Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Korea and Japan are two of the most technologically advanced countries on the planet. In September 2021, the Korean National Assembly passed legislation mandating carbon neutrality by 2050, becoming the 14th country to legislate commitments to reduce carbon emissions. Earlier in May 2021, Japan’s parliament passed an amendment to Japan’s framework climate law to legally enshrine the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 previously announced by its prime minister.What are their policies for achieving their goals? How will technology and innovations help achieve their goals?Join us to hear experts from Korea and Japan discuss these important subjects as the world addresses ways to meet their climate change targets.MLF ORGANIZER: Lillian NakagawaSPEAKERSDr. Sung Woo KimHead of the Private Environment & Energy Research Institute, Kim & Chang, Seoul, Korea; member of the Carbon Neutrality Committee under the Presidential Office of the Republic of KoreaDr. Kenji YamajiPresident, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (in Tokyo, Japan)Dr. Stephanie A. SiehrProfessor, Environmental and Energy Programs, University of San Francisco; Affiliate, China Energy Group, Energy Technologies Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—Moderator Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Strategies for rapidly and inexpensively identifying neurological/psychiatric weakness and distortion—combined with genomics and increasingly more sophisticated chemical analyses of blood and other body fluids—now provide us with simple, scalable strategies for delineating specific aspects of preclinical stages of neurological and psychiatric disorders. In parallel, we have an increasing understanding of how to engage the plastic brain in ways that reverse those weaknesses and distortions on a path to neurological normalcy. The word for broadly achieving such renormalization is prevention—or in already diagnosed patients, cure—two goals that up to now have rarely been achieved in brain-targeted medicine. This scientific explosion foretells a rapid transformation from a treatment-based to prevention-based brain medicine era.Dr. Michael Merzenich is an emeritus UCSF professor who is broadly recognized for his seminal research in the science of neuroplasticity, and for his team’s efforts to translate this research into improvements in brain performance and organic brain health in normal and in variously struggling child and adult populations. He also led a UCSF team that developed the modern cochlear implant. Merzenich has published several hundred papers in prestigious scientific journals; been awarded nearly 70 U.S. patents; with UCSF’s permission, co-founded 3 companies focused on the translation of this research for human benefit; and has received many international prizes and awards for his teams’ ground-breaking research.MLF ORGANIZER: Robert Lee KilpatrickSPEAKERSDr. Michael MerzenichPh.D., Professor (Emeritus), UCSF; CSO, Posit ScienceRobert Lee KilpatrickPh.D., Chair, Health & Medicine Member-Led Forum—Moderator Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The year 2020 was one of galvanizing unrest, finally bringing to mainstream attention countless racial and social injustices that have plagued American society for centuries. Many activists have become prominent figures in the historical struggle for equal rights, but not nearly enough of them have gotten this attention. During his virtual visit, the Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader and politician, will join us to tell their stories.In his new book, Righteous Troublemakers: Untold Stories of the Social Justice Movement in America, Sharpton delves into the everyday lives of extraordinary activists from the past and present. Further, he provides personal details from the frontlines of 2020’s heightened racial activism—offering his readers a nuanced account of the stories many could only follow from device screens. At INFORUM, Sharpton will leave his audience inspired to drive change in the name of truth and justice.SPEAKERSAl SharptonHost, MSNBC's "PoliticsNation"; Baptist Minister; Author, Righteous Troublemakers: Untold Stories of the Social Justice Movement in AmericaIn Conversation with Sheryl DavisExecutive Director, San Francisco Human Rights CommissionIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on January 19th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Corporate pledges of reaching net zero carbon emissions have quickly become commonplace. Critics argue that such pledges are mere greenwashing, and even if pledges are fulfilled, the balance sheets usually utilize carbon offsets, which can be of questionable quality and accountability. Proponents of corporate net zero pledges say we’ll never get to net zero emissions without corporate action, and pledges represent legitimate ramping up of ambition and commitment. How can consumers, investors and policy leaders distinguish between stalling and increased ambition? Can third party auditors hold companies accountable? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The gap between the rich and the poor has grown dramatically, stock prices are trading far above what many consider justified by actual corporate profits, corporate debt in America is at an all-time high, and this debt is being traded by big banks on Wall Street, leaving them vulnerable—just as they were during the mortgage boom. Middle-class wages have barely budged in a decade, and consumers are buried under credit card debt, car loan debt, and student debt. If you asked most people what forces led to today’s unprecedented income inequality and financial crashes, no one would say the Federal Reserve. However, Christopher Leonard is here to tell you otherwise.In his new book, The Lords of Easy Money, Leonard goes into shocking detail about how quantitative easing is imperiling the American economy through the story of the one man who tried to warn us. He says this will be the first inside story of how we really got here—and why we face a frightening future.Join us as Christopher Leonard takes us through the world of the Federal Reserve, and why you should be alarmed.SPEAKERSChristopher LeonardBusiness Reporter; Author, The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American EconomyIn Conversation with Lenny MendoncaFormer Chief Economic and Business Advisor, State of California; Director Emeritus, McKinsey & CompanyIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on January 18th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to a very recent report from the U.S. Surgeon General, "the challenges today’s generation of young people face are unprecedented and uniquely hard to navigate. And the effect these challenges have had on their mental health is devastating." The Surgeon General suggests that, as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and start recovering and rebuilding, we have an opportunity to approach the mental health of our children and youth with a more comprehensive, more fulfilling and more inclusive vision.NOTESThis program is part of our series on mental health, dedicated in memory of Nancy Friend Pritzker, with support from the John Pritzker Family Fund.SPEAKERSSaun Toy TrotterDirector, School-Based Services, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital OaklandNicole BushAssociate Professor, Psychiatry, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences; Lisa and John Pritzker Distinguished Professor of Developmental and Behavioral HealthWilliam MartinezAssistant Professor, Psychiatry, UCSF Weill Institute for NeurosciencesPetra SteinbuchelDirector, Psychiatry, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital OaklandRani Sindledecker8th-Grade studentKatie AlbrightCEO, Safe & SoundIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on January 13th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us to hear David Bodanis make a fresh, detail-rich argument that the most productive way to lead is to be fair to others. Conventional wisdom is that "nice guys finish last," but maybe that just means that too many nice guys are too conventional. And it probably does not mean that one has to be a bully, schooled in Machiavellian tactics, to succeed.The Art of Fairness reveals how it was fairness, applied with skill, that led the Empire State Building to be constructed in barely a year. And how the same techniques transformed a quiet English debutante into an acclaimed guerrilla fighter. In 10 vivid profiles featuring pilots, presidents, and even the producer of "Game of Thrones," Bodanis demonstrates that the path to greatness doesn't require crushing displays of power or a tyrannical ego. With surprising insights from across history, including the downfall of the very man who popularized the phrase “nice guys finish last,” Bodanis charts a refreshing and sustainable approach to cultivating integrity and influence.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge HammondNOTESMLF: HumanitiesSPEAKERSDavid BodanisAuthor, The Art of Fairness: The Power of Decency in a World Gone MeanIn Conversation with George HammondAuthor, Conversations With Socrates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us to discuss with James Porter our ongoing fascination with Homer—the man and the myth. The poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey was revered as a cultural icon in antiquity and remains millennia later a figure of lasting influence. But his identity is shrouded in questions about who he was, when he lived and whether he was an actual person, a myth or merely a shared idea. Whatever his source, Homer is a cultural invention nearly as distinctive and important as the poems attributed to him.Porter follows the cultural history of the idea of the great poet and of the obsession that is reborn every time Homer is reimagined. Offering novel readings of texts and objects, the idea of Homer is elucidated from its origins to its most recent imaginings in literature, criticism, philosophy, visual art and classical archaeology. Porter explores the many sources of Homer’s mystique and their cultural impact, starting with the first recorded mentions of his name in ancient Greece.NOTESMLF: HumanitiesThis program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.SPEAKERSJames PorterIrving Stone Professor of Literature, University of California, Berkeley; Author, Homer: The Very IdeaIn Conversation with George HammondAuthor, Conversations With SocratesIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on January 13th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians is one of the most complex and controversial disputes in the world today. It is a complicated conflict that plays a role in the foreign affairs of many countries around the world, including the United States. Yet many issues related to the conflict are misunderstood by people and groups across the political spectrum, sometimes intentionally, sometimes from just a lack of knowledge.Daniel Sokatch, the head of the New Israel Fund—an organization dedicated to equality and democracy for all Israelis, not just Jews—is often asked to explain these issues as part of his job. In his new book, Can We Talk About Israel? A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and Conflicted, Sokatch offers his own primer on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The book provides the long story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and gives basic explanations for the centuries-long conflict. Sokatch also attempts to explain why Israel (and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) inspires such extreme feelings—why it seems as if Israel is the answer to "what is wrong with the world" for half the people in it, and "what is right with the world" for the other half.As Sokatch asks in his book, is there any other topic about which so many intelligent, educated and sophisticated people express such strongly and passionately held convictions, and about which they actually know so little? This program will offer some background on this often misunderstood and complicated topic.SPEAKERSDaniel SokatchCEO, New Israel Fund; Author, Can We Talk About Israel? A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and ConflictedDaniel HandlerWriter; Musician; a.k.a. Lemony Snicket—Moderator Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kal Penn and Huma Abedin had vastly different journeys into the world of American politics. As a collegiate-level White House intern during Hillary Clinton’s time as the first lady, Abedin never predicted she’d go on to witness some of the most crucial moments in America’s modern political history; including Clinton’s watershed nomination as the first female candidate for president. Penn, too, has both witnessed and shaped political history as a liaison for the Obama administration—something that he, a prominent Hollywood actor who’d experienced countless discriminations in the entertainment industry, never saw coming.While their foray into politics were poles apart, Abedin and Penn do share a similar vision of the American Dream molded by their immigrant families. In their own professional endeavors—from Penn’s shift to politics to Abedin’s powerful tenure as Hillary Clinton’s right-hand woman—they’ve done more than just manifest this dream. Instead, they’ve disrupted it’s very core.Together at INFORUM, Huma Abedin and Kal Penn will bring to life the remarkable experiences they’ve detailed in their new memoirs, Both/And and You Can’t Be Serious, respectively. In doing so, they will provide the audience with more than just powerful insights toward the meaning of the American Dream—instead, they’ll challenge its “one size fits all” narrative in order to reconstruct its meaning for a more inclusive future.SPEAKERSHuma AbedinFormer Vice Chairperson, Hillary Clinton 2016 Presidential Campaign; Author, Both/And: A Life in Many WorldsKal PennActor; Former Principal Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement; Author, You Can’t Be SeriousIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 9th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices