Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

In late 2022, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory made a long-sought breakthrough, achieving self-sustaining “fusion ignition” for the first time and generating breakeven energy. Supporters see fusion as a game changer for production of unlimited clean energy that can help to address climate change globally. 

Please join us for a conversation with Dr. Kimberly Budil, director of Lawrence Livermore, about the significance of this achievement. Dr. Budil is the 13th director of Lawrence Livermore. A physicist, she is an expert on high-power, ultra-fast lasers. She has held previous positions at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy. She is the first woman to serve as LLNL director, and is one of the leading female scientists in the United States.

We look forward to seeing you for an inspiring evening with one of the Bay Area’s key scientific leaders, discussing where Lawrence Livermore's fusion research could lead and how long it might take to positively impact our energy future.

SPEAKERS

Kim Budil

Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Katie Hafner

Journalist; Host and Co-Executive Producer, "Lost Women of Science"—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 27th, 2023 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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The United States Foreign Service is confronting one of the most profound crises in its history. At a time of pandemic, recession and mounting global challenges, our nation’s career diplomats find themselves without the support, funding, training and leadership they need to represent the American people effectively overseas and in Washington, D.C., according to Ambassadors Marc Grossman and Marcie Ries and a team of career diplomats working on the American Diplomacy Project.

To successfully navigate the Ukraine conflict, the largest war in Europe since World War II, skilled American diplomacy is critical. If we’re going to deal with very difficult competitors, including adversarial countries like China and Russia, we’re going to need skilled diplomats at the table, in our embassies and consulates. To do this, we must transform not only the mission and culture of the Foreign Service, but also the education and training of diplomats to meet these urgent needs around the world.

Please join these two respected diplomats, Ambassadors Grossman and Ries, to talk about how to reimagine and lift up the Foreign Service to take on the twin challenges of fast-moving international events and rapid technological change. They offer clear blueprints for action to fix American diplomacy.

Marcie B. Ries is a retired ambassador with more than 35 years of diplomatic experience in Europe, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. She is a three-time chief of mission, serving as head of the U.S. mission in Kosovo (2003–2004), United States ambassador to Albania (2004–2007) and, most recently as United States ambassador to Bulgaria (2012–2015).

Ambassador Marc Grossman served as the under secretary of state for political affairs, the State Department's third ranking official, until his retirement in 2005 after 29 years in the U.S. Foreign Service. As under secretary, he helped marshal diplomatic support for the international response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. He also managed U.S. policies in the Balkans and Colombia and promoted a key expansion of the NATO alliance. As assistant secretary for European affairs, he helped direct NATO's military campaign in Kosovo and an earlier round of NATO expansion. Ambassador Grossman was the U.S. ambassador to Turkey 1994–1997.

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What drew a career educator, on the verge of retirement, into state politics? Creating Citizens, The Commonwealth Club’s education initiative, has invited California Secretary of State Shirley Weber to talk with high school students about why their voice matters and how to become civically engaged at a young age.

After 40 years as a professor at San Diego State University, Shirley Weber was appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to become California’s 31st secretary of state. Secretary Weber is California’s first Black secretary of state and only the fifth African American to serve as a state constitutional officer in California’s 170-year history.

Secretary Weber, in conversation with KQED’s Annelise Finney, will discuss the duties and responsibilities of a secretary of state, the importance of voting, and the importance of civil discourse. She will also explore the power that young people have in the democratic process—wether they realize it or not.

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Biden’s policy wins have secured vast amounts of funding for the energy transition, and that money is just beginning to flow, with new programs becoming available to everyday Americans. With hundreds of billions tagged for chip and battery plants, climate smart agriculture, rail, modernizing the electric grid, and tax incentives for citizens to run their homes and cars on electricity, ensuring these dollars and programs have real impact is now the name of the game.

White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi plays a leading role in coordinating the implementation of the biggest investments in clean energy the U.S. has ever made. This week he joins us to discuss the complicated maze of industrial policy intended to create a more just economy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Guest:

Ali Zaidi, White House National Climate Advisor

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Join the conversation with the new San Francisco Ballet leadership duo: Artistic Director Tamara Rojo and Executive Director Danielle St. Germain; founder and director of San Francisco Philharmonic Jessica Bejarano; and President of Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art Priscilla Otani. Learn more about what's new and exciting in the art world and what these women's visions are for their artistic futures within their respective organizations.

What are the most relevant accomplishments, challenges and urgent matters to tackle to make arts leadership equal and accessible? What is the state of the arts in terms of equity and diversity?

At 6 p.m.—The festivities continue with a social hour and a wine tasting with women-led wineries from California. Meet the women behind some of the most-awarded wine labels and taste some signature bottles.

NOTES

In partnership with Women's March San Francisco and Northern California Women's Caucus for Arts.

This program is proudly supported by FLG Partners.

Participating wineries: Ceja Vineyards and Theopolis Vineyards.

Rojo and St. Germain photos courtesy SFBallet by Chris Hardy.

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Called “the voice of the resistance” by The New York Times, writer, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit, the author of 20 books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, hope and disaster, and most recently Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, will discuss her view that the future will be decided by whether we act in the present—and she says we must act—to counter institutional inertia, fossil fuel interests, and political obstinacy.

Guided by her typical clear-eyed wisdom, Rebecca Solnit will lead our audience from discouragement to possibilities, from climate despair to climate hope. Solnit will be joined by co-editor and climate activist Thelma Young Lutunatabua and native Fijian Fenton Lutunatabua (participating virtually), calling on us to rise to the moment with the benefit of indigenous wisdom and by telling new stories.

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Seeking to improve public policy in California, in 1993 a group led by Hewlett-Packard co-founder Bill Hewlett created the Public Policy Institute of California to do independent, nonpartisan research in the public interest. PPIC produces high-quality data to inform leaders and the public, and conducts nationally recognized polls on the preferences and opinions of California voters. 

Now PPIC welcomes former Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court Tani Cantil-Sakauye as its third president and CEO. Cantil-Sakauye has had a distinguished legal and judicial career, supporting bail reform and decriminalizing minor traffic offenses, improving funding for courts and the bar, and championing education on civil discourse for students. She made history when she became the first person of color, first Asian-Filipina American and the second woman to serve as California’s chief justice. 

She is now poised to impact the Golden State through her leadership of PPIC, which focuses on the economy, the environment, education, health, the safety net and criminal justice.  

How will Justice Cantil-Sakauye make the transition from her role as a Supreme Court chief justice to being a leader in research and polling, and what are her vision and priorities for PPIC and California?

Please join us for this unique opportunity to visit with our former chief justice.

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The January mass shooting in Half Moon Bay brought to light the intolerable conditions in which farmworkers often still live and work. Almost 40 years after Cesar Chavez’s renowned 1984 Commonwealth Club speech, his successor as president of the United Farm Workers Union, Teresa Romero, joins us to discuss the hardships and exploitation agricultural laborers face. She will address the progress achieved by the United Farm Workers Union, and the important work that remains to be done to improve their work and living conditions.

The first Latina and first immigrant woman to become president of a national union in the United States, in 2018 Teresa Romero became only the third president of the United Farm Workers since Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta founded the union in 1962. Rising through the ranks of the UFW after arriving in this country without speaking English, she is proud of both her U.S. citizenship and her Mexican and Zapotecan heritage.

Most recently, Romero led farm workers in a campaign—including a grueling 24-day, 335-mile march up the Central Valley to Sacramento in the searing heat of summer—that last year convinced Governor Newsom to sign a UFW-backed law making it easier for farm workers to vote in union elections free from abuse and intimidation.

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Join us for a conversation with Mabel van Oranje, human rights activist and serial entrepreneur for social change, for a reflection on the global challenges facing women and girls, and the solutions that are possible.

Mabel has dedicated her career to ending the practice of child marriage, which impacts 12 million girls every year. That’s a girl every 3 seconds. Her latest venture is VOW for Girls, which invests in the power, voice and choice of girls whose futures are at risk. In this interactive Q&A, Mabel will discuss her journey and share her vision for a world in which every girl can determine her own future.

SPEAKERS

Mabel van Oranje

Princess Mabel van Oranje of the Netherlands; Serial Entrepreneur for Social Change; Founder and Chair, VOW for Girls

Randy Newcomb

Senior Advisor, The Omidyar Group—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 22nd, 2023 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Our brains have evolved over millions of years to deal with immediate and direct challenges, but they’re not so great at processing large existential threats, like the climate crisis. Understanding why people behave the way they do could be a critical step in bringing about more meaningful climate action. Despite having the technical ability we need to stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, we’re on a path to surpass that number by the early 2030s. Yet doom and gloom framing can drive people away from even thinking about the climate crisis. How can we use our understanding of behavior to incorporate happiness into meaningful climate action? 

Guests: 

Ann-Christine Duhaime, Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Author of Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis

Jiaying Zhao, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia

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

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