technology in order to address climate change in a way that is both economically viable and socially just. How are businesses finding new ways to innovate for good in this reality? How are companies and governments partnering to innovate and deliver more sustainable solutions that balance human and environmental values? The Innovate for Good conference is an annual symposium that