Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Grain by Grain tells the story of Bob Quinn, an organic farmer from Big Sandy, Montana. Quinn was raised with traditional farming methods but learned that organic farming could create better, healthier food and bring economic opportunity to his small town. He is the founder of the international company Kamut International and the leader in reviving that ancient grain. Ultimately, Quinn’s story shows the way to a better future for American agriculture, proving that rural America can lead sustainability. MLF Organizer Name: Cathy Curtis Notes, MLF: Food Matters

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Richard Caro will describe the Longevity Explorers’ most recent explorations. The explorers are a unique sharing, evaluation and ideation community made up of older adults (in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s) and their friends, families and caregivers. The presentation will include promising products the explorers have tried, ideas the explorers have been discussing related to improving the quality of life for older adults and some ideas for products we wish someone would develop. The Longevity Explorers program is an initiative enabled by Tech-enhanced Life. MLF Organizer Name: John Milford MLF: Grownups

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On March 16, 2018, just 26 hours before his scheduled retirement, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired by then Attorney General Jeff Sessions. President Donald Trump celebrated on Twitter, saying: "Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy." Now McCabe is telling his side of one of the most intriguing political episodes of 2018. In The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, Andrew G. McCabe offers a dramatic and candid account of his career and an impassioned defense of the FBI's agents and of the institution's integrity and independence in protecting America and upholding our Constitution. Under FBI Directors Robert Mueller and James Comey, McCabe led the investigations of major attacks such as the Boston Marathon bombing, a plot to bomb the New York subways, the Benghazi attack and Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. According to McCabe, the greatest threat to the United States right now comes from within, as he claims that President Trump and his administration ignore the law, attack democratic institutions, degrade human rights and undermine the U.S. Constitution that protects every citizen. Join us for an important and compelling conversation. This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

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Is Silicon Valley at a breaking point? The power of technology has been called into question amid the growing number of data breaches, disinformation and lack of privacy. Kara Swisher reflects on what has brought Silicon Valley to this point, the ethical challenges facing tech companies and prognosis for the future. Notes: In association with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

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How Businesses Can Restore the State’s Middle Class California’s powerhouse economy, the fifth largest in the world, relies on a skilled, healthy and available workforce. Yet employers say that job candidates often lack the skills they need—and they cannot grow as a result. Meanwhile, many workers make low wages that are stagnant, despite ever higher living costs. Often workers lack access to quality job training and are increasingly shut out of California’s middle class. As one of the state’s largest philanthropic funders, with $2.3 billion in assets and annual grantmaking of nearly $100 million, The James Irvine Foundation envisions a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically. The foundation recently commissioned a survey of California workers, finding that nearly half are struggling with poverty. Join business and community leaders for a discussion of the California workforce and how to increase the skills, qualifications and well-being of employees in ways to benefit individuals, their families, their employers and the California economy—ultimately restoring the state’s vibrant middle class. NOTES This program is generously supported by the James Irvine Foundation

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Monday Night Philosophy analyzes the biblical roots of philosophical inquiry. Accepting your divinely ordained lot in life, as Job did (but ironically Lot did not), is often lauded in the Bible. A few dared negotiate with Jehovah (Abraham, Lot and Moses), and quite a few even tried to outsmart omniscience. But Jeremiah makes it clear he has a problem with the whole prophetic game, even as he was fulfilling his role as the messenger of dire and accurate prophecies. One element of his argument with Jehovah involves his passionate complaints about the uselessness of delivering precise but unpatriotic predictions. Even more fundamentally, Jeremiah's hope for a future where organized religion disappears, along with its crucial concepts of sin and punishment, expresses his emotional frustration with the ineffectiveness of Jehovah's ancient plan for instilling virtue. A god and his prophet might disagree on tactics, but it is something else to disagree about goals. Come hear why that is exactly the kind of fundamental disagreement that can lead to philosophical insights. MLF Organizer Name: George Hammond Notes: MLF, Humanities

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Join us as Michelle Meow brings her long-running daily radio show to The Commonwealth Club one day each week. Meet fascinating—and often controversial—people discussing important issues of interest to the LGBTQ community, and have your questions ready. This week's in-studio guests, from St. James Infirmary in San Francisco, will discuss the decriminalization of sex work. James Burch is St. James Infirmary’s policy and advocacy officer. He began his work at the Southern Center for Human Rights where he investigated human rights conditions in Georgia and Alabama’s prisons, jails, and court systems. He studied civil rights law at the Georgetown University Law Center. Burch clerked briefly at the ACLU of Southern California before moving to the Bay Area. In the Bay, Burch organized with the Frisco 500 before joining APTP and assuming the role of policy coordinator. He joined St. James Infirmary in January of 2019. Toni Newman is the executive director of St. James Infirmary in San Francisco. St. James Infirmary is a peer-based occupational health and safety clinic located in San Francisco, CA, offering free, compassionate, and non-judgmental health care and social services for former and current sex industry workers. Newman is a 1985 graduate of Wake Forest University and current candidate for her Juris of Doctorate (JD). Additionally, she is a best selling author, noted for I Rise—The Transformation of Toni Newman, released in 2011. The memoir has been produced into a short film titled Heart of a Woman, by Alton Demore and Keith Holland; the film has been and continues to be screened in film festivals across the globe.

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Monday Night Philosophy features author Benn Steil, winner of the 2018 American Academy of Diplomacy Douglas Dillon Prize for best book. Steil will discuss the gripping history behind the Marshall Plan. In the wake of World War II, with Britain’s empire collapsing and Stalin's on the rise, U.S. officials under new Secretary of State George C. Marshall set out to reconstruct Western Europe as a bulwark against Communist authoritarianism. Their massive, costly and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the European Union and a Western identity that continues to shape world events. Focusing on the critical years 1947 to 1949, Steil’s account brings to life the Prague Coup, the Berlin Blockade, the division of Germany, and Stalin’s determination to crush the Marshall Plan and undermine American power in Europe. As Putin’s Russia is again rattling the world order, the tenuous balance of power and uncertain order of the late 1940s is as relevant as ever. MLF ORGANIZER NAME George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities

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The last five years have been the hottest on record globally. But this past winter, plunging temperatures, snowstorms and torrential rains throughout the country have a lot of people questioning the reality of climate change. If the planet is warming up, why is the Midwest suffering record cold temperatures? Climate scientists, communicators and educators join us to talk about about why, after one of the hottest years on record, the country has suddenly gone into deep freeze. On today’s Climate One: climate science explained, and climate myths debunked.

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Come for a gathering of San Francisco business leaders and philanthropists. They will discuss the importance of and need to give youth a voice, enabling them to make change happen in their own communities. The conversation will focus on the disparities that exist for our youth and families and how local entities are working to close the gap in health, education and access to the outdoors.

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