Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Transforming your life can be easier than you think. In his New York Times best selling book, Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything, a world-renowned expert on habit formation shares his groundbreaking methods for the first time in print.A behavior scientist at Stanford University, BJ Fogg combines his academic research with his massive real-world experience (he has personally coached more than 40,000 people) to create a book full of new insights about how he says behavior really works. With true stories and concise examples, Fogg shares his systematic approach to design for lasting change using his simple and effective methods, including his trademarked Tiny Habits Method. No willpower required. You might be pleasantly surprised to learn about a major theme in this book: People change best by feeling good, not by feeling bad.In this talk, Fogg will explain how to tap into the precise emotion that will build new habits and ultimately transform your life. A lively speaker and an award-winning teacher, Fogg’s playful approach will surprise you—in the best way. You’ll discover why this landmark book is on so many reading lists.MLF ORGANIZERPatty JamesNOTESMLF: Health & MedicineSPEAKERSDr. BJ FoggPh.D., Behavior Scientist; Director of Research and innovation, Behavior Design Lab, Stanford UniversityPatty JamesChair, Health & Medicine Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club—ModeratorIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On August 27, 2010, three CIA officers met with then-CIA Director Leon Panetta. Their secret session revealed a courier with deep Al Qaeda ties who had been tracked to a three-story, heavily protected fortress at the end of a dead end street in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Without ever having to say the name bin Laden, there exists a mutual understanding that finally, after nearly a decade, they may have just found the world’s most wanted man.In Countdown bin Laden, celebrated journalist and anchor of "Fox News Sunday" Chris Wallace delivers a thrilling account of the final 8 months of intelligence gathering, national security strategizing, and meticulous military planning that leads to the climactic mission when SEAL Team Six closes in on its target. Wallace reveals new information collected from in-depth interviews with more than a dozen central figures—including Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and the special operator who killed bin Laden. Personal accounts from families who fell victim to 9/11 and relatives of SEAL Team Six are brought to life in Wallace’s narrative, published on the 20th anniversary of the most consequential terrorist attack in American history.Join us as Chris Wallace brings us fresh reporting about the race to apprehend and bring to justice the architect of 9/11.SPEAKERSChris WallaceAnchor, "Fox News Sunday"; Author, Countdown bin Laden: The Untold Story of the 247-Day Hunt to Bring the Mastermind of 9/11 to JusticeIn Conversation with Kirk HansonSenior Fellow and Former Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara UniversityIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed millions, infected hundreds of millions, and laid bare the deep vulnerabilities and inequalities of our interconnected world. The ensuing economic collapse was the worst since the Great Depression, undoing more than two decades of progress in reducing extreme poverty. Tensions between the United States and China boiled over, and the worldwide contest between democracy and authoritarianism deepened. At a time when this global crisis required a truly collective response, international cooperation had almost entirely broken down, with key world leaders hardly on speaking terms.In Thomas Wright and Colin Kahl’s Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order, the two national security experts offer a definitive account of the global impact of COVID-19, the political shock waves it will have on the United States, and myriad ways in which the crisis exposed the limitations of the old world order. This comprehensive account of the year 2020 draws on interviews with officials around the world and extensive research to tell the story of how nationalism and major power rivalries constrained the response to the worst pandemic in a century.Co-author Thomas Wright is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He has written several extensively researched pieces analyzing Donald Trump’s foreign policy.Join us as Thomas Wright delves into his latest analysis of one of the strangest and most consequential years on record.SPEAKERSThomas WrightSenior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Co-author, Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International OrderIn Conversation with Edward LuceAssociate Editor, Financial TimesIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 13th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a revolutionary new vision of human biology and the scientific breakthroughs that will transform our lives. Professor Daniel M. Davis shows how radical new possibilities are becoming realities thanks to the visionary efforts of scientists who are revealing the invisible and secret universe within each of us.Focusing on six important frontiers, Davis describes what we are learning about cells, the development of the fetus, the body's immune system, the brain, the microbiome, and the genome — areas of human biology that are usually understood in isolation. Bringing them together, Davis offers a new vision of the human body as a biological wonder of dizzying complexity and possibility.SPEAKERSDaniel M. DavisPh.D., Professor of Immunology, University of Manchester (UK); Author, The Secret Body. How the New Science of The Human Body Is Changing the Way We Live; The Beautiful Cure and The Compatibility GeneRobert Lee KilpatrickPh.D., Chair, Health & Medicine Member-Led Forum, Commonwealth Club of California—ModeratorIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This September marks the 50th anniversary of the seminal work Diet for a Small Planet, in which Frances Moore Lappé argued that cattle constitute “a protein factory in reverse.” Lappé’s book inspired countless people to adopt vegetarian diets for environmental reasons. But in the last 50 years the industrial food systems in America have only grown bigger and more concentrated, and – as the Lappés would argue – more powerful. Together with her daughter Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Hot Planet, the two now focus on the intersections between democracy, environment, food, and justice. “It's really important that we understand that in order to change our food environment, we need to really work to get money out of politics, and we really need to work on how to take on that kind of consolidated power in the industry,” Anna Lappé says.  Guests:Frances Moore Lappé, author, Diet for a Small Planet Anna Lappé, author, Diet for a Hot PlanetAnalena Hope Hassberg, Associate Professor, Ethnic and Women's Studies Department, California State Polytechnic University, PomonaRuth Richardson, Executive Director, Global Alliance for the Future of Food Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COVID-19 has disrupted many of our lives, with impacts ranging from job loss to housing changes, physical health issues to mental health challenges. At the same time, drug use has increased since the pandemic first struck and has deeply affected many LGBTQ people. Join us for an important discussion on the impact of drugs and the search for healthy ways of coping with the pandemic and life's other challenges.SPEAKERSKristen MarshallAssociate Director of San Francisco Programs, National Harm Reduction CoalitionWayne RafusManager of Contingency Management, 6th Street Harm Reduction CenterSister RomaMember, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; Entertainer; ActivistJuniper YunArtist, Director of Cultural Affairs, The Transgender District in San FranciscoMichelle MeowProducer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—HostIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 9th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan had near-unanimous public support at the time. Their goals were straightforward: defeat Al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. But after the Taliban was ousted from power, U.S. officials lost sight of their original objectives as the military became mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand.Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock brings us The Afghanistan Papers, which, similarly to the Pentagon Papers after Vietnam, contains startling revelations from people who played a direct role in the war, certain to change the public’s understanding of the conflict. From leaders in the White House and Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines, many are candidly admitting that the U.S. government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stronghold over their allies in the Afghan government. Whitlock’s account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the U.S. government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground—all upheld by three presidents unwilling to admit failure.Join us for this timely event with Craig Whitlock as he reveals the alarming truth behind the longest war in American history, forcing us to reckon with what went so horribly wrong in Afghanistan.SPEAKERSCraig WhitlockInvestigative Reporter, The Washington Post; Author The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the WarIn Conversation with Mitch JeserichHost, "Letters and Politics," KPFA RadioIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Americans today face a deeply divided nation beset with political dysfunction. It is here in the United States where identity is questioned, equality is fought for, and history is debated. How can we face the past and simultaneously envision a new future? In her new book Renewal, lawyer and foreign policy analyst Anne-Marie Slaughter encourages self-reflection and growth to change the way individuals and institutions lead and learn.Slaughter’s years of government service, particularly as the former director of policy planning for the U.S. Department of State, has prepared her for understanding how identity and values shape the crisis America now faces. Through personal reflections and insights on the latest research in the social sciences, Slaughter will explain how to understand how our country must accept its past, renew, and face the future. Renewal highlights a story of crisis and change that can help us find renewed honesty and purpose in our personal and political lives.Join us as Anne-Marie Slaughter offers honesty and hope in this essential reading for change makers of tomorrow.SPEAKERSAnne-Marie SlaughterCEO, New America; Author, Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in Our Lives, Work, and PoliticsIn 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 September 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the country reflects on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, join us for a special 90-minute conversation focused on the state of homeland security today and looking ahead. Homeland security is a term that has evolved over the past two decades since the deadly terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. At first, it was a subject primarily focused on protecting the country from international terrorism, including Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, then ISIS, as well as affiliated terrorist organizations. Over the past several years and culminating on January 6 earlier this year, the phrase has also expanded to include domestic extremism and threats from within the United States.A high-level panel featuring former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napoliano, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow and cybersecurity expert Dr. Amy Zegart will discuss a range of issues related to homeland security, including civil liberties and technology. The program will explore our changing understanding of homeland security, what we have learned about keeping the country safe over the past 20 years, and what the trade-offs have been for the country’s citizens and the country itself.SPEAKERSJanet NapolitanoProfessor of Public Policy, Director of the Center for Security in Politics, and Former President, University of California; U.S Homeland Security Secretary Under President Obama; Former Governor, ArizonaAnthony RomeroExecutive Director, American Civil Liberties UnionAmy ZegartSr. Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Morris Arnold & Nona Jean Cox Sr. Fellow, Hoover Institution; Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science, Stanford University; Author, Spies, Lies, and Algorithms (forthcoming)Dina Temple-RastonSenior Correspondent, The Record by Recorded Future; Former National Security & Investigations Correspondent, National Public Radio—ModeratorIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Travel and tourism make up one of California’s most important and powerful industries. Every day before the pandemic of 2020, travelers injected hundreds of millions of dollars into communities across the Golden State, infusing hundreds of billions of dollars into the state’s economy. In 2019, this spending generated $12.2 billion in local and state tax revenue and supported 1.2 million jobs for Californians.That all changed when the pandemic spread in March 2020, and the tourism industry largely shut down, hitting cities like San Francisco particularly hard. The industry recovery began to take shape earlier in 2021. However, just as the pandemic was receding and the tourism economy was starting to recover, the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has again negatively impacted the tourism economy, slowing chances of a full recovery any time soon and raising questions about the future of the industry and, most important, the workers who rely on it for employment. These issues are particularly challenging in the Bay Area, as it is significantly impacted by shifts in tourism to San Francisco.As one of the most challenging periods in the state's tourism history continues, we are pleased to be joined by two of the state's top tourism leaders, as well as tourism workers directly impacted by the changes brought about by the pandemic, to discuss the future of the industry in the fifth-largest economy in the world, The discussion will touch upon why the tourism economy is so important to the California economy, why travel and tourism is so significant to all Californians, and what we all can do to support the industry and its workers during this challenging time.NOTESThis program is funded by a grant from The California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness). The foundation’s mission is to improve the health of Californians. Cal Wellness is dedicated to promoting equity through advocacy and access.SPEAKERSCaroline BetetaPresident & CEO, Visit CaliforniaJoe D'AlessandroPresident and CEO, SF TravelDaniela PuccinelliDirector of Event Management, The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union SquareSpud HiltonFormer Travel Editor, San Francisco Chronicle; Editor, Where Traveler Magazine, San Francisco Bay Area EditionIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices