Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

It can be difficult to figure out where to start or what needs to change when we seek to increase the happiness in our lives. There are lots of people with ideas and plans, but what does science have to say?The UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center has drawn on its popular “The Science of Happiness” course and podcast to produce a book called The Science of Happiness Workbook. It includes short, step-by-step practices people can incorporate into their lives—many that can take only 5 or 10 minutes to do. It’s about cultivating the skills and traits that research demonstrates could help people feel happier and more connected to others, from self-compassion to awe to empathy to purpose. It also includes quizzes, tips for overcoming obstacles, and inspiring stories.Join us at Commonwealth World Affairs to hear from Workbook authors Kira M. Newman, Jill Suttie and Shuka Kalantari about cultivating greater well-being and stronger relationships.About the Speakers Shuka Kalantari is the executive producer of the award-winning podcast "The Science of Happiness," which shares narrative stories and research-backed practices to support personal growth, stronger communities, and a healthier environment. Before this, Kalantari worked as a journalist reporting on health disparities in marginalized communities around the world. Her work has appeared on NPR, "The World" from PRX, WNYC’s "The Takeaway," KQED Public Radio, HuffPost, Vice, and more. Kira M. Newman is the managing editor of Greater Good magazine at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. Her work has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Washington Post, HuffPost, Mindful magazine, and TED Ideas, and she is co-editor of The Gratitude Project(New Harbinger, 2020). She has created large communities around the science of happiness, including the online course "The Year of Happy" and the CaféHappy meetup in Toronto, Canada. Newman is also a personal trainer at New Element Training and was previously a technology journalist and editor for Tech.Co. Jill Suttie, Psy.D., is a staff writer and contributing editor for Greater Good magazine, where she translates scientific findings on compassion, altruism, forgiveness, mindfulness, awe, and more, providing tips for personal and social well-being. She also writes about the impacts of bias, technology, nature, music, and social policy on individual mental health, relationships, and society. Outside of Greater Good, her writing has appeared in the Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Mindful, and Yes! magazine, among others, and she’s been a featured podcast speaker. A musician in her spare time, she has two CDs of original songs that can be found at jillsuttie.com. Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. Photos courtesy the speakers. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Daniel Lurie was sworn in as San Francisco’s 46th mayor in January, he called for "the beginning of a new era of accountability and change at City Hall." Born and raised in the city, Lurie made his name as founder of the Tipping Point Community, a grant-making, anti-poverty nonprofit. During the campaign, Lurie pledged to fix homelessness, improve public safety, and revitalize downtown, among other promises. In July, after six months in office, the mayor said that he had restructured city government to better provide services, and pointed to progress on crime and a reduction in street encampments. But many challenges remain, including a drug overdose epidemic, an affordability crisis, and a retail vacancy problem. Mayor Lurie joins Commonwealth Club World Affairs to talk about his experience in office so far, and to share his vision for the future of the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can you tap into your hidden intelligence and transform your life? The Army might be able to show you how. If you’ve ever wondered where such visionary creatives and decision-makers such as Steve Jobs, Vincent van Gogh, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Warren Buffett, and William Shakespeare get their extraordinary mental abilities, join us for an intriguing talk with Angus Fletcher, professor at The Ohio State University. Researchers at Ohio State’s Project Narrative in 2021 said they have an answer: primal intelligence—something that cannot be found in computers but is in humans and can be strengthened. In response, U.S. Army Special Operations incorporated primal training for its most classified units; according to Fletcher, they saw the future faster, healed more quickly from trauma, and chose more wisely in life-and-death situations. The Army then authorized trials on civilians—entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, managers, coaches, teachers, investors, and NFL players. Their leadership and innovation reportedly improved significantly; they coped better with change and uncertainty, and they experienced less anger and anxiety. Then the Army provided primal training to college and K–12 classrooms, where it is said to have produced substantial effects in students as young as eight. Fletcher has brought this training to a wider audience in his new book Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know. Join us as he shares what he learned about this approach to using your brain—you just might end up thinking more like Jobs, Lincoln and Shakespeare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For about a millennium and a half, between 250 BC and A.D. 1200, India was a confident exporter of its own diverse civilizations, creating an empire of ideas, to a world that was a willing and eager recipient of a startlingly comprehensive mass transfer of Indian soft power. From religion such as Buddhism to mathematics that introduced the idea of zero, infinity, algebra, trigonometry to astronomy that proposed a spherical earth rotating on its own axis and trade, that Pliny the Elder complained drained the wealth of Rome into Indian pockets, Indian ideas infected the world. In The Golden Road, William Dalrymple, draws on a lifetime of scholarship to give a name to the spread of Indian ideas that transformed the world. From the largest Hindu temple in the world at Angkor Wat to the Buddhism of China, from the trade that helped fund the Roman Empire, to the creation of the numerals we use today, Dalrymple shares the soaring history of how India transformed the culture and technology of the ancient world, and in doing so, the world today as we know it. About the Speaker William Benedict Hamilton-Dalrymple CBE, is a noted historian and best-selling author of nine books; the most recent, The Anarchy, was a finalist for the Cundill History Prize and one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2019. He is also one of the co-founders and co-directors of the world's largest writers' festival, the annual Jaipur Literature Festival. Dalrymple's books have won numerous awards and prizes, including the Wolfson Prize for History, the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize, the Hemingway, the Kapuściński, the Arthur Ross Medal of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award. He writes regularly for The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books and The Guardian. The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. An Asia-Pacific Affairs Member-led Forum program. Forums and chapters 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. Dalrymple photo by Debbie Mitra Singh; courtesy the publisher. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Organizer: Kalidip Choudhury Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On 9/11, the United States suffered the deadliest terrorist attack in its history, an event that reshaped American foreign policy for generations to come. In the years that followed, the Global War on Terror consumed national focus, leaving little room to craft a broader grand strategy that addressed rising global powers, shifting alliances, and emerging challenges across the Transatlantic region, the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific, the African continent, and the Western Hemisphere. As a result, U.S. statesmen, scholars, and policymakers now find themselves in search of a strategic framework on par with Cold War-era containment. Others argue there is no coherent “Trump Doctrine” at all—just a series of reactive shocks. In this timely and thought-provoking address, Dr. Kiron Skinner will offer a clear-eyed assessment of the current state of U.S. foreign policy. Attendees can expect a rigorous, nonpartisan exploration of the facts and frameworks shaping America's role on the world stage today. This program is part of our American Values Series, underwritten by Taube Philanthropies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Within the federal government, science — especially climate science — has taken a beating. The Trump administration has moved from climate denial to climate erasure, firing thousands of career scientists across departments, rolling back established landmark protections, and undermining its own authority to regulate pollutants like carbon emissions. Even at the UN General Assembly, Trump referred to green energy as a “scam” and said climate science came from “stupid people.” But climate scientists aren’t all taking it lying down. From former EPA researchers to independent academics, many are heroically maintaining open-access databases and continuing fundamental research like the National Climate Assessment without the administration’s blessing. Guests: Brandon Jones, President, American Geophysical Union Wes Ingwersen, Lead, Cornerstone Sustainability Data Initiative Rachel Cleetus, Senior Policy Director, Climate and Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Episode Highlights: 00:00 - Introduction 3:23 - Brandon Jones on how the Trump administration has treated science 6:35 - Brandon Jones on what’s next for scientists who were laid off 10:58 - Brandon Jones on continuing to collect climate data 13:18 - Wes Ingwersen on the creation of USEEIO 22:24 - Wes Ingwersen on how EPA changed when Lee Zeldin took over 31:24 - Wes Ingwersen on when EPA employees decided to speak out 37:31 - Wes Ingwersen on taking his work to Stanford 42:28 - Rachel Cleetus on DOE climate report 51:27 - Rachel Cleetus on agency staff cuts 60:40 - Rachel Cleetus on how the scientific community is responding *** 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

Two hundred fifty years after the nation’s founding, Harvard professor of history and law Jill Lepore comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to delve into the foundational document of the country, the Constitution. It’s one of the oldest constitutions in the world, but it has also been criticized for being one of the hardest to change. Lepore explores the history of the Constitution and its pertinence to our current troubled era in her new book We the People. She notes that nearly 12,000 amendments were introduced in Congress since 1789, but only 27 have been ratified. “One of the Constitution’s founding purposes was to prevent change,” she says. “Another was to allow for change without violence.” The last time the U.S. Constitution was amended was in 1971, despite continuing attempts to do so from left and right. Lepore says that without the flexibility to amend the Constitution, there is a higher risk of political violence and of presidential or judicial fiat. She argues that the framers of the Constitution never intended for it to be perfectly preserved under glass like a butterfly collection; instead, they knew that future generations would change it through an orderly, democratic, and deliberative process. How has the Constitution performed in carrying out those tasks? Join us for a discussion with Jill Lepore about how change can make the Constitution and our country stronger. Audio excerpt from We the People: A History of the Constitution by Jill Lepore, narrated by the author, is provided courtesy of Recorded Books, copyright 2025. The full recording is available wherever audiobooks are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recognized as one of the nation’s top food destinations, San Francisco’s culinary scene thrives on fresh, local ingredients, diverse cultural influences, and a constant drive to innovate. Chefs here are known for pushing boundaries, blending tradition with creativity to deliver unforgettable dining experiences. Tonight’s program showcases acclaimed chefs from some of the city’s most beloved restaurants. They’ll share their journeys—how they became chefs and restaurateurs, the challenges they’ve faced, and memorable moments from their kitchens. Each chef will also treat us to small bites, making this an evening that’s both inspiring and delicious. A Nutrition, Food & Wellness 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: Patty James This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for the second event in the Women Empowering Women series: The Art of Transformation, an evening focused on navigating career shifts, balancing work and family, battling imposter syndrome, and taking bold steps toward meaningful change.You’ll hear from a dynamic panel of women leaders—Debbie Chinn, Vera Maslova, Debra Reabock, and Sawyer Rose—each of whom has forged a unique path through personal and professional transformation. The conversation will be moderated by Dr. Anne W. Smith, Member-Led Forums chair at Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Following the panel, each speaker will host a roundtable discussion, giving you the chance to dive deeper into the topics that matter most to you. Topics include: Building networks that open doors Navigating work and family at every stage Overcoming imposter syndrome Designing your next chapter A light reception will follow the discussions. 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. In Partnership with Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art (NCWCA). OrganizerAnne W. Smith & Robert Melton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is RFK Jr. in trouble? What will be the lasting impact of the murder of Charlie Kirk? What is the fate of California’s redistricting referendum? It's time for an early autumn discussion of politics and politicians. Join us for the Week to Week political roundtable. Learn more about the people, trends and topics driving the political news of the day. Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our online programming. See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The past few years have seen a seismic shift in energy and industrial policy in the United States. Under Biden, laws like the Inflation Reduction Act led to money pouring into clean energy manufacturing and deployment. The Trump administration has reversed course, cutting off incentives in instituting massive tariffs. As a result, entire clean energy projects have been put on hold or even canceled. Workers who were counting on those projects now face an uncertain future. This situation forces tough questions for unions: Where do they go from here? Guests: Roxanne Brown, Vice President at Large, United Steelworkers Lee Anderson, Director of Governmental Affairs, Utility Workers Union of America Lara Skinner, Executive Director, Climate Jobs Institute, Cornell University Episode Highlights: 00:00 Intro 3:46 Roxanne Brown on the origins of USW’s environmental advocacy 5:50 Roxanne Brown on the effects of climate workers are feeling today 14:25 Roxanne Brown on how energy policy has affected USW members 18:45 Roxanne Brown on climate messaging within USW 24:16 Lee Anderson on the jobs of utility workers 25:41 Lee Anderson on how climate has affected the safety of workers 30:54 Lee Anderson on UWUA’s input on current federal policy 40:15 Lara Skinner on what sparked a worker centered agenda on climate policy 42:36 Lara Skinner on the ups and downs of Climate Jobs New York’s work 48:57 Lara Skinner on creating state based coalitions For show notes and related links, visit ⁠ClimateOne.org⁠. *** 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

Would our troops be used to quell demonstrations in the United States with force? Seeing crowds in Washington, D.C., during the George Floyd riots in 2020, Trump is reported to have asked "Can't we just shoot them?" How do we answer the question as to whether the current administration will have U.S. troops fire on the crowds? We will look at the Constitution, especially the 10th Amendment, the Insurrection Act of 1807, and the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. We will review some history where the military has been used domestically to safeguard civil rights marchers, intervene when requested by governors during violent riots, to stop the Bonus March on Washington in 1932, and to imprison Japanese civilians during World War II. We will also define who is in today's military, where do they come from, how do they line up politically—and would they follow an illegal order and fire on unarmed civilian demonstrators or support a government coup? This is concerning, says Dr. Michael Baker, given the militarization of ICE agents and the deployment of National Guard troops and the Marines to Los Angeles for specious reasons. About the Speaker Dr. Michael Baker recently retired from a 40-year career in general, vascular and trauma surgery. He also served 30 years in the uniform of his country and retired with the rank of Rear Admiral and has numerous kudos, including 3 Legion of Merit Awards, the Combat Action Ribbon, and River and Coastal Patrol Officer-in-Charge warfare pin. He has experience in strategic planning, wargaming, combat casualty care, triage, operational medicine, and response to complex disasters and humanitarian emergencies. He currently teaches history, political science, and military affairs for the Osher LifeLong Learning (OLLI) Programs at UC Berkeley, Dominican University, Cal State University East Bay and Cal State Channel Islands; and he is on the Board of Governors of the newly combined Commonwealth Club World Affairs. He teaches Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) to physicians in the United States, at military bases around the world, and most recently returned from his 5th tour in Ukraine teaching ATLS to physicians in that war-torn nation. He has published more than 100 articles in peer reviewed journals. A Humanities 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. In association with the East Bay Chapter. Organizer: Michael Baker Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join the incomparable Maxine Hong Kingston, alongside bestselling and award-winning authors Aimee Liu and Pete Hsu, in a riveting conversation moderated by Lily Hoang at Commonwealth Club World Affairs in San Francisco on Thursday, September 11, 2025. It'll be a beautiful evening of literary readings and discussion about the impact of America’s current politics on marginalized writers, readers, and independent presses. Without NEA and NIH funding, what is the fate of literary diversity in America? What can publishers do to prevent erasure of BIPOC perspectives? What can artists do to defend their legacy and protect the future for imagination, creativity, and radical inclusivity? And what rich reserves of literary history can we all draw upon to embolden the voices of resistance in our modern reckoning? We invite you to participate in an urgent exploration of the good, the bad, and the courageous in publishing today. This program was rescheduled from July 21, 2025. Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. See more Michelle Meow Show programs at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Lundberg Institute marks the 15th anniversary of the California nonprofit Cancer Commons by dedicating its 15th annual lecture at Commonwealth Club World Affairs to a discussion of the unique approach Cancer Commons takes to helping cancer patients. Since its founding, Cancer Commons has delivered personalized, evidence-based guidance at no charge to more than 10,000 patients and caregivers, supported entirely by philanthropy. They provide patients and their care teams with the actionable information and data needed to make informed decisions, and help identify and access an individualized regimen of therapies that specifically target the molecular drivers of their disease. Cancer Commons also refers patients to a myriad of precision oncology services to help them navigate the cancer maze and minimize trial and error. As Cancer Commons helps patients in this way—identifying and accessing novel tests, treatments, and trials—we learn continuously from each patient's experience. And then share that knowledge with the world. A Humanities 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. OrganizerGeorge Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Those standing up to climate and environmental injustice face challenges they weren’t seeing a year ago. But Gloria Walton, head of The Solutions Project, sees a bigger picture: "The reality is that the same systems that created the climate crisis, whether that's colonialism, white supremacy, racism, and the patriarchy, those are the same ones that have harmed communities of color for generations,” she says. Her organization has channeled tens of millions of philanthropic dollars to grassroots efforts that build community resilience. Black Girl Environmentalist founder Wawa Gatheru is helping more Black girls, women, and gender-expansive people enter and lead in the climate space. She says the climate fight has shifted from education to action, with over 70% of Americans now understanding that climate change is real. So what should this 'action phase' look like? Guests: Gloria Walton, President & CEO, The Solutions Project Wawa Gatheru, Founder & Executive Director, Black Girl Environmentalist Highlights: 00:00 – Intro 05:30 – Gloria Walton on the impact of the Altadena wildfires 10:30 – Walton’s work as an organizer in South Central LA 13:00 – Living with idea of abundance 19:00 – Finding and keeping your individual power within our democracy 21:00 – Work of West Street Recovery Project in Houston 22:30 – Developing local resilience hubs 24:00 – Reframing frontline communities as victors, not victims 27:00 – Channeling philanthropy to climate resilience and frontline communities 36:00 – Story of Hoʻāhu Energy Cooperative Molokai 42:00 – Wawa Gatheru’s start in climate and environmental advocacy 44:00 – Not seeing herself in climate spaces 48:00 – Climate storytelling can offer nuance and move people 55:00 – Work and growth of Black Girl Environmentalist organization 59:00 – Climate One More Thing For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts *** 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

Join us to hear from a MacArthur genius awardee, former rocket engineer, and passionate leader in the social enterprise movement—Jim Fruchterman—about using technology for positive social change. To a lot of people in big business, the only worthy ideas are those that make a lot of money, preferably billions. But Jim Fruchterman believes there is a different path for technology. What if tech returned to its roots and made people more effective and powerful? What if the benefits of technology came to the 90 percent of humanity traditionally neglected by for-profit companies in favor of immense profits gained by focusing on the richest 10 percent? Fruchterman explores these questions in his book Technology for Good and delivers a comprehensive how-to for leaders who want to create, expand, join, support and improve organizations that see building technology as a key element of delivering on their social good mission. Fruchterman argues that tech is required for social change at scale. He offers guidance on how to structure, fund, staff, manage, scale and sustain nonprofits that leverage technology for social good. His vision is a call to action with a genuinely global focus, creating a path toward a future in which human beings come before profits. A Social Impact 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. OrganizerGerald Anthony Harris Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was the Grand Alliance simply a partnership born of necessity? Or was it also a missed opportunity for post-war civilizational cooperation among the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union? Once it became clear that the Allies would eventually defeat Hitler’s Germany, the varying post-war ambitions and political goals of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt quickly brought cooperation to an end. Humanities West asks on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II: What were Stalin’s strategic goals for Russia’s and its neighbors’ futures as victory became assured? How did Churchill’s strategies to retain as much as possible of the British Empire interfere with those goals? And was an aging Roosevelt capable of thwarting both those strategies and imposing, however inadequately and insincerely, a vision of Pax Americana on the globe? "From Their Archives" Norman Naimark will attempt to untangle what Stalin was thinking about how he wanted to shape the future once it was clear that the Allies would win the war. There is much we still do not know about Stalin’s “real” intentions, but the opening of the Soviet archives for research in the 1990s offer important insights into the way the Soviet dictator thought about the world. "In Their Own Words" Ian Morris will convey, in their own words, Churchill’s and Roosevelt’s perspectives on the Grand Alliance and the post-war world order. Churchill: I can never trust Stalin but can in the fullness of time talk around Roosevelt; and even without India, we can rebuild the world with the British Empire at its core. Roosevelt: I can usually handle Stalin and can always flatter Churchill; it's the Republicans I can't abide. But even without them, we can rebuild the world with democracy and American money at its core. "Walking in a Father’s WWII Footsteps" Bill Hammond will describe walking in a father’s WWII footsteps, an October 2023 trip to Europe he took with two of his brothers, where they traced their father’s path from his landing at Salerno, Italy, through Avellino, Monte Cassino and Rome, to his landing on the French Riviera at St. Raphael, and then up through Draguignan, Remiremont and the Foret Domaniale du Champ du Feu, earning two silver stars and two purple hearts before crossing the Rhine in a dash through southern Germany to finish the war near Kufstein, Austria. A Humanities 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. In association with Humanities West. Organizer: George Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Students are heading back to school, and in addition to all of the usual challenges of the school year, some children are carrying an extra weight: climate anxiety. Teachers are also swimming in tricky waters as conversations around the climate crisis — and renewable energy — become more polarized. Yet there are educators who have worked to create resources for students and teachers, to help bring climate education into the classroom. The question is: How can schools, parents and teachers better help young people navigate the ideas and feelings around a warming planet? Guests: Margaret Wang-Aghania, Executive Director and Co-Founder, SubjectToClimate Robin Cooper, Co-Founder and President, Climate Psychiatry Alliance Melissa Lau, High School Environmental Science Teacher, Piedmont, Oklahoma Leah Christenson, 2026 Piedmont High School Senior; Vice President, Piedmont High School Green Team Alyson Dennie, 2026 Piedmont High School Senior; President Piedmont High School Green Team This episode features a field piece by Mary Catherine O'Connor, who originally reported the ⁠⁠story⁠⁠ for KALW Public Media. Highlights: 00:00 - Intro 3:33 - Margaret Wang-Aghania on her aha moment 5:42 - Margaret Wang-Aghania on how lessons get developed 12:33 - Margaret Wang-Aghania on teacher development 15:00 - Alyson Dennie and Leah Christenson on their climate related feelings 17:10 - Robin Cooper on how the emotions young people face because of climate 24:17 - Robin Cooper on how the moment the guides her thinking 26:52 - Robin Cooper on how to know if a young person is dealing with climate anxiety 33:34 - Mary Catherine O'Connor’s Piece on Electric Buses in Oakland 40:05 - Melissa Lau on the arctic trip that changed her life 44:33 - Melissa Lau on not being shy about teaching climate 48:35 - Melissa Lau on the importance of relationship building For show notes and related links, visit ⁠ClimateOne.org⁠. *** 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

Join Lillian Samuel, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, at Commonwealth Club World Affairs for an inspiring talk: “When Kids Have Mentors, Cities Get Stronger.” Backed by powerful national economic data, Lillian will discuss how mentoring doesn’t just change one life—it uplifts entire communities. Youth with mentors are more likely to graduate high school, attend college, and earn significantly more as adults. Mentorship narrows income gaps and boosts local economies. Through inspirational local case studies, she’ll share how even a single match between a Big and Little can ripple out to benefit families and neighborhoods. This is more than a program—it’s a proven strategy for creating stronger, more connected cities. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how one relationship can transform a life and a community. About the Speaker Lillian Samuel is the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, serving all nine counties. Under her leadership, the organization earned national recognition with back-to-back Quality and Growth Awards in 2022, 2023 and 2024. With more than 15 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, she has held leadership roles in institutions at UCSF, Girl Scouts of Northern California, and Bay Area health centers. Lillian holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of San Francisco and has served on multiple boards. A Psychology 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. OrganizerPatrick O'Reilly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to one recent survey, Americans think about climate change more than abortion, immigration, or gun violence. And yet, while they care deeply about the issue, they don’t see it as a political issue. When asked by the Environmental Voter Project what actions should be taken to rein in climate disruption, those surveyed suggest taking small, personal steps, like recycling, over broader, political action, as they do with other top-of-mind issues. Where does this disconnect come from? And what will it take to shift the narrative from the personal to the political? Guest: Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project *** 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