Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

Author, editor-in-chief of Heated, and former New York Times columnist Mark Bittman talks about what it means for food to be “good,” how to know it’s good, buy it and cook it. He guides us to think deeply about the food system and how it can be improved. Bittman is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his generation-defining cookbook How to Cook Everything, the definitive guide to simple home cooking. The new edition of the book has been completely revised for today’s cooks while retaining Bittman’s trademark minimalist style: easy-to-follow recipes and variations, and tons of ideas and inspiration. Bittman will celebrate this landmark in American food with a reception. He will be in conversation with author and Real Food Media’s Anna Lappé. This program is part of our Food Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. MLF Organizer: Elizabeth Carney MLF: Business & Leadership, Food Matters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gaspar de Portolá’s discovery of San Francisco Bay on November 4, 1769, was Spain’s most significant discovery in North America during the 18th century. It prompted a new strategy on how it would use its mission system to colonize Alta California. The historical ramifications of these plans have had an impact down to the present day. For the native people, who had successfully managed the California environment for thousands of years, the event marked the beginning of the end of their way of life. This discovery took place on Sweeney Ridge, which stretches between today’s Pacifica and San Bruno. As a result, San Mateo County will celebrate the 250th anniversary of this pivotal moment in western history with the creation of a historical and recreational trail tracing the path of Portola on the San Francisco Peninsula. MLF Organizer: George Hammond MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monday Night Philosophy remembers the complexities of Columbus Day by investigating the various cultures of the Bay Area's indigenous peoples. Richard Schwartz has searched for, found and recorded hundreds of Native American sites in the Bay Area. The difficult and complex interactions among the different indigenous cultures living in the Bay Area multiplied dramatically with the arrival of the Spanish and was further complicated when the Gold Rush brought people from all over the world to their home territory. What survives and what has been lost? Schwartz details this complexity, enhancing our appreciation of the human inhabitation of our small piece of paradise over the millennia. MLF Organizer: George Hammond MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Proof!, Amir Alexander argues that Euclidean geometry has been uniquely responsible for how modern societies are structured. Geometry has shaped how our cities are built and has even been used as a rationale to explain political structures, because the proofs in Euclid’s Elements are not just true but are provable by reason alone. Alexander tracks the rediscovery of Euclidean geometry in 15th century Italy and recounts the French royals' centuries-long love affair with geometrical gardening. One night in 1661, Nicolas Fouquet, a superintendent under Louis XIV, was even arrested for the peculiar crime of having dared construct a grand geometrical garden for himself. In doing so, he had violated an irrefutable hierarchy: that geometry, in its perfection, was a testament to the divine right of kings. Elegant, symmetrical garden designs were more than just ornaments; they were proofs of incontestable certainty, and thus the authority to rule. Royal geometrical gardens proved to be a visual symbol of the French

In this Ninth Annual Lundberg Institute Lecture, Kenneth Kizer will provide an overview of the state of health care quality in the United States after taking a historical look at improvement strategies over the past 4,000 years. He will especially focus on the forces and strategies driving health care quality improvement in the past 20 years following several landmark events in the late 1990s. Despite these efforts, receiving high-quality health care remains illusory for many Americans. As the co-chair of the National Quality Task Force, he will then discuss the likely strategies to normalize high-quality health care over the next 10 years. MLF Organizer: George Hammond MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it possible to venture beyond our everyday lives and experience heightened states of awareness? Deepak Chopra, a world-renowned advocate for alternative medicine and personal transformation, answers yes. Chopra believes that higher consciousness is available here and now. In his new book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, Chopra explains his secrets to moving beyond our physical limitations and accessing peak experiences that revolutionize our lives. Once you wake up, Chopra writes, life becomes transformed, and through pure consciousness—which is the field of all possibilities—your infinite potential becomes your personal reality. Chopra is the author of more than 85 books including 25 New York Times best sellers. A global force in the field of human empowerment, his books have been published in more than 43 languages. Time magazine has described Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.” Join us for this deeply meaning conversation with Chopra on becoming metahuman. Lear

The jury is out on whether our legal system is equipped to deal with climate change. While some parts of the country are inundated by floods, others are resisting the growth of oil and gas infrastructure — and both are running into the law. Do youth have a constitutional right to a clean environment? At what point should disaster preparedness become disaster law? Does water have legal rights? A discussion on how many facets of the climate challenge are pushing, and changing, the law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are more women earning college degrees and participating in the workforce than ever before. Even still, women spend far more time on unpaid labor than men. Eve Rodsky, author of the new book Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live), seeks to address this universal imbalance. Rodsky began her journey to address this inequality after reaching a tipping point in her own marriage. After recording all of the unrecognized work she was doing for her busy household, she realized the disparity between her and her partner was striking. Fair Play offers four simple and practical steps to redistribute invisible work, reignite your relationship and reclaim your own time. Join Eve Rodsky and INFORUM on the quest for domestic rebalance. ** This Podcast Contains EXPLICIT Language ** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we cope with the inevitability of death? How can we make better decisions for ourselves and our families? B.J. Miller and Shoshana Berger offer step-by-step instructions on managing the end of life, including how to navigate a complex system of hidden costs and intense emotions without shame and guilt often associated with this period of life. Miller is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at UCSF, where he practices and teaches palliative medicine. Berger is a journalist and editorial director at IDEO. Together they offer a lesson on dying—and how to live fully until you do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For nearly nine years, civil war has raged in Syria. The conflict has created millions of refugees and devastated countless towns and cities. For Sama is a new documentary that tells the story of one woman’s journey through love, motherhood, war and survival during five years of the Syrian conflict. Directed by Emmy award-winning filmmaking duo Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts (Escaping ISIS), the film chronicles the experiences of 26-year-old Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab, who filmed her life in the rebel-held city of Aleppo over five years. Join us for an in-depth discussion with al-Kateab and Watts for a view of the Syrian conflict you've never heard before. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a discussion with experts about PrEP and a new tool designed to identify who might be more at risk of HIV infection. Come for a free midday program, as Michelle Meow brings her long-running radio show to The Commonwealth Club one day each week. Meet fascinating—and often controversial—people discussing important issues of interest to the LGBTQ community, and have your questions ready. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Liana Finck’s deeply insightful and delightfully odd work as a cartoonist and illustrator with The New Yorker has earned her a devoted following who look to her columns and cartoons as a refreshing depiction of collective experiences in today’s world. She is also a social media sensation, with almost 300,000 followers on Instagram who visit her page daily for their dose of comedically dark insights on love, dating, self-esteem, mental health and much more. While her cartoons appear simple, they shed light on some of human existence’s most complex themes. Finck’s new book, Excuse Me: Cartoons, Complaints, and Notes to Self, is a collection of her most beloved work from Instagram and The New Yorker, and it combines the personal with the relatable to explore common anxieties, no matter the reader. She joins INFORUM to discuss her trademark mix of absurdity, melancholy and humor and to share her sharply deft views of the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the Amazon to the Congo to California, our planet’s forests are being decimated. And along with them, the stability of our climate. Why? Because trees are among our most effective weapons against carbon emissions. The Amazon alone is responsible for removing five percent of the world’s 40 billion tons of CO2 emissions from the air each year. When forests burn, carbon storage is lost -- along with biodiversity, indigenous culture, and more. Join us for a conversation about the climate factors and the global consumerism driving deforestation, as well as the seeds of change being planted by organizations, corporations, governments and individuals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Susan Rice, President Obama’s former national security adviser and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is heralded as one of the most influential foreign policy voices of our time. Having dedicated her career to public service, Rice is now a distinguished visiting research fellow at American University, a senior fellow at Harvard University, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and author of the new book Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For. With humor and grace, Rice reflects upon the pivotal moments of her career on the front lines of American diplomacy and foreign policy. With unflinching honesty, Rice navigates her readers through the well-known 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, as well as the untold stories involving a secret channel to Iran and behind-the-scene confrontations with Russia and China. A dedicated public servant, join Susan Rice as she invites us to take a look at some of her biggest triumphs and failures, while teaching some important life lesso

Is clinging to habits and cravings destroying our future? An outspoken critic of factory farming and animal-centric diets, Jonathan Safran Foer writes that stopping climate change begins with a close look at what we eat — and don’t eat — at home for breakfast. At the office, industry leaders like Google are taking steps toward veggie-forward diets by reducing meat, rather than cutting it out entirely. But when it comes to global food habits, are societies up for changing norms — individually and collectively — at a scale ambitious enough to meet the challenge? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Segment #3 of 3, 3–3:30 p.m.: Next Generation Connections - Working Together Join a discussion on how our shared history and the unique legacy of Fort Ross State Historic Park can be a platform for cooperation and exchange between Russians and Americans, even amid severe challenges in relations between Washington, D.C. and Moscow. The final panel looks towards the future by bringing four young Russians and Americans from different disciplines to discuss their bilateral work and ideas for the future. A native Californian, Margo Poda chose to study the Russian language as an undergraduate at Georgetown University—her interest in the language and region stemming from Russia’s unique history and culture. After graduating, Poda headed home to Silicon Valley and worked at a series of tech start-ups as a project marketing manager, focusing on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Now she has returned to school pursuing a joint MBA/MA in international policy and development at the Middlebury Institute of Interna

Segment #1 of 3, How our shared history and the unique legacy of Fort Ross State Historic Park is a platform for cooperation and exchange between Russians and Americans, even amid severe challenges in relations between Washington, D.C. and Moscow. Panel 1—1–2:15 p.m. Panelists will discuss the current state of U.S.–Russia relations and assess whether and how enhanced communication, better crisis management and more fruitful cooperation between our countries may be possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Segment #2 of 3, 2—2:30–3 p.m.: Russian America and the Native California Collection at the Kunstkamera This panel will explore historic ties between Native California Indians and Russia by sharing images from a rare collection of Native California artifacts collected during the Fort Ross era. Ksenia Vozdigan, leading coordinator of exhibition department at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, will describe how the largest collection of Native California artifacts came to reside in Russia. Jerry and Kaylee Pinola, from the Kashaya Pomo and Coast Miwok Tribes, will talk about their 2014 trip to the museum in St. Petersburg to see their ancestral artifacts for the first time, and they will describe how this connection with Russia remains relevant today. Notes: In partnership with the Fort Ross Conservancy and the Kennan Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Kaplan has served as the 13th president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas since September 8, 2015. He also represents the 11th Federal Reserve District on the Federal Open Market Committee in the formulation of U.S. monetary policy. Prior to joining Harvard in 2006, Kaplan was vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., with global responsibility for the firm's investment banking and investment management divisions. Previously, he served as global co-head of the investment banking division. He serves as chairman of Project ALS and co-chairman of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a global venture philanthropy firm that invests in developing nonprofit enterprises dedicated to addressing social issues. Come for a rare conversation with a representative of the Federal Reserve about international and national economies and U.S. monetary policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Award-winning journalist Lauren Duca is an unmistakable voice in the middle of a chaotic post-Trump political arena, famously penning the viral Teen Vogue op-ed “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America” just after Trump's election. Since the piece’s publication, she’s risen as a fresh voice in the millennial consciousness, often unafraid to challenge anyone who crosses her path … or her Twitter feed. In her new book, How to Start a Revolution: Young People and the Future of American Politics, she argues that Trump’s election sparked a political awakening in young people that does not seem to be waning anytime soon, and that it’s up to them to fix our ailing political system. Join Duca at INFORUM where she will discuss her sharp and funny guide to changing the world and empowering society towards real equality. Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices