Commonwealth Club of California Podcast
The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's largest public affairs forum. This nonpartisan, nonprofit organization produces programs featuring diverse viewpoints from thought leaders on important topics. Its weekly radio broadcast, the oldest in the U.S. since 1924, is carried on hundreds of stations. The podcast feed is updated multiple times each week with audio and video of their programs.
Episodes
CLIMATE ONE: It’s Too Damn Hot… So What Can We Do?
We all complain about the heat, yet it's a climate threat we routinely underestimate. In the U.S., extreme heat kills more people each year than floods, fires and hurricanes combined. About 16,000 excess deaths were recorded during Europe's June heatwave – a striking and tragic number. What does extreme heat do to our bodies, our wallets and our cities, and what can we actually do about it?
The Future of Meat: Technology, Sustainability and the Meats of Tomorrow
For centuries, meat has been a cornerstone of cuisines and cultures around the world. Yet as global demand continues to rise, questions about sustainability, food security, human health, animal welfare and the environmental impact of food production have become increasingly urgent.
In his new book, Meat, which will be available to purchase, Bruce Friedrich explores a provocative question: How can
Ninety-Two: The Silent Revolt No One Saw Coming
Join us for an evening of film, data and dialogue exploring one of the most consequential workforce questions of our time, featuring the documentary Ninety-Two: The Silent Revolt No One Saw Coming.
Black women are among the fastest-growing groups of breadwinners in America. Yet despite their outsized contribution to families, communities and the economy, they continue to experience disproportiona
CLIMATE ONE: Benji Backer and Katharine Hayhoe on Finding Common Ground
At a time when nearly everything feels polarized, Benji Backer is trying to carve out a different path, one where caring about the natural world isn’t a partisan issue. As the founder of Nature Is Nonpartisan, he’s bringing together voices from across the political spectrum who might disagree on climate policy, but still share a desire to preserve public lands, wildlife, and the outdoors.
S
Sen. Adam Schiff: The "Cost of Corruption" Under Donald Trump, And How Americans Are Paying The Price
In a recent floor speech, California Senator Adam Schiff outlined ways he says that President Trump has used the presidency to enrich himself and his family, and how it’s driving up costs from gas to groceries for families. Schiff’s remarks came after the president reported making more than $2 billion dollars in his first year in office, mostly from cryptocurrency businesses.
“The payments
Tremendous Telescopes: The Future of American Space Observation
For 500 years, telescopes have opened windows on the cosmos with increasing power and precision. Beginning with the historic telescopes funded by Andrew Carnegie and built by George Ellery Hale atop Pasadena’s Mount Wilson, where Edwin Hubble confirmed the existence of the universe beyond our Milky Way galaxy and revealed its continual expansion, the United States has stood at the vanguard of obse
Investing in a Resilient Future: From Climate Finance to Human Health
Natural and human-made extreme weather events are disrupting food systems worldwide, threatening the long-term economic stability and health of already vulnerable populations. Across the globe, 80 percent of the poorest live in rural communities and rely on smallholder farming for their household food and income. And smallholder farmers produce around one-third of the total share of the world’s fo
Ecocivilization: Making a World That Works for Al
It has been said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism. Yet Jeremy Lent says that is what this historical moment urgently calls for. As climate chaos, inequality and social fragmentation intensify, humanity faces an imminent choice: continue with a system built on extraction and endless growth, or reimagine civilization itself. He says increm
Former NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller on “Security Through Cooperation"
Russian officials and experts often voice the view that the United States was hell-bent on undermining, even destroying Russia during the turbulent period of the Soviet breakup 30 years ago. The primary U.S. goal, in this telling, was to expand NATO to Russia’s borders to isolate and threaten the Russian state.
Former NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, drawing from the historical re
The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People’s Constitutio
Founding Father James Wilson’s bold vision for American democracy was lost to scandal. As a young lawyer, Wilson made the case for American independence in an essay that inspired the famous words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” He wrote the first draft of the Constitution and, along with the much more famous James Madison, played an essential role in its
Connected to Place: Regenerating Nature, Community, and Local Economies through Systems Change
Join Matt Biggar, Ph.D., for a lively discussion of his new book, Connected to Place: Regenerating Nature, Community, and Local Economies Through Systems Change, followed by the introduction of Transforming Our Region, a new Member-led Forum at Commonwealth Club World Affairs. This new forum will apply the systems change approach featured in Connected to Place to the Bay Area through expert presen
Ben Wikler with Bradley Whitford: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy
Wisconsin was written off by many Democrats after the GOP gained total control over the state’s executive, judicial, and legislative branches. For a while, the state—once known for clean government and transparency—became a national symbol of a highly gerrymandered state. But the Democrats figured out how to win, and they slowly and methodically rebuilt their power, regaining the governor’s office
In Pursuit: How Presidents, First Ladies, and Historians Are Reflecting on the Country’s 250th
In a recent essay, President George W. Bush hails George Washington’s decision to leave the presidency after two terms, ensuring America would not become a monarchy. “[His] humility in giving up power willingly remains among the most consequential decisions and important examples in American politics.”
Bush’s essay is part of the In Pursuit project, a new bipartisan civic initiative tied to the 2
Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America’s Future
Fergus Bordewich returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs with the spectacular story of the Great Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia: a world’s fair designed to mark America’s 100th birthday, but also a moment of reckoning for a nation sliding headlong into the Gilded Age.
The extravaganza attracted 10 million Americans—nearly 20 percent of the population. Among them were P. T. Barnu
CLIMATE ONE: A Cancer Diagnosis Reframed How Ben Santer Thinks About Climate Science
Atmospheric scientist Ben Santer pioneered the research that connects human activity to specific climate events. Now, pursuing treatment for a rare type of lymphoma, he sees his own diagnosis and his climate science as the same kind of detective work: using essential and basic science to conduct tests, read complex markers, and rule out every other cause. Even while ill, he's calling out efforts b
Gad Saad: Suicidal Empathy - Dying to Be Kind
What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected.
Saad says “maladaptively irrational altruism” has gripped our culture. He calls it a mind parasite that has hijacked the empathy module of our progressive elite, leading to a catastrophic miscalibration
Barbara McQuade: Saving American from a Mob-Style Government
Bestselling author and former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to share her exposé on the escalating threat of far-right politics—and a clear roadmap for saving our democracy.
McQuade has drawn on her decades of experience as a federal prosecutor to reveal how systems of organized crime and political opportunism exploit the levers of power—using corruption,
Fair Play: Welcoming the World, Protecting Our Communities
Celebrate Pride House SF’s launch with soccer, celebration, community, and a powerful conversation on human rights in sports.
Pride House SF officially opens its doors with an evening of celebration, community, and conversation. Join us as we launch the House ahead of a summer of programming, watch parties, and community events throughout June and July.
The evening will feature opening remarks f
They Were Just Kids: A Forum for Amari, for Every Child We've Lost, and for Every Child We Refuse to Lose
The tragedy that unfolded on November 29, 2025, at a 2-year-old’s birthday party in Stockton, California—where four people, three of them children, were killed—was not simply an isolated act of violence. It was the latest wound in a city that has long struggled with the intersecting crises of poverty, gang culture, and systemic neglect. When children cannot be safe at a birthday party, we are forc
Susan Page on the Queen and Her Presidents
No American or foreign leader has met with as many sitting U.S. presidents as Queen Elizabeth II. Her 70-year reign witnessed the highs and lows of the close and crucial alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom, from the Suez crisis to Brexit. Following the advice of her mentor, Winston Churchill, to “stay close to the Americans,” Queen Elizabeth played an unexpected role behind t
Pria Anand: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonders of Our Brain
Join us for a talk with a neurologist as she reckons with the stories we tell about our brains—and the stories our brains tell us.
Such as: A girl believes she has been struck blind for stealing a kiss. A mother watches helplessly as each of her children is replaced by a changeling. A woman is haunted each month by the same four chords of a single song.
Anand explores these topics in her n
Rashad Robinson: From Presence to Power
Why do some struggles for justice succeed while others stall? What is needed to make effective social change, especially in today’s world? According to Rashad Robinson, it comes down to understanding the difference between presence and power. Failing to do so is one reason things got this way, but understanding how power really works is a big part of how we get out of it.
Robinson would know. As
CLIMATE ONE: Hollywood, Baseball, Cage Fights, and… Climate
When it comes to climate, we have the facts, but we aren’t moving fast enough. So we need to get climate education and solutions into the places where people already spend their time. Pop culture offers endless opportunities to influence audiences – your favorite movie or TV character can feel like a friend whose views on climate might affect your own.
In this episode, we connect moments like th
Navigating the Strait of Hormuz: Regional Peacemaking Amid the US-Iran Conflict
With one-fifth of global oil supplies and the movement of critical LNG stuck in the crosshairs of a military standoff, the need for diplomatic off-ramps has never been more urgent. This panel brings together top diplomats and geopolitical experts to unpack the overlapping mediation efforts of key regional powers. From Pakistan’s frontline ceasefire negotiations to Qatar’s high-stakes maneuvering o
DJ DiDonna: The Transformative Power of Sabbaticals
The professional world usually prioritizes urgency, but the most important moments of our lives rarely happen at the desk. In his new book Big Time Off, Sabbatical Project founder DJ DiDonna offers up a simple but radical idea: sabbaticals help us avoid sleepwalking through life by giving us time to be present in moments of celebration, difficulty, and transition.
Integrating original research an
Humanities West presents the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
It has been 250 years since upstart young leaders of the American colonies declared independence from King George III and imagined founding a republic, based on a democracy of sorts, which has, over 25 decades of difficult growth and adjustment, arrived at our current version of a government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” as President Lincoln put it.
How far has our democracy com
San Francisco Culture: Lost, Found or Reimagined?
San Francisco has long been a city of dreamers, artists, innovators and cultural pioneers—a global epicenter of creativity, innovation and social change. From its modern origins during the Gold Rush to the Beat Generation, the Summer of Love, Silicon Valley and the AI revolution, each generation has shaped its own version of the city while wondering whether the San Francisco they love is disappear
CLIMATE ONE: How Do I Say This…
It’s becoming increasingly clear that how we talk about climate change matters as much as the science or policy itself. The words we use carry weight, and climate communicator Susan Joy Hassol says specific word choices, like “heat-trapping pollution” rather than “greenhouse gases,” can cut through polarization and help messages resonate with a wider range of people. Equally important is listening
Melissa Murray: Understanding the US Constitution
The U.S. Constitution is often at the center of debates about rights and wrongs and public policies in this country, but how many people have actually read it? How many have thought about it? How many understand it?
Join us as bestselling author and popular law professor Melissa Murray shares with us her look at the country’s founding legal document—a document that still guides our judges, lawyer
Dusty Baker: A Memoir in Baseball and Life
Join us in-person or online as legendary baseball player and manager Dusty Baker explores his extraordinary career, one filled with invaluable lessons on perseverance, leadership, and how to live life meaningfully on the field and off.Dusty Baker walked with baseball legends and became one himself. After he signed with the Braves in 1968 at the age of 19 (against his father’s wishes), no less than
Joanna Stern: I Am Not a Robot
We keep being told that artificial intelligence is going to help us do just about everything. Make us healthy. Personally tutor each student. Run our businesses efficiently. Make our decisions. Even fold our laundry. As a result, we would have hours of additional free time, and our AI machines would make discoveries previously unimaginable for humankind.
What does that really mean? Will AI
Manoush Zomorodi and Melissa Painter: The Hidden Health Costs of the Digital Age
Screens—all the time, everywhere, it seems. We sit at our desks facing screens, hold meetings over screens, answer email after email on them. You’ve heard about the mental health harms of screens, but what about the physical ones? Headaches, back pain, restless sleep, and rising rates of preventable disease. Manoush Zomorodi, host of the TED Radio Hour, says technology is breaking us down, and she
Safe Passage: The Untold Story of Diplomatic Intrigue, Betrayal, and the Exchange of American and Japanese Civilians by Sea During World War II
In her new book Safe Passage, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Evelyn Iritani reveals one of World War II’s little-known diplomatic triumphs—the rescue of nearly 3,000 Allied civilians held by Japan in two exchanges at sea—and the high price that was paid by the thousands of innocent men, women and children, mostly of Japanese descent, who were traded to a country that was no longer, and may never ha
Dr. Jennifer Grandis: Why Women Can't Get Ahead in Science and Health Care
Women continue to face systemic barriers in medicine and science, despite decades of progress. What is happening?
In Harsh Medicine, Dr. Jennifer R. Grandis draws on decades of experience as a physician-scientist, mentor and leader to expose how deeply gender bias is embedded in the structures of academic medicine and scientific research. Through rigorous analysis, real-world case studies, a
AI for Good: In Climate, Health and Investing
When should artificial intelligence supplant human intelligence? And when should human intelligence lead? For climate action, for impacts on health, for investing and portfolios, where can AI tools multiply productivity—and what situations cause a quality assurance minefield?
Learn from innovators around the world (from Europe to Oceania to the Americas) when and how AI tools bring new valu
Ben Rhodes: All We Say, The Battle for American Identity
What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide?
Americans have debated those questions for 250 years. The issue of what it means to be an American shaped the compromises in the Constitution and the arguments we’ve been having ever since—spawning abolitionism, secession, and civil war; populism, mass migration, and global leadership; movements for reform and the backlashes to them.&nbs
Jonathan Weber: City on the Edge, the Fight for the Soul of San Francisco
From boom to collapse? Veteran San Francisco journalist Jonathan Weber joins us for a deep-dive into San Francisco’s meteoric transformation into a global capital of technology—and how the same forces that gave rise to its boom nearly engineered its end.In the early 1990s, San Francisco was a beautiful if somewhat troubled mid-sized metropolis, still reeling from the AIDS epidemic and the Loma Pri
CLIMATE ONE: Cleaner Steel is Coming. Will the Communities That Built the Industry Benefit?
Making steel accounts for around 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But the industry could reduce that number by removing coal from the steel-making process entirely. Three of the U.S.’s last seven coal-based steel mills are situated along Lake Michigan. Together, these facilities produce nearly half of the steel made in the U.S., supplying skyscraper beams, car doors, and appliances across t
Healthy Society Series—America @250: What Kind of America Do You Want?
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was issued, and it contains the DNA of the future United States of America.
At the heart of this remarkable document that sought to overthrow existing governmental institutions is the profound statement that echoes through the ages. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creato
A Story for Everything: An Afternoon with Corey Rosen, Host of ‘The Moth’
Come and meet author and master storyteller Corey Rosen for an unforgettable evening as he talks about his new book, A Story for Everything, a practical and inspiring guide to telling meaningful stories in everyday life.
In this engaging discussion, Rosen will share his personal experiences behind the book, the storytelling frameworks he teaches around the country, and the surprising ways stories
Simone Stolzoff: How to Not Know
Famously or infamously, in 2002 Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that “[A]s we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
That comment stoked a lot of mockery among his critics, but he wa
Humanities West Presents The Etruscans
The Etruscan culture, which flourished from the ninth to the first centuries B.C. in Tuscany, left behind a rich history with many unique traditions that are reflected in the artistic objects found in their tombs, temples, sanctuaries and homes. Renée Dreyfus and Lisa Pieraccini will discuss the latest advances in scholarship and archeological discoveries, and in the translation of the Etruscan la
Will It Ever End? San Francisco’s Drug and Homeless Crisis and Overdose Epidemic
San Francisco’s drug and homelessness crisis is impacting everyone, and the community is sounding the alarm. As San Franciscans raise issues of safety, over the last 5 years the city has lost more than 4,500 people to fatal overdoses. Although San Francisco has poured billions of dollars into proposed solutions, our public health systems continue to fail the community. Many people continue to deny
CLIMATE ONE: Beyond the Rights of Nature: Land that Owns Itself
The “rights of nature” is the idea that if a corporation can have legal standing as a person, why can’t a river or a mountain? Thomas Linzey, one of the early architects of a legal framework for granting rights to nature, now believes that structure doesn’t go far enough: Even when ecosystems are granted rights, the land is still owned by someone or some entity, even if that is a land trust or c
CLIMATE ONE ENCORE - Dead Heat: The Danger Of Home Power Shutoffs
Summer is here, temperatures are rising — and so are electric bills. That also means many people are facing a severely overlooked issue: power shutoffs. According to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2024 utility companies disconnected U.S. households from electricity more than 13.4 million times due to a customer’s inability to pay. When that happens, people can’t turn on
CLIMATE ONE: When Your New Neighbor Is… a Data Center
Across the country, developers are racing to build huge new buildings to house computers to fuel the AI boom, creating an explosive demand for new energy. While some hyperscalers seek renewable energy, others are turning to fossil fuels. But concerns around high electric bills, air and noise pollution and water depletion have generated widespread community pushback against these giant facilities,
Theo Baker: Uncovering Power and Money at Stanford University
While just a freshman reporter at The Stanford Daily, Theo Baker reported on accusations about Stanford’s president that culminated in his resignation. For his investigative reporting, he became the youngest ever recipient of the prestigious George Polk Award.
Now, Baker comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to tell a story of money and power and excess for teenagers at Stanford—slush funds, s
Unapologetic Deliciousness: Separating Nutrition Science from Nutrition Noise
With so many conflicting and contradictory nutrition claims dominating headlines and social media, deciding what to eat has become unnecessarily complicated. Stanford nutrition scientist Christopher Gardner, Ph.D., has spent more than three decades conducting evidence-based research to bring clarity to the conversation.
In this program, Gardner shares what decades of human nutrition trials reveal
Contested Continent: The Struggle for North America, c. 1000–1680
North America was forged from the experiences of millions of Indigenous women and men as well as Europeans and Africans. Contested Continent, the first volume of the Oxford History of the United States series, is a far-ranging history of North America concentrating on the period from c. A.D. 1000 to 1680—from the arrival of Norse explorers to an explosion of revolts that underlined the stubborn st
CLIMATE ONE: Making Solar Great Again
More and more, conservative voices are making the case that the U.S. can’t achieve energy dominance without solar power. Even the leading industry trade group is changing its strategy.
Earlier this year, Politico reported that the American Clean Power Association launched the “American Energy First” campaign to engage Kellyanne Conway and conservative influencers like Katie Miller “to amplify t
Andrew Weissmann: Liars Kingdom
“The 2020 election was a total FRAUD!”
“I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
“There is NO WAY Biden got 80,000,000 votes!!!”
These and other statements by Donald Trump sparked a historic insurrection that attempted to topple our democracy and undermined the public’s faith in elections. MS NOW legal analyst and veteran federal prosecutor Andrew W
CLIMATE ONE: Medium Rare: What’s Next For Meat?
Industrial agriculture accounts for a significant share of global emissions, but meat alternatives face real hurdles in becoming a mainstay of consumer diets. The hype around plant-based meat has cooled: hurt by price gaps, ultra-processed rhetoric, and culture-war politics around masculinity and food identity. Yet feeding a growing planet will require eating less beef, wasting less food, and prod
Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic
Nowhere is the dual threat of climate change and geopolitical competition felt more strongly than in the Arctic. Sea ice is declining rapidly, wildfires are burning, and permafrost is thawing. At the same time, global interest is growing rapidly as the region transforms from being a frozen desert into an international waterway.
Mia Bennett, a geography professor at the University of Washington an
Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr.
We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and his approach to activism and service?
Before Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a global hero, he was an emotional boy, and an average high school student devoted to fashion, dancing, and dating. On his way to
CLIMATE ONE: ENCORE: Cities Leading the Way
While the federal government has all but abandoned trying to address the climate crisis, cities around the world are stepping up. C40 is an international network of 97 cities representing 920 million people and 23% of the world’s economy. Seventy-three percent of these cities have already peaked their emissions. Here in the US, Climate Mayors is a bipartisan network of nearly 350 U.S. mayors, repr
Outdoors Writer Tom Stienstra Shares His Tales of Survival … and Top Adventure Spots
For more than 40 years, outdoor enthusiasts have turned to Tom Stienstra for guidance on the best waterfalls, unforgettable campsites, and hidden wild places. A longtime outdoors writer and editor for the San Francisco Chronicle and KCBS-FM, Stienstra is also the bestselling author of essential guidebooks like Moon’s California Camping and 52 Weekend Adventures in Northern California.
His adventu
The Fight Against AI-Powered Surveillance with EFF's Cindy Cohn and Adam Savage
When the Pentagon formally designated Anthropic a “supply chain risk” this March, the dispute put a spotlight on civil liberties concerns in the AI-era. Anthropic had reportedly hit an impasse with the Trump administration over the company’s push for guardrails banning the use of its Claude model to conduct mass surveillance. Anthropic’s CEO had called such surveillance a “red line” it would not c
Safe Play: Creating Inclusion in Sport
Pride House SF and Commonwealth Club World Affairs are proud to assemble three hour-long events designed to showcase the importance of celebrating self and sport. Using the backdrop of this summer’s global soccer event—and the significance of Bay Area representation on the world stage—each program will feature local experts convening around a designated theme.
In our first program, meet leaders o
Fake News for Good? Reporting from the Future to Save Democracy Today
When the news moves faster than we can process it, how do we grasp what any of it actually means for our lives? And what happens when that overwhelming feeling isn’t accidental, but rather a deliberate political strategy (“flooding the zone”) designed to ensure that no issue of consequence can get the sustained attention it deserves?
Strategic futurist Jason Tester has pioneered an answer—“specul
CLIMATE ONE: Healing Ourselves and the Planet with Katharine Wilkinson and Uncle Pappy
When real and internal maps come up short, and the path ahead is uncertain, how do we find our way? In her new book “Climate Wayfinding,” Dr. Katharine Wilkinson (co-founder of the All We Can Save Project) offers a compassionate and empowering guide for navigating through ache to action, doubt to possibility. Whether we’re steeped in climate or newly curious, we can look inward with care, outwar
Dion Lim: My Fight for Asian America
February 24, 2020, started out like any other day for journalist and television anchor Dion Lim of San Francisco’s ABC News. Planning her pitches for the morning’s editorial meeting, she checked her Instagram account and saw a message from someone she didn’t recognize. Attached was a horrifying video in which men were beating and yelling racist slurs at an elderly Asian man who had been collecting
ABC News' Martha Raddatz: The Hero Next Door, Stories of Patriotism and Purpose
Martha Raddatz has seen the uncommon courage of service members and their families, and she has watched—in war zones and on the home front—as they have faced daunting odds and come out stronger. She asked veterans whose character and actions have impacted her deeply to relive their most challenging moments, so that others will know who they are and what they have done. In her new book The Hero Nex
Why We Run: A Special AAPI Month Program
Join us for a special AAPI Month program featuring prominent Bay Area Asian American elected officials.
We'll hear from BART Board Director Janice Li, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, and San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee member Uma Rao Krishnan. What drives them in the ultra-competitive Bay Area political scene? What are their goals, and how do they go about achieving them?
A
CLIMATE ONE: Fighting Fire with Fiery Passion: 2026 Goldman Prize Winners
The Goldman Environmental Prize is known as the Nobel for grassroots environmental champions, for good reason. Award-winners are earth defenders, often bucking entrenched systems and powerful interests in order to protect and restore the natural environments we all depend on. This week we feature conversations with two of the 2026 Goldman Prize winners:
Iroro Tanshi, a tropical conservationi
Otto Scharmer: Presencing, 7 Practices for Transforming Self, Society, and Business
This is a time of change, crisis and breakdown. But Otto Scharmer says that small “islands of coherence” are emerging, localized pockets of pioneering thought leaders taking action to beginning to catalyze what he calls multi-system transformation. He has produced a holistic guide to actions people can take, Presencing: 7 Practices for Transforming Self, Society, and Business, co-authored with Kat
PBS News Host William Brangham on the State of the News Media in a Time of Change
How does the news media navigate an environment of huge changes and challenges? How do news consumers get the news they need to be informed citizens? News organizations—for-profit and nonprofit, large and small, traditional and new media—are facing tremendous changes in business models, in reaching audiences, in political pressure, and in technology.Get an inside look at the mission of the news me
Axis of Instability: The U.S., Israel, Iran and the Gulf
What is the outcome of the escalating tensions between the United States, Israel, Iran and Gulf Arab nations?
Join us for a conversation on this timely topic, focusing on the shifting regional balance of power among key actors, their nuclear capabilities and impact on the future proliferation regime, and the outcome of their military and proxy warfare. Experts will analyze the impacts of joint U
How to Increase Your Luck, with Stanford’s Tina Seelig
Much of what we call luck is the result of deliberate actions and consistent efforts. As Stanford Professor Tina Seelig shared in her popular TED Talk, luck is like the wind—constantly blowing, often unpredictable, and always in motion. To catch the winds of luck, she says you need to construct your sail by doing the internal work that sets the stage for success; recruit your crew by bringing othe
Benoit Denizet-Lewis: The Promise and Price of Self-Transformation
On social media, in recovery meetings, through name-change petitions, deconversion blogs, and political conversion manifestos, we’ve been surrounded by stories of radical personal change. But what does it really mean to shed an old skin? Whose change narratives do we celebrate—and whose do we suspect are performance, reinvention as strategy, or even grift? Emerson College Professor Benoit Denizet-
CLIMATE ONE: Protest and Beyond: Annie Leonard On What You Can Do
Protest is the ultimate in equal-opportunity political action. As Annie Leonard, former executive director of Greenpeace USA says, "Making change is like laying a stone path across the garden. Peaceful protest may be every 4th or 8th or 200th stone; it helps us get where we want to go but also we need a lot of other stones too.” Leonard explores the history of protests in her new book “Protest: R
A World on Fire- the perspective from China
There is an ancient saying in China, or perhaps a curse: “May you live in interesting times.”
We appear to be living right in the middle of very interesting times. From wars in Eastern Europe, to regime toppling in Latin America to the conflagration in the Middle East, the world appears to be on fire.
What does China make of these events? How is it affected, given that some of the actors invol
In Conversation with Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D.
Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian's new book, Food Is Medicine, is an urgent indictment of the food we eat, how it is making us sick, and the choices that led us here, and a call for a revolutionary new food system that can mend our health, economy and planet, from a world-renowned expert in nutrition, medicine and public policy.
The food we eat is making us sick, says Dr. Mozaffarian. In the United States
Doris Kearns Goodwin: An Unfinished Love Story
Doris Kearns Goodwin is one of America’s best known and most popular historians, having told the stories of great American leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, and others. Now, she delves into her own life and the time she spent with her late husband, Richard Goodwin, to draw out fresh perspectives on many of the central figures of the 1960s.
Former US Diplomat Robert Malley on Why the Israeli Palestinian Peace Process Failed, and What's Next for Gaza
On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters killed more than 1,100 Israelis and took more than 200 hostages, prompting an Israeli response that has in turn taken tens of thousands of lives and devastated the Gaza Strip. Why did this happen, and can anything be done to grant peace and justice to Israelis and Palestinians alike?In their new book Tomorrow Is Yesterday, veteran negotiators Robert Malley and Hu
Italianity Program and Wine Tasting
Italy’s vineyards stretch from Alpine peaks to volcanic islands, from rolling Tuscan hills to sun-drenched coastlines. Each glass of Italian wine carries not only the flavor of its land but also the imprint of centuries of tradition, community and culture.
Join us for an exploration of that flavor and soul. Andrea Lonardi, one of Italy’s most respected winemakers and agronomists, and a rare Maste
Steven Soderbergh’s ‘The Christophers’: Film Screening Plus Discussion on Art Forgery
In Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, The Christophers, the children of a once famous artist hire a forger to complete some unfinished, long ago abandoned canvases so they’ll have an inheritance when he dies.
Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) was once a star of London’s 1960s and ‘70s pop art explosion, but he hasn’t painted in decades and has been broke for years. His two
Cleo Wade: In a World of Sunrises
Bestselling author Cleo Wade returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs with a hug of a book—her latest, In a World of Sunrises, a collection of poetry, prose and inspirational quotes providing uplift and comfort for 365 days.Wade’s entries are a reminder that change is always possible, not only within each of us but also in the world around us. Her message is about feeling good, and feeling like
CLIMATE ONE: Mother is Mothering
Sometimes mothers are biological; other times, they’re chosen. But often, they're the fiercest people you can have on your side.
In this special Mother’s Day episode, we’ll hear stories about the vital role mothers and caregivers play in confronting the climate crisis. From a midwife providing essential healthcare in one of the most climate-stressed regions on the planet to an organizer who leads
One Size Doesn’t Fit All: A PrEP Conversation
Join us at Commonwealth Club World Affairs for an intimate and candid conversation with patients from Osra Medical who are living proof that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to PrEP.
Our panelists—currently on Descovy, Apretude and Yeztugo—will pull back the curtain on their personal journeys: the questions they asked, the factors they weighed, and what ultimately led them to choose the opt
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on the Iran War
Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says he was surprised that the Trump administration apparently had no plan to deal with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz before launching strikes on Iran in late February. “I think that basically is a failure of planning for what would be an obvious consequence of a war in the Middle East,” Panetta told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
With hundreds dead, millions
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