Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

The places that most people call home are coming under increasing threat from climate change. From rising seas and more frequent floods to stronger hurricanes and cyclones, to more devastating droughts and wildfires, the most habitable parts of our world are becoming far less so. Over time, our cities will be forced to transform — and hundreds of millions will have to move.People who have the means are already starting to relocate to places that market themselves as climate-proof. But not everyone will be able to leave. And many won’t want to. How do we handle the next great waves of migration?Guests: Abrahm Lustgarten, author, “On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America”Sonia Shah, author, “The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the MoveThis episode also features reported pieces by MPR reporter Dan Kraker on “Climate Proof Duluth” and KUOW Public Radio in Seattle reporter ​​John Ryan on “How a Northwest tribe is escaping a rising ocean.”Support Climate One by going ad-free! By joining 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 even periodic engagements with Climate One staff. Join today for just $5/month.For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neuroscientist, writer and stage director Indre Viskontas will be joined by world-renowned photographer Jo-Anne McArthur and co-founder of the BigPicture photography competition and exhibit curator Rhonda Rubinstein for a conversation about the power of images to change how we see the world, raise awareness about the most urgent environmental issues, and spark action. This event will also feature the work of McArthur and other photographers in Seeing It All: Women Photographers Expose Our Planet, the latest publication from BigPicture and the California Academy of Sciences.Written by Rubinstein, Seeing It All features more than 125 photos by female BigPicture award recipients and jurors, whose incredible images illustrate the extraordinary complexity of the natural world and expose how we—humans, animals, nature—are living together now. Featuring a foreword by renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle and essays by Indre Viskontas and Rebecca Solnit, this important book presents new perspectives of rarely seen animals, places, and conservation around the world. MLF ORGANIZER: Anne W. Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout history, many Americans have been disenfranchised or faced needless barriers to voting. Part of the blame falls on the Constitution, which does not contain an affirmative right to vote. The U.S. Supreme Court failed to protect voting rights and limited Congress’s ability to do so. That’s why some are saying that the time has come for voters to take action and push for an amendment to the Constitution that would guarantee this right for all.Drawing on troubling stories of state attempts to disenfranchise military voters, women, African Americans, students, former felons, Native Americans, and others, UCLA law professor Richard Hasen argues that American democracy can and should do better in assuring that all eligible voters can cast a meaningful vote that will be fairly counted. He says a constitutional right to vote can deescalate voting wars between political parties that lead to endless rounds of litigation and undermine voter confidence in elections, and can safeguard democracy against dangerous attempts at election subversion like the one we witnessed in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.The path to a constitutional amendment is undoubtedly hard, especially in these polarized times. Join us as Hasen explains what’s in it for conservatives who have resisted voting reform and reveals how the pursuit of an amendment can yield tangible dividends for democracy long before ratification. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have we finally discovered the holy grail of artificial intelligence (AI)—machines that match or exceed human intelligence?Advances in generative AI (GAI) have created a new class of computer systems that exhibit astonishing proficiency on a wide variety of tasks with superhuman performance, producing novel text, images, music, and software by analyzing enormous collections of digitized information. Soon, these systems will provide expert medical care; offer legal advice; draft documents; write computer programs; tutor our children; and generate music and art. These advances will accelerate progress in science, art, and human knowledge, but they will also bring new dangers.Which industries and professions will thrive—and which will wither? What risks and dangers will it pose? How can we ensure that these systems respect our ethical principles? Will the benefits be broadly distributed or accrue to a lucky few? How will GAI alter our political systems and international conflicts? And are we merely a stepping stone to a new form of nonbiological life, or are we just getting better at building useful gadgets?Join us for a provocative talk by Jerry Kaplan, author of Generative Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs to Know, as he addresses these pressing questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As heat waves, storms, droughts and wildfires continue to worsen, talking can seem like a seriously insufficient climate solution. It’s fair to ask: Are we just engaged in blah, blah, blah?Too often, talking is one sided – more of a lecture aimed at conveying information or solely stating one's own point of view. And yet, when done right, real conversations and true listening can help us find common ground, which can then lead to collective action and change. So how do we make those conversations really count? In this week’s episode, we delve into some of our most insightful interviews, looking for the answer.Guests:Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist, The Nature Conservancy  Meera Subramanian, JournalistFaith Kearns, Scientist, California Institute for Water Resources; Author, “Getting to the Heart of Science Communications”Anand Giridharadas, Author, “The Persuaders” Chloe Maxmin, Co-Executive Director, Dirt Road OrganizingJohn Cook, Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change For show notes and related links, visit our website.📞 Have you moved within the United States for climate-related reasons? Tell us about it! For the chance to have your climate migration story shared on Climate One, give us a call at 650 382-3869. Please keep your voicemail under two minutes and include your name and contact information so we know how to reach you if we decide to feature your story.Support Climate One by going ad-free! By joining 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 even periodic engagements with Climate One staff. Join today for just $5/month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of the release of author and activist Raquel Willis's debut memoir, The Risk it Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation, join us for a live discussion of what collective liberation means with Bia Vieira, CEO of the Women's Foundation California.About the SpeakersRaquel Willis is an award-winning author, activist, and media strategist dedicated to Black transgender liberation. She has held groundbreaking posts, including director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, executive editor of Out Magazine, and national organizer for the Transgender Law Center. She co-founded Transgender Week of Visibility and Action and currently serves as an executive producer for iHeartMedia's "Outspoken," president of the Solutions Not Punishments Collaborative’s executive board, and a WNBA Social Justice Council member. Her debut memoir, The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation, was released in late 2023 by St.Martin’s Press.Bia Vieira is CEO of Women’s Foundation California, where she leads the foundation’s work to advance gender, racial and economic justice. She has served the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors for more than 20 years, including senior-level positions at the Philadelphia Community Foundation and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. Originally from Brazil, she is a longtime activist in women’s, LGBTQI, Latine, immigrant, and arts and culture issues. Fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese, Bia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and anthropology and a Master’s Degree in literature and linguistics, both from Temple University. She is a recognized expert on culture change and gender, racial, and economic justice issues and is a frequent commentator on the power of women’s philanthropy. Bia resides with her partner in Oakland, CA.See more  Michelle Meow Show programs at The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California.Presented by The Michelle Meow Show and Inforum at Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who are we? Good question. But difficult to answer definitively. Still, it is a question that is philosophically fruitful to ask, because the flip side of the question (who aren’t we?) has several clear answers that narrow the search for an answer to the main question.One example: It might be emotionally hard to accept, but it seems highly unlikely that we are the center of the universe, even though we all experience the totality of our lives through one perspective—our own—which has clearly made it very easy for almost all of us to fall for this illusion.That is one reason Monday Night Philosophy returns to the Commonwealth Club (this time on a Tuesday) to re-ask these age-old questions, to analyze the most popular of their age-old answers, and to present the logic that points to a different answer to the ancient question: Who are we?This rational perspective also makes it perfectly understandable why we experience the emotions we do, why we dream, why we’ve told ourselves these stories, how we try to egg ourselves on with them, why we have scared ourselves silly with them, and even how they explain away for us our otherwise embarrassing attraction to cruelty.MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Local historian Richard Schwartz returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to captivate you once again with his characteristic blend of serious history, fascinating images, and “telling details” stories. Schwartz shares eyewitness accounts and unique views of Berkeley from more than 120 years ago, which show how profoundly the landscape, culture, economy and social values of modern Berkeley have been shaped by what came before. Berkeley 1900 is his definitive account of a pivotal time in the life of one of America's most beloved cities.Join us to see how much has changed, and how much hasn’t, over almost 125 years.MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The epidemic of disinformation and misinformation sweeping through our society is like the weather: Everyone complains about it, but no one does anything about it. Now Barbara McQuade is changing that, offering solutions for countering disinformation and maintaining the rule of law.MSNBC's legal expert breaks down the ways disinformation has become a tool to drive voters to extremes, disempower our legal structures, and consolidate power in the hands of the few. Americans are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation—the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth—and it comes at us from all sides: opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, and others. It's endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including rapid developments in artificial intelligence threaten to make the problems even worse by amplifying false claims and manufacturing credibility.Legal scholar and analyst McQuade will join us to explain how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it. She examines what she calls the "authoritarian playbook"—a history of disinformation from Mussolini and Hitler to Bolsonaro and Trump—and chronicles the ways in which authoritarians have used disinformation to seize and retain power. She reviews disinformation tactics, such as demonizing the other, seducing with nostalgia, silencing critics, muzzling the media, condemning the courts, and stoking violence, and she explains why they work.Is America particularly vulnerable to disinformation? Does it exploit our First Amendment Freedoms? What can be done to fight it and its effects?Don't miss this timely exploration of one of the most important forces in the world today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kumi Naidoo is a world renowned activist and climate leader. Before going on to lead Greenpeace International then Amnesty International, Naidoo was a 15 year old anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. The boycotts he organized led to him being a target of the Security Police. He fled South Africa and lived in exile in the UK. As a climate activist, Naidoo has been arrested for scaling oil rigs, has negotiated with heads of state, and rubbed shoulders with the most powerful people at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Now he’s a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, where he’s focusing on how activism can win bigger and faster. Guests: Kumi Naidoo, Human Rights and Environmental Justice ActivistAlex Ajose Nixon, Spoken Word PoetMystic, Hip Hop Artist and EducatorDana R. Fisher, Professor of Sociology, University of MarylandTamara Toles O’Laughlin, President and CEO, Environmental Grantmakers Association📞 Have you moved within the United States for climate-related reasons? Tell us about it! For the chance to have your climate migration story shared on Climate One, give us a call at 650 382-3869. Please keep your voicemail under two minutes and include your name and contact information so we know how to reach you if we decide to feature your story.Support Climate One by going ad-free! By joining 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 even periodic engagements with Climate One staff. Join today for just $5/month.For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices