Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Theo Baker: Uncovering Power and Money at Stanford University Jun 22, 2026

Show notes

While just a freshman reporter at The Stanford Daily, Theo Baker reported on accusations about Stanford’s president that culminated in his resignation. For his investigative reporting, he became the youngest ever recipient of the prestigious George Polk Award.

Now, Baker comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to tell a story of money and power and excess for teenagers at Stanford—slush funds, shell companies, yacht parties. He arrived at Stanford impressed with the atmosphere—and the stratospheric level of academics. But he says he soon discovered a culture that embraced corner-cutting, access with few safeguards to catch bad behavior.

He concluded that Stanford was less a school than a business and a training ground for Silicon Valley’s global businesses; the school had an annual budget nearly twice that of Harvard or Yale and higher than those of 116 nations. And Baker says the Stanford students deemed the next trillion-dollar startup founders were the prime product; for them there were secret societies, “pre-idea” funding offers, and social calls from billionaires, all with the expectation that these young people would soon join the ruling elite. At the top of this operation was Stanford’s president, and Baker will share how he learned about and pursued the story that would bring down the president of such an elite institution amid allegations of research misconduct.

Join us to hear the entire gripping story.

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Unapologetic Deliciousness: Separating Nutrition Science from Nutrition Noise Jun 21, 2026

Show notes

With so many conflicting and contradictory nutrition claims dominating headlines and social media, deciding what to eat has become unnecessarily complicated. Stanford nutrition scientist Christopher Gardner, Ph.D., has spent more than three decades conducting evidence-based research to bring clarity to the conversation.

In this program, Gardner shares what decades of human nutrition trials reveal about where true scientific consensus exists, and where it does not. From his landmark “A to Z” and “DIETFITS” studies to ongoing research on plant-rich alternatives, ketogenic diets, the gut microbiome, and inflammation, Gardner has worked to move the field beyond diet myths and toward practical, evidence-based guidance.

At the center of his message is a powerful idea: healthy eating can be “unapologetically delicious,” built around whole, minimally processed, plant-rich foods aligned with personal values around culture, sustainability and social responsibility.

He will address pressing questions about different diets, cholesterol, seed oils, ultra-processed foods, protein, plant-based meats, fiber, fermented foods and more, offering a framework that helps individuals make informed, flexible, and lasting food choices.

This conversation invites us to reconsider not only what we eat, but how we think about food: as nourishment, pleasure, culture and a powerful tool for long-term personal and planetary health.

About the Speakers

Christopher Gardner, Ph.D., is a professor of medicine at Stanford Prevention Research Center who has led more than 20 years of NIH-funded, randomized controlled trials on nutrition. His work focuses on diet patterns, weight loss and cardiometabolic health.

A Nutrition, Food & Wellness Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Organizer: Patty James

This program contains EXPLICIT language.

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Contested Continent: The Struggle for North America, c. 1000–1680 Jun 20, 2026

Show notes

North America was forged from the experiences of millions of Indigenous women and men as well as Europeans and Africans. Contested Continent, the first volume of the Oxford History of the United States series, is a far-ranging history of North America concentrating on the period from c. A.D. 1000 to 1680—from the arrival of Norse explorers to an explosion of revolts that underlined the stubborn struggle to master the continent some two centuries after Columbus’s landfall. This history spans the continent from the North Atlantic to the West Indies and includes the entire Atlantic basin.

Peter Mancall and David Kennedy emphasize the experiences of diverse peoples while, at the same time, telling a new story about the origins of major aspects of American culture. They illuminate the rise of a booming trans-Atlantic economy based on the extraction of abundant American natural resources; the central role that European migrants and their descendants played in the enslavement of Africans and the displacement of Indigenous peoples; and the spread of self-governing polities where many enjoyed religious freedom. None of these developments was inevitable. Conflicts broke out frequently as different peoples battled over precious resources. Europeans’ appetites for material gain and expanding Christendom brought horrific consequences for those brutalized, enslaved, and vulnerable to infectious diseases.

Join us to hear Mancall and Kennedy present their sweeping history of developments crucial to the eventual founding of the United States, underscoring the titanic struggles between the peoples who had populated the Americas for centuries and the migrants from the Old World who initiated changes that created a New World that offered boundless opportunities for some and crushed the aspirations of others.

A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Organizer: George Hammond

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CLIMATE ONE: Making Solar Great Again Jun 19, 2026

Show notes

More and more, conservative voices are making the case that the U.S. can’t achieve energy dominance without solar power. Even the leading industry trade group is changing its strategy.

Earlier this year, ⁠Politico⁠ reported that the American Clean Power Association launched the “American Energy First” campaign to engage Kellyanne Conway and conservative influencers like Katie Miller “to amplify the benefits of solar energy” and “note the harm that could result from reckless trade policy.” Meanwhile, conservative groups at the state and federal level are advocating for building out solar power in service of private property rights, economic development and national security.

Episode Guests:

Kelsey Brugger, Congressional policy reporter, Politico

Skyler Zunk, Executive Director, Energy Right; Executive Director, America First Energy

Lillian Floutsis, Indiana Senior Field Representative, Indiana Land and Liberty, Conservative Energy Network

This episode also features a reported piece from David Condos of KUER.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

03:00 – Kelsey Brugger explains American Clean Power memo about reaching out to conservative influencers

06:30 – Does this indicate an ideological shift on the right?

09:40 – How much can this effort shift views within the administration

14:00 – Kelsey Brugger on what this story says about how the clean energy industry is positioning itself

19:00 – Skylar Zunk shares rationale behind his “Make Solar Great Again” hats

23:40 – How America First Energy frames solar energy

32:00 – How approach to solar energy conversation differ in D.C. and Louisiana

36:50 – KUER’s David Condos reports on Utah communities moving toward renewable energy

43:00 – Lillian Floutsis shares story from Allen County, Indiana, about local debate around setbacks for solar energy development

48:00 – Floutsis on framing solar conversations in Indiana around property rights, economic development and national security

53:00 – Climate is usually not a part of these conversations

54:20 – Floutsis share solar success stories

57:50 – Climate One More Thing

For show notes and related links, visit ⁠our episode page⁠ at climateone.org

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Join us for our induction cooking demonstration night on July 21, at 6 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Come enjoy delicious food and wine, and learn about why cooking with magnets beats cooking with gas. Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠

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Andrew Weissmann: Liars Kingdom Jun 13, 2026

Show notes

“The 2020 election was a total FRAUD!”

“I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

“There is NO WAY Biden got 80,000,000 votes!!!”

These and other statements by Donald Trump sparked a historic insurrection that attempted to topple our democracy and undermined the public’s faith in elections. MS NOW legal analyst and veteran federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann says they are part of the scourge of political lies in America, and in his new book Liar’s Kingdom, he issues a call to prevent a figure like Donald Trump from ever rising again. He says that the Trump administration’s deceit has enabled the use of law enforcement and the military against the people, the unlawful deportation of immigrants, and the disregard of international rules meant to promote a civilized and peaceful world. Other politicians, inspired by the success of the political lie, have flooded the public square with falsehoods of their own.

Weissmann says our vulnerability to politicians’ lies stems from a flaw in America’s legal system—one that can be fixed. But it will take courage, creativity, and a willingness to look beyond our borders to other countries that have already confronted this crisis. Can American politics come clean? Get your ticket and find out.

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CLIMATE ONE: Medium Rare: What’s Next For Meat? Jun 12, 2026

Show notes

Industrial agriculture accounts for a significant share of global emissions, but meat alternatives face real hurdles in becoming a mainstay of consumer diets. The hype around plant-based meat has cooled: hurt by price gaps, ultra-processed rhetoric, and culture-war politics around masculinity and food identity. Yet feeding a growing planet will require eating less beef, wasting less food, and producing more food with less land. Cultivated meat – made from animal cells and grown in a lab – could offer a different path forward, especially in hybrid form combining plant and cultivated proteins. What might the future of meat look like?

Guests:

Robbie Lockie, CEO, Founder, foodfacts.org

Michael Grunwald, Journalist and author, “We Are Eating the Earth”

Claire Bomkamp, Senior Lead Scientist, Cultivated Meat & Seafood, Good Food Institute

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

4:30 Robbie Lockie on changing his diet

11:54 Robbie Lockie on who is choosing plant based meat

17:55 Robbie Lockie on how plant based meat competes on taste

20:40 Robbie Lockie on the future of plant based meat

26:54 Michael Grunwald making more food with less land

30:16 Michael Grunwald on the efficiency of industrial agriculture

33:30 Michael Grunwald on rotational grazing

38:00 Ariana Brocious’ cultivated salmon tasting

45:05 Claire Bomkamp on the state of cultivated meat

47:16 Claire Bomkamp on energy use of cultivated meat

52:23 Claire Bomkamp on what cuts cultivated meat can create

56:22 Claire Bomkamp on the price of cultivated meat

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

Nowhere is the dual threat of climate change and geopolitical competition felt more strongly than in the Arctic. Sea ice is declining rapidly, wildfires are burning, and permafrost is thawing. At the same time, global interest is growing rapidly as the region transforms from being a frozen desert into an international waterway.

Mia Bennett, a geography professor at the University of Washington and the co-author, with Klaus Dodds, of the new book Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic, will join us to examine the state of the Arctic today. She’ll explore how the region is becoming a space of experimentation for everything from Indigenous governance to subsea technologies. Growing geopolitical competition is accompanying environmental disruption. Countries—including Russia, China, and the United States—are investing in the Arctic and consolidating their interests in strategic access, resource exploitation, and alliance-building.

The consequences of this emerging “Arctic Anthropocene” are truly global—from rising sea levels due to melting glaciers to tensions between great powers determined to protect their territories and resources, and the well-being of Indigenous peoples who have fought for centuries for rights and recognition.

In association with Wonderfest.

A People & Nature Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Organizer: Andrew Dudley

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Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr. Jun 08, 2026

Show notes

We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and his approach to activism and service?

Before Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a global hero, he was an emotional boy, and an average high school student devoted to fashion, dancing, and dating. On his way to college, he took a summer job that left the Jim Crow South behind and tested his oratory skills—preaching in the tobacco fields of Connecticut, which ultimately gave him a sense of hope for a life of racial peace and harmony.

Stanford University’s Lerone Martin traces the youthful roots of this legendary American to reveal the makings of a mighty force. Filled with revelations and written with compassion, Martin offers a new understanding of the influential preacher and activist’s emotional life, his youthful confusion about his future and career direction, his inspiration to fight for justice, his teenage missteps, and his first revelations of courage. As America undergoes another era of turmoil and change, this powerful biography offers encouragement for readers at a similar moment of life and provides an understanding of how greatness comes to light. To that end, Martin illuminates both King’s weaknesses and the social failures that shaped him, including the brutal racism he endured growing up.

Join us to hear, from a preeminent King scholar, the origin story of the man, the minister, and the civil rights hero who inspired our nation to change itself—and the world.

Organizer: George Hammond

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CLIMATE ONE: ENCORE: Cities Leading the Way Jun 05, 2026

Show notes

While the federal government has all but abandoned trying to address the climate crisis, cities around the world are stepping up. C40 is an international network of 97 cities representing 920 million people and 23% of the world’s economy. Seventy-three percent of these cities have already peaked their emissions. Here in the US, Climate Mayors is a bipartisan network of nearly 350 U.S. mayors, representing 48 states and over 70 million Americans. How are cities innovating on reducing emissions, adapting to increasing climate risks, and — perhaps most importantly — sharing their knowledge?

Guests:

Eric Garcetti, C40 Ambassador for Global Climate Diplomacy; Former Mayor, Los Angeles

Kate Gallego, Mayor of Phoenix; Former Chair, Climate Mayors

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Outdoors Writer Tom Stienstra Shares His Tales of Survival … and Top Adventure Spots Jun 03, 2026

Show notes

For more than 40 years, outdoor enthusiasts have turned to Tom Stienstra for guidance on the best waterfalls, unforgettable campsites, and hidden wild places. A longtime outdoors writer and editor for the San Francisco Chronicle and KCBS-FM, Stienstra is also the bestselling author of essential guidebooks like Moon’s California Camping and 52 Weekend Adventures in Northern California.

His adventures have taken him deep into the wilderness—hiking, camping, boating, canoeing, kayaking, flying, trekking, hunting, and exploring some of the most remote corners of the West. As longtime Sunset magazine travel editor Peter Fish put it, “Tom Stienstra is the Yoda of the outdoors. He literally has been everywhere and knows everything.”

In his new book Heaven Delayed: One Man’s Survival of 16 Near-Death Encounters, Stienstra reflects on a lifetime of close calls: surviving a hatchet attack to the back of his head, being charged by a wild cow, and multiple near-drownings—including one rescue by his brother in an icy lake and another by his best friend in a flooding river. Then came cancer and six brain surgeries. All are brought to life in his new book, one compact volume of heartfelt writing from a man who has lived enough adventure for several lifetimes.

Come hear Stienstra discuss his new memoir, his extraordinary life outdoors, and his tips for summer adventures in the Bay Area and beyond.

Stienstra photo courtesy the speaker; the image on the book cover was created by artist John Blanchard of the San Francisco Chronicle—it shows the author in two phases, before and after treatment for cancer.

Notes

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