Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Ever have a difficult conversation about climate? Pretty much everyone has. Knowing all the facts and figures only goes so far when talking to someone who just doesn't agree. So how do we break through the barriers? Scientists trained to present information in a one-way lecture format face a particular challenge: they first need to unlearn old habits. “Everybody's trying to figure out ‘how do we move past this idea that just arming people with facts will lead to a better world,' right, because we've just seen that that's absolutely not true,” says Faith Kearns, author of Getting to the Heart of Science Communication.  Kearns argues that we all need to move from an “information deficit” model of communication – where it's assumed that the audience simply needs more information – to a relational model, where the science communicator does as much listening as talking in order to first find empathy and common ground. Guests: Faith Kearns, author, Getting to the Heart of Science Communication Katerina Gonzales, doctoral research fellow, Stanford University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Hearts and Minds—A QTAPI Community Conversation Series, Session Three: FTAPIs—The Personal and the Political. Join us for an intergenerational panel discussion of QTAPI (queer and trans Asian Pacific Islander) people discussing and sharing stories of their personal involvement in politics and community organizing. The Asian and the Pacific Islander communities are not monoliths unto themselves, so no program can possibly speak to the breadth of diversity and uniqueness in those communities. But we will explore certain moments in the panelists' own personal histories and lived experiences as they reflect on questions such as: What got them involved in API and/or LGBTQ issues? Was there a specific moment that moved you to become involved? Who were your mentors? How has your involvement changed from when you started? What is the most rewarding aspect of this work? And more. SPEAKERS James Coleman Member, South San Francisco City Council Valli Kalei Kanuha Ph.D., Teaching Professor and Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, University of Washington Sammie Ablaza Wills Community Organizer; Outgoing Executive Director, APIENC Willy Wilkinson M.P.H., Writer; Public Health Consultant; Cultural Competency Trainer; Author, Born on the Edge of Race and Gender: A Voice for Cultural Competency Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary C. Daly is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She returns to The Commonwealth Club for a much-anticipated discussion on how to approach monetary policy amidst the uncertainty of an economy still struggling to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since taking office in October 2018, Dr. Daly has committed to making the San Francisco Fed a more community-engaged bank that is transparent and responsive to the people it serves. She works to connect economic principles to real-world concerns and concentrates on monetary policy, labor economics, and increasing diversity within the economics field. Dr. Daly began her career with the San Francisco Fed in 1996 as an economist specializing in labor market dynamics and economic inequality. She went on to become the bank's executive vice president and director of research. She currently serves on advisory boards for the Center for First-generation Student Success and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She has also served on the advisory boards of the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Rehabilitation Research and Training, the Institute of Medicine, and the Library of Congress. Dr. Daly earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a master's degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. from Syracuse University. She also completed a National Institute of Aging post-doctoral fellowship at Northwestern University. A native of Ballwin, Missouri, Dr. Daly now lives in Oakland, California, with her wife Shelly. SPEAKERS Mary C. Daly President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Lenny Mendonca Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, Director of the Office of Business and Economic Development, State of California; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her new book, A Hole in the Clouds, Maryles Casto shares how, as part of the dramatic economic growth of Silicon Valley, she built her travel business from a $1,500 startup to a $200 million company, serving the needs of the tech industry. She describes how advice from key industry pioneers—such as Intel's Andy Grove and Robert Noyce and V.C.s William Bowes and Irwin Federman—contributed to her perspective on business, and offers invaluable lessons on her strategies that helped the business to thrive despite being in an industry threatened by extinction. She describes how her business success then led her to champion community and cultural organizations. When Maryles Casto left her family's sugar plantation in the Philippines in 1959 and moved to the United States as a new bride, she brought with her a love for travel and the stellar customer-service experience she'd gained as a flight attendant for Philippine Airlines. She never imagined she'd be building a business from scratch in an unfamiliar country. But when her husband went back to school, she needed to find a job. She founded Casto Travel soon after, a company she ran for more than four decades. Join us as Maryles Casto discusses the true story of how she transformed her life from unemployed flight attendant into the CEO of one of the most successful travel companies in the country, and of the many interesting characters she has met along the way! NOTES This program is part of The Commonwealth Club's Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS Maryles Casto Chairman and CEO, MVC Solutions; Author, A Hole in the Clouds: From Flight Attendant to Silicon Valley CEO In Conversation with Dr. Gloria Duffy President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club of California In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 15th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2015, delegates from 196 nations entered into the legally binding treaty on climate change known as the Paris Agreement, which set a goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2 and preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.” Yet in August of this year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new assessment report that starkly illustrated the world's collective failure to meet that target. Delegates from across the globe have just met in Glasgow for the international climate summit known as COP26, with the hope of strengthening commitments to keep emissions targets at that 1.5 degree level.  After two weeks of negotiations, presentations and protests in Glasgow, COP26 is a wrap. This week we discuss what was achieved - and what wasn't - at the summit.  For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts  Guests: Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan climate activist Jiang Lin, Adjunct Professor, University of California Berkeley Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our distinguished, diverse panel will discuss the Abraham Accords, which began a new era of cooperation between the broader Middle East region and Israel, and inspired the development of entities such as the Sharaka Project. (Sharaka means "partnership" in Arabic.). The project was founded by young leaders in order to turn the vision of people-to-people peace into a reality and encourage citizen diplomacy. Sharaka is currently located in Bahrain, Israel, The UAE, the United States and soon will open in Morocco. The panelists will also share their personal stories and cultures that inspire them. MLF ORGANIZER Celia Menczel NOTES MLF: Middle East SPEAKERS Omar Al Busaidi CEO, Sharaka USA, Fulbright Scholar Hayvi Bouzo Journalist; Washington, D.C., Bureau chief, The Orient News Dan Feferman Director of Communications and Global Affairs, Sharaka; Fellow, The Jewish People Policy Institute Chama Mechtaly Artist; Founder and CEO, Moors and Saints Banafsheh Keynoush Ph.D., Vice-Chair, Commonwealth Club Middle East Member-Led Forum—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For more than 25 years, Heidi Kuhn, at the helm of Roots of Peace, has been dedicated to cultivating peace and to helping rebuild war-torn countries by turning the scourge of land-mined areas into profitable agricultural land. For example, in Afghanistan, a country 80-percent dependent on an agricultural economy, her esteemed charity has removed millions of landmines and planted millions of trees and vines, which greatly benefits countless Afghan farmers and their families. Kuhn will also discuss her recent efforts to help her female employees emigrate and how after the ending of America's "forever" war and despite the unexpected, rapid Taliban takeover, Roots of Peace continues in Afghanistan. MLF ORGANIZER Celia Menczel NOTES MLF: Middle East, International Relations SPEAKERS Heidi Kuhn Humanitarian; Founder and CEO, Roots of Peace Atta Arghandiwal Former Refugee; Author Lost Decency: The Untold Afghan Story In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 9th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Black communities have a long and complicated relationship with American soil. The ongoing call to address systemic racism, patterns of abuse, violence and dispossession have brought back to the mainstream the conversation of BIPOC communities' historical connections to land. What are the connections between this history and current "food apartheid" (food deserts)? How is the Black farming movement connected to changes in larger food systems and the growth of worker cooperatives? How are people incorporating environmental sustainability into their work? And what can we learn from both the rich history of resistance and current strategies to inform how we resource a world where all people have access to healthy, fresh and locally sourced food? Join the San Francisco Foundation and The Commonwealth Club of California as Doria Robinson, executive director of Urban Tilth, and Andrea Talley, worker-owner of the Mandela Grocery Cooperative, explore multiple issues and interconnections that surround farming and food access for BIPOC communities. In conversation with Natalie Baszile, noted author of Queen Sugar and We Are Each Other's Harvest. SPEAKERS Doria Robinson Executive Director, Urban Tilth Andrea Talley Worker-Owner, Mandela Grocery Cooperative Natalie Baszile Author, Queen Sugar and We Are Each Other's Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a conversation with Jay Caspian Kang, who draws on a combination of family history and original reporting to explore—and reimagine—Asian American identity in a Black and white world. In 1965, a new immigration law lifted a century of restrictions against Asian immigrants to the United States. Nobody, including the lawmakers who passed the bill, expected it to transform the country's demographics. But over the next four decades, millions arrived, including Jay Caspian Kang's parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  The Loneliest Americans is the unforgettable story of Kang and his family as they move from a housing project in Cambridge to an idyllic college town in the South and eventually to the West Coast. Their story unfolds against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding Asian America, as millions more immigrants, many of them working-class or undocumented, stream into the country. At the same time, upwardly mobile urban professionals have struggled to reconcile their parents' assimilationist goals with membership in a multicultural elite—all while trying to carve out a new kind of belonging for their own children. Kang recognizes this existential loneliness in himself and in other Asian Americans who try to locate themselves in what he calls the country's racial binary. There are the businessmen turning Flushing into a center of immigrant wealth; the casualties of the Los Angeles riots; the impoverished parents in New York City who believe that admission to the city's exam schools is the only way out; the men's right's activists on Reddit ranting about intermarriage; and the handful of protesters who show up at Black Lives Matter rallies holding “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power” signs. Kang ties these various strands together amid a wave of anti-Asian violence and he adds his call for a new form of immigrant solidarity—one rooted not in bubble tea and elite college admissions but in the struggles of refugees and the working class. About the Speaker Jay Caspian Kang is a writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine. His other work has appeared in The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker, and on "This American Life" and "Vice," where he worked as an Emmy-nominated correspondent. He is the author of the novel The Dead Do Not Improve, which The Boston Globe called “an extremely smart, funny debut, with moments of haunting beauty.” NOTES This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS Jay Caspian Kang Writer-at-Large, The New York Times Magazine; Author, The Loneliest Americans Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-Host John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Within months of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, public health systems in the United States (and around the world) were stretched to the brink of destruction. The virus infected millions, killed hundreds of thousands, and effectively made the country stand still. Nineteen months later, the pandemic continues. Yet America was already in poor health before COVID-19 appeared. The country's failure to address many issues—marginalization and socioeconomic inequality among them—left the United States vulnerable to COVID-19 and the ensuing global health crisis it became. Sandro Galea's new book, The Contagion Next Time, describes the foundational forces shaping health in our society and how we can strengthen them to prevent the next outbreak from becoming a pandemic. Had the country tackled these challenges 20 years ago, after the outbreak of SARS, perhaps COVID-19 could have been quickly contained. Instead, we allowed our systems to deteriorate. Galea, as he did in his previous book, Well, challenges all of us to tackle the deep-rooted obstacles preventing us from becoming a truly vibrant and equitable nation, and reminds us at this critical time that a country's health is a public good worth protecting as much as the country's physical infrastructure. Please join us for this important public health conversation. SPEAKERS Dr. Sandro Galea Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, Boston University School of Public Health Mark Zitter Chair, The Zetema Project—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Ridgeway estimates he's spent about five years of his life sleeping in tents, often in the world's most remote places alongside fellow outdoor adventure luminaries. Ridgeway worked for Patagonia for 15 years and was behind the company's infamous “Don't Buy This Jacket” ad campaign, which paradoxically advocated sustainability and increased sales.  Outdoor companies like Patagonia may push for sustainability, but they largely still present a mostly white, wealthy experience with nature, which can be off-putting for people of color. “You know if you can't see yourself in those spaces then it's hard to feel invited or welcome in that movement,” says writer and social justice facilitator Amanda Machado.   What is the role of corporations in conservation? And how can the outdoor industry help make nature more safe, accessible and welcoming for all? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts  Guests: Rick Ridgeway, former Vice President of Public Engagement, Patagonia Amanda Machado, writer and social justice facilitator Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Building upon decades of work, the field of psychiatry stands at the precipice of a new era as advancements in neuroscience and population health are being successfully applied to the treatment of mental health disorders. From personalized brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression to the use of technology to bring care to historically underserved groups, a wave of innovations is revolutionizing how mental health care is delivered in the Bay Area and around the globe. A panel of clinical and research experts from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences will discuss their efforts to transform our understanding and treatment of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, eating disorders, autism and substance use disorders. Part of The Commonwealth Club's series on mental health, dedicated in memory of Nancy Friend Pritzker, with support from the John Pritzker Family Fund. SPEAKERS Christopher Bartley M.D., Ph.D., Adjunct Instructor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF; Hannah H. Grey Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Andrew Moses Lee M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Adjunct professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Katherine Scangos M.D., Ph.D., Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Fumi Mitsuishi M.D., M.S., Health sciences associate clinical professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Director, Citywide Case Management, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Department of Psychiatry Andrew Krystal M.D., M.S., Ray and Dagmar Dolby Distinguished Professor, Vice Chair, Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Professor in residence, UCSF Department of Neurology. Director, UCSF Dolby Family Center for Mood Disorders—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 5th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From his first day at West Point to his years of deployment in Afghanistan, retired four-star U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal is no stranger to the deadly risks of combat. Throughout his illustrious career and efforts helping business leaders navigate a global pandemic, General McChrystal has seen how individuals and organizations have failed to mitigate risk by focusing solely on the probability of something happening as opposed to the interface by which it can be managed. In his new book, Risk: A User's Guide, McChrystal and co-author Anna Butrico offer a battle-tested system for detecting and responding to risk. This book offers an alternative way of maintaining a healthy "risk immune system" that involves monitoring 10 different dimensions of control the authors say can be adjusted at any time to effectively anticipate, identify, analyze and act upon the ever-present possibility that things will not go as planned. Join us as General McChrystal reveals an entirely new way to understand risk and master the unknown. SPEAKERS General Stanley McChrystal Retired Army General; Author, Risk: A User's Guide; Twitter @StanMcChrystal In Conversation with Dan Ashley Co-Anchor, ABC 7 News; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @DanAshleyABC7 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 24th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is no version of America's past, present or future that does not involve the Latinx community. As the second-largest ethnic group, the Latinx community has played a fundamental role in shaping our culture, our elections and our society. And yet, as Nuestra America Fund (NAF) founder Diana Campoamor argues, time and time again this community is undermined, their contributions are pushed to the wayside, and their voices are consistently hushed. Campoamor's book, If We Want to Win: A Latine Vision for a New American Democracy, is a pushback against such silencing. Twenty Latinx visionaries from diverse causes come together in its pages to share their stories of growth, resilience and revolution. With a diversity of knowledge ranging from environmental justice to philanthropy, these stories cover a wealth of lived experiences. From this they mastermind a future in which harmful stereotypes are replaced with nuanced understandings of the community's diversity and their accurate portrayal sets the tone for a more representative and just democracy. At INFORUM, Campoamor will be in conversation with a panel of experts to recount their own stories of growing up in the Latinx community and validate the experiences of the community at large. With this shared wisdom on their side, they will reiterate the bounty to come from a more just future in which the Latinx community is accredited, vindicated, and cherished. SPEAKERS Diana Campoamor Founder, Nuestra America Fund (NAF); Editor, If We Want to Win: A Latine Vision for a New American Democracy Ana Marie Argilagos President and CEO, Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) Alexandra Aquino-Fike Vice President of Development, East Bay Community Foundation Chris Cardona Senior Program Officer for Philanthropy, Ford Foundation—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 3rd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a medical panel discussion about where we are in the COVID pandemic. What progress has been made? What failures have contributed most to making recovery so complicated? How do we, and should we, accelerate the vaccination programs in other countries? Do we have a realistic exit strategy? Or will we be living with COVID for the foreseeable future? And does that mean that the distrust in medical authorities and governments that the pandemic has exacerbated will prove to be a socially intractable problem for decades to come? The 11th Annual Lundberg Institute Lecture will once again deal with the major medical issue of our time, asking the questions that need to be answered if we are to find our way forward successfully. Join us in person in San Francisco, or by livestream, to ask your questions too. NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Dr. Leana Wen M.D., Emergency Physician; Visiting Prof. of Health Policy & Mgmt., Milken School of Public Health, George Washington U.; Fmr. Commissioner of Health, Baltimore City; TED MED Speaker; Author, Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health Dr. George Lundberg M.D., Editor in Chief, Cancer Commons; Editor at Large, Medscape; Executive Adviser, Cureus; Clinical Professor of Pathology, Northwestern University; President and Chair, The Lundberg Institute Dr. Susan Levenstein M.D., Primary Care Internist; Blogger, "Stethoscope On Rome"; Author, Dottoressa: An American Doctor in Rome George Hammond Author, Conversations with Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the latest IPCC Assessment Report, we're currently on course for at least 3°C (5.4°F) of warming by 2100 even if all of the voluntary Paris Agreement emissions pledges are fulfilled. Clearly the world needs to do more to reduce emissions. But what if that's still not enough? Solar geoengineering – such as putting sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of the sun's heat from reaching the earth – could be one tool to slow warming temporarily. But it has become so politically fraught that even research into the subject is contentious. Who decides who should control our atmosphere? And what global governance structures should be put in place before any experimentation begins? This program is generously underwritten in part by the Laney and Pasha Thornton Foundation. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Janos Pasztor, Executive Director, Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative, former Assistant Secretary General, United Nations  Sheila Jasanoff, Professor of science and technology studies, Harvard Kennedy School Albert Lin, Professor, University of California Davis School of Law  David Keith, Professor of applied physics and public policy, Harvard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is only one room that bears witness to marriages, divorces, adoptions, and criminal proceedings—the courtroom. Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell has sat in this room and dedicated nearly five decades of her life to putting justice back into the justice system. As the first African American female judge to serve on the Superior Court in northern California and a trailblazer in many other respects, her years on the bench have put her, in the most literal terms, front and center to the societal microcosm that is the courtroom. In her debut book Her Honor: My Life on the Bench . . . What Works, What's Broken, and How to Change It, Judge Cordell gives an inside look into a judge's chamber. She shares real stories of the trials and tribulations involved in making life-changing, sometimes life-or-death decisions. Further, she presents hard-earned knowledge on the cracks in the system and how we can repair them with institutional accountability and equitable reconfigurations. At INFORUM Judge Cordell will detail a career that has been steadfast and powerful in its advancement of LGBTQ+ rights, police accountability, and elevating of BIPOC communities. She will draw on stories both heartwarming and painful to shed light on the good and bad in a system that she says should, must, and will serve all. This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS LaDoris Cordell Judge (Ret); Author, Her Honor: My Life on the Bench...What Works, What's Broken, and How to Change It In Conversation with Lara Bazelon Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinical Programs, University of San Francisco In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded live in San Francisco on October 27th, 2021 at the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many families don't expect that dementia will be a factor in financial decisions, but it is more common than we think. The challenge is that people can start having trouble managing their finances years before being diagnosed with dementia. Our expert panel delves into this subject so you will recognize when a loved one's capacity is declining and what to do about it. They will explain a dementia diagnosis, the implications of this condition on our planning abilities, and suggestions on how to create an advance directive with this outcome in mind. They will also discuss how families can navigate their financial matters, with their advisors, if faced with the unexpected issues of dementia. They will share some examples of the best practices of individuals and families who successfully prepare for the possibility of dementia, and share some pitfalls of not planning ahead for this increasingly common experience. The concept of having or losing the capacity for financial decision-making is vague to most people. Yet it is understandable when you know the legal components of financial capacity. The concept of preparing for a loss of capacity can be a scary thing to face. Yet it can be comforting to learn the definite ways to manage your financial affairs, so they can be handled in your best interests and in line with your values and expectations. SPEAKERS Catherine A. Madison M.D., Founding Director, Ray Dolby Brain Health Center, California Pacific Medical Center Gretchen Hollstein CFP, Senior Wealth Advisor and Managing Director, Litman Gregory Wealth Management Natalie Oh CLU, Insurance Professional, Taran Insurance Advisory Denise Michaud Chair, Grownups Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 27th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With dazzling illustrations, sumptuous recipes, and its own curated playlist, Bryant Terry's sixth book, Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora, is a feast for the senses. Terry, a renowned vegan culinary innovator, returns to dive into the depth and breadth of Black foodways spanning nations and time. Black Food celebrates both the creations and creators, pairing heartwarming stories of generational traditions with the soul-filling foods at the center of them. From tropical Afro-Caribbean dishes like jerk chicken to beloved Nigerian jollof rice and further on to southern sweet potato pie, this book is an ode to the African diaspora's influence on food and culture. At INFORUM, Bryant Terry will share the stories, people, places and ingredients that make Black food the diverse and divine cuisine it is today. SPEAKERS Bryant Terry Chef; Author, Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora Anjali Menon Vice President, IfOnly; Member, INFORUM Advisory Board In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 20th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As president of One Fair Wage and director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley, Saru Jayaraman has fought for a reimagining of tipped industries. She argues that at just $2.13 an hour, what tipped-wage workers are paid is unlivable on its own and that, unsurprisingly, the people in these jobs are often society's most vulnerable: undocumented, BIPOC, and women workers who already make cents on the dollar of their white male counterparts. In place of the 30-year-old subminimum wage, Jayaraman has worked tirelessly to realize a fair living wage for these essential workers. In the wake of COVID-19, she says it is more obvious than ever that changes need to be made if we want to keep everyone's head above water. Jayaraman's message is unwavering—our drivers, delivery workers, servers and nail technicians deserve to have a livelihood. At INFORUM and alongside service industry experts Chef Dominique Crenn and Angela Glover Blackwell, Jayaraman will lay out what changes need to be made and how we can achieve a fair, livable wage for everyone in our communities. SPEAKERS Angela Glover Blackwell Founder in Residence, PolicyLink; Host, "Radical Imagination" Podcast Dominique Crenn Chef and Owner, Atelier Crenn Saru Jayaraman President, One Fair Wage; Co-Founder, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United; Director, Food Labor Research Ctr., UC Berkeley; Author, Behind the Kitchen Door, Forked: A New Standard for American Dining, & One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 18th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some might say that Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods were destined to meet. Poor, a professor of photography at CSU Sacramento, was volunteering with the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison when she met Woods, who was serving a 31-year-to-life sentence. The two bonded over a love of storytelling and with no formal experience, began a podcast together where they showcase the realities of life in prison while detailing the path of their fateful friendship. Their upcoming book, This Is Ear Hustle, shares its name with their well-received podcast, which has gone on to become a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize and is in its seventh season. The book avoids the overtly political and instead delves into the richness of humanity found even behind the bars of the prison system. With candor, the authors showcase the unlikely inspiration found in stories of the incarcerated. At INFORUM Earlonne Woods—whose sentence was commuted in 2018—and Nigel Poor will take our stage in downtown San Francisco to help our audiences become “ear hustlers'' themselves, eavesdropping on the tales of resilience, forgiveness and the lives that exist behind some of America's most well-guarded doors. This program will be moderated by Piper Kerman, author of The New York Times bestseller Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language SPEAKERS Nigel Poor Visual Artist; Co-Creator and Co-Host, "Ear Hustle" Podcast; Co-Author, This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life Earlonne Woods Co-Creator and Co-Host, "Ear Hustle" Podcast; Co-Author, This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life Piper Kerman Author, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many nations have a national poet, whose poetry helps carve out their own unique cultural niche in human civilization. Italy has enjoyed many literary geniuses for over two millennia, but still looks to one man the most: Dante. Like major poets in other cultures, Dante's influence on the Italian language can hardly be overstated. The Divine Comedy was the first major work of literature to leave Latin behind in favor of Italian, and it remains the world standard of poetic excellence. Dante's fertile imagination also inspired artists, writers and theologians, making him almost as influential about the afterlife as he is linguistically. Join Humanities West in person at The Commonwealth Club, or via livestream, to celebrate the 700th Anniversary of Dante's death—which ironically occurred not that many months after he completed his speculations about post-death possibilities—with a two-hour, three-lecture Dante feast: • Timothy Hampton on "Dante After Dante: the Forms of Memory." Though there were many "in the know" about the achievement of Dante's great poem during his lifetime, his vast influence on Italian poetry and world literature was uneven in the centuries following his death. In some areas of artistic creation—for example, in the painting of Botticelli—Dante was powerfully present. In other areas (poetry, philosophy, literary criticism) his influence was definite, but diffuse and oblique. This lecture will speak about the ways in which Dante's work did and didn't shape Italian and European culture in the early modern period. • Kip Cranna on "Dante at the Opera: From the Divine Comedy to a Comic Puccini Delight." In "The Inferno," part one of The Divine Comedy, Dante introduces the condemned sinner Gianni Schicchi, consigned to the Eighth Circle of Hell along with others guilty of fraud. His crime: impersonating the deceased Buoso Donati to falsify Buoso's will for his own benefit. Dante personally knew the Donatis (he was married to one), and therein lies an intriguing tale of medieval Florentine society. The story of this fraudulent will and the legend surrounding it became the inspiration for the famed composer Giacomo Puccini's only comic opera. After outlining the Dante-Puccini connection, San Francisco Opera's Dramaturg Emeritus Kip Cranna will present brief video highlights from the opera Gianni Schicchi, including the ever-popular aria "O mio babbino caro." • Marisa Galvez on "Dante Before Dante Become Dante." In retrospect it almost seems like Dante invented Italian literary culture, but he arrived on the Italian literary scene as a love poet—an admirer of courtly love and the troubadour traditions which had begun a century earlier in Occitania, and had spread to Italy, Spain and then most of Europe. Dante defined the troubadour lyrics as rhetorical, musical and poetical fiction — which is also a good description of The Divine Comedy. NOTES MLF: Humanities Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language. SPEAKERS Kip Cranna Dramaturg Emeritus, San Francisco Opera Marisa Galvez Professor of French and Italian, and by Courtesy, of German Studies and Comparative Literature; Faculty Director, Structured Liberal Education, Stanford University Timothy Hampton Aldo Scaglione and Marie M. Burns Distinguished Professor of French and Comparative Literature; Director, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, University of California, Berkeley George Hammond —Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 22nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a virtual conversation with Fritjof Capra to discuss the evolution of his thought. In the late 1950s Capra read the work of Werner Heisenberg, a founder of quantum mechanics, and quickly intuited connections between the discoveries of quantum physics and the traditions of Eastern philosophy. The result was his bestselling book, The Tao of Physics. His synthesis, which dispensed with the mechanistic worldview of Descartes and Newton in favor of a systemic, ecological one, has provided him with a different perspective on the life sciences, ecology and environmental policy. Six decades later, Fritjof Capra remains at the crossroads of physics, spirituality, environmentalism and systems theory. Organized thematically and chronologically, the essays in Patterns of Connection document his revolutionary and far-reaching intellectual journey. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Fritjof Capra Author, Patterns of Connection In Conversation with George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 21st 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fully electrifying our homes, cars and industries could cut the amount of total energy we need by half, says Saul Griffith, an entrepreneur, inventor and author of Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future. This electric revolution would mean significantly scaling up our solar, wind and battery storage and reorienting the electric grid – but could also mean “thousands of dollars in savings in every household, every year.”  President Biden wants half the cars sold in the US to be electric by 2030. And automakers are increasingly putting money and marketing muscle behind EVs. When Ford announced its all-electric F-150, it sent a powerful jolt through the transportation industry. Pre-orders for the F-150 Lightning surpassed 100,000 within three days, signalling that EVs are no longer just for kale-eating coastal elites.  Note: Ford Motor Co. is among Climate One's sponsors. This program was underwritten in part by ClimateWorks Foundation. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts  Guests: Saul Griffith, author, Electrify: An Optimist Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future Cynthia Williams, Global Director, Sustainability, Homologation and Compliance, Ford Motor Co. Sara Baldwin, Director of Electrification Policy, Energy Innovation  Josh Nassar, Legislative Director, United Auto Workers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our speakers, Rev. Norman Fong and Rev. James McCray, will discuss their direct hands-on experience in working to address the issue of equity and justice in community development, especially around building affordable housing, engaging community members for advocacy and support, and the broader issues of economic development connected to jobs and small business support. They will reflect on how these issue exist in San Francisco and in cities around the country. Join us for a timely discussion on equity and justice in the development of cities. About the Speakers Rev. Norman Fong has worked full-time in the nonprofit arena in San Francisco Chinatown for more than 3 decades. He has served as a pastor, the deputy director of programs at Chinatown Community Development Center, and now as executive director of Chinatown CDC. Besides being an ordained Presbyterian minister, Fong is the co-founder of the Jest Jammin Band, which has been playing classic soul/R&B/Motown music for 45 years. Dr. James McCray, Jr., is semi-retired after 38 years of service in local churches and to their surrounding community, and now joyously living as a son, husband, father and grandfather in his beloved San Francisco. He says he is joyful first for the blessing of being a “cancer survivor.” Joyful also, because of the marriage to Gail Jackson McCray, a practicing attorney in our city. In the last 10 years, a surprising new venture has come along—the development of affordable housing through the building of a locally based community development corporation, as executive director of Tabernacle Community Development Corporation (TCDC). MLF ORGANIZER Gerald Harris NOTES MLF: Technology & Society SPEAKERS Rev. Norman Fong Former Executive Director, Chinatown Community Development Center, focused on addressing the issues poverty, housing and small businesses in Chinatown Rev. James McCray Executive Director, Tabernacle Community Development Corp., a developer of affordable housing in San Francisco with a focus on slowing the city's out-migration of African Americans Gerald Harris President, Quantum Planning Group; Chair, Technology & Science Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 21st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a Silicon Valley entrepreneur developed a tax break intended as a way to incentivize the rich to invest in underserved communities, the idea was pushed into law with little scrutiny or fine-tuning and few safeguards against abuse. With an unbeatable pair of high-profile sponsors and deft political marketing, the Opportunity Zone became an unnoticed part of the 2017 Trump tax bill. In his new book Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age, bestselling author David Wessel follows the money—starting from this Opportunity Zone initiative—to see who profited from the plan that was supposed to spur development of blighted areas and help people out of poverty. His findings? The Las Vegas Strip, the Portland (Oregon) Ritz-Carlton, and the Mall of America. In other words, lucrative areas where the wealthy can place their money profitably and avoid capital gains taxes. Wessel provides vivid portraits of the proselytizers, political influencers, consultants, real estate dealmakers and individual money-seekers looking to take advantage of this opportunity. He looks at the cities in which the Opportunity Zone initiatives have failed, as well as a few where they have succeeded, and offers a lesson on how a better-designed program might have helped more left-behind places. Join us as David Wessel, offers an in-depth analysis of the bill he faults with keeping the rich richer—revealing the gritty reality of a system tilted in favor of a few while leaving many out in the cold. SPEAKERS David Wessel Senior Fellow and Director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings Institution; Author, Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age; Twitter @davidmwessel In Conversation with Lenny Mendonca Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, State of California; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 19th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mildred Harnack, born and raised in Milwaukee, was a Ph.D. candidate studying in Berlin in 1932 when the Nazis began their rise to power. Donner describes how her great-great-aunt Mildred began holding secret meetings in her apartment. Her small band of political activists grew into the largest underground resistance group in Berlin by 1940. Harnack recruited working-class Germans, helped Jews escape, plotted acts of sabotage, and collaborated on leaflets that denounced Adolf Hitler and called for revolution. At night her co-conspirators would slip those leaflets into mailboxes, public restrooms and phone booths. When World War II began, Harnack became a spy, providing top-secret intelligence to the Allies. On the eve of her planned escape to Sweden, she was arrested by the Gestapo. A Nazi military court sentenced her to six years at a prison camp, but Hitler personally overruled that sentence and ordered her execution. On February 16, 1943, Mildred Harnack, the only known American member of the German resistance, was guillotined. Donner draws on extensive archival research in Germany, Russia, England, and the United States, as well as on newly uncovered documents in her family's archive, to tell Harnack's story. She has woven those letters, diary entries, notes smuggled out of a Berlin prison, survivors' testimony, and a trove of declassified intelligence documents into an epic story of moral courage. SPEAKERS Rebecca Donner Author, All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler In Conversation With George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 7th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Violence against Black people—both physical and psychological—has seemed only to increase in recent years, culminating in the historic pandemic and protests in the summer of 2020. “After centuries of waiting for white majorities to overturn white supremacy,” Charles Blow writes, “ it seems to me that it has fallen to Black people to do it themselves.” A New York Times op-ed columnist, Blow felt compelled to write a new story for Black Americans, one that involves a succinct, counterintuitive and impassioned correction to the myths that have for too long governed our thinking about race and geography in America. The Devil You Know is a grand exhortation to generations of a people, proposing nothing short of the most audacious power play by Black people in the history of this country. Join us as Charles Blow offers a road map to true and lasting freedom. SPEAKERS Charles Blow Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times; Author, The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto; Twitter @CharlesMBlow In Conversation with Melissa Murray Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, NYU School of Law; Co-host, "Strict Scrutiny" Podcast; Twitter @ProfMMurray In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 19th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a Silicon Valley entrepreneur developed a tax break intended as a way to incentivize the rich to invest in underserved communities, the idea was pushed into law with little scrutiny or fine-tuning and few safeguards against abuse. With an unbeatable pair of high-profile sponsors and deft political marketing, the Opportunity Zone became an unnoticed part of the 2017 Trump tax bill. In his new book Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age, bestselling author David Wessel follows the money—starting from this Opportunity Zone initiative—to see who profited from the plan that was supposed to spur development of blighted areas and help people out of poverty. His findings? The Las Vegas Strip, the Portland (Oregon) Ritz-Carlton, and the Mall of America. In other words, lucrative areas where the wealthy can place their money profitably and avoid capital gains taxes. Wessel provides vivid portraits of the proselytizers, political influencers, consultants, real estate dealmakers and individual money-seekers looking to take advantage of this opportunity. He looks at the cities in which the Opportunity Zone initiatives have failed, as well as a few where they have succeeded, and offers a lesson on how a better-designed program might have helped more left-behind places. Join us as David Wessel, offers an in-depth analysis of the bill he faults with keeping the rich richer—revealing the gritty reality of a system tilted in favor of a few while leaving many out in the cold. SPEAKERS David Wessel Senior Fellow and Director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings Institution; Author, Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age; Twitter @davidmwessel In Conversation with Lenny Mendonca Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, State of California; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 19th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the devastating effects and tragic loss of life from COVID-19 persist 18 months after the global pandemic began, the world is desperate to end this public health crisis. As businesses across industries are rolling out varying degrees of vaccine, testing, and masking mandates, President Biden announced the requirement for federal workers, medium and large employers, and health-care staff to be vaccinated. Working together and partnering with government and community leaders, the private sector plays a role in helping to close the vaccination gap in our workforce and communities. What can the business community do to stop this pandemic? What is the private sector's role in helping keep our communities safe? How are organizations responding to local, state and federal mandates? What processes are working and not working? What will it take to return to a strong and stable economy? Join a panel of business leaders across industries discussing opportunities to address this public health crisis and how we can work together to end it. NOTES This program is generously supported by our partner Kaiser Permanente. SPEAKERS Greg A. Adams Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Kaiser Permanente Brett Hart President, United Airlines Molly Moon Neitzel CEO, Molly Moon Homemade Ice Cream Stephen Parodi Executive Vice President, The Permanente Federation; National Infectious Disease Leader, Kaiser Permanente Jim Wunderman President and CEO, Bay Area Council Raj Mathai News Anchor, NBC Bay Area—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 18th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a conversation with Joe Weisberg, who makes the case in his new book, Russia Upside Down, that America's foreign policy toward Russia is failing, and we'll never fix it unless we rethink our entire relationship. Weisberg came of age in America in the 1970s and '80s as a Cold Warrior. He studied Russian in Leningrad, and then joined the CIA—just in time to watch the Soviet Union collapse. Less than a decade later, though, a new Cold War broke out. Russia had changed in many of the ways that America hoped it might. It had become more capitalist, more religious, more open to Western ideas. But U.S. sanctions crippled Russia's economy, and Russia's internet-based retaliations have exacerbated our own political problems. Weisberg says the old paradigm—America, the free capitalist good guys, fighting Russia, the repressive communist bad guys—simply doesn't apply anymore. But we've continued to act as if it does. Weisberg asks hard questions about our foreign policy and attempts to understand what Russia truly wants. He concludes that we are fighting an enemy with whom we have few if any serious conflicts of interest, we are fighting this unnecessary war with ineffective and dangerous tools, and our approach is not working anyway. With our own political system in peril, and continually being buffeted by Russian attacks, he argues that we need a new framework. Urgently. Weisberg makes it clear what the stakes are and lays out the foundation for a new American foreign policy for dealing with Russia. NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Joe Weisberg Television Writer; Creator, "The Americans"; Former CIA Officer; Author, Russia Upside Down In Conversation with George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 21st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's speakers, who are human rights activists as well as being business-oriented, will discuss why Bitcoin matters, especially in the Middle East region. Alex Gladstein, vice president of strategy for the Oslo Freedom Forum, has connected many dissidents and civil society groups with business leaders, philanthropists, policymakers and artists, to promote free and open societies. He has shared his views at MIT, Stanford, BBC, the European Parliament, the U.S. State Department, and other venues. He is the singularity expert at Singularity University and advises Blockchain Capital. Fadi Elsalameen, who was born in Hebron, is a critic of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and has received death threats for his pro-democracy and anti-corruption work. He is a graduate of Seeds of Peace, a successful businessperson, and has also shared his views at many leading institutions, including The Commonwealth Club of California. SPEAKERS Fadi Elsalameen M.S., International Relations and Economics; Adjunct Senior Fellow, American Security Project Alex Gladstein Chief Strategy Officer, Human Rights Foundation; Co-Author, The Little Bitcoin Book Jonathan Curiel Author—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 18th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People around the world have been experiencing unprecedented extreme weather events – raging wildfires, killer heatwaves and catastrophic floods. In August, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new Assessment Report, which UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called “code red for humanity,” adding that alarm bells are deafening and the evidence is irrefutable.  Against this backdrop, delegates from across the globe are set to convene for the international climate summit known as COP26, where they're expected to hammer out commitments to reduce carbon emissions in hopes of avoiding the worst impacts of climate disruption. Six years on from the Paris agreement, is there finally enough urgency to turn ambition and promises into action?  For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts  Guests: Kate Larsen, Director, International Energy & Climate, Rhodium Group Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg NEF Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Climate Justice Activist, Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines Carlon Zackhras, Marshall Islands youth climate activist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is intentional misgendering a crime? Should it be? How does it affect the person who is the subject of the treatment? In July 2021, a California district court struck down a provision of the LGBTQ Long-term Care Facility Residents' Bill of Rights that banned nursing home staff from "willfully and repeatedly" misgendering or using the wrong name to refer to a resident when they've been clearly informed of the preferred name or pronoun. That provision, known as the "pronoun provision," was ruled to be an infringement on free speech, with one of the judges writing that "misgendering may be disrespectful, discourteous and insulting, and used in an inartful way to express an ideological disagreement with another person's expressed gender identity," but the First Amendment "does not protect only speech that inoffensively and artfully articulates a person's point of view." Advocates for LGBTQ seniors, and especially for transgender and gender nonconforming seniors, have called the decision alarming. Openhouse, a San Francisco-based LGBT senior housing, community and services organization, states "Misgendering can be harmful to a resident, particularly as it relates to feelings of safety, acceptance and isolation." California State Senator Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) said "It's never OK to intentionally and repeatedly misgender a transgender person. This isn't a matter of political opinion; it's straight-up harassment." Join us for a live-stream discussion among advocates and professionals working with transgender and nonconforming seniors about the impact of the ruling and proposals for what to do next. SPEAKERS Eric Carlson Directing Attorney, Justice in Aging; Author, Long-Term Care Advocacy and 25 Common Nursing Home Problems — and How to Resolve Them Richelle Slota Author, Stray Son and Captive Market: Commercial Kidnapping Stories from Nigeria Dr. Kathleen Sullivan Ph.D.; Executive Director, Openhouse Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Standard treatment for obesity, based on a law of physics, assumes that all calories are alike, and that to lose weight one must simply “eat less and move more.” However, this prescription rarely works over the long term. According to the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of obesity, the metabolic condition of fat cells plays a key role in determining body weight. High intakes of processed carbohydrate raise insulin levels and program fat cells to store too many calories, leaving too few for the rest of the body. Consequently, hunger increases, and metabolic rate slows in the body's attempt to conserve energy. From this perspective, calorie-restricted, low-fat diets amount to symptomatic treatment, destined to fail for most people. Instead, a dietary strategy aiming to lower insulin secretion promises to increase the effectiveness of long-term weight management and chronic disease prevention. David S. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., is an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children's Hospital, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and professor of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. For more than 25 years, Dr. Ludwig has studied the effects of dietary composition on metabolism, body weight and risk for chronic disease—with a special focus on low glycemic index, low carbohydrate and ketogenic diets. Described as an “obesity warrior” by Time magazine, Dr. Ludwig has fought for fundamental policy changes to improve the food environment. He has authored more than 200 scientific articles and presently serves as an editor at the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and The BMJ. Dr. Ludwig is author of the number-one New York Times bestseller Always Hungry? Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently. MLF ORGANIZER Patty James SPEAKERS David S. Ludwig M.D., Ph.D., Endocrinologist and Researcher, Boston Children's Hospital; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health Patty James M.S., N.C. Nutritionist; Chef; Author—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 12th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monday, October 11 is 2021 National Coming Out Day. Join us for a screening of the Pixar short film Out plus fascinating conversation with a talented Pixar animator who directed Out and the filmmaker who produced Out. About the Speakers Steven Clay Hunter joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1997 and has worked as an animator on a number of Pixar's most beloved films, including A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo. He was an animation supervisor on The Incredibles, WALL•E and Brave. Recently, he helped bring to life the characters Hank from Finding Dory (for which he won the 2013 VES award) and Duke Caboom from Toy Story 4. Most recently, Hunter made his directorial debut with the SparkShort Out on Disney+, which was shortlisted for an Oscar Nomination this past year. In addition, Out is nominated for a GLADD award. Prior to coming to Pixar, Hunter worked for Walt Disney Animation on many projects, including Fantasia 2000 and Hercules. He first learned computer animation at Industrial Light & Magic on Casper the Friendly Ghost. Max Sachar is a San Francisco-based filmmaker and film producer, and for the past 15 years he has worked at Pixar Animation Studios on critically acclaimed short & feature films, including Coco, Incredibles 2, Wall-E, Toy Story 3, and Lou. Most recently, Sachar produced Pixar's 2020 Academy Award Shortlisted film Out (written and directed by Steven Clay Hunter). As producer, he worked creatively with the director to help navigate the story and visual development, while also focusing on casting, staffing all art and technical teams, and making strategic decisions around the schedule and budget. In addition to his work at Pixar, Max is a co-director and cinematographer for Concept o4 films, where he has helped created several award winning dance films. During what's left of his free time, Max spends as much time in the outdoors with his fiancé and 2 pups, and roaming the streets of his hometown, San Francisco, camera in hand. SPEAKERS Steven Clay Hunter Director, Out, Pixar; Animator, Pixar Animation Studios; Twitter @BubbleOfThunder Max Sachar Filmmaker, Pixar Animation Studios; Producer, Out; Co-Director and Cinematographer, Concept o4 Films Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-Host John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 11th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices