Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

By Commonwealth Club of California

News & Politics Government & Organizations National Local

What's Commonwealth Club of California Podcast about?

The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Please click the link below and visit our website to learn more about The Commonwealth Club and don't forget to become a member!

4.1

242 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

When Is More Not better? Ho...

10.20.2020

Growth in the economic prosperity of the average family in America has slowed to a crawl, especially since the deep economic pain of the COVID-19 pandemic. As corporations wake up to the urgent need for change—as evidenced by the Business ...

Commonwealth Club of California Podcast episodes:

10.20.2020 When Is More Not better? How to Nurture Resilience Growth in the economic prosperity of the average family in America has slowed to a crawl, especially since the deep economic pain of the COVID-19 pandemic. As corporations wake up to the urgent need for change—as evidenced by the Business ...
10.20.2020 Brian Christian: The Future of AI Time and time again we have created artificial intelligence (AI) systems to help solve our problems, but what happens when the AI systems become the problem? Artificial Intelligence systems have been created to help humans work faster, respond more justly, ...
10.19.2020 Climate Ambition with Gina McCarthy, Annie Leonard and Tamara Toles O’Laughlin How are the leaders of some of the nation's biggest environmental organizations responding to a year of race and health crises? Groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 350.org and Greenpeace helped move climate onto the presidential agenda ...
10.16.2020 John Judis: Is There a Socialist Awakening? In the aftermath the 2007–08 financial collapse, the increasing inequality seen in countries around the world, and the fallout from the global pandemic, there has been an increase in global citizen interest in exploring alternative economic systems.. In the United ...
10.16.2020 Transitions and Transformations: The Wonderful Journey of Midlife Women If you're going through a transition (and who isn’t?)—whether it's an empty nest; a career shift; dealing with ageism, divorce, the loss of a spouse or parents; not to mention hot flashes in the conference room—this event will support you ...
10.16.2020 Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett: How America Can Come Together Again Twenty years ago, eminent Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam wrote the nonfiction book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. In it, he lamented the decline of in-person social discourse, which Americans used to enrich the fabric of ...
10.15.2020 Aarti Shahani and DJ Patil: First Gen and Proud Award-winning NPR journalist and author Aarti Shahani and America's First Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil point out that the immigrant has become an object of distrust, scorn and even hatred. Yet they also say that for many immigrants, including both ...
10.15.2020 Immigration Is a Public Health Concern Donald Trump began his campaign for president by making immigration restrictions a centerpiece of his platform. He is ending his (first?) term with his administration dealing with the biggest public health crisis in decades. But there are a lot of ...
10.15.2020 A Feminist Climate Renaissance Pathways for reducing carbon emissions include electrifying transportation, replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar power. But in this time of national reckoning on racial and economic disparities there is growing support for a more holistic approach. This view holds ...
10.14.2020 Be Antiracist: Dr. Ibram X. Kendi Ibram X. Kendi is one of America’s foremost authorities on anti-racism, authoring books such as the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning and the number-one New York Times bestseller How to Be an Antiracist. Kendi’s new book, Be ...
10.14.2020 COVID-19 and Climate: Technology to the Rescue? Technology has helped the world survive, thrive and stay connected through the COVID-19 lockdown. As countries look toward re-opening in a post-pandemic world, does tech hold the same promise in the fight to solve climate change? From mapping weather patterns ...
10.13.2020 99% Invisible's Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt Curious minds seeking more information on the untold secrets (literally) surrounding them should look no further than "99% Invisible," the podcast hosted by Roman Mars that reports on how our lives are impacted by the architecture, transportation and infrastructure of ...
10.13.2020 The UAE and Bahrain Deals With Israel Our distinguished panel will discuss the U.S.-mediated deal (which President Trump calls "The Abraham Accord") between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and its impact on the Arab world, Iran and Turkey, and neighboring states. Some observers consider that this ...
10.13.2020 A Conversation with Jacques Pépin Master Chef Jacques Pépin has been influencing American tastes and cooking techniques for generations. The winner of 16 James Beard Awards, Chef Pépin has written 29 cookbooks and spent 4 decades on television. In this era when so many of ...
10.09.2020 Week to Week: California Election 2020 Special It's October, which means some people in California will have already voted early and others are planning to do it soon. Regardless of where your political sympathies lie, Election 2020 is a watershed election, and the decisions voters make on ...
10.09.2020 Critical Thinking and the Psychology of Confidence Reading the self-help literature could leave you with the impression that the goal in life is to maximize your confidence. On the other hand, research on overconfidence highlights all the ways in which people can get themselves into trouble by ...
10.09.2020 How Technology Is Reshaping Democracy and Our Lives Over the last several years, and especially since the 2016 election, the extraordinary impact of technology, particularly social media, on our privacy, democracy, economy, kids and families, race and gender roles, climate change and mental health, among other topics, has ...
10.08.2020 Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg In an America that seems increasingly divided, how can we regain trust in our government and in each other? Pete Buttigieg gained a comprehensive view of American democracy during his time as a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. ...
10.08.2020 Student Summit on Civics In these increasingly divisive and unstable times, it is more apparent than ever that the health of our democracy depends on educating and empowering young people to participate. But the barriers to their involvement can seem insurmountable: from the lack ...
10.07.2020 Rebecca Lissner and Mira Rapp-Hooper: Re-Imagining U.S. Foreign Policy Foreign policy experts Rebecca Lissner and Mira Rapp-Hooper paint a provocative picture of the United States’ future. As the country prepares for a presidential election of historic significance and charts its course in a post-pandemic world, they say the United ...
10.07.2020 John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge: COVID’s Wake-Up Call COVID-19 has been a startling wake-up call and exposed the medical and economic challenges of dealing with a pandemic. As the death toll continues to rise, what can be done to keep people safe? And why are some countries handling ...
10.06.2020 A Conversation with Peter Baker and Susan Glasser The early 1970s were a tumultuous time for the Republican Party—not unlike today. The party was battling national security risks, wrestling with the expansion of civil rights, and dealing with the political fallout of an embattled president. In order to ...
10.06.2020 JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century Join us for a virtual conversation with Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Fredrik Logevall, who has written a revealing biography about our iconic, yet still elusive, 35th president. At the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the ...
10.06.2020 Climate Justice: Radioactive and Toxic Waste, Racism, and Rising Oceans At the recent Global Training in July 2020, former Vice President Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project continued their call to prioritize and center the environmental justice work of communities of color and indigenous communities. In this spirit, we ...
10.05.2020 Novelist Ken Follett with Lee Child Ken Follett is one of the world's best-loved authors, selling more than 170 million copies of his 31 books. Follett's first bestseller was Eye of the Needle, a spy story set in the Second World War. In 1989, The Pillars ...
10.05.2020 A Conversation with John Lithgow John Lithgow’s acclaimed acting career has seen him star in shows like "3rd Rock from the Sun" and "The Crown" and films such as Bombshell and The World According to Garp. Now, he’s following up last year’s best-selling book, Dumpty, ...
10.02.2020 Lives of the Stoics, with Ryan Holiday and Kevin Rose Stoicism has found a new audience among those who seek greatness, from athletes to politicians and everyone in between. Its embrace of self-mastery, virtue and indifference to that which we cannot control is as urgent today as it was in ...
10.02.2020 American Health Care: What's Left After COVID-19? Join us for a virtual medical panel discussion about whether the COVID-19 crisis will end up trimming some of the waste out of America's health-care system or changing it more fundamentally. For this 10th Annual Lundberg Institute Lecture, previous TLI ...
10.02.2020 Police, Guns and the Politics of Race The United States is steeped in guns, gun violence―and gun debates. As arguments rage on, one issue has largely been overlooked―Americans who support gun control turn to the police as enforcers of their preferred policies, but the police themselves disproportionately ...
10.02.2020 P.J. O’Rourke: A Cry from the Far Middle Humorist P.J. O’Rourke says Americans have worked ourselves into a state of anger and perplexity, and it’s no surprise, because perplexed and angry is what America has always been about. In his new book, A Cry from the Far Middle, ...
10.01.2020 Sunny Hostin With Don Lemon: Identity, Race and Justice in America “What are you?” That’s a question that has followed Sunny Hostin throughout her life as a half Puerto Rican and half African-American woman. "The View" co-host chronicles her journey from growing up in a South Bronx housing project to becoming ...
10.01.2020 Sen. Jon Tester: How Democrats Can Win in Rural America In a political system more divided than ever, people like Senator Jon Tester can be the bridge. Jon Tester is a U.S. senator from Montana, a farmer, and . . . a Democrat. Tester was born and raised in Montana ...
09.30.2020 Lynne Cheney: Virginia and the Making of America Lynne Cheney knows the office of the presidency in a way very few do. As the wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney, she had a front row seat to the stresses, successes and sorrows shouldered by our nation’s top ...
09.30.2020 Adam Hochschild: Rebel Cinderella Join us for a virtual conversation with award-winning author Adam Hochschild about Rebel Cinderella, his new book that draws on Rose Pastor Stokes’s diary, dueling memoirs, letters, newspaper accounts and government surveillance reports to unearth the rich, overlooked life of ...
09.29.2020 Lavender Talks: Body Positivity in Kink Culture Join us for the latest in the Lavender Talks series, presented with San Francisco Pride and exploring a wide range of topics of interest to the LGBTQ world. In this program, we explore the role the "kink" subculture plays in ...
09.28.2020 H.R. McMaster, Former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster is one of the most celebrated modern military leaders in America. His achievements include serving as a captain during the Gulf War, being responsible for fighting the Iraqi insurgency during the war in Iraq, writing the widely-read book ...
09.28.2020 Being a Better Man with Michael Ian Black In his new book A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son, comedian and actor Michael Ian Black shares his personal reflections on what it means to be a man. Equal parts memoir and advice book, A Better ...
09.25.2020 Erin Brockovich: Superman's Not Coming Erin Brockovich was vaulted into national recognition in 2000, after the eponymous movie starring Julia Roberts made her a water activism icon. Famous for her focus on contamination, Brockovich says there is a larger threat facing water’s very existence: climate ...
09.25.2020 NPR’s Maria Hinojosa: Latino USA Discussions of immigration can feel not just deeply impersonal, particularly at the national level, but even negligent of the human cost of harsh immigration policies. In her new book, Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in ...
09.24.2020 Chemerinsky and Gillman: The Religion Clauses Join us for a virtual conversation with Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman, two of America's leading constitutional scholars, about the issues surrounding the freedom of religion clauses in the Bill of Rights. Views on the proper relationship between the state ...
09.23.2020 Guy Raz: How I Built This Few have dominated the podcast arena like Guy Raz. Raz co-created National Public Radio’s "How I Built This," "Wow in the World" and "TED Radio Hour." From program intern to podcast virtuoso, Raz has worked in many capacities at the ...
09.23.2020 Novelist Ken Follett with Lee Child Ken Follett is one of the world's best-loved authors, selling more than 170 million copies of his 31 books. Follett's first bestseller was Eye of the Needle, a spy story set in the Second World War. In 1989, The Pillars ...
09.23.2020 Accelerating Transformation: Lessons in Business Resiliency The global pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in all industries and made lasting business and human impact. Silicon Valley and Bay Area companies have, in many ways, been ahead of the curve and the center of attention for continued innovation. ...
09.23.2020 What Do You Know About Combatting COVID-19? An Interactive Program In mid-March California became the first state to mandate sheltering in place to fight the coronavirus. Since then we’ve been bombarded with information about masks, social distancing, quarantining and infection risks. Some of that information has changed over time, some ...
09.22.2020 Conversations with Distinguished Citizens: Recology's Mike Sangiacomo and Dennis Wu Join us for this special program in The Commonwealth Club's series recognizing recipients of The Club's 2020 Distinguished Citizens Award. This program honors both Recology, the company, and its leadership. Recology's mission represents a fundamental shift from traditional waste management ...
09.22.2020 Whole Foods CEO John Mackey: Conscious Leadership John Mackey started a retail and organic food movement when he founded Whole Foods, bringing natural, organic food to the masses and not only changing the market, but breaking the mold. In his new book, Conscious Leadership, Mackey closely explores ...
09.21.2020 Laura Flanders: A Radically Different Talk Show for These Radically Different Times Join us for a discussion with journalist Laura Flanders about the state of our country, politics, progressive talk radio, women in radio, and her brand new show on PBS. Laura Flanders is an Izzy-Award winning independent journalist, a New York ...
09.21.2020 PEN America's Suzanne Nossel: Defending Free Speech As the United States goes through its most seering domestic crisis in decades, navigating and defending free speech and cultivating a more inclusive public culture is critical for the future of the country, according to PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel. ...
09.18.2020 Sen. Sherrod Brown: Progressive Power in the U.S. Senate Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2006, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown has enjoyed broad support across the political spectrum as a populist advocate for blue-collar workers, unions and the middle class. When Brown arrived on the Senate floor, he ...
09.18.2020 Matthew Yglesias: The Case for Thinking Bigger Matthew Yglesias, cofounder of trend-setting news site Vox, has become an increasingly visible and provocative digital journalist, with a following that includes policy wonks of all ages, and top economic and political journalists. In his latest book, One Billion Americans: ...

Older episodes