Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

On January 25, 2021, in one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden reversed the Trump administration’s widely condemned ban on transgender people in the military. In With Honor and Integrity, Máel Embser-Herbert and Bree Fram introduce us to the brave individuals who are on the front lines of this issue, assembling a powerful, accessible and heartfelt collection of first-hand accounts from tran...

From Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Vivian Kleiman (Color Adjustment) comes an in-depth look at the evolution of queer comics, starting in the 1970s when LGBTQ+ stories were not a part of the popular culture. Through the careers of five scrappy and pioneering cartoonists who depicted everything from the AIDS crisis to “coming out” to same-sex marriage, Kleiman's new film No Straight Lines capture...

If you took the economic might of Amazon, and added the penetration of Facebook, the ubiquity of Google, and the cultural significance of YouTube, you might have something starting to resemble Alibaba. Commonly mischaracterized as a kind of Chinese eBay for businesses, Alibaba and its interlinked network of products and services have exploded into global markets, disrupting conventional businesses...

Join us for our first Week to Week political roundtable for the new year, as we look at the impact of the November 2022 election, the relationship between the Biden administration and Congress, plus local and state political news. As always, our panelists will share their expertise with civility and good humor.  And come early to enjoy our pre-program members social (open to all attendees) with so...

The pandemic put into stark relief the undue burden faced by working poor women in America. Many were laid off or had to quit for COVID-related reasons, such as school closures. Often, they struggled in low-paid jobs as essential workers, while facing greater demands at home. But even in the best of times, women in low-wage industries must cope with daunting challenges. In their new book Getting M...

Does stress really age us? Everyone experiences different levels of stress from family, friends, work, or just uncertainty in the world. And while we can’t avoid living with stress, we can learn how to embrace it and transform it. Stress scientist Dr. Elissa Epel and Nobel Prize winner Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn will discuss the latest science on how we age and the role of stress and well-being. They...

Art can inspire community and conversation, provide fresh insights into understanding history, and cultivate connection. It can challenge your worldview and shift perspectives. This week we discuss how art and activism can work together to elevate some of the vast inequities that exist between those who benefit from fossil fuel energy and resource extraction and those who suffer its impacts. Guest...

Jeff Korzenik will be in conversation with Ken Oliver, the executive director of San Francisco-based Checkr Foundation. Oliver leads one of the country’s most important initiatives for encouraging second chance/fair chance hiring within technology and other industries. With perspective gained from his own experience incarcerated in the California prison system, Oliver will question Korzenik on the...

Democracy is under siege—in the United States and around the globe. Efforts to undermine democracy erode human rights, destabilize governments, and exacerbate global health crises. Join Nancy Lindborg, president and CEO of The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander for a conversation about the evolving threats to democracy—and a new framework for action to mitig...

Music and social movements have historically gone hand in hand. Folk music played a unifying role for the labor movements in the United States. Music was central to the protests against the Vietnam War and in favor of Civil Rights. As more people become aware of the climate crisis, music is starting to reflect that. But there is still no one song or artist inspiring climate action the way music ca...

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny last reported in November that he had been placed in permanent solitary confinement in the Russian penal colony where he is serving an 11-year sentence. This is just the latest attempt to silence the longtime anti-corruption activist and foe of Vladimir Putin.   Navalny was famously hospitalized in 2020 after being poisoned by a Russian-developed nerve agen...

After a 20-year career as a tech reporter for CNET, the New York Times, and the public radio program Marketplace, Molly Wood has come to see the climate crisis as an engineering problem requiring an acceleration of investment. And so, after producing the acclaimed climate podcast “How We Survive” for Marketplace, she left that program to begin a new career in venture capital. What are the limits o...

For years, fossil fuel companies have claimed to support climate science and policy. Many have recently pledged to hit net zero emissions by midcentury. Yet behind the scenes, they fight those very same policies through industry associations, shadow groups, and lobbying – all while spending vast sums on advertising and PR campaigns touting their climate commitments. This week we focus on the PR an...

In what we hope is the late phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, we'll take a look at other long-running issues relating to health care, healthy living, and access to care for the LGBTQ+ community. Our expert panelists for this discussion are leaders in the efforts to reach LGBTQ+ people, informing them and connecting them to appropriate health care services. About the Speakers Dr. Monica Ghandi, M.D.,...

Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine sent shockwaves through global energy markets, destabilized international food security, and continues to keep the world wondering whether the war will accelerate the transition to clean energy or lead to renewed dependence on fossil fuels. Climate One hosts Greg Dalton and Ariana Brocious review the top climate stories of the year, from the war’s global impac...

An undeniable giant in the legal world, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas’s enduring legacy was his advocacy for the environment. He emerged as a true citizen justice through his speeches and articles warning against environmental dangers like logging, highway construction, and pollution. Justice Douglas’ actions were admired by conservation groups but often raised ethical dilemmas amo...

When Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and San José Mayor Sam Liccardo took office in 2015, they knew they would be grappling with issues such as homelessness, a widening income gap, and concerns over gun violence and police reform. They couldn’t have predicted they’d also be dealing with the deadliest pandemic in U.S. history. As Mayors Schaaf and Liccardo both prepare to leave office, we’ll talk with t...

Join us for an end-of-year discussion with youth activists about mental health. We'll discuss how youth mental heath experiences can lead to mental health advocacy, specifically state-level advocacy and philanthropic funding. Only 2 percent of philanthropic dollars currently goes toward mental health funding, and many youth advocates are calling for more equitable use of philanthropic contribution...

Every year, Climate One grants an award in memory of pioneering climate scientist Steve Schneider, who fiercely took on the denial machine from the 1970s until his death in 2010. This year's recipient is German physicist and ocean expert Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf. Dr. Rahmstorf says we’re running toward a cliff in a fog. What can science tell us where that cliff is – and how to avoid it?  In a time of...

As American society ages, there is growing concern and interest about the causes of mental decline and how to slow it. However, serious mental decline is not an inevitable part of the aging process, according to popular scientist Dr. Marc Millstein. According to him, people can boost short- and long-term brain health and significantly lower the risk of dementia if the right steps are taken now. In...

Although there are many effective treatments for depression, rates of depression are not going down. The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine have recommended that we implement currently known effective preventive interventions for depression to reduce the number of new cases. This talk will present a personal 50-year path committed to preventing mental disorders and influencin...

Join us for a conversation with Elaine Forbes, the Port of San Francisco's executive director. Forbes will shed light on Port strategy and managing the 7.5. miles of San Francisco's waterfront, and its impact on the economic vitality of the Bay Area and beyond. About the Speaker Elaine Forbes is the executive director of the Port of San Francisco. She is a passionate champion and advocate for the...

Who is Vladimir Putin? In the West’s collective imagination, Putin is a deceitful cartoon villain, constantly plotting to destroy his enemies not only in Ukraine but around the world. But how did a mid-level KGB officer become one of the most powerful leaders in Russian history? In a unique graphic novel format, Russian expert Andrew Weiss chronicles Putin's political rise and reveals the truth be...

It’s become common for homeowners to install solar panels to provide themselves with emission-free electricity. But increasingly more attention is being paid to decarbonizing things inside the home – the machines that heat and cool water and air, dry our clothes and cook our food. The Inflation Reduction Act includes many ways for homeowners and renters to start to electrify their lives. And in so...

What Do We Know About the Moon? July 20, 2019 is the 50th anniversary of humanity’s first steps on the surface of the moon. In that time, the Apollo missions, a fleet of robotic probes and observations from Earth have taught us a lot about Earth’s surprising satellite. In this nontechnical talk, Andrew Fraknoi, who is sometimes called the Bay Area’s public astronomer, will look at the past, presen...