Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Famed astronomer Avi Loeb returns to The Commonwealth Club to answer some of the biggest questions facing humankind: How do we prepare ourselves for interaction with interstellar extraterrestrial life? And can our species itself become interstellar?

Loeb, the longest-serving chair of Harvard's Astronomy Department, shook the scientific community when he theorized that our solar system had been visited by a piece of advanced alien technology from a distant star. The object, dubbed 'Oumuamua, sparked worldwide discussions and arguments, and Loeb was at the center of it all. 

Now, in his new book Interstellar, Loeb builds on that original idea and asks, What's next? He gives a call to arms that reimagines the idea of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. Dismantling our science-fiction-fueled visions of a human and alien life encounter, he provides a blueprint for how such an interaction might actually occur, resetting our cultural understanding and expectation of what it means to identify an extraterrestrial object. From awe-inspiring searches for extraterrestrial technology, to the heated debate of the existence of unidentified aerial phenomena, Loeb provides a thrilling, front-row view of the monumental progress in science and technology currently preparing us for contact. He also lays out the profound implications of becoming—or not becoming—interstellar; in an urgent, eloquent appeal for more proactive engagement with the world beyond ours, he contends why we must seek out other life forms, and in the process, choose who and what we are within the universe.

Tens of thousands of people have viewed Dr. Loeb's 2022 Commonwealth Club program. Don't miss his return engagement as he raises some of the most important questions facing us as humans and argues that scientific curiosity is the key to our survival.

NOTES

In association with the Club's Humanities Forum and Wonderfest.

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Summer's over and fall is about to begin. Come on out to our beautiful headquarters on San Francisco's waterfront for an end-of-summer Week to Week political roundtable!

At Week to Week, we're dedicated to the lively and informed discussion of politics—with a good sense of humor—as a platform for healthy involvement in the issues that drive our society. The Commonwealth Club's Week to Week Political Roundtable and social hour, now in its 12th year, will take a look at the politics of the day—the issues, the people, and the trends affecting our political world.

Come early before the program and enjoy some wine and snacks with others, then grab a seat in the auditorium to hear our panel of political experts discuss the latest developments with knowledge, civility and humor.

NOTES

See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs.

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In today’s world, the acceleration of megatrends—increasing longevity and the explosion of technology, among many others—is transforming life as we know it.

Leading sociologist and business economist Mauro F. Guillén explains that a new postgenerational workforce known as “perennials”—individuals who are not pitted against each other either by their age or experience—will level the playing field so everyone has a chance at living a rewarding life.

He argues that outmoded terms like Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z have long been used to pigeonhole us into rigid categories and life stages that artificially prevent people from reaching their full potential.

Join us as Guillén reveals how this generational revolution will impact young people just entering the workforce as well as those who are living and working longer.

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Stories are the way we remember, the way we share knowledge, the way we play out possible outcomes. Climate fiction imagines dark or bright futures depending on how we address the climate crisis. And there’s a healthy debate about what kind of stories move more people to act: dark tales of a scary climate future or positive versions of a greener, more just world. “I think that if you want to create change in a democratic society, people have to believe that there is actually a threat,” says author Paolo Bacigalupi.

Telling inclusive fictional stories of climate realities can also help us process the disruptions our world is experiencing, explore avenues for solutions, and become inspired to take our own form of action. 

Guests:

Paolo Bacigalupi, author, “The Water Knife” 

Denise Baden, Green Stories Project; Professor of Sustainable Business at the University of Southampton; author, “Habitat Man”

Tory Stephens, Climate Fiction Creative Manager, Grist

This episode also features an excerpt of the audio recording of “The Cloud Weaver’s Song,” written by Saul Tanpepper and recorded by Curio.

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/fairytales-and-fear-stories-our-future

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Two eclipses of the sun are coming to North America during the 2023–24 school year—an annular (“ring of fire”) eclipse on October 14, 2023 and a total eclipse on April 8, 2024. People in two narrow paths will have the full eclipse experience each time. Everyone else (an estimated 500 million people, including all of us in the Bay Area) will see a nice partial eclipse, where the moon covers a good part of the sun.

Dr. Andrew Fraknoi will describe how eclipses come to be (and why they are total only on Earth), what scientists learn during eclipses, exactly when and where the eclipses of 2023 and 2024 will be best visible, and how to observe the eclipses and the sun safely. 

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

A Humanities 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.

In Association with Wonderfest.

Everyone who attends this program in person will receive a free pair of safe-viewing glasses for the eclipse (which enable you to look at the sun without eye damage), courtesy of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Fraknoi photo courtesy the speaker' eclipse images from NASA.

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As the build out of infrastructure for electric passenger vehicles gets underway, another segment of transportation is just starting down the road to electrification: heavy duty trucks. It’s one of the hard-to-decarbonize parts of our economy. Right now, nearly all long-haul trucks run on fossil fuels. And if we continue with business as usual, freight will become the highest-emitting part of the transportation sector by 2050. That’s why seven states, led by California, have mandated that an increasing number of zero-emission trucks be sold between now and 2035. What does the road to zero emissions trucking look like? 

Guests: 

Ray Minjares, Heavy-Duty Vehicles Program Director, International Council on Clean Transportation 

Mike Roeth, Executive Director, North American Council for Freight Efficiency

Chris Shimoda, Senior Vice President, California Trucking Association

Adam Browning, Executive VP, Forum Mobility

Rudy Diaz, CEO, Hight Logistics

This episode features a freelance piece from Emily Cohen in Wyoming on trucker views on EVs

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/road-zero-emissions-trucking

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Michelle Meow will sit down with American actress and transgender activist Shakina, to discuss the current state and future of the transgender arts and how we can uplift and support their community. 

Join us for this free program in Palo Alto!

This program is part of a collaboration with TheatreWorks New Works Festival: Songs and Stories with Shakina. Please visit https://theatreworks.org/new-works/nwf/shakina/to find out more about how to participate in other events after this program has concluded.  

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By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer shifts our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle and focuses on how those who were enslaved in California fought, fled, and resisted human bondage. In unyielding research and vivid interviews, Pfaelzer exposes how California's appetite for slavery persists today in the trafficking in human beings who are lured by promises of jobs but who instead are imprisoned in sweatshops or remote marijuana fields, or are sold as nannies or sex workers.

Pfaelzer relates the history of slavery in California across its entire spectrum, from indentured Native American ranch hands in the Spanish missions, children sent to Indian boarding schools, Black miners, kidnapped Chinese prostitutes, and convict laborers to the victims of modern human trafficking, and she argues that California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build and farm the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaskan Natives down to the California coast—the first slaves to be transported to California. The Russians also launched the Pacific slave trade with China. Southern plantation slaves were marched across the plains to help their owners mine during the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison was the incubator for California’s carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold to caged brothels in early San Francisco. And Indian boarding schools supplied farms and hotels with unfree child workers. 

Pfaelzer's provocative history of slavery in California could rewrite people's understanding of the settling of the West, and redefine the actual paths to eventual freedom for many Americans.

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

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With unprecedented numbers of anti-trans and anti-LBTQ+ bills being presented in state legislatures across the country, Tiffany Woods says it is critical that we stand up and fight for trans, nonbinary, and LGBTQ+ people now more than ever. In 2023, more than 500 anti-trans bills have been introduced in 36 states across the country, rolling back decades of progress on trans rights fueled by transphobia, deliberate misinformation, discrimination, and misplaced fear under the false guise of “protecting children, girls and women.”

These bills by GOP lawmakers across the country have been focused on prohibiting trans health care for youth, and at least 10 states have already passed such bans. Proposed bills range from gender-affirming care bans, bans on transgender youth participating in sports, bills that bar trans people from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender, and LGBTQ school censorship on what schools can say about LGBTQ people, to drag bans and bans on name and pronoun changes on government-issued documents.

Trans youth, who have been the primary focus of anti-trans legislation this year, are experiencing a mental health crisis: A 2022 survey by the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention group focused on LGBTQ youth, found that 86 percent of trans or nonbinary youth reported negative effects on their mental health stemming from the political debate around trans issues, and nearly half had seriously considered suicide in the past year. We will highlight the worst of these legislative attacks and the collective efforts to fight back from communities impacted and the states protecting trans and LGBTQ rights.

About the Speaker

Tiffany Woods is a nationally awarded LGBTQ+ leader and chair emeritus of the California Democratic Party LGBTQ Caucus, the first trans woman elected a caucus co-chair, and a member the Democratic National Committee’s Transgender Advisory Committee. In 2020, she was honored by the California Legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus as a 2020 Pride Honoree. She has 21 years experience in public health with expertise in HIIV prevention and trans health and is currently serving as the first state transgender health manager at the Office of AIDS, Prevention Branch, California Department of Public Health, where her primary responsibility is the development and coordination of departmental and statewide programs and trainings focused on gender and trans health education, with a focus on statewide coordination of HIV prevention services related to the health and well-being of transgender individuals in California.

This program contains explicit content.

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This year is shaping up to be the hottest year in 125,000 years. It may also be the coolest year a child born today will ever see. In “The Quickening,” science writer Elizabeth Rush documents her journey to Antarctica’s infamous “doomsday” glacier as she contemplates what it would mean for her to have a child at this time of radical change. In “Humanity’s Moment,” IPCC climate scientist Joëlle Gergis wrestles with their own questions of how we can all find enough hope to restore our relationships with ourselves, each other and the environment. 

Guests:

Elizabeth Rush, Author, “The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth” 

Joëlle Gergis, IPCC Climate Scientist, author, “Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope” 

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/navigating-science-and-feelings-destabilized-planet

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