Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Adam Hochschild: A Humane Life's Work Mar 19, 2020

Show notes

Join us for a virtual conversation with Adam Hochschild, the award-winning author who has spent his literary life delving into the details of crises inflicted on ourselves by man's inhumanity to man, and our rising above such crises through passionate involvement to bring better ideas to bear upon our culture. We will discuss Hochschild's research into colonialism in the Belgian Congo, the unfounded hopes that World War I would end all wars, the painful outcome of the Spanish Civil War, the horrors of Stalin's follies, the unlikely triumph over legalized slavery, and another triumph over apartheid, plus the unlikely story of Rose Pastor Stokes, a Rebel Cinderella devoted to social justice. MLF Organizer: George Hammond MLF: Humanities

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Waging Change: Abby Ginzberg and Saru Jayaraman Mar 17, 2020

Show notes

Director Abby Ginzberg is a Bay Area original; her films highlight struggles of race and social justice. Her new film Waging Change is having its San Francisco premiere at the Castro Theatre on March 22. It features Saru Jayaraman (Chronicle Visionary of the Year), Lily Tomlin, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and Jane Fonda, who have been working tirelessly for One Fair Wage, a campaign to end the sub-minimum wage for tip workers (which is currently just $2.13 per hour). A Peabody award winner, Ginzberg's recent work includes And Then They Came for Us, about the connection between the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WW II and the current Muslim travel ban; and Agents of Change, which examines the untold story of racial conditions on college campuses that led to a successful struggle for black studies.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CLIMATE ONE: What the 2030 Climate Deadline Really Means Mar 14, 2020

Show notes

For years, scientists and politicians have been saying that the climate battle will be won or lost in the next decade. That narrative was boosted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which contends global emissions must be halved by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 to avoid climate catastrophe. Politicians moved quickly to incorporate the 2030 deadline into their speeches and advocates started using it in their fundraising pleas. After a tepid global response to a decades-long climate saga, urgent action is imperative—but does a 10-year deadline oversimplify the science and overall situation? What is the best way to communicate climate urgency in a way that mobilizes people at home and in the workplace? Join us for a conversation with Chris Field, faculty director at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, David Fenton, founder of Fenton Communications, and Renee Lertzman, climate engagement strategist and author.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Presidential Leadership in Crisis: Franklin Roosevelt to Donald Trump Mar 12, 2020

Show notes

Crises pose a challenge to leaders as no other tests they confront can. Veteran journalist Kenneth Walsh offers a probing look at how presidents from FDR to Trump have dealt with the crises they faced. Delving into both domestic conflicts and international conflagrations, Walsh goes in search of lessons we can learn. His findings focus on the presidential attributes and skills that matter most in trying times. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CLIMATE ONE: Big Ideas with Dan Esty and Andy Karsner Mar 06, 2020

Show notes

Does solving climate change mean re-thinking old top-down approaches and embracing big change at high speed? A half-century after the first Earth Day, some environmental advocates argue it’s time to challenge some of our basic assumptions about climate action. In the new book A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future, editor and Yale law professor Dan Esty showcases innovative ideas designed to push the boundaries of possible climate solutions from leaders in industry, government, business, and land management.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rahm Emanuel: How Mayors Run the World Mar 06, 2020

Show notes

At a time of anxiety about the effectiveness of our national government, Rahm Emanuel believes local government offers a clear vision, for both progressives and centrists, of how to get things done in America today. In his new book, The Nation City, Emanuel, the former two-term mayor of Chicago and President Obama’s first White House chief of staff, offers a firsthand account of how cities, rather than the federal government, stand at the center of innovation and effective governance. Drawing on his own experiences in Chicago, and on his relationships with other mayors around America, Emanuel shows how cities are improving education, infrastructure, job conditions and environmental policy at a local level. Emanuel argues that cities are the most ancient political institutions, dating back thousands of years, and have reemerged as the nation-states of our time. Emanuel argues that mayors are accountable to their voters to a greater degree than any other elected officials and that progressives and centrists alike can best accomplish their goals by focusing their energies on local politics. Join us as Rahm Emanuel maps out a new, energizing and hopeful way forward. ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language **

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Designing Your Work Life Mar 06, 2020

Show notes

We spend one third of our lives at work, whether it’s at a job we love or one we can’t wait to leave. As the job market shifts with the increase of automation and artificial intelligence, a flexible mindset is more important than ever. Stanford professor Bill Burnett (co-author of the No. 1 New York Times best seller Designing Your Life) believes we can transform our work experience by building and utilizing a designer mindset. He argues that much of our unhappiness and difficulty is caused by “dysfunctional beliefs” that limit our potential. In the forthcoming Designing Your Work Life, Burnett offer strategies on everything work related—from how to quit to how to get the job we want—and everything in between. Join INFORUM as Bill Burnett teaches us how design thinking can transform our experience of work and our outlook on life, without necessarily changing the job we have. NOTES Burnett photo by Michael Lionstar Note: This program contains explicit language

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conor Dougherty: Inside America's Housing Crisis Mar 06, 2020

Show notes

Spacious and affordable homes used to be the hallmark of American prosperity. Today, however, punishing rents and the increasingly prohibitive cost of ownership have turned housing into the foremost symbol of inequality and an economy gone wrong. In the San Francisco Bay Area, fleets of private buses ferry software engineers past the tarp-and-plywood shanties where the homeless make their homes; according to New York Times journalist Conor Dougherty, this is ground zero for this crisis. The adage that California is a glimpse of the nation's future has become a cautionary tale. With propulsive storytelling and ground-level reporting, Dougherty chronicles America's housing crisis from its West Coast epicenter, peeling back the decades of history and economic forces that brought us here and taking readers inside the activist uprisings that have risen in tandem with housing costs.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover, Recover, Uncover: Women’s New Roles in the Workplace Mar 05, 2020

Show notes

Recent feminist movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp have called out sexism. They have empowered women to become more aware and also raise more questions: How do we find common ground in the new world we are building? How do we keep the momentum going with individual power, structural power and the power of movements? How do we handle a real situation at work, which could affect our livelihoods? Join psychotherapist and professor Joanne Bagshaw, author of The Feminist Handbook, and Professor Kellie McElhaney, founder and executive director of the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership, in a lively, engaging dialogue meant to educate, prompt inner reflection and inspire. Walk away with a plan to help change society for yourself, your community and future generations. MLF Organizer: Elizabeth Carney MLF: Business & Leadership

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Levy: Inside Facebook Mar 05, 2020

Show notes

In his sophomore year of college, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to serve as a campus social network. The site caught on like wildfire, and soon students nationwide were on it. Today, the social network that Zuckerberg created in 2004 has grown far beyond its original iteration, larger and more powerful than anyone could have imagined. Facebook has grown into a tech giant, the largest social media platform and one of the most gargantuan companies in the world, with a valuation of more than $576 billion and almost 3 billion users across the globe. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in American daily life. And in light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing "fake news" accounts, the handling of its users' personal data and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO, never has the company been more central to the national conversation regarding the direction of the county's politics, economy and how individuals communicate with each other. There is no one better to describe how Facebook has evolved and where it might be headed than renowned tech writer Steven Levy. In his new book, Facebook: The Inside Story, Levy provides the definitive history of one of America's most powerful and controversial companies. Based on years of exclusive reporting and interviews with Facebook's key executives and employees, including Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Levy's sweeping narrative, already named as one of the most anticipated books of the year, digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world and reaped the consequences. With the company in the news daily and just days before Californians get an early opportunity to have their say in the 2020 election, an election in which Facebook undoubtedly will play a critical role, Levy's appearance is not be missed.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected