Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

The Greatest Generation, having faced the Great Depression and fought World War II with a clear goal and responsible leadership, ended up enduring a generational divide with their Baby Boom children, because their continuing trust in American political leadership did not erode as quickly as their children’s did during the 1960s. The Vietnam War’s lies, deaths, destruction and deteriorated goals, arriving at the same time as political assassinations and the ongoing cultural violence in reaction to a seemingly simple plea for racial equality, undermined many a family’s intergenerational communications.Prior to serving as secretary of defense in JFK’s cabinet of “the best and the brightest,” Robert McNamara was a skilled executive who had helped turn around the Ford Motor Company. Craig, his youngest child and only son, came of age in the political tumult and upheaval of the late 1960s and took part in anti-war demonstrations in direct conflict with his father’s policies. Then he traveled by motorcycle across Central and South America to learn the art of agriculture so that he could make “an honest living”.Because Our Fathers Lied tells the story of a father and son at a pivotal period in American history. Join us to discuss the issues of the 1960s all over again with someone who lived the generational conflict more intimately than almost anyone else.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge HammondSPEAKERSCraig McNamaraFounder and President, Center for Land-Based Learning; Owner, Sierra Orchards; Author, Because Our Fathers Lied: A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to TodayIn 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 July 14th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ian Morris returns to The Commonwealth Club for an online discussion of his latest research into the deep history of the human race. In the wake of Brexit, Morris now tackles the 8 millennia history of Britain's relationship to Europe as that relationship keeps changing in the context of a continually globalizing world.When Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, the 48 percent who wanted to stay and the 52 percent who wanted to go each accused the other of stupidity, fraud and treason. But the Brexit debate merely reran a script written 8,000 years earlier, when rising seas physically separated the British Isles from the European continent.Morris describes how technology and organization have steadily enlarged Britain's arena, and how its people have turned this to their advantage. For the first 7,500 years, the British were never more than bit players at the western edge of a European stage, struggling to find a role among bigger, richer and more sophisticated continental rivals. By A.D. 1500, however, new kinds of ships and governments had turned the European stage into an Atlantic one. With the English Channel now functioning as a barrier, England transformed the British Isles into a United Kingdom that created a worldwide empire. Since 1900, however, Britain has been overshadowed by American, European and Chinese actors. But Morris says that in trying to find its new place in a global economy, Britain has been looking in all the wrong places. The great question for the 21st century is not what to do about Brussels, but what to do about Beijing.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge HammondSPEAKERSIan MorrisThe Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics and Professor in History, Stanford University; Author, Geography is Destiny—Britain's Place in the World: A 10,000 Year HistoryIn 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 July 19th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Along with aviation, the construction industry is one of the hardest to decarbonize sectors in the global economy. Cement and steel production together are responsible for about 15% of global CO2 emissions. But look around our modern world and it’s hard to imagine doing without these materials. Carbon-negative cement has been talked about for years, and innovations in steel production show promise as well, but is either technology ready for primetime? And what about replacing these materials with engineered wood, which could also store carbon for decades?Guests: John Fernández, Professor of Architecture, MITChathurika Gamage, Manager, Climate Aligned Industries, RMIRadhika Lalit, Chief Strategy Officer, RMI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UC Davis Professor of Law Mary Ziegler is one of the world’s leading authorities on the U.S. abortion wars and the history of reproductive rights in this country. Since the leak of a draft of a Supreme Court majority opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade and the guaranteed right to an abortion, Ziegler has been one of the most sought-after experts on this issue.Ziegler's timely new book Dollars for Life: the Antiabortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment, explores how the antiabortion movement remade the Republican Party and led to this current historic moment. She traces how the anti-abortion movement helped to revolutionize the rules of money in U.S. politics and persuaded conservative voters to focus on the federal courts. Ziegler offers a surprising new view of the slow drift to extremes in American politics and says it had everything to do with the strange intersection of right-to-life politics and campaign spending. Her previous books have explored the legal history of Roe v. Wade and the role of privacy rights in the abortion debate.At a historic time that might mark a turnaround in abortion rights, The Commonwealth Club is pleased to host a true expert on the topic and this historic moment. You won't want to miss this important conversation.SPEAKERSMary ZieglerProfessor of Law, UC Davis School of Law; Author, Dollars for Life: the Antiabortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment Vikrum AiyerMember, Inforum Advisory Board—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 July 13th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The recent white supremacist shooting in Buffalo that targeted African-Americans renewed attention to the global rise in white nationalistic terrorism. The shooting in Buffalo, which has brought domestic terrorism charges to the alleged assailant, included a digital manifesto that copied and mirrored previous manifestos—infused with racism and anti-Semitism—that accompanied previous terrorist shootings in New Zealand, Norway and the United States. The increasing numbers of these incidents and their similarities are signs of a growing but diffuse white power movement that is alarming terrorism experts globally. One of those most concerned is Dr. Daniel Byman, an author, professor and leading global counter-terrorism expert.Byman's new book Spreading Hate: The Global Rise of White Supremacist Terrorism draws upon vast amounts of research and years of experiencing analyzing the spread of the global phenomenon of white supremacy and white power. Explaining that after 9/11 pushed white supremacist terrorism to a secondary category of concern of security authorities, Bymam says this allowed the movement to spread, grow and influence followers around the world. He warns that in addition to undermining faith in Western democracy, worsening political tensions and wildly spreading conspiracies across social media, this movement will continue to grow and metastasize without authoritative action to stop it. He calls for a new era of international intelligence cooperation, crackdowns on technology companies and aggressive global law enforcement to reduce the urgent threat from this decentralized and often poorly understood movement.Join us as Dr. Byman explains the historical rise of the white power movement, and what steps can be taken to reducing this increasingly lethal global threat.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 July 13th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alice Waters, a Bay Area icon and influential chef, discusses her book 'We Are What We Eat' and the importance of slow food culture. Topics include: the dangers of fast food, the impact of industrial farming, the empowerment of prioritizing and nurturing a different kind of food culture, memories of Europe and Montessori education, concerns about the fast food culture and embracing slow food values, connecting with nature and sensory-focused learning, establishing values in schools, collaboration with regenerative farmer Bob Kanard, and the bread revolution as a catalyst for a sustainable world.

The climate crisis is a growing driver of human migration, exacerbating the misery of already struggling communities. According to the UN Refugee Agency, climate change typically creates internal displacement within countries before it pushes people across national borders. While much of this displacement is involuntary, many with wealth and foresight are able to move before they personally feel the most devastating effects. How well are governments prepared to handle an influx of people driven from their homes – and support those who are left behind? Guests:Abrahm Lustgarten,  Senior Reporter at ProPublicaColette Pichon Battle, Esq., Co-Executive Director, Taproot Earth Kayly Ober, Senior Advocate and Program Manager, Climate Displacement Program, Refugees International Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From 2000 to 2022, one thing is certain: What it means to be Republican has changed. To former Republican political consultant Tim Miller, the GOP started down a path to disaster in the early 2000s. Lack of strategic decision making within the Republican Party at that time set the stage for Donald Trump to take over the party Miller once loved. He now seeks to answer a simple question: “Why did normal people go along with the worst of Trumpism?”Tim Miller is an author, activist and consultant who has held many positions within Republican campaigns. He has served as co-founder and political director for the advocacy group Republican Voters Against Trump and director of communications for Jed Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign. During his time in the Republican Party, he served in a variety of positions, including co-founder and executive director of the opposition research firm America Rising and “forensic analyst” for Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 presidential campaign.In his new book Why We Did It, Miller cuts through the past two decades of political shifts, compromises and decisions made by the GOP that he says set it on a collision course with Trumpism and led to the events of January 6. Giving an honest look at his own work in the Republican Party, Miller uses raw interviews, forgotten history and personal accounts in a biting, darkly satirical retelling of the transformation of the GOP, leading up to his eventual departure from the party in November 2020.Join us as Miller recounts the roadmap of how we got here, and what the story of one of the greatest party shifts in American history can tell us about the future of the nation.SPEAKERSTim MillerWriter-at-large, The Bulwark; Political Analyst, MSNBC; Host, "Not My Party" on Snapchat; Communications Director, Jeb Bush 2016; Author, Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell; Twitter @timodcIn Conversation with Dan PfeifferCo-host, "Pod Save America"; Author, Battling the Big Lie: How Fox, Facebook, and the MAGA Media Are Destroying America; Twitter @danpfeifferIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded on July 11th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a special online program live from Thailand, Matcha Phorn-In will join us for a discussion focused on how vulnerable populations who are "invisible" are impacted by racism, homophobia, transphobia, and gender inequities.Matcha Phorn-In is a lesbian, feminist human rights defender, passionately committed to building peoples' movements to advance human rights and justice. She has 15 years of experiences working to empower youth and people from the most marginalized communities, including LGBTQ, Indigenous, ethnic minorities, young women and girls, the stateless, undocumented refugees, and more. She is the founder and executive director of the Aangsan Anakot Yawachon Development Project. Matcha Phorn-In has also served as president of the board of directors of APWLD (Asia-Pacific Forum on Weomen, Law and Development), a member of the board of directors for Internation Femily Equality Day, and president of the board of directors for ILGA ASIA Foundation.SPEAKERSMatcha Phorn-InExecutive Director, Sangsan Anakot YaowachonMichelle MeowProducer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—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 July 7th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re on track for yet another summer of record wildfires in the western U.S., endangering lives, displacing communities, and sending unhealthy smoke across the nation. The science is clear: human-caused climate change is making lands more conducive to burning, and we are increasingly living in flammable landscapes. Forest experts say there are tools to help reduce the risk of catastrophic fires, keep forests alive as valuable carbon sinks and make communities more resilient to megafires. But we may also have to become accustomed to more fire – and smoke – in our lives. How can we better live with fire, including using it as a tool, rather than always fighting it?This week, we also take a deep dive into the recent Supreme Court case West Virginia v. EPA with Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Berkeley Law.Guests:Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Berkeley Law Stephen Pyne, author, The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next Susan Husari, member of the California Board of Forestry and Fire ProtectionChad T. Hanson, author, Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our ClimateJaime Lowe, author, Breathing Fire: Female Inmate Firefighters on the Front Lines of California’s Wildfires Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices