Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Though he holds no official worldly rank, the Dalai Lama is widely seen as one of the most insightful leaders of the modern era. His emphasis on nonviolent protest, compassion, and reason are the foundation of his teachings. With these values, Dr. Robert Thurman believes there is a powerful hope for reconciliation, peace and enlightenment. In his book, Dr. Thurman gives the detailed life story of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, from his early childhood and escape into exile, to conflicts with the Chinese Communist Party, and finally, his role as a truly global inspirational figure with special insight on Tibetan culture and identity. Dr. Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and president of the Tibetan House U.S. He has popularized the Buddha’s teachings in the West and has authored several books on Tibet, Buddhism and most recently his good friend the Dalai Lama XIV. Dr. Thurman is also the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan monk by the Dalai Lama.

The distinguished panel will discuss the escalation of tensions between Qatar, a tiny, oil-rich state, and the Persian Gulf nations of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt, all of which broke diplomatic relations with Qatar because of its support of the Islamic State, its sponsorship of Al Jazeera and its close ties to Iran. Adding to the difficult situation is the fact that the United States has a huge airbase and more than 10,000 troops in Qatar.

The best parts of many things are often hidden, and food is no exception. Chef Chris Cosentino’s goal is to help you discover these forgotten gems in food. In his new cookbook, Offal Good: Cooking from the Heart, with Guts, Cosentino explores the hidden world of underappreciated ingredients and the best ways to prepare them—from tongue to trotter. Through creative recipes and the best ingredients, Cosentino will educate us on delicious, often missed opportunities. Offal, animal organs and other parts, wasn’t always considered undesirable in American cuisine, and Cosentino seeks to make this true once again. Join us for a fun and entertaining evening with Cosentino as he provides insights on this adventurous and delicious cuisine. Cosentino is the winner of “Top Chef Masters” and has appeared on “Iron Chef America.” He is the executive chef of Cockscomb in San Francisco and has gained national acclaim for his understanding of offal preparation and cookery.

America is a nation of “death ostriches.” By denying mortality, death ostriches reduce the odds of living as well and as long as possible. Winning the Endgame will help you optimize the rest of your life. With author Ray Brown’s help, the audience will learn how to make wise decisions based on their staying power, how to evaluate the pros and cons of selling the house, and how to manage risk. Death ostriches suffer needlessly and die badly. Exiting gracefully requires long-term planning. Winning the Endgame can help you control when, where and how well you die. Brown has been a licensed real estate broker since 1976. He co-authored two best-selling For Dummies real estate books, wrote a syndicated real estate column, and hosted a call-in radio show about real estate for 16 years.

It’s hard being a young person today: 1 in 6 teenagers have seriously considered suicide, 1 in 5 binge drink, and 1 in 10 experience violence in a relationship. It’s harder still for young people from marginalized backgrounds to know how to make healthy decisions, especially as many attend schools that either lack or offer limited health education. The situation has serious implications for students’ academic achievement, dropout rates and life opportunities. Though this may sound like yet another intractable socioeconomic problem, Peer Health Exchange (PHE) has made measurable progress in addressing it. This innovative nonprofit organization strives to ensure that all young people have the knowledge, skills and resources needed to make healthy decisions. PHE provides skills-based health education in urban high schools in the Bay Area and elsewhere using volunteer college students as peer instructors. And it works: PHE aggressively assesses the impact of its programs, reports its results and reinvests in its most successful efforts. Join Louise Langheier, along with several current and former PHE participants and host teachers, to hear about the value of providing these health resources to young adults through this inspirational and practical approach. Louise Langheier is CEO of Peer Health Exchange. As an undergraduate at Yale University, she co-founded a student volunteer program out of which PHE grew. She was an Aspen Entrepreneurial Education Fellow and an Ashoka Fellow. Langheier sits on the Board of Directors of Generation Citizen and America Achieves and is actively involved with Dwight Hall at Yale’s Center for Public Service and Social Justice.

It is possible to protect profits and the planet. Despite claims that a win for the environment is a loss for the economy, corporations are finding innovative ways to have it both ways. These corporations are quickly realizing that protecting watersheds and ecosystems can also protect their business. Companies in many sectors are realizing the changing climate means they need to pay closer attention to the relationship between natural and financial capital. Investors are making money by investing in habitat restoration; this is done to offset the environmental impacts of mining and other industrial activity. Gretchen Daily argues that markets and nature can live in harmony if the incentives are aligned properly. For her work demonstrating we don’t have to trash the planet to live a better life, she recently won the $450,000 Blue Planet Prize, which is considered the Nobel Prize for environmental solutions. Join us for a conversation about how business and nature can learn to play nice.

In a comprehensive and disturbing history of viscose rayon, or “fake silk,” Paul Blanc sheds light on the environmental and public health hazards of producing this ubiquitous textile. In Fake Silk: The Lethal History of Viscose Rayon, Blanc asks a fundamental question: When a new technology makes people ill, how high does the body count have to be before protective steps are taken? This is a dark story of hazardous manufacturing, poisonous materials, environmental abuses, political machinations and economics trumping safety concerns. Blanc explores the century-long history of fake silk, which is used to produce products such as rayon textiles and tires, cellophane, and everyday kitchen sponges. He uncovers the grim history of a product that crippled and even served a death sentence to many industry workers while at the same time environmentally releasing carbon disulfide, the critical toxic component of viscose. Blanc received his bachelor's degree from Goddard College, where he first became interested in health and the environment. He later trained at the Harvard School of Public Health (in industrial hygiene), the Albert Einstein School of Medicine and Cook County Hospital. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of California, San Francisco and a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He was a resident scholar at the Rockefeller Bellagio Center in Bellagio, Italy and at the American Academy in Rome. More recently, he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

A Conversation About America and the World Senator Dianne Feinstein is one of the most accomplished women of our time, serving California in the U.S. Senate for nearly 25 years. During her tenure, she has served on numerous Senate committees and has pioneered many indelible legislative achievements. Before serving in the Senate, Dianne Feinstein was the first female president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the first female mayor of San Francisco. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992 with former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in the Year of the Woman, eventually becoming the first woman to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Intelligence Committee and Rules Committee. She has established a reputation as a bipartisan leader willing to work with both sides of the aisle to solve difficult problems. As California’s senior senator, she has focused her career on emphasizing national security, combatting crime, and protecting California’s waters, deserts and forests. Join Senator Feinstein for a wide-ranging discussion on her career as senator, California’s role on the national stage and current domestic and international challenges.

What makes America great? According to Floyd Abrams, it’s our exceptional protection of free speech under the First Amendment. From college campuses to cable news, the First Amendment has been at the center of many conflicts on both sides of the political spectrum. First Amendment rights, and the controversy surrounding these seemingly dry issues, have even captured the attention of President Trump on Twitter. The United States is unique in its protection of free speech, even for those we vehemently disagree with—at least for now. Though things have certainly been worse, Abrams warns we should not fall into the complacency and irresponsibility that can threaten the most valuable rights we are entitled to. Abrams is an attorney and expert on constitutional law as it relates to the First Amendment. Abrams has worked on several notable issues including the Pentagon Papers and Citizens United. He is recognized for his outstanding contributions in his advocacy of free speech and has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court frequently. In his new book, The Soul of the First Amendment, Abrams examines how unique the United States is: American law protects free speech more often, more intensely and more controversially than anywhere else in the world.

Across the country, the challenges of growing extremism, xenophobia, violence and filter bubbles, alongside a lack of mutual understanding and collective responsibility, plague communities and the country at large. Can public education be a part of the solution, or will it crumble in today’s political climate? Over the last 30 years, education reform has drastically changed American schools: The slashing of public dollars, the backlash against racial integration, test-and-punish policies, and other shifts have increased inequities and caused other divisions within our public school system. In just the past decade, the per-student funding gap between rich and poor schools has grown 44 percent, and public schools are more segregated by race and class today than they were shortly after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. The Trump administration heralds school choice and vouchers as the best solution to issues facing education, but access to and the quality of these systems are hotly debated. This leaves the American public with lots of questions: Can the promise of public education stand up to the current state of the country? Are there ways to uphold public schools as a bastion of democracy, civic engagement and inclusion? How can parents and citizens help revive the promise of public education? How can choice policies improve to serve disabled students, black children and English learners more equitably? Join Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times Magazine journalist, and Kristina Rizga, Mother Jones reporter and author of Mission High, as they reflect on their extensive reporting in schools—as well as their personal experiences. As they look ahead to the future of schools in America, Hannah-Jones and Rizga will highlight the key, largely invisible forces that are slowly eroding the promise of public education and the intentions and money that drive some of these promises.