Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Kresser contends that we’re in the midst of an epidemic of chronic disease unlike anything human beings have ever experienced. It's destroying our quality of life, undermining the health of future generations and threatening to bankrupt governments. Unfortunately, our current model of “disease management" has not only failed to address the problem, it has contributed to it. In this presentation, Kresser will outline a new paradigm of healthcare — and health — with the potential to reverse chronic disease and restore the natural health and vitality that is our birthright. Chris Kresser is the CEO of Kresser Institute, the co-director of the California Center for Functional Medicine, the creator of ChrisKresser.com and the New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Cure. He is known for his in-depth research uncovering myths and misconceptions in modern medicine and providing natural health solutions with proven results. Chris was named one of the 100 most influential people in health and fitness by Greatist.com, and his blog is one of the top-ranked natural health websites in the world. He recently launched Kresser Institute, an organization dedicated to reinventing healthcare and reversing chronic disease by training healthcare practitioners in functional and evolutionary medicine. MLF ORGANIZER NAME Patty James NOTES MLF: Health & Medicine

What is the secret to becoming the next Amazon or Facebook? According to legendary entrepreneur and investor Reid Hoffman, blitzscaling is the only competitive advantage that matters. Reid Hoffman describes why scaling up at a dizzying pace will ultimately blow competitors out of the water. He offers a wide range of advice for start-ups and established businesses on navigating the challenges and opportunities that every company will face. Hoffman was an angel investor in Facebook and Zynga. He currently sits on several boards including Airbnb, Apollo Fusion, Microsoft and Xapo and hosts the popular podcast series “Masters of Scale.”

This program will serve as a way-finding event that balances the realism of climate change with the practical solutions currently at work with the Buckminster Fuller Institute and Project Drawdown. The density and intensity of the presentations inspire action. The audience will be challenged to find their own voices and amplify the work of the team of experts already on the front lines of climate solutions. Amanda Ravenhill and Malcolm Walter bring their diverse backgrounds and experience to deliver a powerful and inspiring presentation that will engage and empower. Malcolm Walter, a graduate of Al Gore’s Climate Reality leadership training, will explore with attendees the current state of climate change and policy as he asks: Can we change, and will we change? Amanda Ravenhill will present some of Project Drawdown's 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change. Following a Q&A session, attendees will have the hands-on opportunity to learn more specifics from experts and work to identify individual contributions to this important work. The intention is to provide a message of hope and instill urgency. We hope all guests will leave feeling poised to take action. MLF Organizer Name Elizabeth Carney Notes MLF: Business & Leadership

Democracies are facing multiplying challenges—from structural changes to geopolitical shifts to cultural transformations. Though the United States remains one of the strongest democratic nations in the world, it is by no means immune to democratic backsliding. As the American public becomes more polarized on issues such as the freedom of press and U.S.–Russia relations, will our institutions hold? Do the systemic weaknesses revealed by recent pressures on the U.S. Constitution require fundamental change in how the Constitution is interpreted and implemented? How likely is it that our democracy could erode? And what can be done to mitigate the risk? Aziz Huq is a noted scholar on the interaction of constitutional design with individual rights and liberties. Before joining the law school faculty, Huq worked as associate counsel and then director of the Liberty and National Security Project of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, litigating cases in both the United States courts of appeals and the Supreme Court. He was also a senior consultant analyst for the International Crisis Group, researching constitutional design and implementation in Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. In 2015, Huq received the University of Chicago Graduating Students Award for Teaching Excellence. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School. Notes This program is being held in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council. The Club is also a partner in the council’s Waging Democracy conference on Sunday, October 14. Please visit https://jcrc.org/news-events/events/waging-democracy for more information about the conference.

