Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Commonwealth Club of California
  • 4.0 (4)
  • Politics
  • 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. 3h ago

    Balconies, Parking Lots and Solar Film: New Ways to Harness the Sun

    Common climate wisdom used to be that buying solar panels was one of the smartest long-term investments an individual could make – pay once up front for decades of carbon-free electricity. But it turns out layers of red tape make that process slower – and much more expensive – than it needs to be. And with federal rollback of longstanding tax credits and stiff competition from China, the U.S. solar industry is facing new headwinds.  Still, the future could be bright: More states are looking at allowing plug-in or balcony solar. Energy affordability nonprofits like Permit Power are helping state governments reduce red tape and costs for home solar. And solar developers see new potential in the millions of acres of commercial rooftops. Plus, researchers continue to work on new ways to maximize the power a solar cell can produce. This week we take a look at what the next era of solar power might look like. Guests: ⁠Bernadette del Chiaro⁠, Senior Vice President, California, Environmental Working Group ⁠Nick Josefowitz⁠, Chief Executive, Permit Power ⁠Juliane Borchert⁠, Group Leader, Fraunhofer ISE; Early Career Group Leader, University of Freiburg For show notes, transcripts, and related links, visit ⁠our episode page.⁠ Climate One will present the 2026 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication to Daniel Swain, Ph.D., a climate scientist at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR). Join us for a lecture and celebration of this fantastic climate communicator on Dec. 8, in San Francisco. Tickets are available at⁠ climateone.org/events.⁠ Our 2026 audience survey is open, and we'd like to hear from you. It takes about five minutes and asks how you found us, how you engage with Climate One, and what you'd like more of. The survey closes Nov. 30. Take the survey at⁠ ⁠⁠climateone.org/survey⁠⁠.⁠ Support Climate One by going ad-free! Subscribe to Climate One on Patreon for exclusive access to all future episodes, free of ads. 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

    Balconies, Parking Lots and Solar Film: New Ways to Harness the Sun

  2. 3d ago

    Kathi Zellwegger and Mike Chinoy: Saving Lives in North Korea

    North Korea has been practically a pariah nation for decades. The tightly controlled communist dynasty has alternated between hermetic silence and belligerence. But what did one woman learn when she worked on the ground in North Korea, providing humanitarian aide to its people? Find out when Kathi Zellweger and Mike Chinoy join us to talk about her experience as a Swiss aid worker who engaged North Korea over nearly three decades. They’ll share the story of how Zellweger lived out her commitment to the poor and most vulnerable, despite the tensions and threat of conflict always looming over the Korean Peninsula. Zellweger was the first foreigner many North Koreans had ever met or even seen. Playing a central role in the early years of international relief efforts in North Korea was a lonely job, as Kathi addressed the humanitarian needs of a suffering people largely ignored by the world because of their location. She befriended local doctors, nurses and caregivers; negotiated with suspicious government officials; overcame international doubts about the diversion of relief supplies to the military; and, over a period of years, spearheaded an effort that provided food, medicine and development aid. Ultimately, her efforts saved the lives of thousands of people—most of them children. One official in Pyongyang declared to her during a visit in the late 1990s, that, even though she was not a missionary, “Miss Kathi—you are the Mother Teresa of North Korea!” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. 4d ago

    Evan Barker: Nothing Left

    Has the Democratic Party lost its soul? Evan Barker says the party she grew up identifying with has been hijacked by out-of-touch activists, coastal elitists, and powerful special interests. She joins us to share her inside story of how she and the Democrats parted ways. Barker had a bright future in Democratic politics. She was a prodigious fundraiser and relentless operator, raising tens of millions of dollars for Democrat candidates. But in August 2024, standing on the floor of the Democratic National Convention, Barker hit her breaking point. In that moment, she says she realized what no one inside the party dared admit: the Democrats had lost their way, and there was no path back. Born into a union family in Kansas City with a rare genetic lung disease, Barker lived and breathed Democrat. The Democratic Party, she believed, was built to help people like her. But as she rose through the ranks, she says she saw a movement obsessed with moral posturing and identity politics rather than with the struggles of ordinary Americans. And when she spoke up, she became a target herself. She tells this story in her new book Nothing Left, in which she reveals a world of donors, strategists, politicians, and activists who run the party. And she tells the story in-person at Commonwealth Club World Affairs.   This program is supported by the Ken & Jaclyn Broad Family Fund and Garry's List. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. Oct 30

    Does it Pay To Go Green? Let Us Count The Ways.

    As the cost of living climbs, can clean energy technology help ease the burden? That seems to be the case in West Texas, where revenue from a wind farm is helping fund a rural county’s senior center, Meals on Wheels, and even a Valentine’s Day dance!  But the benefits of clean energy aren’t always spread evenly, largely because of how policies shape incentives and cost distribution. In some cases, utility scale solar lowers electricity prices while rooftop solar can shift costs onto households without it. Meanwhile, new balcony solar panels are helping renters cut their bills, and Every Electric and Con Edison are giving New Yorkers plug-in batteries to keep their AC running even during heat waves. And the fact that these solutions also cut climate pollution? That’s the cherry on top. Guests: ⁠Bekah Stolhandske McNeel⁠, Freelance Journalist  ⁠Christopher Knittel, ⁠Professor of Applied Economics, Sloan School, MIT; Director, MIT Climate Policy Center  ⁠Andrew Wang,⁠ Co-Founder, CEO, Every Electric For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit ⁠our episode page here.⁠ 00:03:34 Bekah Stolhandske McNeel describes Ozona 00:05:32 Bekah Stolhandske McNeel on country response to wind project 00:06:54 Bekah Stolhandske McNeel on where wind project proceeds went 00:09:56 Bekah Stolhandske McNeel on the Senior Center Valentine's Day Dance 00:20:29 Christopher Knittel on the “green premium” 00:25:05 Christopher Knittel on rooftop solar and your energy bill 00:28:42 Christopher Knittel on important policy choices 00:33:36 Christopher Knittel on equitable distribution of costs 00:37:18 Andrew Wang on how the power bank program works 00:41:54 Andrew Wang on connecting the power bank program to air conditioning  00:48:50 Andrew Wang on scaling the program On November 5 at 5:30 p.m., join Climate One and the Children & Nature Network for an evening with Richard Louv, author of the internationally bestselling Last Child in the Woods. Tickets are available at climateone.org/events Climate One will present the 2026 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication to Daniel Swain, Ph.D., a climate scientist at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR). Join us for a lecture and celebration of this fantastic climate communicator on Dec. 8, in San Francisco. Tickets are available at ⁠climateone.org/events.⁠ Support Climate One by going ad-free! Subscribe to Climate One on Patreon for exclusive access to all future episodes, free of ads. 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

    Does it Pay To Go Green? Let Us Count The Ways.

  5. Oct 27

    Bing Gordon and Chloe Gordon: Everybody Wins

    What can the billion-dollar secrets of game design teach people about building products better and making customers happier?Video games are one of the biggest entertainment industry in the world—for a reason. Games tap into human psychology like nothing else. So how can we recreate the satisfaction we feel playing games in day-to-day life? How can we harness that feeling to grow better businesses?These are the questions Bing Gordon has explored over his 40-year career in the technology industry. Affectionately known as the godfather of the video game world, his influence and canonized “gamification checklist” have shaped the games and companies people engage with every day: EA Sports, Farmville, The Sims, Amazon Prime, Zynga, Spotify, Audible, Twitch, Duolingo, and Cameo, to name a few. Now, Bing and Chloe Gordon have published Everybody Wins, in which they dive into each of the eight core elements of his checklist, lessons extracted from a lifetime in games: “wow moments” (lead with unforgettable moments of exaltation); everybody wins (engineer wins to be frequent, evident and earned); invest and express (create opportunities for self-expression and recognition); session economics (make every session feel worth the time it took); social integration (prioritize integrating social connection, always); retention hacking (build “forever franchises” that delight and grow) game loops (design satisfying repetition); and quantify everything (measure achievements at the micro-level). Join the Gordons at Commonwealth Club World Affairs to hear unforgettable stories of Bing’s storied career and hard-earned wisdom they say any business and anyone can implement for creating irresistible products and experiences. About the Speakers Bing Gordon is a video game man. He was the chief product officer for Kleiner Perkins, a consultant to Amazon, and an advisor and mentor to dozens of gaming and social-tech start-ups. Bing was co-founder, chief creative officer and long-time executive at Electronic Arts, from its founding in 1982 until his “retirement” in 2008. Chloe Gordon is an LA-based director, writer and documentarian who explores the intersections of technology, storytelling and culture. Her career spans multiple media forms, including creating and writing Amazon’s first scripted comedy series for Twitch, “Two Joysticks and a Couch,” and working on 108 episodes of “Saturday Night Live,” which earned her a spot on Billboard’s 2015 TV Top Music Power Players list. Her portfolio spans narrative film, nonfiction and journalism, and the occasional viral article (“I Worked at Fyre Festival. It Was Always Going to Be a Disaster”). Chloe frequently collaborates with tech founders and investors to craft essays, investment theses, and narrative pieces for organizations, including Y Combinator, Uptake and Dwarfstar. Our moderator, John Doerr, is an engineer, venture capitalist, and the chair of Kleiner Perkins. He is the author of bestsellers Measure What Matters and Speed and Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now. For over 40 years, John has served entrepreneurs with ingenuity and optimism, helping them build bold teams and disruptive companies. He was an original investor and board member at Google and Amazon and has helped to create more than a million jobs. A pioneer of Silicon Valley’s cleantech movement, he has invested in zero-emissions technologies since 2006. Outside Kleiner Perkins, John works with social entrepreneurs who are tackling systemic issues across climate, public health and education. In 2022, John and his wife Ann collaborated with Stanford University to launch its first new school in 70 years: The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  6. Oct 26

    Jessica Marie Alba: The Inner Work of Transforming a Region

    Join us for this Transforming Our Region Member-led Forum program on personal change and place-based identity, featuring Jessica Marie Alba. Together, we will explore how to live in ways that catalyze systems change for a Bay Area where people and nature thrive. Every systems change strategy eventually runs through a person. Land use, governance, education, and collaboration all depend on people with enough capacity to hold a long horizon. Yet many of us working on the region’s future are running on empty. We are quick to name the visible constraints, the lack of funding and the lack of political will, and slower to name the other one: our own depletion. In this session, Jessica Alba argues that our disconnection from place and from ourselves is not a personal failing or an accident of modern life. It is what our systems are built to produce. We are shaped to be useful rather than fully alive, and productive rather than present. Drawing on two decades in Bay Area transportation and civic leadership, she offers a grounded account of where she believes humanity is heading, what is already underway beneath the headlines, and why the personal layer is not a soft addition to systems change but its precondition. In the interactive portion, participants will map their own place-based identity and leave with two commitments made out loud: one thing they will say yes to in the coming year, and one thing they will stop giving their energy to. Whether you lead an organization, work inside an agency, advocate in your neighborhood, or simply care where this region is going, you will leave with a clearer sense of where you stand and what you are here to do. About the Speaker Jessica Marie Alba is the founder of Warriors of Harmony, a forthcoming book and a growing movement about what it takes to live fully in a world at a threshold. After nearly 30 years in Sweden, Jessica has spent the past two decades deep in sustainable transportation, planning, and civic leadership across the Bay Area. She joined Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates in 2004 and became one of the firm’s leaders before moving to Stanford Transportation’s leadership team in 2017. From 2020 through the end of 2025, she served as a director on the San Francisco Bay Ferry Board, appointed by the speaker of the California State Assembly. She resigned from Stanford in May 2025 without a next role lined up, following an instinct she had learned to trust more than the plan. Her work now sits where civic leadership, systems thinking, and personal transformation meet. A Transforming Our Region 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. ORGANIZERMatt BiggarNOTES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. Oct 26

    Tom Rosenstiel: How the Press Must Change to Save Democracy

    Note: This podcast contains explicit language. The crisis in journalism, says veteran journalist and media critic Tom Rosenstiel, reflects a crisis in American democracy. Faith in news outlets has dwindled, news deserts are expanding, and audiences are turning away from alarmist, partisan, and fragmented coverage.  In his new book The Next Journalism, Rosenstiel argues that the roots of journalism’s failure are intellectual, not just financial or technological. He outlines ten fundamental ways journalism must change to become more useful, trustworthy, and collaborative with the communities it serves. From redefining news as a service rather than a product, to embracing transparency, to harnessing AI responsibly, Rosenstiel provides a bold, practical framework for rebuilding a press that empowers citizens instead of alienating them. With case studies, historical insight, and forward-looking ideas, this book offers journalists, policymakers, and readers alike a roadmap to ensuring democracy’s survival in the twenty-first century. Tom Rosenstiel is a journalist, media critic, researcher, novelist, and professor. He is the author of seven influential nonfiction books, including The Elements of Journalism, and four novels. Rosenstiel has been a press critic for the Los Angeles Times, chief congressional correspondent for Newsweek, press critic for MSNBC, and director of media studies at the Pew Research Center. He also led the American Press Institute and now serves as Eleanor Merrill Professor on the Future of Journalism at the University of Maryland. His new book is The Next Journalism: How the Press Must Change to Serve Democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. Oct 25

    Annie Jacobsen: Biological War

    A bio attack. A lab accident. A global pandemic. The collapse of human society. Who else would want to explore the possibilities of biological warfare than Annie Jacobsen, investigative journalist and the best-selling author of Nuclear War? For her latest book, Biological War, Jacobsen interviewed dozens of experts in politics, governments, medicine, and the military to explore a scenario of bio warfare. She says it would only take days from the beginning of a global bio infection before we’d be in a battle for human existence. Is the infrastructure that was built to handle this very scenario up to the task? How would people deal with a dystopic world with mass death, societal breakdown, violent insurrections, anarchy, and a plague-ravaged wasteland in place of modern civilization? Jacobsen lays out what would happen, providing a ticking-clock roadmap to the hours, days and weeks following the release of a biological agent, that serves as startling, forward-looking journalism in preparation for urgent societal upheaval. Join us for special online-only program as Annie Jacobsen explores the unthinkable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See All (2K)

Trailers

Ratings & Reviews

4
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

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.

Information

You Might Also Like