Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

The year 2018 is shaping up to be a major battleground for control of state governments and the U.S. Congress. Closer to home, we will see a spirited competition to replace the late Mayor Ed Lee in San Francisco's City Hall. Join us as we discuss the biggest, most controversial and sometimes the surprising political issues with expert commentary by panelists who are smart, are civil and have a good sense of humor. Join our panelists for informative and engaging commentary on political and other major news, audience discussion of the week’s events, and our live news quiz! And come early before the program to meet other smart and engaged individuals and discuss the news over snacks and wine at our members social (open to all attendees).

Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris is a pioneer in the movement to transform how we respond to early childhood adversity and the resulting toxic stress that dramatically impacts our health and longevity. A survey of more than 17,000 adult patients’ adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as divorce, substance abuse or neglect, proved that the higher a person’s ACE score, the worse his or her health. This led Burke Harris to an astonishing breakthrough: Childhood stress changes our neural systems and lasts a lifetime. As the founder/CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco, Burke Harris has brought these scientific discoveries and her new approach to audiences at the Mayo Clinic, American Academy of Pediatrics, Google Zeitgeist and Dreamforce. Her TED Talk, “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime,” has been viewed more than 3 million times. Come for a fascinating discussion on how addressing past childhood trauma can result in a better adulthood.

As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who went into hiding, Rachel Lev has always been fascinated by the resilience of people who survive extreme trauma. Her father’s story was one reason, among others, that she collaborated on Collective Trauma, Collective Recovery: Promoting Community Resilience in the Aftermath of Disaster, a book that examines resilience in the face of political genocide and natural disaster. After finishing this study, Lev spent years working with women who survived genocide as well as domestic and sexual violence. A question guiding Lev’s academic and therapeutic work has been: Why are some women more resilient than others? Drawing from neuroscience and genetics, Lev takes a biopsychosocial approach in examining resilience. She asks: What strengths and weaknesses are we born with? Which strengths and weaknesses do we develop as we face extreme challenges? How does the brain handle trauma, and what happens to the brain following multiple traumas?

This panel discussion offers up-to-the-minute insights into what's new and what's on the horizon in the field of aging in America, and invites thoughtful responses from representatives of the Club's Grownups Forum. Join us, in association with Mary Furlong and Associates, for the capstone VIP lunch and wrap-up of to the 15th Annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit. Come and hear industry leaders, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists share the highlights from the Aging In America Conference and the What’s Next Boomer Summit, followed by an in-depth thoughtful response by members of the Grownups Forum. MLF ORGANIZER John Milford MLF: Grownups In association with Mary Furlong and Associates

In the 1990s and 2000s, in the midst of the decades-long civil war, and with the complicity of much of the country's military and political establishment, Colombian paramilitary groups with close ties to drug cartels massacred, raped and tortured thousands. In There Are No Dead Here, three ordinary Colombians—a prosecutor, an activist and a journalist—risk everything to uncover the truth about the paramilitaries' hold on the government. Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's gripping narrative takes readers from the sweltering Medellín streets, where criminal investigators were hunted by assassins; through the countryside, where paramilitaries wiped out entire towns; and into the corridors of the presidential palace in Bogotá. The result is an unforgettable portrait of the valiant men and women whose tireless work offers hope amid the cascade of corruption and brutality. MLF ORGANIZER NAME Linda Calhoun

Hopping on an airplane is one of the worst things anyone can do for the climate, quickly blowing away the emissions savings earned by a vegetarian who walks to work and otherwise treads lightly on the Earth. So how do people still justify international travel? To see the wonders of the Arctic and Himalayas before they melt? Advocates for eco travel say going abroad can still have a positive benefit when done mindfully. Climate One Adventurers Scholarship Greg Dalton founded Climate One in 2007 after traveling to the Arctic with scientists and journalists. Each year, Climate One pays it forward by sending a Bay Area high school student to have their own life-changing journey at the top of the world. Students currently in grades 9-12 who attend this event are eligible to apply for a Climate One Scholarship to travel in July with Students on Ice. Students must attend this Climate One program at the Commonwealth Club to be eligible and are responsible for their own airfare to Ottawa. Applications are due March 30th.

From the beat of the drum to the stroke of the brush to the power of the spoken word, art has been central to the Bay Area’s long history of activism. It’s those movements that have partnered closely with artists that have had some of the strongest ripples, from immigrant rights to the LGBTQ pride movement. In its many forms, art has the power to touch hearts, change minds and strengthen communities during difficult times. Today, as we face a new set of challenges, protest art is experiencing a renaissance in the Bay Area. With the click of a mouse, movement artists are engaging new audiences on a whole new set of platforms. Join the San Francisco Foundation, together with some of the Bay Area’s most renowned “artivists,” to discuss the role of art in today’s social justice movements.

In 2007, a short blog post on Valleywag, the Silicon Valley gossip site of Gawker Media, outed PayPal founder and billionaire investor Peter Thiel as gay. Thiel's sexuality had been known to close friends, but he didn't consider himself a public figure and believed the information was private. According to author Ryan Holiday, Thiel then began to plot his revenge. Thiel’s plan found him with an unlikely ally: wrestling star Hulk Hogan. After receiving an unsanctioned sex tape featuring Hogan, Gawker published the controversial video. Holiday says this was the opportunity Thiel was looking for; he would pit Hogan against Gawker in a multiyear proxy war through the Florida legal system, culminating in a $140 million dollar judgment against Gawker, leading to its bankruptcy and closure. Only later would the world learn that Gawker's demise was not incidental—it had been masterminded by Thiel himself. The verdict and the reveal of Thiel as its mastermind stunned the world. Why had he done this? How had no one discovered it? What would this mean for the First Amendment? For privacy? For culture? Join us as Ryan Holiday recounts this wild tale.

Michelle Munson will discuss how the expanded use of cloud computing and other developments in the information technology sector will usher a new era in which content such as pictures, videos and other data will prove key. MLF ORGANIZER NAME Gerald Harris NOTES MLF: Science & Technology

Russia: Preparing for the Post-Putin Era Following the Russian elections on March 18, Vladimir Putin will likely have just won a fourth (and probable final) term as president. Come for a discussion with Ambassador John Beyrle on “Russia: Preparing for the Post-Putin Era.” Beyrle served as an American diplomat for more than three decades in foreign postings and domestic assignments focused on Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and Russia. He was twice appointed ambassador—to Bulgaria (from 2005–08) and to Russia (from 2008–12). During the latter assignment, he led the implementation of policies resulting in improved United States–Russian relations, highlighted by the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization and liberalized visa formalities. Beyrle’s diplomatic service included two earlier tours at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, most recently serving as deputy chief of mission. He also served as counselor for political and economic affairs at the U.S. embassy in the Czech Republic and a member of the U.S. delegation to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, negotiated in Vienna. In Washington, he served as special adviser to the secretary of state for the New Independent States and director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. As a staff officer in the 1980s, he traveled extensively with George Shultz and James Baker, former secretaries of state. Beyrle currently serves on the board of directors of the U.S. Russia Foundation for Economic Advancement and the Rule of Law.