Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

A healthy constitutional democracy requires a citizenry that has the knowledge, skills and desire to participate in it. The United States is incredibly polarized, and we now have a citizenry and electorate that are poorly trained to meet the modern challenges we are facing. One major reason? The country has disinvested in history and civic education. For example, at the federal level, we spend approximately $50 per student per year on STEM fields and approximately 5 cents per student per year on civics.A lack of consensus about the substance of history and civics education—what and how to teach—has been a major obstacle to maintaining excellence in history and civics education in recent decades. In response to this critical moment, The Commonwealth Club is pleased to support a new effort, Educating for American Democracy, a significant new initiative to provide tools to make civics and history a priority so we as a country can rebuild our civic strength. This education-based special program will focus on this new effort with three participants who participated in the development of the project.Educating for American Democracy is an unprecedented, cross-ideological effort to provide guidance for excellence in civic and history education for all K–12 students—and to enhance the way in which the subjects are taught in schools so they generate prepared, informed and engaged citizens. The project was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department of Education through a grant to iCivics, Harvard University, Tufts University and Arizona State University.A national network of more than 300 scholars, educators and practitioners from ideologically and demographically diverse backgrounds have collaborated to create a roadmap and accompanying documents that provide suggested educational strategies and content for history and civics at every grade level—along with strategies for implementation in schools—so every state and district can fit the needs of their own, different communities. States and local school districts can use the roadmap to transform the way they teach civics and history so it meets the needs of today’s diverse 21st century K–12 student body.The roadmap is not a national curriculum, nor is it a mandate. It is a series of guidelines that states and districts may opt to use. It is committed to providing instructional strategies and content for all learners to ensure that excellent history and civic learning opportunities are delivered equitably throughout the country.Last year, at the beginning of the pandemic, The Commonwealth Club launched its own civics education effort, Creating Citizens, with founding support from the Koret Foundation. This program is part of that growing effort.NOTESPart of The Commonwealth Club's Creating Citizens initiative.SPEAKERSPaul CarreseFounding Director, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Arizona State UniversityMichelle HerczogCoordinator III, History-Social Science, Los Angeles County Office of EducationKent McGuireProgram Director, Education, William and Flora Hewlett FoundationEmma HumphriesPh.D., Chief Education Officer, iCivics; Deputy Director, CivXNow—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 March 5th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just two months into 2021, deadly winter temperatures left millions of Texans without water and power. Meanwhile, California is preparing for another year of intense drought, and Wall Street millionaires are moving their remote work to Florida, ground zero for flooding and sea-level rise.“We think about the Earth as a system,” says Marshall Shepherd, director of Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia, “so we can't understand climate change unless we understand changes in the Arctic, or in the ocean circulations, or in the biosphere, and so forth.”“Hope or waiting and seeing is no longer a valid risk mitigation strategy."Guests:Katharine Mach, Associate Professor, Marine Ecosystems and Society, University of MiamiMarshall Shepherd, Director, Atmospheric Sciences, University of GeorgiaFor complete show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Expanding health-care coverage has been a long, tumultuous process in the United States, but at its core, citizens want one thing: affordable, accessible health care. In 2010, the federal government passed the Affordable Care Act, the most expansive piece of legislation advocating for health-care accessibility since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. This policy, however, continues to divide the public as leaders from both political parties envision two conflicting futures for a nationalized health-care system.In his new book, The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage, HuffPost correspondent Jonathan Cohn offers a compelling history of how Obamacare came to be, why it looks like it does, and what it’s meant for average Americans. For decades, political leaders have debated what’s wrong with our current health-care system and what should be done to fix it. Drawing from interviews, diaries, emails and memos, Cohn takes readers through the history of health-care reform and the dysfunction those changes have left in their wake.Join us for a comprehensive look at one of the most impactful and controversial pieces of legislation in the past few decades.SPEAKERSJonathan CohnSenior National Correspondent, HuffPost; Author, The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal CoverageIn Conversation with Anthony WrightExecutive Director, Health Access CaliforniaIn 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 March 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the status of extremism in America? Are there more extremists or are they more emboldened? Why is it happening now and what can be done?The Anti-Defamation League is a leading anti-hate organization. Founded in 1913 in response to an escalating climate of antisemitism and bigotry, its timeless mission is to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all. Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of hate with the same vigor and passion. ADL is a global leader in exposing extremism and delivering anti-bias education, and is a leading organization in training law enforcement. ADL is the first call when acts of antisemitism occur. ADL’s ultimate goal is a world in which no group or individual suffers from bias, discrimination or hate. MLF ORGANIZERPatrick O'ReillyNOTESMLF: PsychologySPEAKERSSeth BryskCentral Pacific Regional Director (Northern California, Utah, and Hawai'i), Anti-Defamation League; Former Regional Director (Los Angeles), AJCPatrick O'ReillyPsychology MLF ChairIn 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 March 2nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is your Commonwealth Club week in review. Hear what you missed this week, and what we’ve got lined up for you next week. We’re always adding new programs - check out commonwealthclub.org/online for all of our upcoming events. If you haven’t already - please consider becoming a member of the Club. Enjoy exclusive discounts and access to special programs all while knowing your contributions directly support our many public programs and civic initiatives.Visit commonwealthclub.org/special, for special rates on memberships.Thanks for your support and as always - thanks for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I grew up in a place where I was not meant to exist—a place where my identity as a gay male was contrary to Middle Eastern culture, standards and faith. I grew up in a home filled with dysfunction and strife. I carried the weight of all of that on my shoulders, . . . but if you carry a weight constantly, eventually you become stronger." —Harma HartouniHarma Hartouni was born into an Armenian Orthodox Christian family in Los Angeles, but when he was 1 month old, his family moved to Iran, where he was raised. While there, he was involved in an accident, breaking both legs and requiring a 12-month recovery. When he moved back to Los Angeles, he came out as a gay man. Today, he is a self-made entrepreneur, owner of a real estate company with hundreds of agents and more than $1 billion in sales volume in 2019. He is married and lives in Los Angeles with his husband (an executive at Disney), three children, three dogs and two turtles.Join us for an in-depth conversation with Hartouni to discuss his life, troubles and perseverance, and success, which he reveals in his new book Getting Back Up: A Story of Resilience, Self-Acceptance and Success.NOTESThank you to Pacific Fertility Center for its support of The Michelle Meow Show.SPEAKERSHarma HartouniEntrepreneur; Author, Getting Back Up: A Story of Resilience, Self-Acceptance and SuccessMichelle MeowProducer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW/KPIX TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-HostJohn ZippererProducer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-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 March 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a virtual conversation with Dennis Rasmussen to discuss the surprising story of how George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson each came to despair for the future of the nation they had created.Although Americans tend to venerate the Constitution and the republican government that the founders created, the founders themselves were far less confident in what they had wrought, particularly by the end of their lives. Many eventually concluded that America’s constitutional experiment was an utter failure that was unlikely to last beyond their own generation. Rasmussen argues that the founders’ pessimism had a variety of sources: Washington despaired because of the rise of partisanship, Hamilton because he felt that the federal government was too weak, Adams because he believed that the people lacked civic virtue, and Jefferson because of sectional divisions laid bare by the spread of slavery. The one major founder who retained his faith in America’s constitutional order to the end was James Madison, and Rasmussen explores why Madison remained relatively optimistic when so many of his compatriots did not.As much as Americans today may worry about their country’s future, the founders faced even graver problems and harbored even deeper misgivings. And yet we are still here, having recently survived yet another attempted assault on our political institutions. Join us to find out some of the reasons why.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge HammondNOTESMLF: HumanitiesSPEAKERSDennis RasmussenProfessor of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University; Author, Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's FoundersIn 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 March 3rd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to developments in genetic medicine, for the first time we have the ability to predict our genetic future, to diagnose and prevent disease before it begins, and to decode what it really means to be human. Since the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, the possibilities for genetic medicine have only grown. But what does the human genome and genome sequencing mean for citizens today, and what will it mean for health care over the next several decades?In his new book, The Genome Odyssey, Dr. Euan Ashley answers some of the questions by detailing the medicine and science behind genome sequencing, introducing a dynamic group of researchers and medical investigators who hunt for genetic answers, and bringing forward pioneering patients who open up their lives to the medical community during their search for diagnoses and cures for inherited diseases. Ashley describes how he led the team that was the first to analyze and interpret a complete human genome, how they broke genome speed records to diagnose and treat a newborn baby girl whose heart stopped five times on the first day of her life, and how they found a boy with tumors growing inside his heart and traced the cause to a missing piece of his genome.Dr. Ashley and his team, and a small number of others around the country, are currently working to expand the boundaries of our medical capabilities and to envision a future where genome sequencing is available for all, and where medicine can be tailored to treat specific diseases before they show symptoms and to decode pathogens like viruses at the genomic level.Please join us as Dr. Euan Ashley talks about revolutionizing health care and the future of medicine by continuing to unlock the secrets of the human genome.About the SpeakerEuan Ashley is a professor of medicine and genetics at Stanford University. He was born in Scotland and graduated from the University of Glasgow. He attended Oxford University, completing a Ph.D. there before moving to Stanford University, where he trained in cardiology. He joined the Stanford faculty, where he led the team that carried out the first medical interpretation of a human genome. Ashley has received awards from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. He was recognized by the Obama White House and received the Medal of Honor from the American Heart Association. His articles have appeared in the many journals, including Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Nature and Cell. He appears regularly on local and national radio and TV. He is the founder of three companies and advisor to several Silicon Valley companies.SPEAKERSDr. Euan AshleyProfessor of Medicine and Genetics, Stanford University; Author, The Genome OdysseyIn Conversation with Anne WojcickiCEO and Co-Founder, 23andMeIn 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 March 3rd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Based on 20 years of investigative reporting and interviews with 100 practicing physicians who embrace the keto lifestyle as the best prescription for their patients' health, Gary Taubes puts the ketogenic diet movement in the necessary historical and scientific perspective. He makes clear the vital misconceptions in how we've come to think about obesity and diet (no, he says, people do not become fat simply because they eat too much; hormones play the critical role) and uses the collected clinical experience of the medical community to provide essential practical advice. Taubes sets out to revolutionize how we think about eating healthy, and what foods we can and can't eat to prevent and reverse obesity and diabetes.Gary Taubes is an investigative science and health journalist, the author of The Case for Keto, The Case Against Sugar, Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories. Taubes is a former staff writer for Discover and correspondent for the journal Science. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic and Esquire, and has been included in numerous "Best of" anthologies, including The Best of the Best American Science Writing (2010). He has received three Science in Society Journalism Awards from the National Association of Science Writers. He is the recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research, as well as cofounder and president of the nonprofit Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI). He lives in Oakland, CA, with his wife, author Sloane Tanen, and their two children.NOTESMLF: Health & MedicineSPEAKERSGary TaubesInvestigative Science and Health Journalist; Author, The Case for KetoPatty JamesM.S., N.C. Nutritionist; Chef; Author—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 March 2nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Of the many inequities brought to light by COVID-19, the disparities that BIPOC students face in the American education system have proven to be the most complex. Creating an inclusive and anti-racist educational experience that helps students achieve their full potential is made even more difficult in the virtual classroom.To provide their expertise on equitable education, four education leaders will speak at INFORUM on the challenges and opportunities offered by online schooling. They are Dr. Shawn Ginwright, professor of Africana Studies at San Francisco State University; Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammel, superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District; Dr. Natalee Kēhaulani Bauer, assistant adjunct professor of race, gender and sexuality studies at Mills College; and moderator Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith, director of diversity, equity and inclusion at the Wright Institute Clinical Program.Join three Bay Area education experts at INFORUM and with the Club’s education initiative, Creating Citizens, to learn more about teachers’ vital role in the construction of an anti-racist future.NOTESThis conversation is presented in partnership with Generation Thrive, the Golden State Warriors' new game-changing, a first-of-its-kind nonprofit hub that supports the effectiveness of Bay Area academic-focused nonprofits and schools through education and wellness support.SPEAKERSNatalee Kēhaulani BauerPh.D, Assistant Adjunct Professor of Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Mills CollegeShawn GinwrightPh.D, Professor of Africana Studies, San Francisco State University; AuthorKyla Johnson-TrammelPh.D, Superintendent, Oakland Unified School DistrictAllison Briscoe-SmithPh.D., Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, The Wright Institute Clinical Program—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 February 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices