Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Every year, Climate One grants an award in memory of pioneering climate scientist Steve Schneider, who fiercely took on the denial machine from the 1970s until his death in 2010. This year's recipient is German physicist and ocean expert Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf. Dr. Rahmstorf says we’re running toward a cliff in a fog. What can science tell us where that cliff is – and how to avoid it? In a time of oceanic changes happening at an unprecedented pace, Dr. Rahmstorf exemplifies the rare combination of superb scientist and powerful communicator. He works to convey the impact of climate disruption on ocean currents, sea level rise, and increasing extreme weather events fueled by warmer oceans. We also talk with past Schneider Award winner Ayana Elizabeth Johnson about the need for broader inclusion among climate leaders. What can the study of past ice ages tell us about our climate future? And what should be the role of scientists in the public sphere?Guests: Stefan Rahmstorf, Co-Head of Research, Department on Earth System Analysis of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK); Professor of Physics of the Oceans, University of PotsdamAyana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist, writerFor show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As American society ages, there is growing concern and interest about the causes of mental decline and how to slow it. However, serious mental decline is not an inevitable part of the aging process, according to popular scientist Dr. Marc Millstein. According to him, people can boost short- and long-term brain health and significantly lower the risk of dementia if the right steps are taken now.In his new book, The Age-Proof Brain, Dr. Milstein reveals his secrets to improving brain function, which he says lie in the brain’s surprising connection with the rest of the body. Debunking common misinformation, the book offers science-driven strategies focused on improving memory and productivity, increasing energy and boosting your mood, reducing the risk of anxiety and depression, and preventing nongenetic Alzheimer’s and dementia. Dr. Millstein believes that small changes can make a big difference right away.  Please join us for an important program that can provide tools people need to ensure a happy and healthier future. MLF ORGANIZERRobbie KilpatrickSPEAKERSMark MillsteinScientist; Researcher; Author, The Age-Proof Brain: New Strategies to Improve Memory, Protect Immunity, and Fight Off DementiaRobert Lee KilpatrickPh.D., Chief Strategic Development Officer, Phenome Health; Chair, Health and Medicine Member-Led Forum—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 December 12th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although there are many effective treatments for depression, rates of depression are not going down. The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine have recommended that we implement currently known effective preventive interventions for depression to reduce the number of new cases.This talk will present a personal 50-year path committed to preventing mental disorders and influencing major health-science institutions to implement practices to prevent depression; examples of the types of prevention interventions currently available, with illustrations of the methods that have been found most useful (so that lay persons in a broad audience can envision what can be done to prevent clinical depression); a focus on preventing depression during pregnancy and postpartum, the benefit to the mother and to the baby, and how the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended that pregnant persons at risk for depression be provided with preventive interventions that have been shown to be effective—and how doing this can have lifetime impact on the health of the babies; how digital tools can be harnessed to reach as many people as possible with these interventions, making it possible to “think globally, act locally and share globally.”Given that we can now prevent half the cases of clinical depression, what needs to be done to prevent the other half? Bottom Line: The health sciences have made major progress in terms of learning how to prevent depression. We now need to act by putting these methods into practice and reduce much of the suffering due to depression.About the SpeakerRicardo F. Muñoz, Ph.D., emigrated from Perú at age 10. He obtained his B.A. from Stanford in 1972 and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Oregon in 1977. He was named distinguished professor of clinical psychology at Palo Alto University in 2012, where he is the founding director of i4Health, the Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4health.paloaltou.edu). He is professor of psychology, emeritus, at the School of Medicine of the University of California, San Francisco, based at San Francisco General Hospital, where he taught and did clinical work and research for 35 years, and adjunct clinical professor at Stanford University. Muñoz has served on three U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Consensus Committees on prevention of mental disorders. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science “for distinguished contributions towards the prevention of major depression and the development of Internet interventions to improve mental health worldwide.”SPEAKERSRicardo F. MuñozPh.D., Founding Director, i4Health; Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, School of Medicine, University of California San FranciscoPatrick O'ReillyPh.D., Chair, Psychology Member-led Forum, The 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 December 8th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a conversation with Elaine Forbes, the Port of San Francisco's executive director. Forbes will shed light on Port strategy and managing the 7.5. miles of San Francisco's waterfront, and its impact on the economic vitality of the Bay Area and beyond.About the SpeakerElaine Forbes is the executive director of the Port of San Francisco. She is a passionate champion and advocate for the San Francisco waterfront. An innovative and compassionate leader, she has provided a steady hand at the helm during a period of great change and a global pandemic. Mayor Edwin M. Lee appointed Director Forbes in 2016.Forbes is leading the Port and public through a waterfront renaissance. Central to her work is ensuring that all new developments on the waterfront align with key Port objectives of economic recovery, equity, and resilience. Due to her leadership, neighborhood communities at Pier 70, Mission Rock, and 88 Broadway provide more open space, new affordable homes, and robust climate change measures to ensure the new developments will serve future generations. She secured a $425 million bond from San Francisco voters, and additional resources from agencies, to create a safer and more resilient Embarcadero. As the guardian of the public’s historic resources and open space, she is addressing the capital deferred maintenance of the historic Embarcadero piers.Deeply committed to an open and accessible waterfront, Forbes has expanded open space and bay access for the public. She has overseen the addition of several acres of open space, creating more public access to nature and the bay. One of the signature park openings is Crane Cove Park, a seven-acre southern bayfront park that contributes to and expands the Port’s necklace of public open spaces along San Francisco’s iconic waterfront.MLF ORGANIZERLinda CalhounSPEAKERSElaine ForbesExecutive Director, Port of San FranciscoLinda CalhounChair, International Relations Member-led Forum—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 15th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who is Vladimir Putin?In the West’s collective imagination, Putin is a deceitful cartoon villain, constantly plotting to destroy his enemies not only in Ukraine but around the world. But how did a mid-level KGB officer become one of the most powerful leaders in Russian history?In a unique graphic novel format, Russian expert Andrew Weiss chronicles Putin's political rise and reveals the truth behind the persona that Putin has spent his career cultivating. Weiss offers a compelling look at the myths surrounding Putin as a take-no-prisoners political mastermind and exposes who is really behind the façade.Andrew Weiss is the James Family Chair and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he oversees research in Washington and Moscow on Russia and Eurasia. He previously served as director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council staff and was a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff during the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s become common for homeowners to install solar panels to provide themselves with emission-free electricity. But increasingly more attention is being paid to decarbonizing things inside the home – the machines that heat and cool water and air, dry our clothes and cook our food. The Inflation Reduction Act includes many ways for homeowners and renters to start to electrify their lives. And in some places, builders are developing highly efficient, all electric homes from the get-go. What more is needed to make our buildings greener and get away from fossil fuels?Guests:Mark Chambers, Sr. Director Building Emissions & Community Resilience, White House Council on Environmental QualityBruce Nilles, Executive Director, Climate ImperativeContributing Producer: Cody Short, WBHMFor show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Do We Know About the Moon?July 20, 2019 is the 50th anniversary of humanity’s first steps on the surface of the moon. In that time, the Apollo missions, a fleet of robotic probes and observations from Earth have taught us a lot about Earth’s surprising satellite. In this nontechnical talk, Andrew Fraknoi, who is sometimes called the Bay Area’s public astronomer, will look at the past, present and future of the moon, including its violent origins, the mystery of the frozen water we have found at its poles and its long-term future as it moves farther and farther away from us. Illustrated with beautiful images taken from orbit and on the surface, his talk will make the moon come alive as an eerie world next door, as a changing object in our skies, and as a possible future destination for humanity and its ambitions. Come find out how the achievements of the Apollo program fit into the bigger picture of our involvement with our only natural satellite.Fraknoi recently retired as the chair of the astronomy department at Foothill College and now teaches noncredit astronomy courses for seniors at the Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State. He also served as the executive director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for 14 years and was named the California professor of the year in 2007. Fraknoi appears regularly on local and national radio, explaining astronomical developments in everyday language. The International Astronomical Union has named Asteroid 4859 after Fraknoi in honor of his contributions to the public understanding of science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Julia Morgan was a lifelong trailblazer. She was the first woman admitted to study architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the first licensed to practice architecture in California. Born in San Francisco and trained in Paris, she developed a distinctive aesthetic that now defines certain regions of California. But only in the last 20 years has her contribution to architecture been fully recognized and celebrated. In 2014, the American Institute of Architects posthumously awarded her its Gold Medal; she is the first female recipient. Victoria Kastner has spent years compiling photographs, interviews, letters, drawings, and diaries—including material never published before—to create a comprehensive portrait of this amazing woman.Of Julia Morgan’s remarkable 700 creations, from hotels to churches to private homes, the most iconic is Hearst Castle. She spent 30 years constructing this opulent estate on the California coast for the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, forging a lifelong friendship and creative partnership with him. Together they built a spectacular and perhaps unequalled residence that once hosted the biggest stars of Hollywood's golden age, and that now welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the United States was founded in 1776, its citizens didn’t think of themselves as “Americans.” They were New Yorkers or Virginians or Pennsylvanians. It was decades later that the seeds of American nationalism—identifying with one’s own nation and supporting its broader interests—began to take root. But what kind of nationalism should Americans embrace? The state-focused and racist nationalism of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson? Or the belief that the U.S. Constitution made all Americans one nation, indivisible, which Daniel Webster and others espoused? Paul tells the fascinating story of how Webster, a young Dartmouth graduate and New Hampshire attorney, rose to political prominence by capturing the national imagination through his powerful oratory and unwavering belief in the United States. In his speeches—on the floors of the House and the Senate, in court, and as secretary of state—Webster argued that the Constitution was not a compact made by states but an expression of the will of all Americans. As the greatest orator of his age, Webster saw his speeches and writings published widely, and his stirring rhetoric convinced Americans to see themselves differently, as a nation bound together by a government of laws, not parochial interests. As these ideas took root, they influenced future leaders, among them Abraham Lincoln, who drew on them to hold the nation together during the Civil War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Mehrdad Ayati has identified eight critical challenges that currently face the aging population. Join Us at the Club for a discussion on healthy aging and Dr. Ayati’s proposed solutions to these critical challenges.Topics will include global aging trends and demographics, over medications, inappropriate use of vitamins and supplements to stay young, promoting healthy aging rather than just a diagnostic system, and lack of training in health care. Plus, what are the lessons that we have learned from the pandemic? How will it affect the future of our aging population?Dr Ayati is well-known nationally and internationally in the field of geriatric medicine, as a physician, speaker, author, and an educator. As the medical advisor to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, he raises awareness and provides advice on aging and challenges faced by the aging population in the United States. Dr. Ayati is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of General Medicine, Open Access, and co-author of Paths to Healthy Aging. He is currently a member of the Ethnogeriatric and Quality & Policy Performance Committees of the American Geriatrics Society. He also serves as a community health advisor for Alzheimer's Association, Northern California, and Nevada Chapter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices