Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

When we think of action on climate change, we usually think of what individuals can do, what governments can do, and maybe what businesses can do. But what about the broader economic levers that affect behaviors?  Can we get companies to walk away from billions of dollars they’ve already invested in a fossil fuel-based economy? Insurers are on the front lines of climate disruption; it’s their business to put a price on risk. So how can the financial and insurance sectors create better-aligned incentives for companies, businesses and even governments to get on the ever-narrowing path to net zero carbon emissions before it’s too late? Guests: Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance  Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a talk with Nick Cho, known as "Your Korean Dad" on TikTok, where he has attracted more than 2.7 million followers. Nick Cho was born in Seoul, Korea in 1973. He immigrated to the United States in 1975 with his father and mother, eventually settling in the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Northern Virginia, where he and his younger sister, Jennifer, grew up. After a number of different jobs including car sales, music teacher, and assistant to a radio producer for a nationally syndicated comedy radio show, in 2002 he opened a small coffee shop in the nation's capital called "murky coffee." It quickly became renown throughout the country as one of the pioneering cafes for what would be called "third wave coffee." He moved with his wife and partner Trish to San Francisco in 2010, starting a new coffee company with her called Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters. Both Nick and Trish would split time between running the coffee company and traveling the world, being invited as leading industry experts to speak and

Since coming to San Francisco in 2000, twin sisters Melonie and Melorra Green have established themselves as leaders and mentors to countless Bay Area artists. Melonie Green and Melorra Green are the co-executive directors of the African American Art & Culture Complex (AAACC) located in San Francisco’s Fillmore/Western Addition neighborhood. Born and raised in Memphis and with speech communication and theatre degrees from Tennessee State University, the twins moved to San Francisco in 2000 to study filmmaking at the Academy of Art University. During their first two decades in the San Francisco Bay Area as young Black queer women, they started their enormous artistic legacy, producing more than 80 exhibitions and 100 public events with their brand of collaboration, creativity, culture and community. They have curated galleries, including the explosive exhibition “The Black Woman is God” at both the African American Art & Culture Complex and SOMArts Cultural Center, “Don’t Shoot: An Opus of the Opulence of Blac

Over the past several years, the United States has seemingly become a country divided by facts, "alternative facts," fake news, conspiracy theories and a “cancel culture” fueled by information and disinformation circulating on various social media platforms. Yet while the debate over truth seems to have reached a fevered and dangerous pitch since the disputed presidential election, this battle of what constitutes a factual idea is nothing new, according to well-known political scholar and writer Jonathan Rauch. In Rauch's new book The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution's Governance Studies program and a contributing writer to The Atlantic makes an impassioned defense of truth for a country often divided, and he notes that the war on reality has existed in the United States since its founding. Rauch's new book is an ambitious investigation into many of the country's biggest social disputes, from rampant lying, propaganda and disinformation; online outrag

The United Nations is built on principles of peacekeeping and human rights, and where leaders work to create a sustainable, equitable world. UN leaders, however, are always meeting challenges in their work; as human problems become more complex, so does the work of the organization. Ban Ki-moon knows these issues firsthand. He served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations from 2007–2016, and he took strong positions on global warming, peacekeeping and human rights. In his new book Resolved: Uniting Nations in a Divided World, Ban Ki-moon recounts his own experiences in a war-torn nation, the lifesaving generosity from the United Nations, and the challenges he faced as a diplomat in the intergovernmental institution. Even when facing resistance, he bravely steered the United Nations through a volatile period that included the Arab Spring, nuclear pursuits in Iran and North Korea, the Ebola epidemic, and brutal new conflicts in Central Africa. He describes his role as “the most impossible job on

Health-care expert Andy Slavitt has spent his career advocating for the American people through affordable and accessible health care. In 2015, he was nominated by President Barack Obama to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In early 2020, when COVID-19 infections began to appear across the United States, Slavitt was one of the first critics of President Donald Trump’s lack of response to the oncoming pandemic. His new book, Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response, provides a definitive inside account of the United States' failed response to the pandemic. Slavitt describes the fateful decisions that were made in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus and the failures of political leaders to keep Americans healthy. The story he tells is one of a country where bad leadership, political and cultural fractures, and an unwillingness to sustain sacrifice created a complex problem that proved near-impossible t

In light of President Joe Biden's controversial announcement of his intention to end America's "never ending war" on the 20th anniversary of the 9/ll attacks, our distinguished panel will discuss the past, present and possible promise and complications of ending our longest war in a most troubled region. One of the most concerning results could be ending hard-won women's rights and opportunities. Atta Arghandiwal was an Afghan refugee , a U.S. banker. a consultant in Afghanistan and dedicated to helping refugees there and everywhere. Humaira Ghilzai, a writer, speaker and women’s advocate, co-founded the Afghan Friends Network and instituted the Sister City relationship between Hayward, CA and Ghazni, Afghanistan. MLF ORGANIZER Celia Menczel NOTES MLF: Middle East Speakers Atta Arghandiwal Humanitarian; Author, The Self-Sufficient Global Citizen Humaira Ghilzai Writer; Speaker; Women’s Advocate; Co-Founder, Afghan Friends Network Banafsheh Keynoush Ph.D., Vice Chair, Commonwealth Club Middle East Member-Led F

For over two decades, carbon offset programs have promised individuals and businesses that they can reduce their overall carbon footprint by paying someone else to reduce their carbon emissions. Yet many programs have been plagued by scandal – like shady accounting and paying forest owners not to cut down trees they weren’t planning to log anyway.  A new nonprofit called Climate Vault wants to buy emissions permits from regulated markets and lock them away so other polluters can’t buy and use them. Will this finally be an approach that works? Or are all carbon offset programs just smoke and mirrors? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a discussion of LGBTQIA issues and the impacts on the mental health of our youth who navigated their ways through a global pandemic while fighting for civil rights at the same time. Meet the Speakers David W. Bond is a licensed clinical social worker and board-certified expert in traumatic stress. He is the director of behavioral health at Blue Shield of California, where he leads initiatives to restore, sustain and enhance the behavioral health and wellbeing of California’s Medi-Cal and Medicare beneficiaries. Before joining Blue Shield, he served as vice president of programs at The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth. He also previously served as manager of youth development programs at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. For 12 years, David was a practicing psychotherapist specializing in children and trauma. He has taught and lectured widely on topics of physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, su

This July 4, the country will be emerging from the pandemic to celebrate the most patriotic of holidays with friends and family. At The Commonwealth Club, just days before the holiday, we'll be re-opening our doors and cracking open our grills in a special event that celebrates an iconic American food: barbecue! We’ll explore this rich and historic food, particularly the essential role that African Americans have played in the development of the cuisine. Audiences can watch either online or join us in-person! Adrian Miller, author of, Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue, will kick off our event with stories of Black perseverance, culinary innovation, and entrepreneurship in the world of barbecue. His work illustrates that despite cultural marginalization, African Americans have enriched a now-embraced barbecue culture tied strongly to summer holidays and recounts how Black barbecuers, pitmasters and restaurateurs are coming into their own after having helped develop this American

Gus Kenworthy writes about Adam Rippon. Graham Norton writes about Armistead Maupin. Tan France does the honors for "Queer Eye," as Mae Martin does for Tim Curry and Elton John does for Divine. Those contributions—and many more—are included in the new book The Queer Bible, an illustrated collection of essays featuring today's queer heroes writing about their queer heroes. Jack Guinness, who edited and contributed an essay to the book, joins us for a look at the LGBTQ community and the individuals who shaped its history. SPEAKERS Jack Guinness Editor, The Queer Bible; Contributing Editor, British GQ; Twitter @Jackguinness Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW/KPIX and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Host John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program

Daisy Khan has devoted much of her life to fighting Islamophobia, increasing public understanding of Islam and breaking down barriers between Muslims and other faiths. Ms. Khan served for 18 years as executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, where she was hailed as a bridge builder for promoting cultural and religious harmony through intra-faith programs such as Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow and inter-faith arts programs. To combat anti-Muslim bias, she created the "Today, I am a Muslim Too" rally involving 100 interfaith organizations. She has also worked to modernize the role of women within Islam. Khan founded The Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) with the express goal of peace building, gender equality and human dignity. She says that women's leadership is essential to solving societal issues, and that the WISE Shura Council is creating a crucial space for activism that contributes to Muslim women’s struggle for justice. The council issues informed and re

Extreme heat causes more deaths than any other weather-related hazard in the U.S., wreaking quiet havoc on the health and economic well-being of billions of people across the world. But it’s rarely given the same billing or resources as other, more dramatic, natural disasters. Because of racist and discriminatory housing and development practices, extreme heat also disproportionately impacts poorer and minority communities. Recognizing a growing need for local responses to a global problem, the mayors of Miami-Dade, Athens, Greece and Freetown, Sierra Leone recently announced they are appointing the world’s first Chief Heat Officers. How can we prepare for and address the impacts of extreme heat? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The year 2020 brought out the best and the worst of the American people. The year shocked us as we experienced a ruthless pandemic, an inept government response, polarizing protests and an election defaced by conspiracy theories. According to popular American journalist George Packer, these events did not come out of nowhere; they were symptoms of the hazardous conditions directly beneath the surface of the American dream. In his new book Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal, Packer traces the roots of these issues that he says have drastically changed the normative way of American life. Packer investigates what he calls the four different Americas citizens live in: a "Free America" that encourages individuality and corporate submission, a "Smart America" that represents the technological and professional elite, a "Real America" that constitutes the white Christian nationalism of the midlands, and a "Just America" that delineates identity groups that suffer from marginalization. Packer believes that

