Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard made headlines recently when he announced that he and his family had transferred their $3 billion stake in the storied outdoor gear company to a special purpose trust and nonprofit that would give away $100 million a year, specifically to environmental causes. Patagonia has a long history of donating at least one percent of its profits – and 100% of profits made on Black Friday – to grassroots environmental non-profits. Yet even with this massive gift, and Laurene Powell Jobs’ own recent $3.5 billion pledge, climate philanthropy still only accounts for a small fraction of all charitable giving. This Thanksgiving weekend, we look back to our 2016 interview with Yvon Chouinard and bring the story up to date with Inside Philanthropy’s Michael Kavate.Guests:Yvon Chouinard, Founder, PatagoniaMichael Kavate, Staff Writer, Inside PhilanthropyFor show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all need sleep to survive. It is essential to our physical and mental wellbeing and just as important as food, water and oxygen. So why do so many of us struggle to get a good night’s rest?Dr. Aric Prather runs one of the world’s most successful sleep clinics and shares effective techniques that he uses to help his own patients achieve healing and restorative sleep.Hear more about this powerful plan to improve your quality of sleep in just seven days.NOTESThe Commonwealth Club is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our online programming.SPEAKERSAric A. PratherProfessor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco; Author, The Sleep Prescription: Seven Days to Unlocking Your Best RestMark ZitterFounder, Zetema Project; Member, Commonwealth Club of California Board of Governors—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 November 7th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ramses the Great ruled Egypt more than 3,200 years ago, but he made sure we would still be talking about him today. He ruled for 67 years, probably starting on May 31st (III Season of the Harvest, day 27 to ancient Egyptians) in 1279 BC. He soon set about creating a new capital city in the Nile delta, where he had chariot, weapon and shield factories built. Not long thereafter he defeated the Sherden pirates who were seriously harassing sea traders in the Mediterranean, and “won” the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites in the largest chariot battle ever fought. He also had enormous temples, obelisks and statues erected all over the New Kingdom, and ordered lots of gold objects.Dozens of those objects are on display until February 12 at the de Young Museum in a state-of-the-art exhibit featuring the greatest collection of Ramses objects and Egyptian jewelry ever to travel to the United States. Along with colossal royal sculpture, the exhibit highlights recently discovered animal mummies and treasures from the royal tombs of Dahshur and Tanis. Visitors can also immerse themselves in multimedia productions that re-create moments from Ramses’s life or take a virtual tour of Abu Simbel and Nefertari’s tomb. The de Young’s ancient art curator, Renée Dreyfus, will share with us the stories of some of these art objects and how the de Young organized this outstanding and rare exhibit.Egyptologist Rita Lucarelli will explain the evolution of the funerary beliefs of ancient Egyptian society from their origins in prehistory to the time of Ramses. She will draw on her scholarly work on the Book of the Dead to discuss the magical texts found in royal and elite tombs and how they compare to the "personal piety" or "popular religion" of the Ramesside period, about which there are many sources to draw upon from that well-documented society.Among those documents is the earliest known peace treaty in world history—between Ramses II and Hattušili III, the Hittite king. It was recorded in two versions―one in Egyptian hieroglyphs and the other in Hittite using a cuneiform script. The two versions are nearly identical, but in the Hittite version the Egyptians are the ones who sue for peace, while in the Egyptian version the Hittites are the ones who sue for peace. Some things never change.SPEAKERSRenée DreyfusGeorge and Judy Marcus Distinguished Curator, Curator in Charge, Ancient Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young / Legion of HonorRita LucarelliAssociate Professor of Egyptology, Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, University of California, Berkeley; Faculty Curator of Egyptology, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley; Fellow, Digital Humanities in BerkeleyGeorge HammondAuthor, Conversations With Socrates—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 November 4th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, China’s ascension to power was promised to be peaceful, with the nation’s leaders adopting a restrained approach to foreign policy and reassuring the outside world of their non-combative intentions. What changed?Susan L. Shirk provides a sobering, behind-the-scenes account of China’s transformation from fragile superpower to global heavyweight—threatening Taiwan, tightening its grip on Hong Kong, and openly challenging the United States for economic and military dominance.Hear more about China’s future and what that could mean for the United States and the rest of the world.SPEAKERSSusan L. ShirkResearch Professor and Chair of the 21st Century China Center, The School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California, San Diego; Author, Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful RiseJane PerlezForeign Correspondent and Former Beijing Bureau Chief, The New York Times—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 November 3rd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse reveals how special interest groups are using “dark money” to influence and control our courts.In 2020, Sen. Whitehouse raised these alarming concerns during the Amy Coney Barrett hearing. He asserts that a group consisting of billionaires and corporations are using their wealth and power to back appointees and nominees that will advance a right-wing agenda and policies.Hear more about these growing implications and what this ultimately means for the future of our country.SPEAKERSSheldon WhitehouseU.S. Senator (D-RI); Author, The Scheme: How the Right Wing Used Dark Money to Capture the Supreme Court; Twitter @SenWhitehouseIn Conversation with Melissa CaenPolitical Analyst; AttorneyIn 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 7th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate One has been at this year's UN climate summit, COP27, where one of the issues at the forefront of the conversation has been “loss and damage” – the idea that rich countries who have historically emitted the vast majority of climate-disrupting pollution should have to pay for the resulting suffering borne by those least responsible for the problem. At the same time, the whole world needs to drastically reduce its emissions and transition to clean energy – and that costs money, too.When even wealthy countries struggle to meet self imposed goals to cut down on carbon pollution, how can developing countries, who are already suffering the effects of the climate crisis, fund their own moves to clean energy?Guests: Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, UN Climate Change High-Level Champions’ Special Advisor, Africa DirectorArunabha Ghosh, CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and WaterAlastair Marsh, Reporter, BloombergJohnson Cerda, DGM Global Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As America faces another election as a deeply divided country, Steve Phillips has strong views on what the United States needs to do to strengthen its multiracial democracy. For Phillips, understanding why the country is so divided requires recognizing that many of our divisions are historic in nature, resulting in a contest between democracy and white supremacy that is still left unresolved after the Civil War. In his new book, How We Win the Civil War, Phillips pulls no punches on what he thinks the country must do to bridge its divides, particularly around issues related to race. Phillips advocates for increasing voter participation, ending what he says are racist immigration policies, and reviving the Great Society programs of the 1960s—all of them geared toward strengthening a new multiracial democracy and ridding our politics of white supremacy.Join us for a powerful conversation on race, history, politics and finally overcoming our divisions.SPEAKERSSteve PhillipsPodcast Host, Founder, "Democracy in Color"; Author, How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good; Twitter @StevePtweetsIn Conversation with Angela Glover BlackwellFounder in Residence, PolicyLinkIn 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 3rd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Leslie Absher, secrecy is just another member of the family. Throughout childhood, her father's shadowy government job was ill-defined, her mother's mental health stayed off limits—even her queer identity remained hidden from her family and unacknowledged by Leslie herself.In Spy Daughter, Queer Girl, Absher pursues the truth: of her family, her identity, and her father's role in Greece's CIA-backed junta. As a guide, Absher brings readers to the shade of plane trees in Greece, to queer discos in Boston, and to tense diner meals with her aging CIA father. As a memoirist, Absher renders a lifetime of hazy, shapeshifting truths in high-definition vibrance.Infused with a journalist's tenacity and a daughter's open heart, this book recounts a decades' long process of discovery and the reason why the facts should matter to us all.About the SpeakerLeslie Absher is a journalist and personal essay writer. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Salon, Ms., Greek Reporter, and San Francisco magazine. Her father joined the CIA when she was a baby and shortly after her family moved to Athens, Greece. Just in time for a coup. She spent years trying to learn what her Cold War father's role was in that event. Her memoir Spy Daughter, Queer Girl is about growing up with a spy and the cost of keeping secrets.She received a master's in education from Harvard, taught G.E.D. to high school dropouts, and currently teaches study skills and writing to middle school and high school students. She lives in Oakland with her comic book writer/artist wife.www.leslieabsher.comNOTESThis program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.SPEAKERSLeslie AbsherJournalist; Author, Spy Daughter, Queer Girl; Twitter @leslieabsherMichelle MeowProducer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-hostJohn ZippererProducer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—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 November 3rd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Providing nutritious, safe and affordable food in the face of the Earth’s changing climate is an urgent global challenge. How can we produce enough food for everyone at the same time as improving our relationship with our environment? And can what we eat contribute to a more sustainable future for communities on the West Coast, across North America and around the world?Join the conversation with Peter Dhillon, chairman of Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., and Steve Banwart, dean for global development at the University of Leeds, as they explore how we begin to tackle the tensions between climate change and food supply.They’ll discuss how fostering closer collaboration and partnership between researchers, food producers, policymakers, communities and businesses worldwide will help us find pathways toward a radically different global food system—one that works with nature and adapts to our changing climate. They’ll also delve into how we challenge assumptions to break new ground in developing climate-smart, socially just solutions that will create a positive future for our people and planet.As the first Canadian chairman of Ocean Spray, Peter Dhillon has experienced first hand what it takes to build a global plant-based cooperative that remains closely connected to first nation, indigenous and immigrant communities. As chair of the the British Columbia Food Security Task Force, he was also instrumental in providing recommendations to the Canadian government on agricultural development needed in the province, which relies heavily on imported produce from California.Professor Steve Banwart is the dean for global development at the University of Leeds, and also the director of the Global Food and Environment Institute, which brings together leading scientists, engineers and social scientists working with universities, alumni, farmers and citizens around the world to find new solutions to enhance the future habitability of our planet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are the issues and opportunities for cities as autonomous vehicles hit the road? How can we plan for and accommodate new forms of transport and smart city infrastructure that serves the public good?Join us on November 7 as a part of the 6th international Autonomous Vehicles and the City symposium. We will feature international discussions on the different ways that new platforms are being used to serve diverse populations and help global cities meet climate goals.Join conversations with leaders from the following organizations and more: Motional, Nissan, Aurora, Smartcar, San Francisco County Transportation Authority, Cruise, Zoox, and Populus.In 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 7th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices