Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Week to Week: Kamala Harris Enters the Ring Aug 06, 2024

Show notes

In about a week’s time, the election changed—bigly, you might say. An assassination attempt, a huge court victory for former President Trump, the Republican National Convention, President Biden ends his reelection campaign, and Vice President Harris grabs the baton. It’s a whole new ballgame, and we’ll tackle those developments and more in our next political roundtable. Join us for a mid-summer dive into politics in this high-stakes election year.

As usual with Week to Week, our panelists will discuss the latest political developments in an informed, civil (and fun) manner. And come early before the program for our social hour for some wine and light bites and an opportunity to talk with other Club members and friends.

See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs.

This program contains EXPLICIT language.

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President Nixon Film Screening: The Movement and the "Madman" Aug 05, 2024

Show notes

Join us to celebrate the 50th anniversary of August 8, 1974, the day President Richard Nixon resigned, and to remember an era in which there were still stark limits to what presidents could do and keep a straight face.

Stephen Talbot will screen his film, The Movement and the "Madman", which debuted in 2023 on the PBS series "American Experience." Talbot’s 82-minute film tells the story of how two major anti-Vietnam War protests in the fall of 1969 pressured President Nixon to cancel what he privately called his "madman" plans for a major escalation of the war, including the possibility of his threatening to use nuclear weapons.

After Talbot’s film is screened, he will answer questions about both the history of that time and his artistry making documentary films. Those who took part in the 1969 protests in the Bay Area are especially welcome to join the discussion, which will also include Talbot’s perspective on the relevance of Nixon’s resignation to our current international political situations―where threatening to use nuclear weapons no longer seems to cause irreparable shame and dishonor.

MLF Organizer: George Hammond

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.

This program contains EXPLICIT language.

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The Untold Story of John Muir, Indigenous Peoples, "The Untold Story of John Muir, Indigenous Peoples, and the American Wilderness Aug 04, 2024

Show notes

John Muir is widely and rightly lauded as the nature mystic who added wilderness to the United States’ vision of itself, largely through the system of national parks and wild areas his writings and public advocacy helped create. Critics say that vision, however, came at a cost: the conquest and dispossession of the tribal peoples who had inhabited and managed those same lands, in many cases for millennia. Muir argued for the preservation of wild sanctuaries that would offer spiritual enlightenment to the conquerors, not to the conquered Indigenous peoples who had once lived there. “Somehow,” he wrote, “they seemed to have no right place in the landscape.”

Cast Out of Eden tells this neglected part of Muir’s story—from Lowland Scotland and the Wisconsin frontier to the Sierra Nevada’s granite heights and Alaska’s glacial fjords—and his take on the tribal nations he encountered and embrace of an ethos that forced those tribes from their homelands. Although Muir questioned and worked against Euro-Americans’ distrust of wild spaces and deep-seated desire to tame and exploit them, his view excluded Native Americans as fallen peoples who stained the wilderness’s pristine sanctity. Fortunately, in a transformation that a resurrected and updated Muir might approve, this long-standing injustice is beginning to be undone, as Indigenous nations and the federal government work together to ensure that quintessentially American lands from Bears Ears to Yosemite serve all Americans equally.

MLF Organizer: Andrew Dudley

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.

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

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Thrillers, "Thrillers, Tech and Ethics in a Rapidly Changing World Aug 03, 2024

Show notes

Frank Price will moderate a conversation between Gregg Hurwitz and Kevin Compton, both experts in "Thrillers, Tech, and Ethics in a Rapidly Changing World." Join us for a fast-paced discussion with plenty of twists to keep you on your toes.

Gregg Hurwitz is a New York Times #1 internationally bestselling author of 24 thrillers, including the Orphan X series. His novels have won numerous literary awards and have been published in 33 languages. Hurwitz currently serves as the co-president of International Thriller Writers (ITW). Additionally, he’s written screenplays and television scripts for many of the major studios and networks, comics for AWA (including the critically acclaimed anthology NewThink), DC, and Marvel, and poetry. Currently, Hurwitz is actively working against polarization in politics and culture. To that end, he's penned op eds for The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Bulwark and others, and has produced several hundred commercials, which have received more than 100 million views on digital TV platforms. He also helped write the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup.

Kevin Compton is a co‐founder of Radar Partners in Palo Alto, CA, a private investment partnership focused on venture capital and multi-asset investing. Previously, Compton was a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s most successful high technology venture capital firms for almost 20 years. Compton and his partners invested in many of the most powerful and high profile start‐ups over the past 30 years, including Google, Sun Microsystems, Intuit, Netscape and Amazon. The Forbes “Midas Touch” ranking of top investors has named Kevin as one of the top private investors in the world on numerous occasions, ranking him in the top 10 three times.

MLF Organizer: Frank Price

An International Relations 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.

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

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CLIMATE ONE: Thirst Trap: When Big Cities Run Dry Aug 02, 2024

Show notes

This week we take a trip to Mexico, a petrostate that just elected climate scientist Claudia Sheinbaum as its next president. She’s also the former mayor of Mexico City, the largest city in North America, which has been going through a major water crisis due to climate change. It’s at risk of running out of water — and it has been for a long time. In fact, much of the country is coping with drought and heat waves exacerbated by climate change.

Christine Colvin, a hydrogeologist with WWF International, was in Cape Town, South Africa, at the height of a recent megadrought. The city was approaching Day Zero, when it would not be able to supply water to residents. Colvin says that of all the ways climate disruption impacts our lives, the most critical may be to our relationship with water.

"If the climate crisis is a shark, then water are its teeth. This is the thing that’s really going to bite us first and hardest."

Guests:

Oscar Ocampo, Coordinator for Energy and Environment, Mexican Institute of Competitiveness

Christine Colvin, Water Policy Lead, WWF International

Climate One has three exciting live shows on the calendar, featuring live conversations with Tom Steyer, Jane Goodall, and Justin Pearson. Tickets are on sale now.

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today for just $5/month.

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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CLIMATE ONE: Going for Green at the Paris Games Jul 26, 2024

Show notes

The Summer Olympic Games are here! That means more than 300 events, ten thousandathletes and millions of spectatorscoming to watch. And the athletes are not the only ones with an Olympian task; the organizers of the Paris Games pledged to make their event emit only half of the carbon pollution of the 2012 London Games.

In order to make that happen, they are trying to do more — by doing less. Instead of building huge new structures, they’ve renovated a number of existing venues and installed a lot of temporary structures that can be used elsewhere in the future. And that’s just one example. So what can we learn from the Paris Games that can transcend the big event and lead to broader emissions reductions?

Guests:

Martin Müller, Professor of Geography and Sustainability, University of Lausanne

Henry Grabar, Journalist, Author of “Paved Paradise, How Parking Explains the World”

Oluseyi Smith, Two-time Olympian, Renewable Energy Engineer, Founder, Racing to Zero

Angel Hsu, Director, Data-Driven EnviroLab, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

☎️ Do you work outdoors, in a kitchen or a warehouse or at another workplace where you are feeling the heat? Have rising temperatures impacted the way you do your job? We want to hear your story.

Leave us a voicemail at ‪(650) 382-3869‬ and let us know how climate change is affecting you on the job, and we may use it in an upcoming episode. Thanks for sharing!

🎟️ Climate One has three live shows scheduled this August and September. Tickets are on sale now!

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Foto-Diásporas Jul 22, 2024

Show notes

The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California and The Consulate of Colombia in San Francisco are pleased to invite you to the inauguration of the photographic exhibition Foto-Diásporas, a traveling exhibition making its debut in San Francisco. The exhibition is a research and creative project about Colombians' forced cross-border migration.

Through the eyes and voices of 15 Colombian men and women, Foto-Diásporas uses the power of participatory photography to make visible the experiences of forcibly displaced Colombians living in the United States and their demands for recognition and reparation. This exhibition pays tribute to the victims from the past armed conflict and honoring their resilience, courage and hope.

In our panel discussion, victims of forced migration will share their story. Program speaker Sonia Marina Pereira Portilla is the general consul of the Consulate of Colombia in San Francisco. The event includes Colombian food and refreshments, and music will be presented by Afro-Colombian group, Marimba del Litoral – Música del Pacifico.

The event will be hosted by Ambassador Sonia Marina Pereira Portilla, consul general of Colombia, alongside Saday Osorio Córdoba, the Consulate's social advisor, human rights advocate, and director/founder of the Nativa Foundation.

MLF ORGANIZER: Robert Melton

An Arts 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.

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CLIMATE ONE: What’s at Stake in November Jul 21, 2024

Show notes

This November, voters may have the rare opportunity to choose based on the records of two administrations that have each already had one turn at the helm. Regardless of who ends up at the top of the Democratic ticket, when it comes to climate in particular, a lot is at stake.

As Biden’s presidency winds down, the administration has been enacting numerous climate initiatives on top of his already robust climate wins, like new guidance on permitting and a new solar program. Meanwhile, former President Trump has promised to “drill, baby, drill” on day one, and roll back as much of Biden’s landmark climate legislation as possible.

This week, we take a look back at how both administrations handled climate issues, the effects of those choices and what they promise to do if given another term in the White House.

Guests:

Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project

Emma Shortis,Senior Researcher, International & Security Affairs Program, Australia Institute; Adjunct Senior Fellow, RMIT University

Coral Davenport,Energy and Environmental Policy Reporter, New York Times

☎️ Do you work outdoors, in a kitchen or a warehouse or at another workplace where you are feeling the heat? Have rising temperatures impacted the way you do your job? We want to hear your story.

Please leave us a voicemail at ‪(650) 382-3869‬ and let us know how climate change is affecting you on the job, and we may use it in an upcoming episode. Thanks for sharing!

🎫 Tickets for upcoming live Climate One shows are on sale now.

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Tor Kenward: Reflections of a Vintner and Wine Tasting Jul 21, 2024

Show notes

Join us for a special program in which vintner Tor Kenward shares a lifetime of great wines, famous friends, deep knowledge and insider insights.

Kenward will draw from his book Reflections of a Vintner, which recounts the lessons learned, relationships forged and observations made from an insider’s nearly 50-year journey through the burgeoning wine industry in Napa Valley. From the mid-seventies, when there were fewer than 50 wineries, to the present, with more than 800, Kenward shares his recollections as the region became a world-class wine destination. Kenward also has great stories about his friendships with legends of the modern American food and wine scene, including Julia Child, André Tchelistcheff, Andy Beckstoffer, and Robert Mondavi, among others.

Kenward’s hard work as a vintner was acknowledged and celebrated at the October 2021 Judgment of Napa, held 45 years after the historic Judgement of Paris. The TOR Cabernet was judged to be number one, outscoring legendary Bordeaux châteaux, Napa Valley, and international peers by leading critics and sommeliers. TOR wines, coveted by connoisseurs worldwide, received seven perfect 100-point ratings from leading critics for their 2018 Napa Valley wines.

How does he do it? An iconic winemaker, Kenward has written, taught and lectured on wine most of his adult life. What he is most often asked about are not facts or numbers about his wines, but the stories behind them. These are stories of inspiration and wisdom that shaped his journey. With Kenward’s impressive connection to Napa Valley and his legacy of creating inimitable wines, he has entertaining insights into an often intimidating and complex but highly enjoyable world.

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

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Raj Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War Jul 20, 2024

Show notes

In an era when America’s chief rival, China, has ordered that all commercial firms within its borders make their research and technology available for military exploitation, strengthening the relationship between Washington and Silicon Valley is an urgent necessity, argue Raj Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff.

They come to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to offer an inside look at an elite unit within the Pentagon—the Defense Innovation Unit, also known as Unit X—whose mission is to bring Silicon Valley’s cutting-edge technology to America’s military. Shah is a technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist and former director of the Defense Innovation Unit; Kirchhoff is the former director of strategic planning for the National Security Council under President Obama and is the co-creator of the Defense Innovation Unit.

Until recently, the Pentagon was known for its uncomfortable relationship with Silicon Valley and for slow-moving processes that acted as a brake on innovation. Unit X was specifically designed as a bridge to Valley technologists that would accelerate bringing state of the art software and hardware to the battle space. Given authority to cut through red tape and function almost as a venture capital firm, Shah, Kirchhoff, and others in the Unit who came after were tasked particularly with meeting immediate military needs with technology from Valley startups rather than from so-called “primes”—behemoth companies like Lockheed, Raytheon, and Boeing.

A vast and largely unseen transformation of how war is fought as profound as the invention of gunpowder or advent of the nuclear age is occurring. Flying cars that can land like helicopters, artificial intelligence-powered drones that can fly into buildings and map their interiors, microsatellites that can see through clouds and monitor rogue missile sites—all these and more are becoming part of America’s DIU-fast-tracked arsenal.

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