Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Small acts of courage matter—and sometimes they change the world. Our history books are filled with the stories of those who fought for democracy and freedom against all odds, from Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. These iconic struggles for social change illustrate the importance of engagement and activism and offer a template for the battles we are fighting today. But using the right words is often easier than taking action; action can be hard, and costly.

More than a century ago, MSNBC host Ali Velshi’s great-grandfather sent his seven-year-old son to live at Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi’s ashram in South Africa. This difficult decision would change the trajectory of his family history forever. From childhood, Velshi’s grandfather was imbued with an ethos of public service and social justice, and a belief in absolute equality among all people―ideals that his children carried forward as they escaped apartheid, emigrating to Kenya and ultimately Canada and the United States.

In Small Acts of Courage, Velshi taps into 125 years of family history to advocate for social justice as a living, breathing experience―a way of life more than an ideology. Join us in-person or online to hear him relate the stories of regular people who made a lasting commitment to fight for change, even when success seemed impossible. Learn how we can breathe new life into the principles of pluralistic democracy.

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As countries around the world become more serious about reducing carbon emissions to meet international targets, many are still approving new oil and gas projects, committing us to increased global warming. Yet an increasing number of countries are taking a stand to leave those future emissions in the ground, even at the expense of their own profits. 

Last year, Ecuadorians voted to halt the development of new oil wells in the Yasuní National Park in the Amazon, keeping around 726 million barrels of oil underground. Meanwhile, Costa Rica and Denmark have created the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance to facilitate the managed phase-out of oil and gas production. And a group of at least 13 countries — including many island nations — but also notable oil and gas-rich countries like Colombia — are calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty as a complement to the Paris Agreement. Can more nations set aside valuable profits from fossil fuel resources in favor of our collective desire for a livable climate?

This episode also features a story on Yasuní National Park produced by Mateo Schimpf and reported by Kimberley Brown.

Guests:

Tzeporah Berman, Chair, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

Kevin Koenig, Climate, Energy, and Extractive Industry Director, Amazon Watch

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For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Join Commonwealth Club World Affairs and Council for Korean Americans for an inspirational and thought-provoking fireside conversation with James Rhee, the acclaimed CEO, investor and national bestselling author of red helicopter – a parable for our times. Rhee is one of the top thought leaders and innovators in leadership, change, and entrepreneurship—his TED Talk and interview with Brené Brown about his shocking and transformative tenure as the CEO of Ashley Stewart, a business with deep roots in the African American community, have captured the imagination of millions.

Rhee is changing hearts and minds about the role of kindness and math in our society, including the workplace. For his efforts, he earned an unprecedented appointment at Howard University, where he serves as the Johnson Chair of Entrepreneurship. Rhee also holds appointments at MIT Sloan School of Management and Duke Law School. He was elected to serve in the inaugural class of Ashoka E-to-E Fellows and was recently honored as the recipient of 2023 Council of Korean Americans Trailblazer. He continues to serve on the boards of Xponance and JP Morgan Chase Advancing Black Pathways.

In conversation with Yul Kwon, CKA board member and vice president of product management at Google, Rhee will discuss the themes and predictions underlying his book, which made its debut as USA Today’s #7 overall book across all formats and channels. He will also discuss red helicopter’s rapid global expansion (the Korean translation will be finished later this year) and the adaptation of the operating system into music, curricula, and film.

This program is presented in partnership with the Council of Korean Americans.

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Join us live for an informative, inspiring and uplifting special event!

Juneteenth (June 19) is the federal holiday (beginning in 2021) commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

Honoring Juneteenth, join us for “Standing Tall": A Celebration of Black Resilience Through Solo Performances presented by The AfroSolo Theatre Company. "Standing Tall” is an evening of performances with theater, dance, music and historical-based content that delve into the extraordinary resilience of Black men, navigating the challenges and triumphs unique to the Black male experience.

Hosted by Mistress of Ceremony Monetta White, executive director and CEO of the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD).

AfroSolo Theatre Company is committed to amplifying Black voices and narratives through solo performances, creating transformative experiences that resonate across diverse audiences.

Featured PerformancesAlgerion "KTG" Bryant II premieres "Standing Tall," a dance work reflecting the communal power of art and personal resilience.

Peter Fitzsimmons presents a narrative and slide presentation, delving into the glorious history of San Francisco's Fillmore District, the Harlem of the West.

Ranzel Merritt performs "Supreme: Tribute to John Coltrane," captivating audiences with his saxophone skills and musical prowess.

Marcus J. Paige performs "There Is No Hatred Here," a solo work exploring the Civil Rights Movement through seven compelling characters.

MLF ORGANIZER

Dr. Anne W. Smith

An Arts Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

This program contains EXPLICIT language.

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Despite his many alleged improprieties, no group has been more intensely and closely aligned with Donald Trump than white evangelical Christians—some even going so far as to elevate him to the status of "savior." Yet, just as Trump fractured political norms, his presidency has splintered white evangelical families with a reactionary movement of people leaving the church: EXvangelicals.

Drawing on her own personal religious journey, NPR reporter Sarah McCammon is a guide to understanding the immense support for Trump among white evangelical Christians, the backlash among former believers, and what this tells us about a divided America and the culture wars.

After spending her early adult life striving to make sense of an unraveling worldview, by her 30s, she found herself face-to-face with it once again as she covered the Trump campaign for NPR, where she witnessed first-hand the power and influence that evangelical Christian beliefs held on the political right. Growing up in a deeply evangelical family in the Midwest in the ‘80s and ‘90s, McCammon was strictly taught to fear God, obey him, and not question the faith. Persistently worried that her gay grandfather would go to hell unless she could reach him, or that her Muslim friend would need to be converted, McCammon was a rule-follower and—most of the time—a true believer. But through it all, she was increasingly plagued by fears and deep questions as the belief system she'd been carefully taught clashed with her expanding understanding of the outside world.

Part memoir, part investigative journalism, McCammon’s The Exvangelicals is the first definitive book to explore the cultural, social and political impact of the post-evangelical movement.

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

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Just what is the machinery that powers hugely influential propaganda? How does it work? Who’s behind it? And what can people do about it?

Renée DiResta, a writer and former researcher with Stanford’s Internet Observatory, comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to share her research into the way power and influence have been profoundly transformed, how a virtual rumor mill of niche propagandists increasingly shapes public opinion. She says that while propagandists position themselves as trustworthy Davids, their reach, influence, and economics make them classic Goliaths—invisible rulers who create bespoke realities to revolutionize politics, culture, and society. Their work is driven by a simple maxim: if you make it trend, you make it true.

By revealing the machinery and dynamics of the interplay between influencers, algorithms, and online crowds, DiResta vividly illustrates the way propagandists deliberately undermine belief in the fundamental legitimacy of institutions that make society work. This alternate system for shaping public opinion, unexamined until now, is rewriting the relationship between the people and their government in profound ways. It has become a force so shockingly effective that its destructive power can seem limitless. Scientific proof is often powerless in front of it. Democratic validity is bulldozed by it. Leaders are humiliated by it.

But they need not be. Join us as DiResta not only predicts the consequences of these online propagandists but offers ways for leaders to rapidly adapt and fight back.

NOTE: This Podcast contains Explicit content.

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Adam Met is a behind-the-scenes climate policy powerhouse. He also happens to be the bass player in the award winning indie pop group AJR. During Met’s time away from touring the world and rocking the bass in front of thousands of fans, he and the team at Planet Reimagined, the thought and action tank Met founded, set out on a cross country listening tour in order to better understand how to create bipartisan climate policy.

What they came up with is a plan to help renewable energy projects get built on land that has already been approved for fossil fuel projects, thus cutting down on the time and red tape required to get the projects up and running. Met also works with organizations like REVERB to help decarbonize the concert experience. 

Guests: 

Adam Met, Founder, Planet Reimagined, Bass Player, AJR

Lara Seaver, Director of Projects, REVERB

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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In 2022, India surpassed the United Kingdom as the fifth largest economy in the world. Since the 1990s, a series of U.S. presidents and secretaries of state have acclaimed India as a rising major power that deserves to be recognized as a lead actor in the international arena.

T.V. Paul, an international relations professor at McGill University, explores in his new book The Unfinished Quest the key motivations driving Indian leaders to enhance India's global status and power, but also on the many constraints that have hindered its progress. Paul's analysis of India's quest for status also sheds important light for understanding the China-India rivalry, as well as India's relative position in the broader Indo-Pacific theater.

Join us for a special online-only program to hear Paul’s sweeping account of India's uneven rise in the global system. Whether India can be a "swing power" able to mitigate China's aggressive rise depends on its relative power position in that theater and its own evolution as an inclusive, tolerant democracy that can develop and utilize its most priced asset, the demographic dividend, says Paul.

MLF ORGANIZER

Dr. Kalidip Choudhury, Ph.D.

An Asia-Pacific Affairs Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

This program contains EXPLICIT language.

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Is hustling and grinding to “do it all” doing you in? Are you feeling fried and frayed, with a short fuse, low energy, and troubled sleep? Can't remember what you used to enjoy? But quitting your job doesn't feel like an option, and who has the energy and time to learn new coping skills or plan an escape? You’re not alone. Burnout is the modern epidemic, with an estimated 82 percent of American employees at risk in 2024.

That's why the Club chose Cara Houser, who was a high-performing executive running major real estate development projects while raising two kids, to talk about real burnout solutions for real people. In her first career, Houser spent 20 years learning how to thrive in the 24/7, always-on real estate development business. Her teams produced more than 3,000 homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, creating over $1.5 billion in value. Trying to be everything to everyone (except herself), she hit the wall and burned out, badly.

Houser has now spent years focusing on what can be done to help people in burnout. She constructed a practical and inspiring guidebook that works for people who are so burned out that they don't have the emotional, physical, or financial resilience to follow the usual Internet tips of "relax, learn yoga, go for a run, brainstorm your ideal job."

That's what makes her approach so refreshing and useful. It meets you where you are: with barely enough energy to get through the day and zero interest in adding more expensive "self-care" to your overflowing to-do list. Houser says her realistic, no-fluff roadmap guides you step by step out of burnout and into creating a vibrant, joyful, fulfilling life.

Did you know that one of the ingredients for healing from burnout is enlivening experiences and supportive connections? Join us for an engaging, interactive program, with Cara Houser. You’ll leave feeling energized, inspired, resourced, and ready to chart a new course that lights you up. The world needs your spark, and your time to shine is now.

MLF ORGANIZER: Eric Siegel

A Personal Growth Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

This program contains EXPLICIT language.

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Join us for an afternoon focused on automation and innovation for public good.

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to revolutionize transportation in our cities, offering increased accessibility and efficiency in our urban transport systems. The 8th Autonomous Vehicles and the City symposium at The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California will feature global discussions from senior executives and experts across the AV industry and the public sector. From integrating automation and AI within public transit systems to optimizing resources like curbs and city rights-of-way for autonomous vehicle operations to reduce vehicle miles traveled, the conference will touch on the variety of ways AV platforms are being used to serve diverse populations and help global cities meet climate goals.

Speakers and Moderators

Dr. William (Billy) Riggs, Professor, University of San Francisco; Director, Autonomous Vehicles & the City Initiative

Dr. Otgontsetseg Erhemjamts, Dean, School of Management, University of San Francisco

Sharon Giovinazzo, CEO, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired San Francisco

Mollie Cohen D'Agostino, Executive Director, Mobility Science, Automation and Inclusion Center (MoSAIC) at UC Davis

Arielle Fleisher, Policy Development and Research Manager at Waymo

Brook Dubose, Associate Principal and Cities, Planning & Design Leader at Arup

Dr. Henriette Cornet, Professor, University of San Francisco; Strategic Mobility Consultant

Tim Haile, Executive Director, Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA)

Dr. James Fishelson, Executive Director, PATH at UC Berkeley 

Dr. Sven Beiker, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Mobility; Lecturer, Stanford University

Ron Thaniel, Senior Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Zoox

Dr. Michael Goldman, Professor, University of San Francisco; Associate Dean of Graduate Programs

Hosted by the University of San Francisco School of Management. In partnership with The Commonwealth Club of California

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