Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Join us for our first Week to Week political roundtable for the new year, as we look at the impact of the November 2022 election, the relationship between the Biden administration and Congress, plus local and state political news.

As always, our panelists will share their expertise with civility and good humor. 

And come early to enjoy our pre-program members social (open to all attendees) with some wine and snacks.

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The pandemic put into stark relief the undue burden faced by working poor women in America. Many were laid off or had to quit for COVID-related reasons, such as school closures. Often, they struggled in low-paid jobs as essential workers, while facing greater demands at home.

But even in the best of times, women in low-wage industries must cope with daunting challenges. In their new book Getting Me Cheap, sociologists Lisa Dodson and Amanda Freeman argue that the conveniences many Americans enjoy—things such as grocery delivery and nanny care—are made possible by the sacrifices of these women. The book reveals how discrimination, unpredictable work schedules, and lack of affordable childcare trap women in poverty and make “work-life balance” impossible.

Join us as we hear from Dodson and Freeman about their research and possible solutions.

SPEAKERS

Lisa Dodson

Research Professor Emerita, Boston College; Co-author, Getting Me Cheap: How Low Wage Work Traps Women and Girls in Poverty

Amanda Freeman

Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Hartford; Writer and Researcher of Motherhood and Work; Co-author, Getting Me Cheap: How Low Wage Work Traps Women and Girls in Poverty

Saru Jayaraman

President, One Fair Wage; Director, Food Labor Research Center, University of California, Berkeley

Bernice Yeung

Managing Editor, The Investigative Reporting Program, University of California, Berkeley

This program contains EXPLICIT language

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 January 19th, 2023 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Does stress really age us? Everyone experiences different levels of stress from family, friends, work, or just uncertainty in the world. And while we can’t avoid living with stress, we can learn how to embrace it and transform it.

Stress scientist Dr. Elissa Epel and Nobel Prize winner Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn will discuss the latest science on how we age and the role of stress and well-being. They will also address what we can do to improve mental health and slow aging.

Hear more on how to develop a more robust mindset and “stress better.”

SPEAKERS

Elissa Epel

Ph.D., Director of the Aging, Metabolism, and Emotion Center, University of California San Francisco; Co-author, The Telomere Effect; Author, The Stress Prescription: Seven Days to More Joy and Ease

In Conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn

Nobel Laureate, Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology, University of California San Francisco; Co-author, The Telomere Effect

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 January 17th, 2023 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Art can inspire community and conversation, provide fresh insights into understanding history, and cultivate connection. It can challenge your worldview and shift perspectives. This week we discuss how art and activism can work together to elevate some of the vast inequities that exist between those who benefit from fossil fuel energy and resource extraction and those who suffer its impacts.

Guests:

Ladonna Williams, Program Director, All Positives Possible

Doug Harris, documentary filmmaker

Christine Abadilla Fogarty, Associate Director, Global Museum at San Francisco State University

Sofía Córdova, multimedia artist and musician

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

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Jeff Korzenik will be in conversation with Ken Oliver, the executive director of San Francisco-based Checkr Foundation. Oliver leads one of the country’s most important initiatives for encouraging second chance/fair chance hiring within technology and other industries. With perspective gained from his own experience incarcerated in the California prison system, Oliver will question Korzenik on the origins on the business perspective on people involved in the justice system, the barriers to employment faced by returning citizens, and why he believes business is a critical partner to a more just world. The conversation will rely heavily on real-world examples or success and the necessary investments employers must make for fair chance hiring to succeed in business terms.

Jeffrey Korzenik is the author of Untapped Talent: How Second Chance Hiring Works for Your Business and the Community (HarperCollins Leadership, April 2021). The chief investment strategist for one of the country’s largest commercial banks, Korzenik is an unlikely advocate for those with a criminal record. From speaking engagements to his regular appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business News, and in his articles in Harvard Business Review, the Stanford Social Innovation Review and numerous regional outlets, Korzenik argues that offering career opportunities to those overlooked because of a mistake in the past are our single best solution to our labor shortage. Such second chance/fair chance hiring, in his view, not only strengthens the economy, but offers a critical path to safer and healthier communities. In 2020, Korzenik was elected to membership in the Council on Criminal Justice in recognition of his work on the intersection of the labor force and the justice system. Korzenik is a graduate of Princeton University and has served on numerous nonprofit boards.

MLF ORGANIZER

Patrick O'Reilly

SPEAKERS

Jeffrey Korzenik

Author, Untapped Talent: How Second Chance Hiring Works for Your Business and the Community 

Ken Oliver

Executive Director, Checkr Foundation

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 December 14th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Democracy is under siege—in the United States and around the globe. Efforts to undermine democracy erode human rights, destabilize governments, and exacerbate global health crises.

Join Nancy Lindborg, president and CEO of The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander for a conversation about the evolving threats to democracy—and a new framework for action to mitigate the risks.

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Music and social movements have historically gone hand in hand. Folk music played a unifying role for the labor movements in the United States. Music was central to the protests against the Vietnam War and in favor of Civil Rights. As more people become aware of the climate crisis, music is starting to reflect that. But there is still no one song or artist inspiring climate action the way music catalyzed other movements. Why aren’t more musical artists raising the alarm over the growing climate catastrophe? And for the artists who are, how do they express the anxiety and grief that they and their listeners are experiencing? 

Guests:

Tamara Lindeman, Musician, The Weather Station

Jayson Greene, Contributing Editor, Pitchfork

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

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny last reported in November that he had been placed in permanent solitary confinement in the Russian penal colony where he is serving an 11-year sentence. This is just the latest attempt to silence the longtime anti-corruption activist and foe of Vladimir Putin.  

Navalny was famously hospitalized in 2020 after being poisoned by a Russian-developed nerve agent. The gripping 2022 documentary Navalny chronicles his efforts to investigate his own poisoning . . . with shocking results. One of Navalny’s allies has called the film “life insurance” for the jailed opposition leader, since it is keeping him and his cause in the public consciousness. 

Join us for a screening and discussion with the director of Navalny, which made the shortlist for the 2023 Academy Award for Best Documentary. 

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After a 20-year career as a tech reporter for CNET, the New York Times, and the public radio program Marketplace, Molly Wood has come to see the climate crisis as an engineering problem requiring an acceleration of investment. And so, after producing the acclaimed climate podcast “How We Survive” for Marketplace, she left that program to begin a new career in venture capital. What are the limits of media in changing human behavior? And what is the role of capital in addressing the climate crisis, even while considering that capitalism itself may be incompatible with survival? 

Guests:

Molly Wood, Climate Solutions Investor, Podcaster

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For years, fossil fuel companies have claimed to support climate science and policy. Many have recently pledged to hit net zero emissions by midcentury. Yet behind the scenes, they fight those very same policies through industry associations, shadow groups, and lobbying – all while spending vast sums on advertising and PR campaigns touting their climate commitments. This week we focus on the PR and consultancy firms helping fossil fuel companies delay the transition to clean energy while claiming they are on the side of climate protection.

Guests: 

Michael Forsythe, Reporter, New York Times

Dr. Benjamin Franta, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Climate Litigation Lab, Oxford Sustainable Law Programme.

Jamie Henn, Founder and Director, Fossil Free Media

Christine Arena, former Executive Vice President, Edelman; Founder, Generous Films

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

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