Join us for a virtual discussion with Theodore Johnson, who begins his book When the Stars Begin to Fall by declaring that “Racism is an existential threat to America.” Johnson argues that our society's continuing racism not only contradicts the American Promise enshrined in our Constitution that all men and women are inherently equal, but also continues to corrode our society after a quarter of a millennium. If we cannot overcome it, he says, the United States may continue as a geopolitical powerhouse, but it will fail to make good on the promise that made America unique on Earth, and gave hope to the oppressed throughout the world. Johnson makes a compelling case for a pathway to the national solidarity necessary to mitigate racism. Weaving memories of his own family’s multi-generational experiences with racism, alongside strands of history, Johnson posits that a blueprint for national solidarity can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America. Understanding that racism is a stru

After the Cold War, America sought to protect as many democracies as possible and stamp out any threat of authoritarianism around the world. Now, 30 years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, political scientists have observed a global rise in authoritarian governments—even in America itself. After the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, Ben Rhodes, a former White House aide and close confidant to President Barack Obama, sought to discover why nations have been opting for populism and tyranny over democracy. In his new book After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made, Rhodes documents his three years of world travel, speaking with politicians, activists, and dissidents confronting the same nationalism that has been tearing America apart. He says the acceptance of unrestricted capitalism after the Cold War, post-9/11 nationalism, mania for technology and media, and modern racism that Americans refuse to confront have all contributed to our nation’s faltering under authoritarian leadership. Wi

Transportation policymakers face two overlapping, once-in-a-generation opportunities: electrifying the nation’s vehicle fleet and re-establishing a stable source of federal and state revenue for transportation. As states and the Biden administration begin a push to rapidly electrify the U.S. fleet for climate reasons, policymakers are under increasing pressure to rethink how states and the federal government fund transportation infrastructure and services. For decades, motor fuel taxes have generated the majority of state and federal funds spent on transportation, even if recently these taxes have been losing their purchasing power. However, a shift to electric vehicles will require a new transportation funding model. The speakers will discuss the challenges and opportunities with such options as mileage fees, carbon taxes, higher vehicle registration fees, or a shift entirely away from user-generated revenue. This program is supported by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San José State University. SPEAK

Dating in the digital age has never been more complicated. Nancy Jo Sales, a New York Times-bestselling author and journalist, found herself at the center of the addictive and corporate world of online dating after she downloaded Tinder. She wasn’t alone; in a 2015 Vanity Fair article, Sales shared stories from millennials who use dating apps on a near-constant basis, transforming physical attraction into a “free-market economy” that facilitates quick and often temporary attachments. She later directed and released the 2018 HBO documentary Swiped: Hooking Up in the Digital Age, a study of how the algorithms of big tech impact govern our dating lives even if companies claim their addictive effects are incidental. In her new book, Nothing Personal: My Secret Life in the Dating App Inferno, Sales critiques the dating app industry for its calculated ability to warp our senses of self. At INFORUM, she will share her personal experiences and broader observations on how we can and should cope with our deepening rela

CNN’s Jake Tapper is one of the most respected people in news today. As CNN’s chief Washington anchor and co-host of “State of the Union,” Tapper has sat down with presidents, covered inaugurations, and continues to interview senators, dignitaries and newsmakers week in and week out. In his new novel The Devil May Dance, Tapper continues the story started in his previous bestseller, The Hellfire Club. Taking us into the world of political stars Charlie and Margaret Marder, Tapper re-creates the world of the 1960s, complete with backroom deals and secret societies. In this new journey, they befriend dazzling celebrities like Frank Sinatra and must learn to deal with sinister forces from Hollywood’s stages and the newly founded Church of Scientology. Jake Tapper has covered historical political events such as the inauguration of President Barack Obama and the death of Osama bin Laden. His work has won him several awards, including an Emmy for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story and the Edward R. M

From activism to political campaigns to corporate advertising, the power of music and images is undeniable. So how can the arts inspire and advance the climate conversation?  For more than three decades, Shepard Fairey’s work has provoked thought and controversy in the art and political spheres. Now, with a public weary of climate charts and apocalyptic images of melting glaciers and emaciated polar bears, we explore how the arts can provoke a more productive conversation with Fairey and Grammy-nominated hip hop artist Mystic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices