Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Commonwealth Club of California
  • 4.0 (4)
  • Politics
  • Updated Daily

The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's largest public affairs forum. The nonpartisan and nonprofit Club produces and distributes programs featuring diverse viewpoints from thought leaders on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast — the oldest in the U.S., since 1924 — is carried on hundreds of stations. Our website features audio and video of our programs. This podcast feed is usually updated multiple times each week.

  1. 11h ago

    Assessing the Threats to Voting Rights in the Midterm Elections

    America’s election system faces unprecedented challenges as we approach the midterms. An electoral environment already upended by mid-decade gerrymandering and Supreme Court decisions undermining the Voting Rights Act has been compounded by collapsing popular confidence in the system we use to choose our leaders. Never-before-seen actions through executive orders and postal service changes, as well as a variety of measures at the state level, have created confusion and uncertainty as Americans begin to cast their ballots in the early voting period. Can the system withstand these unprecedented threats to the right to vote? Join Stanford Law professor Nate Persily, one of the nation’s foremost experts on voting rights and election administration, and Ari Berman, Mother Jones’ national voting rights correspondent, for an in-depth look at the state of the nation’s voting system as the midterms approach. They will examine efforts at the state and federal level to change election rules, the legal battles surrounding them, and what voters and election officials should expect in the weeks ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. 1d ago

    Ben Davis: Can Can Francisco Become The Florence of a New Renaissance?

    Join us for a conversation with Ben Davis, creator of the Bay Lights and City of Awe, and founder of the San Francisco nonprofit Illuminate, and Garry Tan, president and CEO of Y Combinator. San Francisco might be the most important city in the world right now. The arc of human consciousness is being defined here. Artificial intelligence is racing forward on fear as much as ambition, which makes it inherently reckless. Davis, founder of the San Francisco nonprofit Illuminate, believes the antidote is culture. He has declared San Francisco the “City of Awe”—that rare blend of beauty and terror the moment demands. Y Combinator’s Garry Tan—whose firm has funded much of the AI wave and who has spent years personally invested in San Francisco’s own civic future—joins Davis to explore where imagination and acceleration meet, and what public art can teach an industry built on speed. San Francisco’s destiny, Davis argues, isn’t to inspire the world through the technology it creates, but through how we choose to live: the civilization we build around living, working and visiting here. Will this era, and what comes next, be defined by technology or by humanity? Can this next wave of wealth become an unprecedented wave of shared fruit—on our streets, in our parks, in our open and shared spaces? ORGANIZERRobert Melton NOTES 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. 1d ago

    The Science Behind Finding (and Keeping) Love in Today's Chaotic World.

    Note: This podcast contains explicit language. Dating and relationships can be messy. The apps, the expectations, the endless options—it’s a lot. But there’s real science behind how people connect, commit and build a relationship with someone who will “be there when you need them the most.” So how to find such a person, especially in such a world? Fortunately we have a guide! Dr. Justin Garcia is the executive director of the Kinsey Institute, the premier research center on human sexuality and relationships, where he leads a team that has been delving into precisely those questions for almost 80 years. He’ll discuss how people have evolved to need relationships, what we need in a relationship (sometimes not what we think we need!), and how people are negotiating the desires for intimacy and committed relationship in a landscape characterized by casual sex, casual dating and rapidly changing technologies. In addition, Dr. Garcia will discuss what science has found about the realities of modern relationships, including why some last while others end, the shifting patterns of dating and marriage, and maybe even the discovery that one in three Gen Z single adults said they have used AI as a romantic partner. Join us September 8 for this fascinating discussion, and ask your questions about how the world of dating and relationships has changed. This will also be a great opportunity to get out of the house, meet some people in real life, and maybe even have dinner afterward at a nearby restaurant. About the Speaker Dr. Justin Garcia, an evolutionary biologist, is executive director of the renowned Kinsey Institute and chief scientific advisor to dating app Match, where he provides expertise for the annual Singles in America study. He has co-authored more than 100 academic articles and the book Evolution and Human Sexual Behavior. His latest book is The Intimate Animal, which explores the science behind how we date, mate and navigate our love lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. 2d ago

    Women Empowering Women #3: Creating Financial Abundance

    Join us for the third event in the popular Women Empowering Women series: Creating Financial Abundance. The evening focuses on fiscal management, budgeting, investment strategies, and resources so women in the arts can take charge of their financial futures and build a foundation for long-term security and wealth. We’ll hear from: Regina Tsai, Schwab Certified Financial Planner and Wealth Strategist Sheila Cunningham, executive coach, teacher and workshop trainer Victoria Veedell, San Francisco-based landscape painter Our moderator will be Debra Reabock, Women Empowering Women MLF chair. The Women Empowering Women series was created by NCWCA (Northern California Women's Caucus for Art) and presented at the Commonwealth Club. This is a series encouraging women and their supporters to embrace challenges and create pathways for achievement. After the panel, there will be an interactive discussion followed by a light reception. About the Speakers Regina Tsai, is a Schwab Certified Financial Planner and Wealth Strategist who has been a senior wealth advisor since 2017. As a core member of a Schwab Wealth Advisory Team, her process is to get to know you and your family’s financial situation and offer guidance on strategies that fit your specific needs. To help align your portfolio’s asset allocation with your goals, she provides periodic investment recommendations along with insights from the Schwab Center for Financial Research and her team of Schwab specialists. Regina works closely with your financial consultant to help you develop a personalized wealth management strategy and build a customized portfolio that complements both your short- and long-term goals. Sheila is an executive coach, teacher and workshop trainer for business owners, managers and entrepreneurs. Her focus is on practical tools that give her clients a solid grasp of financials, organizational management, and sales process to increase profits and profitability. Sheila’s career has been spent studying successful and unsuccessful businesses as a reporter and editor at BusinessWeek magazine, a buy-side equity analyst at investment firms and 10 years as an entrepreneur. She has a BA in economics from Bryn Mawr College and an MBA in finance from NYU. Sheila is trustee and treasurer of the Mechanics’ Institute and a member of the Financial Women of San Francisco. Victoria Veedell is a San Francisco-based landscape painter whose work explores the emotional memory of place through light, atmosphere, and color. Her paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions at venues including the Triton Museum, Olive Hyde Gallery, Maturango Museum, Chico Art Center, Aerena Galleries, James Baird Gallery (Canada), and the Sakai Museum (Japan). She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Director's Choice Award at the Triton Museum of Art, and has been selected for prestigious artist residencies in Greece, Iceland, Finland, Japan, India, Canada, Vermont, Virginia, and California. Our moderator Debra Reabock is the chair of Commonwealth Club World Affairs' Women Empowering Women member-led forum. She is an architectural photographer and photo philanthropist, and is the outreach chair of the Northern California Women Caucus for Art (NCWCA). In partnership with NCWCA (Northern California Women's Caucus for Art) and the Schwab Corporation, A Women Empowering Women and 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. Organizer: Debra Reabock  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. 3d ago

    How Can Cities Be Green and Affordable? Live from NY Climate Week

    New York sets some of the country's most ambitious climate goals, from slashing emissions to bracing for rising seas. But living in the city is freaking expensive. So what does it take for NYC to be affordable and climate-conscious?  In collaboration with Grist, we put that question to the city’s chief climate officer, a Grist reporter, and a grassroots leader during New York Climate Week. Listen as we discuss the places where climate, decarbonization, and affordability collide – and the ways people are working to make life better for New Yorkers while keeping both costs and carbon down. Guests:  Daphany Rose Sanchez, Executive Director, Kinetic Communities Consulting Jake Bittle, Staff Writer, Grist Louise Yeung, NYC Chief Climate Officer  Jonathan Gilmour, Co-Executive Director, The Impact Project Highlights: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:10 Jake Bittle on New York delaying climate goals 00:03:53 Daphany Rose Sanchez on the impact of delaying climate goals 00:05:31 Daphany Rose Sanchez on what’s missing in the affordability conversation 00:08:12 Jake Bittle on the affordability and climate connection  00:11:13 Daphany Rose Sanchez on the projects she’s excited about 00:14:37 Louise Yeung on the ability to address climate and affordability 00:18:25 Louise Yeung on the role of a public utility advocate 00:21:57 Louise Yeung on the battery-powered food cart pilot program 00:29:50 Louise Yeung on the challenge of implementing policy citywide  00:34:32 Louise Yeung on the headwinds facing climate work  00:37:23 Jonathan Gilmour on what motivated him to host community climate gatherings 00:40:34 Jonathan Gilmour on what people talked about at the community gatherings 00:43:21 Jonathan Gilmour on preserving climate data 00:48:38 Jonathan Gilmour improving the climate data that was preserved  For show notes, transcripts, and related links, visit ⁠⁠ClimateOne.org.⁠ *** Join us on October 14 at 6 p.m. for a conversation with PG&E CEO Patti Poppe on energy affordability, outages, and public outrage. Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠  On October 20 at 6 p.m. join us, in partnership with The Redford Center, for a screening of the short film In Earth We Trust, followed by a conversation with the filmmaker, the film’s central figure, and other faith leaders. Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠  Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on ⁠Patreon⁠, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. ⁠Sign up today⁠. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    How Can Cities Be Green and Affordable? Live from NY Climate Week

  6. 5d ago

    Building Community Through Network Leadership

    Join us for this lively Transforming Our Region forum program on network leadership and building community, featuring Jane Wei-Skillern. Together, we will explore how to collaborate in ways that catalyze systems change for a Bay Area where people and nature thrive. Strong communities are built not just through programs and organizations, but through relationships, trust, and shared leadership. In this highly interactive program, participants will explore key principles of network leadership and learn practical approaches for strengthening collaboration across individuals, organizations, and sectors to catalyze systems change. Through facilitated small-group discussions, participants will experience firsthand how networks create value by connecting people, sharing resources, and mobilizing collective action. Whether you are leading an organization, community initiative, or volunteering in your community, this session will provide tools and insights to help cultivate stronger, more resilient communities across our region. About the Speaker Jane Wei-Skillern is a senior fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a recognized thought leader on network leadership and social impact. She has spent more than two decades researching and advising leaders, organizations, foundations, and collaboratives on how to achieve greater impact through networks rather than through organizational growth alone. She is a former faculty member at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School. Jane's work has helped shape the field of network leadership by demonstrating how trust, reciprocity, shared purpose, and distributed leadership enable groups to accomplish what no single organization can achieve independently. She works with practitioners around the world to strengthen collaborative capacity and advance systems-level change. ORGANIZERAnne Smith & Matt Biggar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. 6d ago

    The Battle of Titans: Saudi Arabia vs. Iran

    Join us this evening for a deep-dive military and geopolitical program analyzing the decades-long regional cold and hot wars, proxy conflicts, and strategic power struggles for dominance in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Iran.  At the heart of this analysis lies their relationship with the United States, which is a linchpin of the Saudi-Iranian conflict and the solution to ending it. A Middle East 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. ORGANIZERBanafsheh KeynoushNOTES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. Sep 28

    Rightsizing for Your Next Chapter

    A desire to simplify, an upcoming move, a remodel, and general overwhelm are among the many reasons we are called to rightsize our lives. The things that occupy our closets and shelves have all sorts of memories and hopes attached to them. Those same things can also be obligations or burdens. Deciding what to shed and how to go about it can be overwhelming in its own way.  That’s where life organizer Debra Baida comes in. For close to 20 years, she has been empowering and guiding people through their life transitions. She is an empathic facilitator with a focus on making the paring-down process as navigable and sustainable as possible. Creating space while simultaneously holding space are among her superpowers. Deb is also a go-to resource for donating and rehoming unwanted items. Keeping useful things out of landfill is essential to her work ethic.  About the Speakers Debra Baida is a life organizer and founder of Liberated Spaces, which she opened in 2007 after two decades working as a picture editor. Her award-winning company has been a San Francisco Green Business since 2008 and became the fifth certified Green Business Innovator in California in 2018. Deb has been a featured guest on KQED’s Forum and a presenter at Stanford d.school. She appeared in a "PBS Newshour" story about San Francisco’s zero-waste goals. Her organizing tips have been included in media outlets including Reader’s Digest, Food Network, San Francisco Chronicle, and Homes & Gardens (UK). Nigel Poor is an artist and podcaster whose work explores the ways people leave behind evidence of their existence. In 2011, Nigel got involved with San Quentin State Prison as a volunteer teacher for Mount Tamalpais College. In 2017, she co-founded the prison-based podcast, "Ear Hustle," a Pulitzer Prize finalist and two-time Peabody Award nominee. Her work as a visual artist has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in museum collections, including the SFMOMA and the M.H. deYoung Museum. Nigel is a professor of photography at California State University, Sacramento. She’s the author of The San Quentin Project, published by Aperture, and co-author of This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life. ORGANIZER Denise M. Michaud Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's largest public affairs forum. The nonpartisan and nonprofit Club produces and distributes programs featuring diverse viewpoints from thought leaders on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast — the oldest in the U.S., since 1924 — is carried on hundreds of stations. Our website features audio and video of our programs. This podcast feed is usually updated multiple times each week.

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