Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Every year millions of tourists from around the world come to California to see our famous redwoods. Yet few understand how unlikely it is that these last groves of giant trees still stand at all. Activist Greg King examines how investors and a growing U.S. economy drove the timber industry to cut down the giant redwoods on all but four percent of the original 2-million-acre redwood ecosystem. The land grab began in 1849, when a “green gold rush” of migrants came to exploit the legendary redwoods that grew along the Russian River. Several generations later, in 1987, Greg King discovered and named Headwaters Forest—at 3,000 acres the largest ancient redwood habitat remaining outside of parks—and then led the movement to save this grove. After a decade of one of the most dramatic and violent environmental campaigns in U.S. history, the state and federal governments finally protected Headwaters Forest in 1999. The Ghost Forest explores the mystery of what it was about this unique Northern California forest that was both so spectacular and yet so enticing as fuel for economic growth that it inspired a life-and-death struggle. Few but loggers and surveyors ever saw such magnificent trees, ancient sentinels that, like ghosts, have informed Greg King’s understanding of the world, and have inspired him to tell the story of their discovery and their exploitation, and to protect them against those determined to cut them down. MLF ORGANIZERAndrew DudleyNOTESA 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.This program contains EXPLICIT content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our food and agricultural systems are helping fuel the climate emergency. But climate isn’t the only harm; these systems also impact local economies, human dignity, and animal welfare. The upcoming Farm Bill presents an opportunity to infuse more climate-smart practices in American agriculture, which accounts for about 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But doing so involves confronting industrial practices that focus on short-term gains and commodity subsidies that have deep support in both parties. Senator Cory Booker has a plan to address our broken food system. He introduced legislation that would challenge large industrial beef and pork packagers and tilt the balance of power in our industrial agriculture system, giving family farmers, ranchers, and workers a better deal. But what chance do these elements have of passage? And what other options are there for decreasing the concentration of power in Big Ag?Guest: Cory Booker, United States Senator, New JerseyContributor: Elizabeth RembertFor show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Del Bonta will share how Shiva’s Many Dances and the celebrated ‘Nataraja’ pose is a culmination of how the ultimate depiction of Shiva’s essence evolves over time in a dynamic conception among the Hindu trinity of gods (the Trimürti).Del Bonta creates an engaging aspect of one of the Hindu trinity gods, reflecting on how the iconic image of Shiva Nataraja the "Lord of Dance" illustrates a creative and destructive power over eons of time. Shiva’s nature as both male and female is also a constant theme. Shiva manifests many other forms suggestive of power and mythological stories of dance or in prayers. It's but a tiny introduction to a major dance visualization heritage.Teacher and curator Dr. Robert Del Bonta's work has been presented in exhibition venues such as San Francisco's Asian Art Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Mills College, Notre Dame de Namur University, Art Passages in San Francisco and New York City, Portland Museum of Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art. He has lectured widely at museums and institutions in the United States, and published numerous articles and exhibition catalogue contributions on South Asian art with thematic focus largely on Indian art of the Jainas.MLF ORGANIZERAnne W. Smith and George Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Six years ago, Richard Rothstein’s important book, Color of Law, made a powerful case that direct and indirect government action and policies at the federal, state and local levels had caused segregation and the resulting social problems throughout the United States. The book was a best seller and significantly influenced discussions of the systemic impact of segregated communities on a range of outcomes in education, health and workforce participation. It stands as one of the most important recent books on residential segregation published in the past few decades.What that book did not do was provide enough solutions for citizens to pursue to address the legacy of state-sanctioned segregation. In their new book, Just Action How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law, Rothstein and housing policy expert Leah Rothstein provide a blueprint on how to address segregation for concerned citizens and community leaders. The new book describes dozens of tangible strategies the Rothsteins say readers and supporters can undertake in their own communities to make their commitment real and create tangible change that might finally challenge residential segregation and help address the legacy of America's profoundly unconstitutional past.The Rothsteins provide a tool kit for activism and advocacy, with myriad real-life examples from communities, groups and individuals that have confronted segregation-related challenges from legal, real estate, banking, and commercial development standpoints. They also counter misconceptions about the consequences of integration and make their case for closing the wealth gap that has made homeownership unaffordable for many middle-class Americans, particularly African-Americans. Please join us for a critical conversation about how people can be empowered to address the legacy of state-sanctioned segregation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a child, Sarafina El-Badry Nance spent nearly every evening with her father gazing up at the flickering stars and pondering what secrets the night sky held. The daughter of an American father and Egyptian mother, Sarafina dreamed of becoming an astronomer. But it wasn’t long before she was told, both explicitly and implicitly, that girls just weren’t cut out for math and science.In a field that sees few women and women of color, Sarafina reflects on the obstacles that she faced to pursue her passion for the cosmos.Join us for an in-depth talk with astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who cleans up and rebuilds our communities after floods, fires, and hurricanes? COVID redefined America's definition of “essential workers,” but many who help communities recover from climate disasters remain underpaid and overlooked. In 2006, labor organizer Saket Soni got an anonymous call from an Indian migrant worker in Mississippi who had scraped together $20,000 to apply for the “opportunity” to rebuild oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina. The caller was only one of hundreds lured into Gulf Coast labor camps, surrounded by barbed wire, and watched by armed guards. Since then, the frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters has only increased – and disaster recovery has become big business. How are the lives of people displaced by disasters intertwined with those helping to rebuild?Guests:Saket Soni, Founder and Director, Resilience ForceDaniel Castellanos, Director Of Workforce Engagement, Resilience ForceFor show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extreme heat kills more people per year than any other climate disaster. It preys on the poor, exacerbates racial inequalities, and there is a growing body of evidence that shows women and girls are increasingly susceptible to heat-health effects. Globally, women and girls represent 80% of climate refugees. They are more likely to be displaced, suffer violence and die in natural disasters. As temperatures rise, children’s test scores decrease, gender violence increases, and miscarriage rates go up. But preventing heat deaths is possible. From Europe to Africa, Chief Heat Officers throughout the world are implementing projects to make cities more climate-adaptive. Guests:Kathy Baughman McLeod, Director, Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center; Senior VP, Atlantic Council Eleni Myrivili, Global Chief Heat Officer, UN HabitatEugenia Kargbo, Chief Heat Officer, Freetown, Sierra Leone Freelance piece from Hellen Kabahukya on mud wattle construction in UgandaFor show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join us for clips and conversation with three award-winning Bay Area women documentary filmmakers.These women are changing the way we see our world through their important work. They will share their process of making the films, choosing, and developing their subjects as we view a clip from each of their latest films. They will also discuss the challenges they have faced as women in the industry and in getting their films funded and distributed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food is more than just sustenance or nourishment. Food brings us together and connects us to family, history, migration and beyond. Perhaps no one understands this better than food columnist Illyanna Maisonet, who has spent years documenting her family’s Puerto Rican recipes and preserving the island’s disappearing foodways through rigorous research.Maisonet was the first Puerto Rican food columnist in the continental United States. Her San Francisco Chronicle column, “Cocina Boricua,” was dedicated to safeguarding traditional Puerto Rican recipes and exploring food throughout the Puerto Rican diaspora.Maisonet’s cookbook, Diasporican, provides a visual record of Puerto Rican food, ingredients and techniques. She shares deeply personal recipes—some even passed down from her grandmother and mother—that trace the island’s flavor traditions to the Taino, Spanish, African, and even United States’ cultures that created it. Shaped by geography, immigration and colonization, these dishes reflect the ingenuity and diversity of their people.Join as we celebrate and learn more about the essence of Puerto Rican culture and cuisine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a time of existential crisis, Pakistanis continue to believe that infusing the right "Islamic" spirit into the population will somehow see it through. Critics say that experience shows otherwise.Pakistanis—both religiously orthodox and liberal—believe that the founder of Pakistan had a game plan for the state after it came into being in 1947. There was none.Nationalist Hindus imagine India was populated in ancient times by a Hindu nation whereas nationalist Muslims tie Pakistan's origin with pre-existing Muslim identity and the first Muslim invader arriving on Indian soil. Historical evidence refutes both.The author will discuss these and other myths that are widely held in Pakistan as well as in India.Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from MIT and is also a prominent anti-nuclear activist. His earlier book was Confronting the Bomb: Pakistani and Indian Scientists Speak Out. As an advocate for science and reason in Islam, his first book was Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality, which included a foreword by the physics Nobel Prize winner Abdus Salam.As a science popularizer, Hoodbhoy received the UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize. Earlier he had received the Burton Award for Electronics and the Abdus Salam Prize for Mathematics. He is also a recipient of the Joseph A. Burton Award from the American Physical Society, is a sponsor of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and was included among the top 100 global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine in 2011. Hoodbhoy’s newest project is The Black Hole, a community center in Islamabad for nurturing science, art, and culture. It houses an auditorium for speakers who would otherwise go unheard, a library, and a science lab for children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices