Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

For years, fossil fuel companies have claimed to support climate science and policy. Many have recently pledged to hit net zero emissions by midcentury. Yet behind the scenes they fight those very same policies through industry associations, shadow groups, and lobbying – all while spending vast sums on advertising and PR campaigns touting their climate commitments. This week we focus on the PR and law firms helping fossil fuel companies delay the transition to clean energy while claiming they are on the side of climate protection.Guests: Benjamin Franta, PhD candidate in History of Science, Stanford University.Jamie Henn, founder and director, Fossil Free MediaKathryn Lundstrom, sustainability editor, AdweekChristine Arena, former Executive Vice President, Edelman; founder, Generous FilmsMichaela Anang, law student, UC Davis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Home” has been many places for Amartya Sen: from Dhaka, in modern Bangladesh, where he grew up; to Calcutta, where he studied economics; to Cambridge, England, where he taught and worked with other influential economists. With characteristic moral clarity, Sen reflects on the cataclysmic events that tore his world asunder, from the Japanese assault on Burma and India to the Bengal famine of 1943, the struggle for Indian independence, and the outbreak of toxic nationalism that accompanied the end of British rule. Still, Sen remains a fearless optimist, continuing even now to work on breaking down barriers between different ethnic groups.Home in the World encompasses penetrating ideas, fascinating people and unusual places, reflecting an empathy for all of humanity that is undeterred by distance and time due to Sen's being at home in the world—anywhere in the world.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge HammondNOTESMLF: HumanitiesThis program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by The Bernard Osher Foundation.SPEAKERSAmartya SenNobel Laureate, Economics (1998); Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University; former Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University; Author, Home in the World: A MemoirGeorge 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 February 1st, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Commonwealth Club’s Bank of America Walter E. Hoadley Economic Forecast will be held on February 4, at noon. It will feature a macroeconomic update from Stanford University's Michael Boskin, a former chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, and a focused look at inflation from leaders facing the issue on-the-ground in California, including the head of the second largest port in America, as well as the CEO of a global supply chain company.The forecast comes as the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into its second full year, and the U.S. economy is in a murky and confusing state. Growth has returned, yet it has been accompanied by historically high inflation that is impacting many sectors of the economy.Global supply chains have been strongly influenced by unpredictability in both virus waves and labor force participation, and planning for everything from inventory management to labor force participation continues to be in flux. Our annual forecast will focus on what this unpredictability will mean for the economy as a whole, particularly around inflation, and what it means for the American economy, American consumers and American investors in 2022.Join us for this important discussion.NOTESThis event is underwritten by Bank of America.SPEAKERSMichael BoskinPh.D., Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Chair, President George H.W. Bush's Council of Economic AdvisorsSarah BohnVice President and John and Louise Bryson Chair in Policy Research and Senior Fellow, Public Policy Institute of CaliforniaDr. Noel HacegabaDeputy Executive Director, Port of Long Beach, CaliforniaHannah KainPresident & CEO, ALOM TechnologiesMary HussPresident and Publisher, San Francisco Business Times; Member, Board of Governors, Commonwealth Club—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 4th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate crisis seems to be unfolding faster than ever before — with catastrophic floods, winter wildfires, and last summer’s killer heat. It’s becoming increasingly hard to mentally set climate aside as a future problem — it is here, real in our present moment. How do we grapple with the weight of these changes, and process our fear for what is coming for us, and for the next generation? And how do those emotions affect our decisions about whether or not to have children, who in many ways represent an embodied version of our hope for the future?Guests:Daniel Sherrell, Author, Warmth, Coming of Age at the End of Our WorldSeb Gould, physics teacherIrène Mathieu, pediatrician and poetVirginie Le Masson, co-director of the Centre for Gender and Disaster at University College London Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation.Join us for a conversation with Ian Urbana, director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a nonprofit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on environmental and human rights concerns at sea globally.MLF ORGANIZERAndrew DudleyNOTESMLF: People & NatureSPEAKERSIan UrbinaDirector, The Outlaw Ocean ProjectAndrew DudleyCo-Host and Producer, Earth Live; Chair, People & Nature 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 February 1st, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Valarie Kaur, Reyna Grande, and Richard Lui offer their unique perspectives about how the power of kindness, resilience and hope can move us forward as a community.Kaur will discuss how "revolutionary love" can heal our world; Lui will share his experience of how compassion impacts individuals and our community; and Grande will reflect on her own journey crossing the US-Mexico border as a child and the resilience she developed during her life.Each of their stories and experiences provides hope for our collective future and inspiration to become better people in the world.NOTESIn partnership with Santa Clara County Office of Education, Santa Clara County Library District, and San Jose Public Library.SPEAKERSReyna GrandeAuthor, A Dream Called Home: A MemoirValarie KaurFounder, Revolutionary Love Project; Author, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary LoveRichard LuiJournalist, MSNBC/NBC News; Author, Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of SelflessnessIn Conversation with Sal PizarroColumnist, Mercury NewsIn 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 January 27th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For nearly five years, NBC News technology correspondent Jacob Ward has reported on the unanticipated consequences of science and technology on our lives. His new book, The Loop: How Technology is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back, builds on this work by exploring the ways artificial intelligence is beginning to curate our choices for us, and how capitalism packages those choices for our unconscious acceptance. The consequences for individuals and our society from this unseen "loop" are tremendous, and growing every day.Artificial intelligence is changing the world as we know it. But the real danger isn't some movie-style robot that's going to enslave us; it's actually our own brains that are being re-shaped by technology, according to Ward. He explores how our brains are constantly making decisions using shortcuts, biases, and hidden processes using technology built to reinforce those very same processes. In short, he says it is a feedback loop—that magnifies our worst instincts so that we have fewer choices, leading to a potentially dangerous future.At this important talk, Ward will discuss how our brains make decisions and how artificial intelligence in such areas of policing, entertainment, parenting, the military and more are shaped by algorithms, and then how patterns of behaviors are shaped further by those very algorithms, creating patterns that organize and manipulate our lives., often without us even knowing it. Please join us as we question the on-going impact of the machines that humans created.SPEAKERSJacob WardTechnology Correspondent, NBC News; Author, The Loop: How Technology Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight BackDJ PatilFormer U.S. Chief Data Scientist; Member, Commonwealth Club 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 January 27th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a screening of Writing With Fire followed by a discussion with the filmmakers about their film and the topics raised in it.Into India's cluttered male-dominated news landscape comes Khabar Lahariya (Waves of News), India's only newspaper run by Dalit ("low caste") women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India's biggest issues or within the confines of their homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.Join us for a conversation with Suchmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas, the filmmakers behind the documentary Writing With Fire. They will be joining us from India. Learn how they chronicled the astonishing determination of these local reporters—who empowered each other and held responsible the unjust. Reaching new audiences through their growing platform, the women of Khabar Lahariya redefine what it means to be powerful.SPEAKERSSushmit GhoshDirector and Cinematographer, Writing With Fire; Co-founder, Black Ticket FilmsRintu ThomasDirector and Producer, Writing With Fire; 2021 Logan Elevate GranteeMichelle MeowProducer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on 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 January 27th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Antitrust enforcement is one of the most pressing issues facing America today. Google reportedly controls 90 percent of the search engine market, and Big Pharma has hiked drug prices up, making health care almost impossible to access for many.Senator Amy Klobuchar is leading the charge against monopolies. As Minnesota's senior senator, she has been a member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights.Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age draws from her experience in the Senate, along with history, to give readers a comprehensive view of how monopolies have changed over the years and how the government has adapted to it. Senator Klobuchar explores today's Big Pharma and what she calls its price-gouging, tech, television, content, and agriculture communities and how a marketplace with few players can hurt consumer prices and stifle innovation.Join us as Senator Amy Klobuchar talks about the fascinating history of the antitrust movement, shows us what led to the present moment, and offers achievable solutions to prevent monopolies, promote business competition, and encourage innovation.SPEAKERSAmy KlobucharU.S Senator (D-MN); Author, Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age; Twitter @amyklobucharIn Conversation with Sheera FrenkelTechnology Reporter, The New York Times; Co-Author, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination; Twitter @sheerafIn 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 January 26th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eve Rodsky knows more than a thing or two about relationship building, goal setting, and time management. In her newest book, Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World, Rodsky offers an in-depth look at how to identify and prioritize time for activities that will cultivate and unleash creativity in your life.Rodsky reveals what researchers already know: Creativity is not optional but essential—though most of us do need to remind ourselves how (and where) to find it.At INFORUM, she will bring her new book to life with how-to advice and big-picture thinking to reclaim your own “unicorn space.”NOTE: This program contains EXPLICIT languageSPEAKERSEve RodskyAuthor, Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World;Twitter @eve_rodksyIn Conversation with Minda HartsCEO, The Memo LLC; Professor, NYU Wagner; Host, "Secure the Seat" Podcast; Author, The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know To Secure a Seat At the Table; Twitter @MindaHartsIn 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 January 24th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices