Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Legendary primatologist Jane Goodall died on October 1. In a 2024 conversation on the Climate One stage with Co-Host Greg Dalton, the indefatigable Goodall was focused on three intertwined crises: biodiversity loss, climate change and environmental inequity. Her message from that night still resonates: Vote like your children's lives depend on it — because they do.  Guests: Jane Goodall, Ethologist, conservationist For show notes and related links, visit ⁠ClimateOne.org⁠. **** 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. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we move from punishment to possibility? From cycles of incarceration to lasting opportunity? Join us for an urgent and inspiring evening as part of Commonwealth Club World Affairs' Social Impact Forum. "The Art of Second Chances" will highlight community-driven interventions—rooted in healing, education, and economic empowerment—that create real second chances and pave the way for collective liberation and greater public safety. Too often, people who fall into the justice system were overlooked in their youth, denied the opportunities, connection, and support they needed to thrive. The cost of that neglect shows up in families torn apart, communities destabilized, and lives lost to a system that punishes more than it heals. But there is another way. Our panel brings together changemakers from law, philanthropy, faith, and advocacy—alongside voices with lived experience—who are transforming systems through bold, community-rooted solutions. Together, they will explore how investing in people, not prisons can create safer, stronger, and more just communities. About the Speakers Mano Raju is the elected public defender of San Francisco. He completed his undergraduate work at Columbia University, earned a Master's degree in South Asian studies from UC Berkeley, and received his law degree at UC Berkeley Law. New Breath Foundation President and Founder Eddy Zheng has been bridging communities for decades, particularly among Black, Asian American, formerly incarcerated, immigrant, and refugee groups. He is the subject of the award-winning documentary Breathin': The Eddy Zheng Story and has been featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, The New Yorker, PBS, NPR, The Guardian, SXSW, and other national media outlets. Reverend Sonya Y. Brunswick, affectionately known as “Pastor Sonya,” is senior pastor of Greater Life Foursquare Church in San Francisco and visionary leader of Brunswick Leadership Group. Moderator Virginia Cheung is co-chair of the Social Impact Member-Led Forum at the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California and co-founder and vice president of the Give a Beat Foundation, a nonprofit that uses music and the arts to reduce recidivism and create opportunities for incarcerated and justice-impacted individuals. A Social Impact Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Organizer: Virginia Cheung  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finding one's voice in climate action can come in many forms. Author and activist Taylor Brorby grew up in Center, North Dakota as a fourth-generation member of a fossil-fuel family. He struggled to find his place as a young gay kid who loved art, music, nature and poetry. Over time, he turned that tension into writing that challenges the fossil fuel industry, makes space for others stuck in a broken system, and inspires a more just future.  Suzie Hicks felt the weight of climate concerns but after college, didn't know what to do with those feelings. After doing an internship at the New England Aquarium, they realized they could merge their love of performing with a career focused on climate. With the help of a sunflower puppet named Sprout, Suzie created a children's show that teaches kids about climate change through a frame of possibility and hope, not doom and gloom.  Guests: Taylor Brorby, Activist, Author, “Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land” Suzie Hicks, Climate Media Maker and Educator Episode Highlights: 00:00 – Intro 00:30 – New York Climate Week recap 02:20 – Taylor Brorby describes the N.D. town where he grew up 05:00 – What he learned from the prairie landscape 07:30 – Other queer writers from the Great Plains 13:30 – Influential environmental writers 17:00 – Writing optimistically rather than dystopian narratives 20:00 – Getting arrested protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline 25:30 – Why we need to be supporting rural writers 30:00 – Project Tundra, a carbon capture project near Center, N.D. 34:00 – Origins of Suzie Hicks, the Climate Chick 36:30 – It's okay to have complicated feelings about climate change 40:00 – Working with kid's existing love for nature in educating them about climate change 42:00 – Why introduce kids to climate change? Because it's already happening. 47:00 – How Hicks sees her role as a positive storyteller around climate change 52:00 – Climate One More Thing For show notes and related links, visit ⁠⁠ClimateOne.org⁠⁠. *** 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. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for Dan Wang's talk about the issues raised in his new book Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, which has been called a riveting, firsthand investigation of China's seismic progress, its human costs, and what it means for America. For close to a decade, technology analyst Wang―“a gifted observer of contemporary China” (Ross Douthat)―has been living through the country's astonishing, messy progress. China's towering bridges, gleaming railways, and sprawling factories have improved economic outcomes in record time. But rapid change has also sent ripples of pain throughout the society. This reality―political repression and astonishing growth―is not a paradox, but rather a feature of China's engineering mindset. Wang blends political, economic, and philosophical analysis with reportage to reveal a provocative new framework for understanding China―one that can help us see America more clearly, too. While China is an engineering state, relentlessly pursuing megaprojects, the United States has stalled. America has transformed into a lawyerly society, reflexively blocking everything, good and bad. Mixing analysis with storytelling, Wang offers a gripping portrait of a nation in flux. He traverses metropolises like Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen, where the engineering state has created not only dazzling infrastructure but also a sense of optimism. The book also exposes the downsides of social engineering, including the surveillance of ethnic minorities, political suppression, and the traumas of the one-child policy and zero-COVID. In an era of animosity and mistrust, Wang unmasks the shocking similarities between the United States and China. He reveals how each country points toward a better path for the other: Chinese citizens would be better off if their government could learn to value individual liberties, while Americans would be better off if their government could learn to embrace engineering―and to produce better outcomes for the many, not just the few. About the Speaker Dan Wang is a research fellow at the Hoover History Lab at Stanford University. He was previously a fellow at the Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center and the technology analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics. Wang is the author of an annual letter from China and has published essays in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, New York magazine and The Atlantic. Organizer: Lillian Nakagawa  This program is supported by the Ken & Jaclyn Broad Family Fund. An Asia-Pacific Affairs 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It can be difficult to figure out where to start or what needs to change when we seek to increase the happiness in our lives. There are lots of people with ideas and plans, but what does science have to say?The UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center has drawn on its popular “The Science of Happiness” course and podcast to produce a book called The Science of Happiness Workbook. It includes short, step-by-step practices people can incorporate into their lives—many that can take only 5 or 10 minutes to do. It's about cultivating the skills and traits that research demonstrates could help people feel happier and more connected to others, from self-compassion to awe to empathy to purpose. It also includes quizzes, tips for overcoming obstacles, and inspiring stories.Join us at Commonwealth World Affairs to hear from Workbook authors Kira M. Newman, Jill Suttie and Shuka Kalantari about cultivating greater well-being and stronger relationships.About the Speakers Shuka Kalantari is the executive producer of the award-winning podcast "The Science of Happiness," which shares narrative stories and research-backed practices to support personal growth, stronger communities, and a healthier environment. Before this, Kalantari worked as a journalist reporting on health disparities in marginalized communities around the world. Her work has appeared on NPR, "The World" from PRX, WNYC's "The Takeaway," KQED Public Radio, HuffPost, Vice, and more. Kira M. Newman is the managing editor of Greater Good magazine at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. Her work has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Washington Post, HuffPost, Mindful magazine, and TED Ideas, and she is co-editor of The Gratitude Project(New Harbinger, 2020). She has created large communities around the science of happiness, including the online course "The Year of Happy" and the CaféHappy meetup in Toronto, Canada. Newman is also a personal trainer at New Element Training and was previously a technology journalist and editor for Tech.Co. Jill Suttie, Psy.D., is a staff writer and contributing editor for Greater Good magazine, where she translates scientific findings on compassion, altruism, forgiveness, mindfulness, awe, and more, providing tips for personal and social well-being. She also writes about the impacts of bias, technology, nature, music, and social policy on individual mental health, relationships, and society. Outside of Greater Good, her writing has appeared in the Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Mindful, and Yes! magazine, among others, and she's been a featured podcast speaker. A musician in her spare time, she has two CDs of original songs that can be found at jillsuttie.com. Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. Photos courtesy the speakers. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Daniel Lurie was sworn in as San Francisco's 46th mayor in January, he called for "the beginning of a new era of accountability and change at City Hall." Born and raised in the city, Lurie made his name as founder of the Tipping Point Community, a grant-making, anti-poverty nonprofit. During the campaign, Lurie pledged to fix homelessness, improve public safety, and revitalize downtown, among other promises.  In July, after six months in office, the mayor said that he had restructured city government to better provide services, and pointed to progress on crime and a reduction in street encampments. But many challenges remain, including a drug overdose epidemic, an affordability crisis, and a retail vacancy problem. Mayor Lurie joins Commonwealth Club World Affairs to talk about his experience in office so far, and to share his vision for the future of the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can you tap into your hidden intelligence and transform your life? The Army might be able to show you how. If you've ever wondered where such visionary creatives and decision-makers such as Steve Jobs, Vincent van Gogh, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Warren Buffett, and William Shakespeare get their extraordinary mental abilities, join us for an intriguing talk with Angus Fletcher, professor at The Ohio State University. Researchers at Ohio State's Project Narrative in 2021 said they have an answer: primal intelligence—something that cannot be found in computers but is in humans and can be strengthened. In response, U.S. Army Special Operations incorporated primal training for its most classified units; according to Fletcher, they saw the future faster, healed more quickly from trauma, and chose more wisely in life-and-death situations. The Army then authorized trials on civilians—entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, managers, coaches, teachers, investors, and NFL players. Their leadership and innovation reportedly improved significantly; they coped better with change and uncertainty, and they experienced less anger and anxiety. Then the Army provided primal training to college and K–12 classrooms, where it is said to have produced substantial effects in students as young as eight. Fletcher has brought this training to a wider audience in his new book Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know. Join us as he shares what he learned about this approach to using your brain—you just might end up thinking more like Jobs, Lincoln and Shakespeare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For about a millennium and a half, between 250 BC and A.D. 1200, India was a confident exporter of its own diverse civilizations, creating an empire of ideas, to a world that was a willing and eager recipient of a startlingly comprehensive mass transfer of Indian soft power. From religion such as Buddhism to mathematics that introduced the idea of zero, infinity, algebra, trigonometry to astronomy that proposed a spherical earth rotating on its own axis and trade, that Pliny the Elder complained drained the wealth of Rome into Indian pockets, Indian ideas infected the world.  In The Golden Road, William Dalrymple, draws on a lifetime of scholarship to give a name to the spread of Indian ideas that transformed the world. From the largest Hindu temple in the world at Angkor Wat to the Buddhism of China, from the trade that helped fund the Roman Empire, to the creation of the numerals we use today, Dalrymple shares the soaring history of how India transformed the culture and technology of the ancient world, and in doing so, the world today as we know it. About the Speaker William Benedict Hamilton-Dalrymple CBE, is a noted historian and best-selling author of nine books; the most recent, The Anarchy, was a finalist for the Cundill History Prize and one of Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019. He is also one of the co-founders and co-directors of the world's largest writers' festival, the annual Jaipur Literature Festival. Dalrymple's books have won numerous awards and prizes, including the Wolfson Prize for History, the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize, the Hemingway, the Kapuściński, the Arthur Ross Medal of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award. He writes regularly for The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books and The Guardian. The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. An Asia-Pacific Affairs Member-led Forum program. Forums and chapters 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. Dalrymple photo by Debbie Mitra Singh; courtesy the publisher. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Organizer: Kalidip Choudhury  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On 9/11, the United States suffered the deadliest terrorist attack in its history, an event that reshaped American foreign policy for generations to come. In the years that followed, the Global War on Terror consumed national focus, leaving little room to craft a broader grand strategy that addressed rising global powers, shifting alliances, and emerging challenges across the Transatlantic region, the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific, the African continent, and the Western Hemisphere. As a result, U.S. statesmen, scholars, and policymakers now find themselves in search of a strategic framework on par with Cold War-era containment. Others argue there is no coherent “Trump Doctrine” at all—just a series of reactive shocks. In this timely and thought-provoking address, Dr. Kiron Skinner will offer a clear-eyed assessment of the current state of U.S. foreign policy. Attendees can expect a rigorous, nonpartisan exploration of the facts and frameworks shaping America's role on the world stage today. This program is part of our American Values Series, underwritten by Taube Philanthropies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Within the federal government, science — especially climate science — has taken a beating. The Trump administration has moved from climate denial to climate erasure, firing thousands of career scientists across departments, rolling back established landmark protections, and undermining its own authority to regulate pollutants like carbon emissions. Even at the UN General Assembly, Trump referred to green energy as a “scam” and said climate science came from “stupid people.”  But climate scientists aren't all taking it lying down. From former EPA researchers to independent academics, many are heroically maintaining open-access databases and continuing fundamental research like the National Climate Assessment without the administration's blessing. Guests:  Brandon Jones, President, American Geophysical Union Wes Ingwersen, Lead, Cornerstone Sustainability Data Initiative Rachel Cleetus, Senior Policy Director, Climate and Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Episode Highlights: 00:00 - Introduction 3:23 - Brandon Jones on how the Trump administration has treated science 6:35 - Brandon Jones on what's next for scientists who were laid off 10:58 - Brandon Jones on continuing to collect climate data   13:18 - Wes Ingwersen on the creation of USEEIO 22:24 - Wes Ingwersen on how EPA changed when Lee Zeldin took over 31:24 - Wes Ingwersen on when EPA employees decided to speak out 37:31 - Wes Ingwersen on taking his work to Stanford  42:28 - Rachel Cleetus on DOE climate report  51:27 - Rachel Cleetus on agency staff cuts 60:40 - Rachel Cleetus on how the scientific community is responding  *** 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. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two hundred fifty years after the nation's founding, Harvard professor of history and law Jill Lepore comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to delve into the foundational document of the country, the Constitution. It's one of the oldest constitutions in the world, but it has also been criticized for being one of the hardest to change. Lepore explores the history of the Constitution and its pertinence to our current troubled era in her new book We the People. She notes that nearly 12,000 amendments were introduced in Congress since 1789, but only 27 have been ratified. “One of the Constitution's founding purposes was to prevent change,” she says. “Another was to allow for change without violence.” The last time the U.S. Constitution was amended was in 1971, despite continuing attempts to do so from left and right. Lepore says that without the flexibility to amend the Constitution, there is a higher risk of political violence and of presidential or judicial fiat. She argues that the framers of the Constitution never intended for it to be perfectly preserved under glass like a butterfly collection; instead, they knew that future generations would change it through an orderly, democratic, and deliberative process. How has the Constitution performed in carrying out those tasks? Join us for a discussion with Jill Lepore about how change can make the Constitution and our country stronger. Audio excerpt from We the People: A History of the Constitution by Jill Lepore, narrated by the author, is provided courtesy of Recorded Books, copyright 2025. The full recording is available wherever audiobooks are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recognized as one of the nation's top food destinations, San Francisco's culinary scene thrives on fresh, local ingredients, diverse cultural influences, and a constant drive to innovate. Chefs here are known for pushing boundaries, blending tradition with creativity to deliver unforgettable dining experiences. Tonight's program showcases acclaimed chefs from some of the city's most beloved restaurants. They'll share their journeys—how they became chefs and restaurateurs, the challenges they've faced, and memorable moments from their kitchens.  Each chef will also treat us to small bites, making this an evening that's both inspiring and delicious. A Nutrition, Food & Wellness Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Organizer: Patty James  This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for the second event in the Women Empowering Women series: The Art of Transformation, an evening focused on navigating career shifts, balancing work and family, battling imposter syndrome, and taking bold steps toward meaningful change.You'll hear from a dynamic panel of women leaders—Debbie Chinn, Vera Maslova, Debra Reabock, and Sawyer Rose—each of whom has forged a unique path through personal and professional transformation. The conversation will be moderated by Dr. Anne W. Smith, Member-Led Forums chair at Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Following the panel, each speaker will host a roundtable discussion, giving you the chance to dive deeper into the topics that matter most to you.  Topics include:  Building networks that open doors Navigating work and family at every stage Overcoming imposter syndrome Designing your next chapter A light reception will follow the discussions. 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. In Partnership with Northern California Women's Caucus for Art (NCWCA). OrganizerAnne W. Smith & Robert Melton  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is RFK Jr. in trouble? What will be the lasting impact of the murder of Charlie Kirk? What is the fate of California's redistricting referendum? It's time for an early autumn discussion of politics and politicians.  Join us for the Week to Week political roundtable. Learn more about the people, trends and topics driving the political news of the day.  Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our online programming. See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The past few years have seen a seismic shift in energy and industrial policy in the United States. Under Biden, laws like the Inflation Reduction Act led to money pouring into clean energy manufacturing and deployment. The Trump administration has reversed course, cutting off incentives in instituting massive tariffs.  As a result, entire clean energy projects have been put on hold or even canceled. Workers who were counting on those projects now face an uncertain future. This situation forces tough questions for unions: Where do they go from here? Guests:  Roxanne Brown, Vice President at Large, United Steelworkers  Lee Anderson, Director of Governmental Affairs, Utility Workers Union of America Lara Skinner, Executive Director, Climate Jobs Institute, Cornell University Episode Highlights: 00:00 Intro 3:46 Roxanne Brown on the origins of USW's environmental advocacy 5:50 Roxanne Brown on the effects of climate workers are feeling today 14:25 Roxanne Brown on how energy policy has affected USW members  18:45 Roxanne Brown on climate messaging within USW 24:16 Lee Anderson on the jobs of utility workers 25:41 Lee Anderson on how climate has affected the safety of workers 30:54 Lee Anderson on UWUA's input on current federal policy 40:15 Lara Skinner on what sparked a worker centered agenda on climate policy 42:36 Lara Skinner on the ups and downs of Climate Jobs New York's work 48:57 Lara Skinner on creating state based coalitions For show notes and related links, visit ⁠ClimateOne.org⁠. *** 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. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would our troops be used to quell demonstrations in the United States with force? Seeing crowds in Washington, D.C., during the George Floyd riots in 2020, Trump is reported to have asked "Can't we just shoot them?"  How do we answer the question as to whether the current administration will have U.S. troops fire on the crowds? We will look at the Constitution, especially the 10th Amendment, the Insurrection Act of 1807, and the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. We will review some history where the military has been used domestically to safeguard civil rights marchers, intervene when requested by governors during violent riots, to stop the Bonus March on Washington in 1932, and to imprison Japanese civilians during World War II. We will also define who is in today's military, where do they come from, how do they line up politically—and would they follow an illegal order and fire on unarmed civilian demonstrators or support a government coup? This is concerning, says Dr. Michael Baker, given the militarization of ICE agents and the deployment of National Guard troops and the Marines to Los Angeles for specious reasons. About the Speaker Dr. Michael Baker recently retired from a 40-year career in general, vascular and trauma surgery. He also served 30 years in the uniform of his country and retired with the rank of Rear Admiral and has numerous kudos, including 3 Legion of Merit Awards, the Combat Action Ribbon, and River and Coastal Patrol Officer-in-Charge warfare pin. He has experience in strategic planning, wargaming, combat casualty care, triage, operational medicine, and response to complex disasters and humanitarian emergencies. He currently teaches history, political science, and military affairs for the Osher LifeLong Learning (OLLI) Programs at UC Berkeley, Dominican University, Cal State University East Bay and Cal State Channel Islands; and he is on the Board of Governors of the newly combined Commonwealth Club World Affairs. He teaches Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) to physicians in the United States, at military bases around the world, and most recently returned from his 5th tour in Ukraine teaching ATLS to physicians in that war-torn nation. He has published more than 100 articles in peer reviewed journals. 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. In association with the East Bay Chapter. Organizer: Michael Baker  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join the incomparable Maxine Hong Kingston, alongside bestselling and award-winning authors Aimee Liu and Pete Hsu, in a riveting conversation moderated by Lily Hoang at Commonwealth Club World Affairs in San Francisco on Thursday, September 11, 2025.  It'll be a beautiful evening of literary readings and discussion about the impact of America's current politics on marginalized writers, readers, and independent presses. Without NEA and NIH funding, what is the fate of literary diversity in America? What can publishers do to prevent erasure of BIPOC perspectives? What can artists do to defend their legacy and protect the future for imagination, creativity, and radical inclusivity? And what rich reserves of literary history can we all draw upon to embolden the voices of resistance in our modern reckoning? We invite you to participate in an urgent exploration of the good, the bad, and the courageous in publishing today. This program was rescheduled from July 21, 2025. Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. See more  Michelle Meow Show programs at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs.  This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Lundberg Institute marks the 15th anniversary of the California nonprofit Cancer Commons by dedicating its 15th annual lecture at Commonwealth Club World Affairs to a discussion of the unique approach Cancer Commons takes to helping cancer patients. Since its founding, Cancer Commons has delivered personalized, evidence-based guidance at no charge to more than 10,000 patients and caregivers, supported entirely by philanthropy. They provide patients and their care teams with the actionable information and data needed to make informed decisions, and help identify and access an individualized regimen of therapies that specifically target the molecular drivers of their disease. Cancer Commons also refers patients to a myriad of precision oncology services to help them navigate the cancer maze and minimize trial and error. As Cancer Commons helps patients in this way—identifying and accessing novel tests, treatments, and trials—we learn continuously from each patient's experience.  And then share that knowledge with the world. 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. OrganizerGeorge Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Those standing up to climate and environmental injustice face challenges they weren't seeing a year ago. But Gloria Walton, head of The Solutions Project, sees a bigger picture: "The reality is that the same systems that created the climate crisis, whether that's colonialism, white supremacy, racism, and the patriarchy, those are the same ones that have harmed communities of color for generations,” she says. Her organization has channeled tens of millions of philanthropic dollars to grassroots efforts that build community resilience.  Black Girl Environmentalist founder Wawa Gatheru is helping more Black girls, women, and gender-expansive people enter and lead in the climate space. She says the climate fight has shifted from education to action, with over 70% of Americans now understanding that climate change is real. So what should this 'action phase' look like? Guests: Gloria Walton, President & CEO, The Solutions Project Wawa Gatheru, Founder & Executive Director, Black Girl Environmentalist Highlights: 00:00 – Intro 05:30 – Gloria Walton on the impact of the Altadena wildfires 10:30 – Walton's work as an organizer in South Central LA 13:00 – Living with idea of abundance 19:00 – Finding and keeping your individual power within our democracy 21:00 – Work of West Street Recovery Project in Houston 22:30 – Developing local resilience hubs 24:00 – Reframing frontline communities as victors, not victims 27:00 – Channeling philanthropy to climate resilience and frontline communities 36:00 – Story of Hoʻāhu Energy Cooperative Molokai  42:00 – Wawa Gatheru's start in climate and environmental advocacy 44:00 – Not seeing herself in climate spaces 48:00 – Climate storytelling can offer nuance and move people  55:00 – Work and growth of Black Girl Environmentalist organization 59:00 – Climate One More Thing For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts *** 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. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us to hear from a MacArthur genius awardee, former rocket engineer, and passionate leader in the social enterprise movement—Jim Fruchterman—about using technology for positive social change. To a lot of people in big business, the only worthy ideas are those that make a lot of money, preferably billions. But Jim Fruchterman believes there is a different path for technology. What if tech returned to its roots and made people more effective and powerful? What if the benefits of technology came to the 90 percent of humanity traditionally neglected by for-profit companies in favor of immense profits gained by focusing on the richest 10 percent? Fruchterman explores these questions in his book Technology for Good and delivers a comprehensive how-to for leaders who want to create, expand, join, support and improve organizations that see building technology as a key element of delivering on their social good mission. Fruchterman argues that tech is required for social change at scale. He offers guidance on how to structure, fund, staff, manage, scale and sustain nonprofits that leverage technology for social good. His vision is a call to action with a genuinely global focus, creating a path toward a future in which human beings come before profits. A Social Impact 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. OrganizerGerald Anthony Harris  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was the Grand Alliance simply a partnership born of necessity? Or was it also a missed opportunity for post-war civilizational cooperation among the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union? Once it became clear that the Allies would eventually defeat Hitler's Germany, the varying post-war ambitions and political goals of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt quickly brought cooperation to an end. Humanities West asks on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II: What were Stalin's strategic goals for Russia's and its neighbors' futures as victory became assured? How did Churchill's strategies to retain as much as possible of the British Empire interfere with those goals? And was an aging Roosevelt capable of thwarting both those strategies and imposing, however inadequately and insincerely, a vision of Pax Americana on the globe? "From Their Archives" Norman Naimark will attempt to untangle what Stalin was thinking about how he wanted to shape the future once it was clear that the Allies would win the war. There is much we still do not know about Stalin's “real” intentions, but the opening of the Soviet archives for research in the 1990s offer important insights into the way the Soviet dictator thought about the world. "In Their Own Words" Ian Morris will convey, in their own words, Churchill's and Roosevelt's perspectives on the Grand Alliance and the post-war world order. Churchill: I can never trust Stalin but can in the fullness of time talk around Roosevelt; and even without India, we can rebuild the world with the British Empire at its core. Roosevelt: I can usually handle Stalin and can always flatter Churchill; it's the Republicans I can't abide. But even without them, we can rebuild the world with democracy and American money at its core. "Walking in a Father's WWII Footsteps" Bill Hammond will describe walking in a father's WWII footsteps, an October 2023 trip to Europe he took with two of his brothers, where they traced their father's path from his landing at Salerno, Italy, through Avellino, Monte Cassino and Rome, to his landing on the French Riviera at St. Raphael, and then up through Draguignan, Remiremont and the Foret Domaniale du Champ du Feu, earning two silver stars and two purple hearts before crossing the Rhine in a dash through southern Germany to finish the war near Kufstein, Austria. 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. In association with Humanities West. Organizer: George Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Students are heading back to school, and in addition to all of the usual challenges of the school year, some children are carrying an extra weight: climate anxiety. Teachers are also swimming in tricky waters as conversations around the climate crisis — and renewable energy — become more polarized. Yet there are educators who have worked to create resources for students and teachers, to help bring climate education into the classroom. The question is: How can schools, parents and teachers better help young people navigate the ideas and feelings around a warming planet?  Guests:  Margaret Wang-Aghania, Executive Director and Co-Founder, SubjectToClimate Robin Cooper, Co-Founder and President, Climate Psychiatry Alliance Melissa Lau, High School Environmental Science Teacher, Piedmont, Oklahoma Leah Christenson, 2026 Piedmont High School Senior; Vice President, Piedmont High School Green Team  Alyson Dennie, 2026 Piedmont High School Senior; President Piedmont High School Green Team This episode features a field piece by Mary Catherine O'Connor, who originally reported the ⁠⁠story⁠⁠ for KALW Public Media.  Highlights: 00:00 - Intro 3:33 - Margaret Wang-Aghania on her aha moment 5:42 - Margaret Wang-Aghania on how lessons get developed 12:33 - Margaret Wang-Aghania on teacher development 15:00 - Alyson Dennie and Leah Christenson on their climate related feelings 17:10 - Robin Cooper on how the emotions young people face because of climate 24:17 - Robin Cooper on how the moment the guides her thinking  26:52 - Robin Cooper on how to know if a young person is dealing with climate anxiety 33:34 - Mary Catherine O'Connor's Piece on Electric Buses in Oakland  40:05 - Melissa Lau on the arctic trip that changed her life 44:33 - Melissa Lau on not being shy about teaching climate  48:35 - Melissa Lau on the importance of relationship building For show notes and related links, visit ⁠ClimateOne.org⁠. *** 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. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lillian Samuel, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, at Commonwealth Club World Affairs for an inspiring talk: “When Kids Have Mentors, Cities Get Stronger.” Backed by powerful national economic data, Lillian will discuss how mentoring doesn't just change one life—it uplifts entire communities. Youth with mentors are more likely to graduate high school, attend college, and earn significantly more as adults. Mentorship narrows income gaps and boosts local economies.  Through inspirational local case studies, she'll share how even a single match between a Big and Little can ripple out to benefit families and neighborhoods. This is more than a program—it's a proven strategy for creating stronger, more connected cities. Don't miss this opportunity to learn how one relationship can transform a life and a community. About the Speaker Lillian Samuel is the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, serving all nine counties. Under her leadership, the organization earned national recognition with back-to-back Quality and Growth Awards in 2022, 2023 and 2024. With more than 15 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, she has held leadership roles in institutions at UCSF, Girl Scouts of Northern California, and Bay Area health centers. Lillian holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of San Francisco and has served on multiple boards.  A Psychology 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. OrganizerPatrick O'Reilly  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to one recent survey, Americans think about climate change more than abortion, immigration, or gun violence. And yet, while they care deeply about the issue, they don't see it as a political issue. When asked by the Environmental Voter Project what actions should be taken to rein in climate disruption, those surveyed suggest taking small, personal steps, like recycling, over broader, political action, as they do with other top-of-mind issues.  Where does this disconnect come from? And what will it take to shift the narrative from the personal to the political? Guest: Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project *** 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. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for an inspiring look at how culture leads the comeback—and why San Francisco's creative heartbeat might be its greatest miracle.  "Jesus, San Francisco: The City's Resurrection from Perceived Ashes" asks: What if the soul of the city was never dead, just hidden in plain sight? Community cultural/arts leaders shed light on the arts "resurrection from perceived ashes." 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. Organizer: Robert Melton  This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate doesn't care where emissions cuts come from; what matters is that the world transitions to renewable energy quickly and cheaply. If it's significantly cheaper to install solar panels in India than on a rooftop in California, then isn't that where they should be built? Similarly, transferring money directly to local people with the greatest stake in preserving their land can have outsized impact in conservation. Where does a climate dollar go furthest?  Guests: Kinari Webb, Founder, Health in Harmony Premal Shah, Founder, kiva.org, renewables.org  Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project Highlights: 00:00 – Intro 04:30 – Origins of Kinari Webb's nonprofit Health in Harmony 09:00 – Rainforests as lungs and heart of the planet 12:00 – Radical listening to communities about what they need 15:00 – Positive outcomes from responding to community needs directly 18:00 – Webb's near-death experience from a jellyfish sting 22:00 – Rainforest conservation as a giant climate lever 29:00 – Premal Shah describes how he came to create Kiva.org 32:00 – How ⁠Kiva.org⁠ works 35:30 – Thought experiment from moral philosopher Peter Singer 38:40 – Kiva tries to reframe stories of poverty as stories of entrepreneurship 41:00 – Applying crowdfunded microfinance model to renewable energy 46:00 – Idea of “effective altruism” 49:30 – Nathaniel Stinnett: we've been taught to blame ourselves for the climate crisis 53:00 – How to shift public actions to make climate more political  For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts *** 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. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charles Sumner is mainly known as the abolitionist statesman who suffered a brutal caning on the Senate floor by the proslavery congressman Preston Brooks in 1856. This violent episode has obscured Sumner's status as the most passionate champion of equal rights and multiracial democracy of his time. A friend of Alexis de Tocqueville, an ally of Frederick Douglass, and an adviser to Abraham Lincoln, Sumner helped the Union win the Civil War and pass into law the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, the Freedmen's Bureau, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875. In his new book Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation, Zaakir Tameez presents Sumner as one of America's forgotten founding fathers, a constitutional visionary who helped to rewrite the post–Civil War Constitution and give birth to modern civil rights law. He also argues that Sumner was a gay man who battled with love and heartbreak at a time when homosexuality wasn't accepted. And he explores Sumner's critical partnerships with the nation's first generation of Black lawyers and civil rights leaders, whose legal contributions to Reconstruction have been overlooked for far too long. Join us as Tameez brings back to life one of America's most inspiring statesmen, whose formidable ideas remain relevant to a nation still divided over questions of race, democracy, and constitutional law. The Commonwealth Club of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. 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. Tameez photo by Arifa Ali, courtesy the speaker. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. OrganizerGeorge Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration has taken aim at green energy, but one technology has largely been left untouched: batteries to store wind and solar electricity. California alone surpassed 13GW of battery storage last year, and Texas has become the fastest growing market for the technology. But producing batteries isn't without its downsides, especially when it comes to mining the necessary raw materials. The upside is that those materials can be recycled and reused. If the recycling technology can reach scale and price targets, the environmental impact would drop significantly. And spent EV batteries could become a grid scale storage site even without breaking down the battery packs. How soon before renewables plus batteries can power our grid 24/7? This episode features a reported piece by Camila Domonoske that was originally broadcast on NPR's All Things Considered on July 10, 2024  Guests:  Julian Spector, Senior Reporter, Canary Media David Klanecky, President, Cirba Solutions Sheila Davis, EV Battery Waste Strategist, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives Episode highlights: 00:00 - Intro 4:08 - Julian Spector on what grid scale battery instillations look like 7:43 - Julian Spector on the success of battery deployment in 2024 14:14 - Julian Spector on the impacts of Trump's new budget law  20:06 - Julian Spector on the outlook for battery storage in the next decade  24:09 - Reported piece on Ascend by Camila Domonoske 28:43 - David Klanecky on the battery recycling process 36:21 - David Klanecky on competing with China 41:45 - Sheila Davis on the biggest concerns about battery production  44:56 - Sheila Davis on some of the risks posed by battery storage facilities 47:13 - Sheila Davis on the risk a battery recycling facility posed in New York For show notes and related links, visit ⁠ClimateOne.org⁠. *** 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. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of the Parkland shooting in 2018, David Hogg and his classmates' rallying cry, #NeverAgain, echoed across the nation. Unfortunately, since that tragic event, countless other locations—the Tree of Life Synagogue, El Paso, Uvalde, Half Moon Bay and many more—have joined the heartbreaking list of mass shootings. For each of the past five years, the number of mass shootings in the United States has exceeded the number of days in the year. These tragic events have upended workplaces, schools, places of worship, communities and daily life nationwide, resulting in thousands of lives lost. In response to this epidemic, many politicians have provided little more than clichéd thoughts and prayers. In August 2023, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released a report on gun violence that revealed the stunning statistic that 140,000 gun deaths in the United States could have been prevented over the last 10 years had the rest of the country matched California's firearm death rate. Leading the California Department of Justice for the last three years, Bonta has pioneered the "California model of gun violence prevention." Building on his work as a state legislator, he has defended California's leading firearms safety laws, championed robust use of the wide array of gun-prevention tools available to Californians, and established the first-of-its-kind Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Join Parkland shooting survivor and March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg, along with other prominent gun violence prevention leaders, for a discussion on the future of gun safety in California and the nation, moderated by Attorney General Bonta. How has the California model succeeded, and can it be replicated across the country? Can we hold the firearm industry accountable for putting profits over people? How should we address different types of firearm violence—including community violence, mass shootings, domestic violence and suicide? What do the twin crises of violence and political gridlock reveal about our society? And where can we find hope? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for an end-of-summer discussion of politics and politicians.  Join us in-person or online for the Week to Week political roundtable. Learn more about the people, trends and topics driving the political news of the day.  Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our online programming. See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are we living in the Matrix? Rizwan Virk—an MIT computer scientist, leading video game pioneer, entrepreneur, film producer, venture capitalist, professor, and a founder of Play Labs @ MIT—is a leading authority on simulation theory. Now he comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to discuss the issues raised in his new book The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics, and Eastern Mystics All Agree We Are in a Video Game.  Virk says the evolution of our video games, including virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, will lead us to a technological singularity. We will reach the simulation point, he argues, where we can develop all-encompassing virtual worlds like the OASIS in Ready Player One or The Matrix—and in fact we are already likely inside such a simulation. Though that sounds like science fiction, many scientists, engineers, and professors have given the simulation hypothesis serious consideration, including Elon Musk, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Nick Bostrom. But philosophers of many traditions have long contended that we are living in some kind of “illusion” and that there are other realities that we can access with our minds. Virk's work in Silicon Valley as a video game designer caused him to wonder where our technology would take us and how long it would take us to create something like the world of The Matrix—and why he's now 70 percent certain that we're already inside a simulation.  Whether you are a computer scientist, a fan of science fiction like the Matrix movies, a video game enthusiast, a spiritual seeker, or simply a fan of mind-bending thought experiments, come hear Virk for yourself and you might never look at the world the same way again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2013, 9-year-old Ella Roberta died from a severe asthma attack. She became the first person in the United Kingdom (and possibly the world) to have “air pollution” listed as the cause of death on her death certificate. Her mother, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, founded the Ella Roberta Foundation and has become a global voice for clean air. Globally, the World Health Organization says that air pollution is associated with 6 to 7 million premature deaths every year. Addressing the cause of these deaths would also go a long way to addressing climate disruption. And since talking about climate has become so politically fraught, should we reframe the conversation to focus on taking care of our air? Highlights: (00:00) Intro (03:00) Rosamund shares details of Ella's young life and her early asthma attacks (08:00) Ella becomes first person to have “air pollution” listed as cause of death (13:00) Rosamund's work sharing Ella's story and raising awareness about air pollution (20:30) How poisonous transportation emissions are and policy tools to reduce them (26:00) Economic development does not need to sit contrary to healthy air  (27:00) Dieselgate and the work of the True Real Urban Emissions initiative  (31:00) Extreme heat can make air pollution more deadly (37:00) Why we shouldn't use the term "climate change”  (43:00) Finding ways to connect with people on climate based on their priorities (49:00) How to convey the seriousness of climate threats while also empowering people to feel that they can make a difference (52:30) Climate One More Thing Guests: Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, Founder, Ella Roberta Foundation Sheila Watson, Deputy Director, FIA Foundation Susan Joy Hassol, Director, Climate Communication  For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts *** 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. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for an unforgettable evening of insight, rhythm and discussion. Hip-Hop Meditative Mindfulness blends two worlds that would seem to be at odds—the stillness of meditation and the vitality of hip-hop. Together, they invite you into a fascinating new space for powerful spiritual practice. Coupled with a discussion of how these practices can reach people immersed in popular culture and help them find the wisdom of mindfulness and Buddhism, this will be a memorable event. Led by Born I—a renowned meditation teacher on the Balance app, an author praised by Alice Walker, and a hip-hop artist with more than 20 million streams—our event will open with a grounding guided meditation and crystal singing bowl sound bath, followed by a discussion of healing, impermanence and street culture, drawing from Born I's experiences as a Buddhist, a father, a musician, and an author. Born I will also discuss his new book, Lyrical Dharma: Hip-Hop as Mindfulness, and his journey from the street to spirituality. "hell is behind uspresence and kindnessended my blindness" — Born I Although available on live stream, this event will be best in-person. So come to the Club for this experiential event, meet Born I and your peers, and maybe even have dinner afterward at a nearby restaurant! About the Speaker Born I (Ofosu Jones-Quartey) is a Ghanaian-American based in Washington, D.C. He is the male voice on the popular Balance meditation app and creator of the new book Lyrical Dharma: Hip-Hop as Mindfulness (Parallax Press) and companion album Komorebi. A Personal Growth 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. OrganizerEric Siegel  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're all feeling the effects of the fossil-fueled climate crisis, but young people will not let this threat to their future go unchallenged. They're taking it to the courts. In the last year, youth plaintiffs have had notable legal successes in Montana and Hawaiʻi, challenging that those states were violating their constitutional rights in continuing to burn fossil fuels. In Hawaiʻi, the ruling compels the state department of transportation to quickly move to a zero-emission system.  But the biggest victory may have been outside of the U.S. The small island nation of Vanuatu led the charge to ask the International Court for Justice to grant a judgement on the legal obligation of countries to fight climate change. The judgment, released in late July, stated that countries do have a responsibility to address the climate crisis. Beyond their specific claims and remedies, these numerous cases ask: What do we owe our future generations, and how will we make good on those promises? Guests:  Vishal Prasad, Director, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change Julia Olson, Co-Executive Director & Chief Legal Counsel, Our Children's Trust Rylee Brooke Kamahele, Youth Plaintiff, Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation 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 show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While much of the focus in Washington is on fiscal debates, there's another growing challenge with far-reaching implications for the United States and the global economy: the “youth deficit.”  A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) finds that declining birth rates and aging populations could undermine productivity and living standards around the world. Unless leaders take action, “younger people will inherit lower economic growth and shoulder the cost of more retirees, while the traditional flow of wealth between generations erodes,” the report warns.  MGI director and report co-author Chris Bradley will discuss the challenge and what the public and private sectors can do to prepare for these changing demographics. Join us for this timely conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a lively discussion of Christina Hillsberg's book Agents of Change: The Women Who Transformed the CIA. Hillsberg is a former intelligence operative who has written a narrative exploration of the agency's history, told through exclusive interviews with current and former female CIA officers, many of whom have never spoken publicly until now. The book fills a necessary gap in the agency's history and takes a critical view of the agency's indisputable record of suppressing the women who would become its most valued trailblazers—and its most vocal troublemakers.  These were women who sacrificed their personal lives, risked their safety, defied expectations, and boldly navigated the male-dominated spy organization, routinely passed over for promotions, recruiting assets, and managing clandestine operations.  Terry Shames, who worked at the CIA and is an acclaimed, award winning mystery writer, will provide additional energy and knowledge of both the CIA and writing.  You won't want to miss this program and a chance to ask questions to both writers. About the Speakers Christina Hillsberg of Chicago is a former CIA intelligence officer and writer. While at the CIA, she wrote analytic assessments for the president, his cabinet, and other senior-level policymakers. Hillsberg specialized in African politics and leaders and was one of the intelligence community's few Swahili and Zulu linguists. She later worked in the CIA's Directorate of Operations, clandestinely collecting intelligence from the field. She is the recipient of multiple CIA Exceptional Performance Awards. After leaving the CIA, Hillsberg worked in information security at Amazon, where she stood up the company's first insider threat program, created a new global framework to analyze cyber risks, and established new processes to utilize intelligence tradecraft to analyze information security threats. Terry Shames is the award-winning, best-selling author of 11 Samuel Craddock mysteries. As well as winning the Macavity Award for Best First Novel, her first book, A Killing at Cotton Hill, was also shortlisted for the Strand Critics Award. She has been short-listed for the Left Coast Crime Lefty Award, and in 2016 won the RWA Editor's Choice award for The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake. The eleventh in the series, The Troubling Death of Maddy Benson, October 2024, was an Amazon Editor's Pick. In April 2024, she debuted the Jessie Madison thriller series with Perilous Waters. In March she published Out of Control, her first domestic suspense novel. After graduating from The University of Texas, Shames worked for the CIA for three years in the China division. After she left the CIA she went into computer programming and analysis for 10 years, during which she began writing fiction. Shames lives in Southern California with her husband, her dog Monty and her cat Max. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers and the Texas Institute of Letters. 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. Photos courtesy the speakers; main image DALLE commons, Scott Snibbe, Hugh Leeman, Gerald Harris. ORGANIZER Frank Price Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Due to major cuts to Medicare, wildfire season, looming earthquakes, public health needs, and the increasing number of Californians without health insurance, now is the time to strengthen local health ecosystems statewide.  Join us to hear from leaders of social impact organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area about how they are building partnerships to address these challenges by working together and leveraging technology to build creative solutions to improve lives. About the Speakers  Isabel Navarrete is a sustainability analyst at UCSF Health; she has a deep passion for advancing sustainability in healthcare. Navarrete oversees the organization's municipal waste program and has led impactful diversion initiatives, including launching a blue wrap recycling program, expanding medical donation efforts, and enhancing the collection of reprocessed materials. Navarrete received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, San Diego. She currently co-chairs the UC Health Zero-Waste Working group. Katelyn McMeekin-Jackson is the new executive director of Clinic by the Bay, a free volunteer-powered health clinic serving the medically underserved in the San Francisco Bay Area. She brings over a decade of nonprofit leadership across healthcare, education, and faith-based organizations. Currently pursuing her MBA at UC Berkeley and serving as a resource family for children in foster care, she is dedicated to creating nurturing, safe spaces where all of our neighbors can receive the care they deserve. Jiwon Min is the chief technology officer at Every.org, a nonprofit platform that allows all nonprofits to accept all donations. She previously served as an engineering leader at a supply chain technology company focused on humanitarian aid logistics. She spent a summer consulting with the Private Sector Humanitarian Alliance (PSHA), supporting cross-sector efforts to improve coordination in humanitarian response through technology and innovation. Min recently earned her Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) from NYU Wagner, where she focused on the intersection of technology and social impact. Eric Talbert, CEO & co-founder of MedCycle Network, has over 20 years of nonprofit leadership experience as a philanthropic advisor, board member, and co-founder. He has worked with hundreds of organizations globally and locally to increase access to health and to protect our planet by addressing old problems in new ways that often involve new technology. In addition to philanthropic, development, and nonprofit governance acumen, Talbert has also been interviewed by international, national, and local news media as well as podcasts. Moderator: Lila LaHood is executive director of San Francisco Public Press and has worked as a nonprofit consultant, freelance writer and editor. LaHood has an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. in international relations from Stanford University. She is a current member and past-president of the board of directors of the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. A Social Impact 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. OrganizerIan McCuaig  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are activists in Thailand, Hong Kong and Burma willing to court danger to help one another? Historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom met dozens of dissidents, including Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, known for his protests against compulsory Thai military service; Agnes Chow, co-founder of a political party now banned in Hong Kong; and Ye Myint Win (aka Nickey Diamond), who fled to Germany from Burma in the early 2020s, fearing reprisal from the junta for his human rights work. Activists like these three express solidarity with one another online and in the streets, and sometimes refer to themselves as belonging to the “Milk Tea Alliance,” a nod to their shared opposition to nationalistic Beijing loyalists and the fact that their cultures' iconic drinks contain dairy, unlike mainland China's traditional tea. The political situation in Burma, Thailand and Hong Kong are radically different. Only Burma is in a state of civil war. Only Hong Kong has changed in just a few years from a place with virtually no political prisoners to one with many. Only Thailand is a monarchy with lese-majeste laws. How do these activists, each facing their unique situations, find common ground and sustain one another? Wasserstrom traveled globally to interview members of this loosely constituted alliance, meeting some in Asia and others in exile, finding them united by democratic values, shared concerns over autocrats, and the rising influence of a common adversary—the Chinese Communist Party. An Asia-Pacific Affairs 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. In association with Dissent. OrganizerLillian Nakagawa  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a 90-degree day in Los Angeles, bus riders across the city line up behind the shadows cast by street signs and telephone poles, looking for a little relief from the sun's glaring heat. Every summer such scenes play out in cities across the United States, and as Sam Bloch argues, we ignore the benefits of shade at our own peril. Heatwaves are now the country's deadliest natural disasters with victims concentrated in poorer, less shady areas. Public health, mental health and crime statistics are worse in neighborhoods without it. For some, finding shade is a matter of life and death. Shade was once a staple of human civilization. In Mesopotamia and Northern Africa, cities were built densely so that courtyards and public passageways were in shadow in the heat of the day, with cool breezes flowing freely. The Greeks famously philosophized in shady agoras. Even today, in Spain's sunny Seville, political careers are imperiled when leaders fail to put out the public shades that hang above sidewalks in time for summer heat. So what happened in the United States? Bloch says the arrival of air conditioning and the dominance of cars took away the impetus to enshrine shade into our rapidly growing cities. Though a few heroic planners, engineers, and architects developed shady designs for efficiency and comfort, the removal of shade trees in favor of wider roads and underinvestment in public spaces created a society where citizens retreat to their own cooled spaces, if they can—increasingly taxing the energy grid—or face dangerous heat outdoors. Bloch says that innovative architects, city leaders, and climate entrepreneurs are looking to revive shade to protect vulnerable people—and maybe even save the planet.  Join us as Bloch shares his extraordinary investigation into shade, bringing together science, history, urban design and social justice to change the way we think about a critical natural resource that should be available to all. Sam Bloch is an environmental journalist. Previously a staff writer at The Counter, he has written for L.A. Weekly, Places Journal, Slate, The New York Times, CityLab, and Landscape Architecture magazine, among others. Bloch is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and a former MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow and Emerson Collective Fellow. He is based in New York City. 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. OrganizerAndrew Dudley  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate disruptions and growing risk are upending insurance markets, leading many insurers to abandon parts of the country all together. Due to fires, floods and other extreme events, more and more homeowners are facing rapidly rising premiums or being dropped from their insurance plans altogether. Increasing numbers of homeowners are taking refuge in the state insurance plans of last resort, straining the program resources. For homeowners, whose house is often their biggest financial asset, this creates a huge financial risk.  So what should people do to evaluate climate risks and insurance availability during their housing search? And how can governments help insurers weather the increasing frequency of climate-induced disasters so they can continue to underwrite our homes? Guests: Rachel Cleetus, Senior Policy Director, Union of Concerned Scientists Claire O'Connor, Los Angeles real estate agent and homeowner Dave Jones, Director, Climate Risk Initiative at the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, UC Berkeley  This episode also includes a news feature produced by Camryn Sanchez of KJZZ in Phoenix. 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 show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iran has for decades been one of the most significant—and tricky—foreign policy challenges facing America and the West. Unfortunately, most people do not know much about the country's true goals. Join us as Vali Nasr examines Iran's political history to explain the actions and ambitions of the country's leaders. He says behind the veneer of theocracy and Islamic ideology, modern Iran pursues a grand strategy with the twin goals of internal security and international activism. Nasr, author of Iran's Grand Strategy, draws on memoirs, oral histories, and original in-depth interviews with leading Iranians to uncover facts and events that have been previously overlooked. He examines the impact of its war with Iraq, the subsequent American actions against Iran and its invasion of Iraq in 2003, and ensuing events. He says these events have shaped the outlook in Tehran, creating a pervasive fear of the United States and its ambitions for the Middle East. Want to understand Iran and how best to engage with it? Don't miss this program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky's 2024 book No Democracy Lasts Forever examined how democracies collapse and give way to authoritarian regimes.  Trump's second term, Chemerinsky says, is following the playbook.  ”If one were to design a path to authoritarian rule, it would be what we have seen in the first weeks of the Trump administration,” he wrote earlier this year. One of the country's most prominent legal scholars, Chemerinsky has been speaking out on the need to protect due process and the rule of law and to defend against attacks on academia and the media.  Don't miss him as he returns to Commonwealth Club Word Affairs to talk about the most pressing threats to democracy—and the possible solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a world in which artificial intelligence will change everything, we need a leader to illuminate the impact of “the automation of thought” on our way of life. How is the widespread use of AI impacting our world, our minds, and our future—not just as a technical innovation but as a mode of culture? Should we be afraid? De Kai has been a trailblazer in the world of AI. He invented and built the world's first global-scale online language translator that spawned Google Translate, Yahoo Translate, and Microsoft Bing Translator. He brings decades of his paradigm-shifting work at the nexus of artificial intelligence and society to help people make sense of their interactions with AI at both personal and collective levels—ethically and responsibly. While Hollywood narratives of AI destroying humanity might be overblown, the age of AI is reshaping the future of civilization.  What should each of us do as the responsible adults in the room? De Kai asks critical, overlooked questions requiring urgent attention. Dr. De Kai is professor of computer science and engineering at HKUST and distinguished research scholar at the International Computer Science Institute. He was honored by the Association for Computational Linguistics as one of only 17 Founding Fellows. De Kai is an independent director of the AI ethics think tank The Future Society and was one of eight inaugural members of Google's AI ethics council. His book Raising AI provides an accessible framework to navigate the enormous impact of AI upon human culture, our values, and the flow of information. De Kai demonstrates that society can not only survive the AI revolution but also flourish in a new world where we all play our part in a more humane, compassionate, and understanding society—alongside our artificial children. Our moderator, Camille Crittenden, Ph.D., is the executive director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute and co-founder of the CITRIS Policy Lab and EDGE (Expanding Diversity and Gender Equity) in Tech at UC. She served as chair of the California Blockchain Working Group in 2019–20 and co-chaired the Student Experience subcommittee of the University of California's Presidential Working Group on Artificial Intelligence. She continues to serve on the UC AI Council. A Technology & Society 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. OrganizerGerald Anthony Harris  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a previous Climate One episode, we discussed the good, the bad, and the ugly impacts of artificial intelligence. But AI isn't going away. Humans rarely give up a nifty new tool unless something better comes along. AI's share of energy consumption is enormous, and the Department of Energy estimates that data center energy demands will double or even triple in just the next three years. Demand on fresh water is at least as big and isn't talked about nearly enough. So, what can we do to reduce AI's impact?  Plenty of researchers have ideas — from site selection to energy efficiency to using zero-carbon sources of energy. But what will incentivize the AI corporations to take any of those actions? This episode was supported by Climate One Steward Noel Perry and Next 10. This episode was recorded in March and originally aired April 4, 2025. Episode Guests: KeShaun Pearson, Executive Director, Memphis Community Against Pollution Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer, Google Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University On July 31, Climate One is hosting Premal Shah and Kinari Webb for a live episode recording! With years of experience navigating the global climate movement, the two are sure to offer unparalleled insights during their conversation with Co-Host Greg Dalton. Tickets for the show, which will be held at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, are available now through our website. 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 show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taylor Swift is world-famous as a singer and cultural icon, even as a political influencer. But as a business leader? Absolutely, says Crystal Haryanto, a Bay Area economic consultant who has created the UC Berkeley course “Artistry, Policy, & Entrepreneurship: Taylor's Version” and explores these ideas in depth in her new book The Glory of Giving Everything: The Taylor Swift Business Model. In 2023, Swift became the first billionaire to make her fortune primarily from music. She has revolutionized the music industry and is deeply in touch with her fan base. Haryanto says we can look at Swift's methods to learn how to adapt personal branding to different markets, treat customers as stakeholders in a business, and maximize viral marketing and merchandising. Entrepreneurs, creatives, and fans are all welcome to hear Haryanto share her insights from one of the leading icons in the modern entertainment world.  Read more at thegloryofgivingeverything.com.   Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bay Area is typically known as an incubator of left-of-center ideas. But in recent years, it has become known as the source of an ideology influencing the Trump administration, a belief system journalist Gil Duran describes as “tech fascism.” In his newsletter “The Nerd Reich,” Duran looks at how controversial writers such as Curtis Yarvin—who has argued that the United States should be a “monarchy” run by a “CEO”—have shaped the views of some of Trump's top advisors, like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, as well as vice-president J.D. Vance.  Duran, who formerly served as spokesman and political strategist for Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, joins us to talk about his reporting on this distinctive strain of Silicon Valley conservatism and its influence on local and national politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are no midsummer doldrums in politics, so get ready for a lively and timely look at the people, topics and trends driving the political conversation in 2025.  Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our online programming. See other upcoming ⁠Week to Week political roundtables⁠, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three years ago, Congress passed President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in climate action in U.S. history. The IRA set in motion a sweeping set of investments in nearly every aspect of energy and climate, mostly in the form of subsidies and tax credits, to boost domestic production of electric vehicles, batteries and carbon-free energy. Those investments have flowed to every state, but the majority have landed in Republican-held districts.  In spite of that, Congressional Republicans nearly unanimously passed President Trump's “Big, Beautiful Bill” which the president signed on July 4. The megabill guts nearly all the program funds allocated under the IRA and slashes incentives and credits for solar, wind, energy efficiency and electric vehicles — precisely at a time when we need to dramatically scale up those sectors to address climate change. Why did Republicans let this bill move ahead? And how much will it exacerbate the climate crisis in the coming decades? Guests: Katherine Hamilton, Chair, 38 North Solutions Clayton Aldern, Senior Data Reporter, Grist Lisa Jacobson, President, Business Council for Sustainable Energy John Szoka, CEO, Conservative Energy Network   On July 31, Climate One is hosting Premal Shah and Kinari Webb for a live episode recording! With years of experience navigating the global climate movement, the two are sure to offer unparalleled insights during their conversation with Co-Host Greg Dalton. Tickets for the show, which will be held at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, are available now through our website. 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 show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Research funded by the federal government has been crucial in many of the defining technologies of our time: the internet, A.I., crispr, Ozempic, and the mRNA vaccines first used widely in the COVID pandemic. Between 2010 and 2019, more than 350 drugs were approved in the United States, and virtually all of them could trace their roots to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Now this administration is endangering our health by cutting funds to academic medical centers. Moreover, there are threats to Medicaid, as well as ongoing cuts to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Many universities have paused hiring due to the uncertainty at the NIH and are curtailing graduate programs. Biotech investors are warning of a contraction in medical innovation. NIH grants have been terminated on ideological grounds, which have resulted in clinical trials shutting down. Global health programs worldwide have been cut. A discussion on these destructive policies on medicine in our country is needed. About the Speaker Monica Gandhi M.D., M.P.H., is a professor of medicine and associate chief in the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is also the director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and the medical director of the HIV Clinic ("Ward 86") at San Francisco General Hospital. She serves as the associate program director of the ID fellowship at UCSF. Her research focuses on HIV treatment and prevention optimization, HIV and women, adherence measurement in HIV and TB, adherence interventions, and on optimizing the use of long-acting antiretroviral therapy (ART). She is a long-standing NIH-funded researcher. Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. A Health & Medicine Member-led Forum program. Forums and Chapters 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. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. OrganizerMichael Baker  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh off its award-winning run in Europe, Democracy Noir arrives in the United States as a very timely documentary film about how Viktor Orbán politically reshaped Hungary. It paints an incisive portrait of how Orbán used a free and democratic election to install authoritarian rule, enjoying widespread approval from Hungarian nationalists as well as from conservatives around the world inclined to his illiberal views. He changed the constitution, took over the courts and the media, and dismantled the rule of law. Admired by Donald Trump and the Heritage Foundation, Orban's influence helped shape Project 2025 and the current policies of the Republican Party. Democracy Noir tells this story through the activism of its three subjects: opposition politician Timea Szabo, journalist Babett Oroszi, and nurse Nikoletta (Niko) Antal. It details how unchecked power can quickly remove rights that once were taken for granted, and it shows how three women come to terms with their country's unravelling social and cultural landscape. Studying the recent history of another country whose political trajectory mirrors your own can bring clarity to your situation. Join us to view, and then to discuss, this example of an increasingly emboldened far right political party and the rise of autocratic politicians around the world. 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. Documentary image and post courtesy Clarity Films; Field photo courtesy the speaker. OrganizerGeorge HammondNotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nature can feel distant from our everyday lives. Maybe it's a place we visit on the weekends, a getaway from the hustle and bustle, something “out there,” just beyond the edges of our neighborhoods. But we are part of it, and as more and more people consider their impact on the Earth, sustainable practices are extending even to death, where green and natural burials are gaining popularity.  Within the field of biomimicry, a design practice informed by what already exists in nature, innovators are exploring ways to sustain the ecosystems we're surrounded by, rather than depleting them. Scientists have looked to butterfly wings to improve the efficiency of solar panels, and wetland plants to purify water in buildings.  How can we build in a way that addresses climate concerns and has a softer impact on the environment in which it exists?  Guests:  Janine Benyus, Co-Founder, Biomimicry Institute Emily Miller, Licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer; Founder, Colorado Burial Preserve This episode also features field reporting from Producer Megan Biscieglia at Fernwood Cemetery and Funeral Home. On July 31, Climate One is hosting Premal Shah and Kinari Webb for a live episode recording! With years of experience navigating the global climate movement, the two are sure to offer unparalleled insights during their conversation with Co-Host Greg Dalton. Tickets for the show, which will be held at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, are available now through our website. 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 show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices