Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

In the last two decades, China has made big commitments to renewable energy — and it’s delivered. Last year, China installed more solar panels than the U.S. has in its history.  Solar panel exports increased 38%, and lower prices have all but killed solar manufacturing in the U.S. and EU. Chinese company BYD recently surpassed Tesla as the world's largest EV maker — with cars at just a fraction of...

Don’t miss our "Women in the Workplace" 10-year anniversary panel event, celebrating a decade of progress and the path ahead. Join us as we reflect on women's gains and setbacks across industries and look forward to new opportunities. Against a backdrop of pivotal social moments over the past decade, including the #MeToo movement and the historic candidacy of the first major party presidential fem...

Professional risk takers—poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true-believers and blue-chip art collectors—can teach us a lot about navigating the uncertainty of the 21st century, says statistician and analyst Nate Silver. He embedded himself within the worlds of Doyle Brunson, Peter Thiel, Sam Bankman-Fried, Sam Altman and many others and now comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to sh...

Join us as marketing research expert and political pollster Josh Libresco returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to provide us with insights into political polls and how they successfully — and sometimes not so successfully — predict American elections. Libresco will explain how political polling has changed in 2024 to account for both the changing profile of American voters and the increasing...

Before being named President Trump’s secretary of commerce in 2017, Wilbur Ross had already earned a reputation as the “King of Bankruptcy” over his 55-year career on Wall Street. Often working on high-profile bankruptcies such as Pan Am and Texaco, Ross helped restructure more than $400 billion in assets, and was named among Bloomberg’s 50 most influential people in global finance. After coming t...

In the face of hurricanes, wildfires, droughts and other fossil fueled disasters, it’s easy to feel hopeless about the future of the climate. But marine biologist, and co-founder of The All We Can Save Project, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson asks us instead to focus on the question, “What if we get it right?”  Johnson’s new book, also titled “What If We Get It Right?” features such climate luminaries...

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In this whirlwind 2024 political election year, public affairs issues include gender considerations, reproductive rights and governing boundaries. The central concept of "The Handmaid's Tale" opera is based on Margaret Atwood's dystopian-themed 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale—that women are subordinate to men, must take on domestic and subservient roles including ritualized rape. Female worth is ti...

Before Justin J. Pearson became a national voice for common sense gun regulation, he was a strong advocate for climate and environmental justice, having worked to defeat a multi-billion-dollar crude oil pipeline that could have poisoned Memphis’s drinking water and taken land from South Memphis residents.  Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb is working to make climate a top priority in his traditionally f...

What’s the “pride paradox”? For all the efforts to understand the state of American politics and the blue/red divide, people have often ignored what economic and cultural loss can do to pride. Arlie Russell Hochschild argues that Donald Trump has turned lost pride into stolen pride and shame into blame, and that the result of his rhetorical alchemy has been to weaponize that shame and introduce a...

Join us to hear Talmage Boston’s explanations of how the leadership traits of America’s eight greatest presidents could (or at least should) be implemented by our current political leaders. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Reagan are Boston’s choices for his reflections on successful political leadership, generating unusual insights due to his merger of...

Sergeant Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto grew up in Huyo village, in Nyamakate, located in Zimbabwe’s mighty Zambezi Valley. From an early age, she dreamed of having a positive impact on her region and its wildlife. Previously she served as a commander of the all-women anti-poaching Akashinga Rangers that operates under Akashinga—an innovative nature conservation organization based in Africa that delivers r...

The use of art gained momentum during the 20th century with major movements such as the City Beautiful movement and the New Deal, which sought to beautify and revitalize urban areas through public art installations and other creative initiatives. Today, art continues to play a critical role, especially with its potential to engage and inspire residents, attract tourists, and boost economic growth....

Environmental icon Jane Goodall is celebrating 90 years of life, and she’s not backing off of her passionate commitment to nature. The indefatigable Goodall is now focused on three intertwined crises: biodiversity loss, climate change, and environmental inequity. She has one important message for her audiences around the world: vote like your children’s lives depend on it — because they do.  Jane...

About a month and a half before Election Day, and even less time than that before the first votes begin to be cast, join us live for a roundup of the latest political news on the local, state and national levels. Join us for our latest election season Week to Week political roundtable. Enjoy and learn as our panel of political experts explains what happened and what to expect, and answers your que...

One of the world’s leading economists joins us to offer a compelling new vision of personal and economic freedom. Many Americans believe this nation was born from the conviction that people must be free. But since the middle of the last century, that idea has been co-opted. Forces on the political right have justified exploitation by cloaking it in the rhetoric of freedom, leading to pharmaceutica...

What we wear defines us in so many ways. But in recent decades we’ve moved away from long-lasting, quality pieces in favor of disposable fast fashion, with major consequences for our climate and environment. From mechanized farming and pesticides to grow fiber crops, to energy for manufacturing and transportation, fossil fuels are embedded in the clothing industry at every step of the process. Com...

Journalist Don Lemon says he always had a complicated relationship with God. He cherished the Southern Black church he was raised in, but struggled with the fundamentalist rejection of his right to exist as a gay man—one who wanted to marry his longtime love in a church wedding with all the traditional trimmings. In his work as a reporter, moreover, he saw his fellow Americans losing faith in a hi...

Free speech is indispensable on college campuses: allowing varied views and frank exchanges of opinion is a core component of the educational enterprise and the pursuit of truth. But, says renowned legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein, free speech does not mean a free-for-all. The First Amendment prohibits “abridging the freedom of speech,” yet laws against perjury or bribery, for example, are still con...

Join us for a fireside chat with Darrel Hackett, BMO Bank’s president and CEO. In 2023, BMO completed the $16 billion acquisition of San Francisco-based Bank of the West, doubling its U.S. footprint. Under Hackett's leadership, BMO is now a top 10 U.S. bank with significant growth ambitions.  In contrast to recent high-profile corporate departures from the Bay Area, BMO has boldly entered the mark...

Approximately one in three Americans has autoimmunity, according to our speaker, Dr. Sara Szal Gottfried, M.D. Conventional medicine falls short when it comes to both diagnosing and treating autoimmune conditions. In The Autoimmune Cure, by Dr. Gottfried, there is hope for the tens of millions of people who suffer from autoimmune disease. Dr. Gottfried explains the connection between trauma and au...

What are the deep connections between music and healing? Music is one of humanity’s oldest medicines. From the Far East to the Ottoman Empire, Europe to Africa and the pre-colonial Americas, many cultures have developed their own rich traditions for using sound and rhythm to ease suffering, promote healing, and calm the mind. Join us as neuroscientist and New York Times best-selling author Daniel...

The U.S. is gearing up for a presidential election between a climate advocate and a climate denier. Scientists have given humanity a deadline to drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels if we want a habitable Earth. While there has been some progress, it’s not anywhere nearly enough, and the consequences of our failure to address our fossil fuel addiction is becoming more and more obvious. All o...

Kamala Harris is going toe-to-toe with Donald Trump in a high-stakes race for the presidency. Though she has served as vice president for four years, many Americans don’t know a lot about her. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we know her from her days as San Francisco district attorney and then California attorney general and senator. But perhaps no observer knows her as well as journalist Dan...

Join us for our second installment of a new series of lively discussion on the future of San Francisco. Featuring leaders in community, service and volunteerism. "People Power & Service" will explore the opportunities for the people of San Francisco to play an active role in the next chapter of our city and the impact that neighbors leading local change can have. Hear strategy and on-the-ground le...