Prior to this November's midterm elections, Monday Night Philosophy dives into 2016's political polling. Josh Libresco examines what the polls can teach us about the 2016 presidential election, even as American pollsters attempt to make sense of an election that was very different from anything Americans have seen in generations. Libresco will explain why it was especially difficult for pollsters to make predictions in 2016 and what techniques they use in an effort to understand how and why people vote the way they do. He will also offer insights into the November 2018 congressional elections and California's governor and Senate races. MLF Organizer Name George Hammond Notes MLF: Humanities

The future of political power in the United States may be determined by what happens in the congressional districts in Orange County, California, once a conservative bastion. Today, however, Orange County has become a very different place than it once was, with a high percentage of minorities remaking its politics and economics. No one understands the changes happening there better than journalist Gustavo Arellano. The former publisher and editor of Orange County’s alternative weekly, OC Weekly, Arellano is now the California columnist for the Los Angeles Times’ op-ed section and a sought-after essayist for numerous publications and a frequent commentator on radio and television. He penned the award-winning syndicated column, “¡Ask a Mexican!,” and is the author of Orange County: A Personal History and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. In the winter issue of The Journal of Alta California, Arellano takes on the changes going on around him in Orange County as only Arellano can. Please join us as Arellano and editor and publisher of Alta magazine, Will Hearst, discuss changes in Orange County, the growing voice of Latinos in California politics and culture, and Arellano’s rise as an original and influential voice on California life. Gustavo Arellano is the former editor of OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Orange County, California; author of Orange County: A Personal History and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America; and a lecturer in the Department of Journalism at Orange Coast College. Arellano has been the subject of press coverage in national and international newspapers, “The Today Show,” “Hannity,” “Nightline,” “Good Morning America” and “The Colbert Report,” and his commentaries regularly appear on NPR and in the Los Angeles Times. William R. Hearst III is chairman of the board of Hearst, one of the nation's largest diversified media and information companies. Hearst is a grandson of company founder William Randolph Hearst. He founded and launched The Journal of Alta California in 2017. NOTES In association with The Journal of Alta California

Climate used to have bipartisan support. Now that the Republican party is skeptical about fighting climate, companies are moving into a leadership void. On the show today we'll hear from two former white house spokesmen in Republican and Democratic administrations now working on climate from different angles. Robert Gibbs addresses what McDonald's is doing to cut its carbon emissions and environmental impact. Jeff Nesbit heads a communications organization trying to get the climate story covered more prominently in the mainstream news media.

Immigration policy has long divided America and continues to be one of the country’s biggest issues. Substantive discussion gets sidelined by predispositions that people hold for their opposition. Movements to restrict immigration is assumed to be reinforced by cruel, racist and nativist intentions. However, Reihan Salam, executive editor of National Review and the son of two Bangladeshi immigrants, delivers his rational and considerate argument against open borders. In his book Melting Pot or Civil War?, Salam argues that uncontrolled immigration simply reorganizes low-skilled immigrants into immobile social and economic classes. The melting pot ideal is overshadowed by the reality of a declining demand for less-skilled labor and gentrification of low-income neighborhoods. Ultimately, an immigration policy based on open border principles will create a new ethnic underclass and stimulate racial segregation. Join Salam for a stirring conversation beyond the partisan stereotypes that surround immigration policy and why he believes a rethink of policy will help America.

Join Matt Nathanson, singer, songwriter and Bay Area local, in conversation with author Kelly Corrigan about his brand new album, Sings His Sad Heart, due out October 5—as well as a special solo acoustic performance by Nathanson. All tickets include a copy of a signed Sings His Sad Heart lithograph, and copies of the album will be on sale. Nathanson is a multiplatinum-selling, chart-topping acclaimed singer-songwriter; O magazine calls Corrigan "the voice of her generation," and The Huffington Post calls her "the poet laureate of the ordinary.” Nathanson and Corrigan are friends joining up for a rare live evening together. Based in San Francisco, Nathanson has evolved into one of the most applauded songwriters and engaging performers on the music scene today. His 2007 album, Some Mad Hope, yielded his breakthrough, multiplatinum hit "Come on Get Higher.” His 2013 release, Last of the Great Pretenders, debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard top 200 while hitting No. 1 on iTunes' alternative albums chart. Nathanson's latest album, Show Me Your Fangs, was hailed as his most adventurous and prolific album to date, featuring the songs, "Giants," "Bill Murray" and "Adrenaline.” This year, Nathanson has announced that his new album, Sings His Sad Heart, will be released on October 5. The album comes on the heels of Pyromattia, which shot to No. 1 on iTunes alternative chart upon its release. Pyromattia featured a Def Leppard-approved cover album, based on their iconic Pyromania. Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott called the album “an amazing reinterpretation” with “heart & soul.” Nathanson has been featured as a VH1 You Oughta Know artist and has performed on “The Howard Stern Show,” “Ellen,” “Conan,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “Rachael Ray” and the CMA Awards. **THIS PROGRAM CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE**

World War I propelled the United States into the 20th century and served as a powerful catalyst for the making of modern California, expanding the role of the government and enlarging private citizens’ associations. Never before had so many Californians taken such a dynamic part in community, state, national and international affairs. Diane North not only writes about transformative battlefield experiences, but she also documents how daily life has changed for everyone on the home front—factory and farm workers, housewives and children, pacifists and politicians. Even before the United States entered the war, California’s economy flourished because its industrialized agriculture helped feed British troops. The war also provided a boost to the faltering Hollywood film industry and increased the military’s presence through the addition of Army and Navy training camps and construction and research contracts. Most citizens embraced wartime restrictions with patriotic zeal without foreseeing the retreat into suspicion, loyalty oaths and unwarranted surveillance, all of which set the stage for the beginnings of our modern security state. MLF Organizer Name: George Hammond Notes MLF: Humanities

From #MeToo in Hollywood to the women's marches across the country, women’s anger and rage has been at the center of major cultural shifts and, more importantly, has brought to light how far society has come and how far it has left to go. Cultural depictions of women are often framed around emotion, and anger has especially sparked national conversations across politics, news, television and literature in recent years. Join Rebecca Traister, journalist and author of Good and Mad, and Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, as they dissect these portrayals of emotion and trace them throughout social movements in U.S. history. They will discuss the immense power that comes with mobilizing “angry” women despite double standards, and they will explore how indignation is perceived differently depending on who is exerting it and who is experiencing it—a crucial difference in today’s political climate.

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Miriam Pawel's panoramic history of California, from the Gold Rush to Silicon Valley, is told through the lens of the Brown family political dynasty. When Governor Jerry Brown finishes his fourth term at the end of 2018, he will have served as both the youngest and the oldest governor of California. His father, Pat Brown, served two terms starting in 1959. Almost half of the state's modern history has happened under a Governor Brown. As Pawel weaves a narrative that is essential to understanding California and the way it has shaped our nation, she brings to life four generations of the Brown family. Pawel also offers correctives for those who confuse stereotypes and legends for history. She opens new vistas for readers only vaguely familiar with the state habitually viewed from afar with a mix of envy, awe, disdain and fascination. MLF ORGANIZER NAME George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities In association with the California Historical Society

In 2014, Mother Jones journalist Shane Bauer made national headlines when he went not-so-undercover as a guard at Winn Correctional Center, a private prison in Louisiana. He used his real name, and due to lack of any real background checks, remained employed for four months. In that short time, Bauer witnessed firsthand the horrific conditions both prisoners and guards faced at the hands of the billion-dollar private prison industry and wrote an exposé that became Mother Jones’ most read piece of all time. He argues that the private prison system is rarely held accountable for the atrocities that happen quietly within its concrete walls. Join Bauer as he discusses his unique experience, the for-profit prison industry’s past and present in American history, and the state of justice at that intersection of our legal system, capitalism and mass incarceration.

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. Our guest this week: Ignatius Bau on the impact of the expected proposed Public Charge Regulation on LGBTQ immigrants and their families. Ignatius Bau is an independent public policy consultant, working with private foundations, state health departments, physician organizations and community-based organizations who serve communities of color. He previously worked for 10 years as an immigration attorney in San Francisco, helping to draft the city's original sanctuary law, campaigning against California's Proposition 187, litigating against the detention of Haitian refugees at Guantanamo, and representing a lesbian from Russia in the first federal court decision to recognize a claim to asylum based on persecution because of sexual orientation. He also has served on the boards of directors of the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance Community HIV Project, National Minority AIDS Council, and Funders for LGBTQ Issues. See more upcoming Michelle Meow Shows at The Commonwealth Club here.

William Overholt, the author who originally predicted China's rise, now believes that China's future is uncertain. Like an entrepreneur whose business has grown so complex that it needs restructuring, China's success now requires economic and political transformation. Overholt's analysis of China's situation and of President Xi Jinping’s role departs sharply from the conventional wisdom. Come join us for a discussion on China’s future. MLF ORGANIZER NAME Linda Calhoun NOTES MLF: International Relations