The Commonwealth

WENDY KOPP GIVES HOMEWORK pg 10

Larry Flynt: POLITICAL ANIMALS pg 16

THE FIGHT OVER GOLDEN GATE PARK pg 50

Dr. Gloria Duffy VISITS TUSCANY pg 54

Commonwealth The

THE MAGAZINE OF THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB OF CALIFORNIA

August/September 2011

SENATOR FEINSTEIN $2.50; free for members commonwealthclub.org

american purpose

Inside The Commonwealth Vo lu m e 1 0 5 , N O . 0 5

Au g u s t / S e p t e m b e r 2011

page 18

America’s Sex Drive “[J. Edgar Hoover] could be so deadly; a career could just evaporate overnight.

That’s how powerful Hoover was.

Every president who came into office and wanted to do something about it couldn’t, because Hoover had so much information.”

–Larry Flynt

Photo by Ed Ritger

Features

Departments

Events

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25 Program Information 26 Eight Weeks Calendar

Senator Dianne Feinstein on domestic and global challenges

8 California Book Awards 10 What Happened to the Education Revolution?

Wendy Kopp talks about reform. Plus: unions and cities.

16 America’s Sex Drive David Eisenbach and Larry Flynt discuss politics and sex

21 The Next Big Hit

Editor’s Note India Ink: Announcing the 2011 Platforum series India Now

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Events from August 01 to September 25, 2011

The Commons Emmys & other TV stars

32 Program Listings 37 Language Classes 45 Late-breaking Events

27 Special Travel Insert What’s in store for Club travelers in 2012?

54 InSight Dr. Gloria C. Duffy Under a Tuscan Roof

About Our Cover: California’s senior U.S. senator, Dianne Feinstein, visited the Club this spring to talk about everything from Wikileaks to nuclear reactors. Photo by Ed Ritger.

46 Mexico’s Future Jorge Castaneda

48 Miles Apart on Funding Polly Trottenberg

21

Photo by Ed Ritger

Author Richard North Patterson

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50 Parks and Renovation Golden Gate Park panel

53 Green Capitalism L. Hunter Lovins

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Photo by Sonya Abrams

Under Pressure

Commonwealth The

Editor’s Note

Business offices The Commonwealth 595 Market St., 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94131 feedback@commonwealthclub.org

India Ink

VP, MEDIA & EDITORIAL John Zipperer

John Zipperer

SENIOR Editor

Vice President, Media & Editorial

Sonya Abrams

ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Steven Fromtling

Editorial Interns Ellen Cohan James Dohnert

John Dangaran

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS William F. Adams Beth Byrne Ed Ritger

follow us online facebook.com/thecommonwealthclub twitter.com/cwclub commonwealthclub.org/blog commonwealthclub.org

The Commonwealth (ISSN 0010-3349) is published bimonthly (6 times a year) by The Commonwealth Club of California, 595 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-2805.

PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID at San Francisco, CA. Subscription rate $34 per year included in annual membership dues.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Commonwealth, The Commonwealth Club of California, 595 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-2805.

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Copyright © 2010 The Commonwealth Club of California.

Tel: (415) 597-6700 Fax: (415) 597-6729 E-mail: feedback@commonwealthclub.org EDITORIAL POLICY FOR PROGRAM TRANSCRIPTS: The Commonwealth magazine seeks to cover a range of programs in each issue. Program transcripts and question and answer sessions are routinely condensed due to space limitations. Hear full-length recordings of events online at commonwealthclub.org/archive or contact Club offices to order a compact disc.

ADVERtising information Mary Beth Cerjan Development Manager (415) 869-5919 mbcerjan@commonwealthclub.org

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Logo by Steven Fromtling

T

he secret word for today is platforum. Chances are, this is the first time that you have come across that word. But around The Commonwealth Club offices, we talk about platforums pretty much all year long. That’s because it’s the informal name for our annual series of special programming each August.

This year, our platforum is a set of programs organized under the India Now banner.

The subjects range from comedy to business, Bollywood to religion, medicine to art.

Like every year’s platforum, India Now is an interesting collection of events that explore a topic from all kinds of angles, giving pretty much everyone an entry point into learning more about India.

This is the sixth year that our volunteer-run Member-Led Forums have put together a platforum smorgasbord of August programs on one topic. Carol Fleming, our MLF chair who has shepherded this platforum concept from initial brainstorm all the way through to packed auditoriums, loves coming up with a topic that has so many facets that the challenge is finding a way to limit the number of programs. I think she’s done it again this year.

India is obviously ripe for exploration in a platforum series. Like China, the subject of our first platforum in 2006, India is a country that is being absolutely transformed by rapid economic growth and rising influence in the world. It’s a country with a large and vibrant diaspora around the globe – certainly here in the Bay Area – an increasingly well educated population, and a culture that mixes the ancient and the modern in a fascinating blend.

You can see the programs in this issue’s event listings beginning on page 32. We’ve also put together a web page where you can see all of the upcoming programs in the India Now series so you can read more about them, get event details and order tickets (commonwealthclub.org/indianow).

So now you know what we mean if you hear one of us talking about our platforum.

If you actually attend some of these great events, you’ll learn even more.

Au gu s t/Sep tem be r 2011

The

Commons Awards Season

Cornering the Market on String Theory

We like them. We really like them.

Rock star scientists beat a path to the Club

W

hen string theory co-founder Leonard Susskind spoke to The Commonwealth Club a few years ago, he first did a short interview with The Commonwealth. On the website of another string theory genius, Michio Kaku, someone had posted a description of Susskind as a “rock star physicist.” So we began by asking him what drives a rock star physicist.

“Why do any rock stars do it? For the money, of course,” he joked. More seriously, he added that he enjoys “the fun of figuring out how to explain difficult things. I learn from explaining.”

Kaku, who recently spoke to the Club (see the June/July issue of The Commonwealth), is also known for his ability to explain difficult concepts to the lay reader. He even returned to the topic of his fellow string theory rock star. In his book Physics of the Future, Kaku includes a visit with Susskind, one of the top world scientists he says is building the scientific foundations that will determine how we live over the next century.

Can You Curb Your Enthusiasm?

actress and director Cheryl Hines. She and RFK Jr. are recently divorced from The RFK Jr. mystique their respective spouses.

She was the center of attention as ans celebrate – and oppo- fans wanted to get near the co-star of nents decry – the royalty-like the HBO sitcom “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” popularity of the Kennedy Still, it’s a match of political royalty and family. For decades, they have en- Hollywood royalty. joyed a liberal fan base in the UnitWhile RFK Jr. is busy making the ed States normally rounds of TV talk shows reserved for kings, Political royalty to publicize his environqueens and, well, documentary meets Hollywood mental teenage pop stars.

The Last Mountain, Hines royalty.

But we found out is busy at work on the who can get people eighth season of “Curb talking even more than a Kennedy: Your Enthusiasm.” According to Businesa popular actress. sInsider.com, Hines also has been helpWhen Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ing Kennedy’s aspiring-actress daughter, spoke at a Commonwealth Club Kathleen Kennedy, get established in Climate One program in June, he Hollywood. RFK Jr., no doubt, has been was accompanied by his girlfriend, tutoring Hines on mountaintop removal.

F

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Photos (l to r) by Dominic Hart and Ed Ritger

T

h e C o m m o nw e a l t h C l u b doesn’t win Emmy awards, but we were very pleased this June when two Emmy winners had strong Club ties.

First, new Commonwealth Club Board of Governors member Dan Ashley’s “ABC7 News at 11:00 p.m.” program won in the “Broadcast - Evening - Larger Markets” category. Ashley not only keeps busy anchoring TV news programs, he also served as the MC for the Club’s recent Annual Dinner.

Second, Carlos LaRoche, a former program organizer at The Commonwealth Club, recently received an Emmy as part of the team that puts together KGO TV’s “7Live” afternoon talk show.

LaRoche serves as a segment producer for the program, which won in the “Interactivity” category. It’s a fitting award for a program that works to weave together live, in-studio and social media interactions.

Photo by Drew Altizer Photography

Talk of the Club

R E D N U

California’s senior senator discusses global hot points and local political hot spots in a wide-ranging Climate One conversation.

Excerpt from “Senator Dianne Feinstein,” April 27, 2011.

Dianne feinstein U.S. Senator in conversation with greg dalton Director, Climate One; Vice President Special Projects, 6 THE of COMMO N WE AL TH The AuCommonwealth gu s t/s e p tem be r Club 2011 of California

Photos (top to bottom) by davipt, Crazy George, The U.S. Army / Flickr, Feinstein by Ed Ritger

PRES SURE

DALTON: Let’s start in the Middle East.

You’ve been very clear that the U.S. goal in Libya is regime change and the removal of Muammar Gaddafi. Now, there’s protest in Syria, where [President Assad] is using tanks, and there are concerns there, but the U.S. is imposing sanctions. What do you think the U.S. should do in Syria? Should it be regime change, or something else?

FEINSTEIN: I think we need to be very cautious. There are actually five revolutions that are taking place in the Middle East.

There was Tunisia. There was Egypt, which is still ongoing. Now, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and then some problems, [though] not revolution, in Jordan. We’ve got a situation where there is a lot of instability; there are serious unknown consequences of action.

My own view is that we’ve got 30-plus thousand troops in South Korea, we have 100,000-plus in Afghanistan, we’ve got 30,000 to 35,000 in Iraq. We have major problems to watch with Iran and Pakistan – one trying to become a nuclear power and the other a nuclear power and very unstable.

The commitment of American resources at this particular time should be looked at very conservatively. I had questions about getting into Libya in the way we did.

Nonetheless, I think the president has been correct. No boots on the ground; America would lend its technology in terms of the no-fly zone and the attempt to take down the command and control system, and then turn it over to NATO, because NATO was a willing partner in this situation.

Now, Libya begins with Gaddafi and ends with Gaddafi. We know the kind of person that Gaddafi is. We know the president has said, “Gaddafi must go.” The question comes: How do you back that up?

That’s the unknown in getting involved in these situations. We have a law against assassination. Gaddafi will not move. Therefore, there is stalemate right now in Libya. What do we do about that stalemate?

DALTON: What do we know about the opposition forces in Libya? There have been some conflicting statements about whether al-Qaida is there or not. Admiral Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “No al-Qaida.” Other NATO commanders have said they have seen flickers of al-Qaida.

You’re the chair of the Intelligence Committee. What can you tell us about any al-Qaida presence in Libya?

FEINSTEIN: I think the bulk of the socalled rebel movement is composed of [ordinary] people – students, young lawyers, academicians – but that can’t be a terribly large number. The rest is really unknown.

I think there is some information in the public press that there are al-Qaida figures that have returned to Libya to do some training. How deep or wide that is, I can’t say at the present time.

But if you’re going to arm people, you really need to know that they’re going to use those weapons wisely and well and are trained. This becomes very difficult, because there’s a certain liability that a nation assumes when it does this. We are providing some non-lethal equipment.

At the present time, we are using the Predator drone, which can really be very specific in its strike, much more so than an aircraft.

That’s about it right now.

DALTON: Can you envision, as a result of the stalemate, somebody – the British, French, Italians or perhaps the United States – needing to put boots on the ground to [assert] more force if the stalemate continues?

FEINSTEIN: Again, this is a learning experience as we go. What we’ve seen is it’s very difficult to win this thing from the air.

DALTON: Right. Typically, that’s the [case].

FEINSTEIN: So that’s a lesson for everybody who says, “The United States has to get involved in this.” Look at what’s happening to people. There’s only so much we can do at this time. We’re sorely tested financially as well as militarily. So we really should consider very carefully the national security interest of our country before we get involved.

DALTON: And what is that interest in Libya? They have 1 percent of the world’s oil. Can they attack our allies? What is the overriding national interest in Libya?

FEINSTEIN: The national interest goes back a ways to Gaddafi himself, and probably to the takedown of the airliner for which Gaddafi is [responsible], and to the kind of dictator that he has been. I don’t think that’s really enough. And, you know, if you’re going to look at national security interests, there are much more in Yemen, which is a safe harbor, where we know the people are who are manufacturing this new explosive,

which is undetectable in magnetometers, and where we know [terrorist leader Anwar] al-Awlaki is. It’s to a great extent Syria that becomes a pivotal nation with respect to Iran and a point of transfer for weapons coming from Tehran to Damascus and Lebanon. Lebanon now has at least 40,000 rockets, some of

t h e m m u c h more sophisticated than the last time Israel went to war.

DALTON: Is that pivotal role of Syria one reason perhaps the U.S. isn’t pushing President Assad a little harder?

FEINSTEIN: I can’t answer that. I don’t know the answer to that question.

DALTON: Secretary of State Clinton was in conversation recently with former Secretary Kissinger. Secretary Kissinger made the remark that a lot of these Arab rulers have been in power for decades. Looking back, he surmised that perhaps the U.S. could have or should have anticipated that the time would come – perhaps not all at once – where they would be challenged. Do you think the U.S. intelligence community maybe should have seen some of these regimes becoming destabilized? Or did they?

FEINSTEIN: I happened to speak with the president this morning, and one of the things that I mentioned was, in my view, our intelligence coming out of the Middle East with respect to the movement of people is not very good. With respect to terrorist plots and counterterrorism, it’s much better. I think we need to see a change. As we

know, this morning or tomorrow morning, the president will make an announcement.

DALTON: About Leon Panetta being the secretary of defense and General Petraeus becoming the head of the CIA. FEINSTEIN: I believe that may be correct.

DALTON: You’ve been very outspoken about WikiLeaks and what you think ought to be done. How has the revelation of who thinks and says what about whom played into the dynamic in the Middle East? Has it harmed U.S. interests?

FEINSTEIN: I believe it is harmful to United States interests, and we have a very specific espionage law, written, I think, in 1918; it essentially says that the transfer of either classified or unclassified information to do potential harm to a nation – I had it written down; I was going to read it and I left it in the car. But essentially WikiLeaks qualifies, in my view, for a prosecution on the espionage statute.

DALTON: Do you think Julian Assange should be extradited from Sweden, if he goes there, to the United States?

FEINSTEIN: I think he has done this nation harm. People have died and will die because of what he’s doing, and he’s done it with knowledge and with intent. Yes, I do think he should be prosecuted.

DALTON: Do you think that we’ve learned about things that shouldn’t have happened?

Is there any good side to WikiLeaks, that we’ve learned about things that the government was doing with power, that maybe people ought to know about or is all – FEINSTEIN: Of course, but you’re taking both classified and unclassified information that is transmitted through a supposedly secure network – which is another story, because that network is not nearly as secure as it should be – and laying it all out.

DALTON: Though some of it has been redacted and some news organizations would say, they have – FEINSTEIN: Assange didn’t redact it. The news organizations did some redaction.

The news organizations – I could speak for The New York Times, I believe – talked with the government and redacted some of the names. I don’t know if all of the other publications that he has released this to have done the same thing, but I would (Continued on page 22)

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Jack Boulware – MC

I

n June, the Club welcomed book lovers for its annual celebration highlighting the state’s best writers and publishers.

For 80 years, The Commonwealth Club has presented the California Book Awards. Past winners have included writers such as Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck and Amy Tan. This year, winning books included everything from a widely discussed nonfiction look at the fictional Charlie Chan character to a reimagining of Homer’s Odyssey to the first volume of Mark Twain’s unexpurgated autobiography. (That’s Twain himself up there at the top of this page, on the back of the California bear.)

To see what you missed, watch video of the book awards program online at: youtube.com/watch?v=hbIKUL0aujY

Zachary Mason

Cecil Castellucci

A complete listing of this year’s winners is online at commonwealthclub.org/bookawards. Writers and publishers looking to submit candidates for the 81st California Book Awards will also find submission forms and guidelines at that site. Who will we be honoring in June 2012?

Sponsored by

Don Lattin

Photos by Ed Ritger

Yunte Huang

Karen Tei Yamashita

Alexandra Teague

Dana Reinhardt

Malcolm Margolin

accepting for Laura Cunningham

Harriet Elinor Smith

Eric Puchner

accepting for Camille T. Dungy

Dr. Ray Black

Student photo by BanksPhotos / istockphoto

The Teach for America founder takes stock of her revolution and discusses the makings of great teachers. Excerpt from the Innovating California Series program, sponsored by Chevron, “Wendy Kopp,” April 21, 2011.

WENDY KOPP Founder and CEO, Teach for America; Author, A

Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn’t in Providing an Excellent Education for All

dr. colleen wilcox Executive Director, Silicon Valley Alliance for Teachers – Moderator

WILCOX: I thought we’d start with a chicken-and-egg question. What came first: the dream for Teach for America, or the assignment to write a thesis and think about what you would be doing?

KOPP: The dream, to use your terminology. Honestly, I was in a total funk my senior year of college. In fact, I think I was the last senior in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs to actually determine a thesis topic. But I was unconcerned with that; I was just literally lost. The notion that I needed to find something I could do for the rest of my life – I was searching for something I just wasn’t finding.

Supposedly my generation just wanted to go work on Wall Street, and I always thought that [assumption] was misplaced. I thought I was one of thousands of people who were just searching for some way to make a real difference in the world.

I thought the problem wasn’t the

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generation; it was the recruiters. Which was great, if that’s what you wanted; it was just not what I wanted to do. There were all these companies that were trying to recruit [us] to commit two years to work on Wall Street or work with management-consulting firms. I’d been really focused on this issue of educational inequity. I organized a conference on it my senior year. It was really at that conference where I thought, Why aren’t we being recruited for two years to teach in our highest-poverty communities in the same way we are being recruited to work for two years on Wall Street?

Ultimately, I realized this is the answer to all of my problems: my career, my thesis, everything. Ever since then, I’ve been obsessed.

WILCOX: The folklore is that you didn’t do so well on that thesis. I thought maybe you could tell us what grade you got on that thesis and why you suspect it wasn’t an A+.

KOPP: Well, I did OK on the thesis. The funny thing was, I couldn’t find a thesis advisor, really, because I was such a delinquent senior and everyone was booked up. People sent me to an incredible man, Marvin Bressler, who was the chair of the Sociology Department. He was just legendary for his extraordinary personality and brilliance.

When I met with him, he said, “No, you can’t propose an advertising campaign for teachers in your senior thesis, but I’ll tell you what: If you propose mandatory national service, I’ll be your thesis advisor.” Because this was his obsession and, at that point, I just looked at him and said, “OK, fine.”

He agreed to be my advisor. I didn’t talk to him again until I turned it in. It was called “A Plan and Argument for a National Teacher Corps.” I didn’t care how I did on it; I was going to go make it happen by that point – and [Marvin Bressler] called me up four days later and said, “I need you to come in here.” He tells people he said I was deranged, which he basically did [say]. But he loved it and I got an A. WILCOX: You wrote one book some time ago. Why a second book, and why now?

KOPP: My first book I wrote in [Teach for America’s] 10th year. The first decade of Teach for America, from the idea to not only the reality but also to keeping the thing afloat, [saw] lots of near-death experiences.

The whole learning curve and saga on how you [take] this idea, make it happen, and create a stable institution. At that point I

felt I had to write the book for all the poor social entrepreneurs that will come after me asking, “How do we do this?”

I realized two or three years ago that if I could write a book now, it would be about something else. It would be about what I’ve learned over time about the actual issue we’re addressing, its solvability and what I think are really the lessons I’ve learned from our teachers and alumni about what it would actually take to solve the problem.

WILCOX: The title, A Chance to Make History. Did you choose the title?

KOPP: Megan Brousseau is a second-year teacher; as of last year, she finished her two years teaching in the Bronx. She was teach-

“Probably the most salient

lesson from the last 20 years [is that] it is within our control to solve this problem.” ing 112 ninth graders in her first year. She was teaching biology. Her kids were coming into her room far behind. Almost all of her kids were below the poverty line. Almost all of her kids had learned, or were learning, English as a second language. Twenty percent of them were coming in behind their grade level in reading; they were significantly behind and had very little exposure to science. Yet, she walked in to them on the first day and said, “This is your chance to make history,” and called upon them to take and pass the New York State Regents Exam in Biology, something few kids in the Bronx do. She was convinced that if they did that, it would be important in their lives. They’d realize they could be on a college track; it would also prove to others that they were college material, and it would improve their course selection.

I recount the extraordinary act of leadership that she engaged in to reach that goal.

She convinced her kids that if they worked hard enough, they could get there and that would matter in their lives. She re-wrote her entire curriculum and went to great lengths to maximize every second she had with

them, realized it wasn’t enough time and got many of them to come to class at seven in the morning and leave at six at night. She got three-quarters of them coming to school every Saturday. A year later, 112 kids passed the New York State Regents Exam in biology with nine percentage points higher than the New York City average, and not every kid has to take this test, so that includes all the specialized high school kids, et cetera. So the book’s title, A Chance to Make History, comes from her story, because I think we can see from the microcosm of her example that this is a solvable problem.

Most people think we have low educational outcomes in low-income communities because the kids aren’t motivated, because their parents don’t care. Megan shows us that’s not the case. We saw her kids work harder than most kids in America, and we saw their parents getting them there on Saturdays. So we saw that when you meet kids with many other challenges with high expectations and the extra support they need, they excel. That’s probably the most salient lesson from the last 20 years; it is within our control to solve this problem.

WILCOX: One of the things that is the most impressive is that you’ve studied those teachers who have been successful. You talk about three things you’ve learned from studying those teachers. One is the recruitment process. [Another] is the professional development and training you put them through, and the third is supporting them.

Those of us who have been in education for so long are particularly interested in the secrets that you’ve learned about changing the processes for recruiting.

KOPP: What we learn in Megan’s example, and in many other teachers like her, is that teaching successfully in our most under-resourced communities is an act of leadership.

What great teachers do, great leaders do.

Megan stepped back and created a vision for where her kids were going to be at the end of the year, motivated others to work with her, and operated in a very goal-oriented way. If you spent time in her classroom, you would not see a teacher going through the motions of a lesson plan, but rather see someone maximizing every second from one point to another. Ultimately, someone who, despite whatever challenges she met, figured out a way around the challenge.

There is something very encouraging

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about that, because you realize that this isn’t about being born to teach, or having some special charisma. It’s about all the basics.

There is nothing elusive about this; it’s something we can replicate. Understanding that has, as you say, informed all of [what we do] at Teach for America. It’s led us to go out to college campuses and say, “We need every additional person out there with real leadership ability to channel their energy in this direction.” We do recruit aggressively; this year we had 50,000 people apply at Teach for America. We get, I don’t know, 18 percent of Harvard business class and 20 percent of the Spelman senior class to compete, to channel

their energy this way, and we do that by recruiting just as aggressively as any company and maybe more aggressively.

WILCOX: I want to talk a bit more about the interview process. If I’m sitting in front of you and want to become a Teach for America teacher, what are you looking for?

KOPP: We’ve done a lot of research on the characteristics that you can see on the front end, whether they’re successful in the classroom with their kids. We’ve seen that people who demonstrate records of achievement, that demonstrate perseverance in the face of challenges, the ability to influence and motivate others – basically, leadership characteristics – have the abilities to succeed. There are a whole other set of characteristics that fit with this mission

“We need as many of

our future

leaders

as possible to be

transformational teachers.”

Photo courtes

y of Wendy Ko

pp

– people that are coming out with high expectations for kids from lowincome communities, respect and humility for others working on this issue, and a desire to work relentlessly. So we test new criteria and new screens every year, and have developed a predictive selection model.

WILCOX: Is that public information?

KOPP: Selection models need to be – we share constantly with school districts and other partners. The one thing I would say though is – I think Megan teaches this a lot – we can solve this problem and there is nothing elusive about it, but there is something else in her

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example that’s really daunting. That is, I have met very few Megans in my life. Teach for America doesn’t have 8,000 Megans.

Megan’s the best of the best teachers in terms of our success levels. The truth is, if you’re a kid stuck in today’s system, you hope to meet enough teachers who will go above and beyond traditional expectations to the extent Megan did.

What is ultimately evident from her example is that this isn’t the solution. We’re not going to solve the problem through tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of Megans. They don’t exist. We need to change the whole system. There are limitations to the lessons we’ve learned. We’re helping to build a leadership forum for teachers to put more kids on a different trajectory, and then who will themselves take the lessons from that: the conviction, the determination, the grounding in what it takes to succeed with kids who are growing up in our urban and rural areas. We need those people to take their lessons and go out and change the system.

WILCOX: If there is one criticism that you have received from educators, it’s that you put these very capable young people through a five-week training period. What happens within those five weeks?

KOPP: I know it sounds a little crazy. It’s fascinating, because when you survey our school principals and ask how they would rate the Teach for America training versus the training of the other teachers they hire, they rate [Teach for America] more highly.

I think that’s because its not actually five weeks. There’s a huge amount of knowledge, skill and [effective] mindsets that differentiate the most successful teachers. Teach for America sort of reformed the training.

We don’t try to train our teachers in every service program. We select people who are ready and then we invest a great deal, not only in their pre-service preparation, but in their ongoing professional development.

They come to us having read our Teaching Is Leadership text, having observed other teachers and gone through a set of reflections, engaged in local orientations in their communities in which they’ll be teaching.

They come together for intensive national institutes where they actually gain teaching experience. We run summer school programs in partnership with districts, and they get lots of feedback on their teaching

while going through the curriculum that we’ve developed and continue to refine over time. Then they’re clustered in schools and we provide two years of ongoing support and professional development, all aimed at helping people develop the mindsets and skills we’ve seen to differentiate the most successful of our folks.

WILCOX: I’m still stuck on these five weeks. Could you outline what the curriculum looks like and the subject matter that’s covered?

KOPP: One of the key points of A Chance to Make History is that we’re not going to solve this problem through recruiting, selecting and training teachers differently. We need to change the way our schools function and our school systems function. Part of that is changing the way we think about and invest in our human capital.

I can continue to talk about Teach for America, but I really do believe there are limitations of this, as we think about: What is it really going to take to fix the whole system? We need as many of our future leaders as possible to not only channel their energy in this direction, but to be transformational teachers. How do we ensure that more of them become Megan?

What do we do in our training institute?

First, they’re surrounded by examples of the Megans of the world. Now, unlike 15, 20 or even 10 years ago, we can say, “Here’s what Megan’s doing.” A third of our teachers – in fact, Megan was one of these folks – I asked, “How did you come to teach this way?”

She [said], “I read Teaching Is Leadership.”

Some of our people can read that and walk in and do it. It’s a rare person who can, and what we’ve learned is that there are certain mindsets and certain things you need to be able to do to actually make it happen in your classroom.

WILCOX: And professional development: Is that just a continuation of the orientation, or can you describe that in more detail?

KOPP: We use the same framework, and we’re trying to move our teachers to excellence on this teacher excellence rubric. We have program directors on our staff who spend their time out in classrooms observing our teachers and reflecting with them on the root causes of what is holding them back from being all the more successful in their classroom. That is probably the core of our program, but we do lots of other things as

Why Teachers Unions?

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten takes on teachers’ critics. Excerpt from “Seeking Solutions Together” March 28, 2011.

A few years ago, the New York City Department of Education wanted to compile student information and give parents and teachers access to it using one computer system. They said it would revolutionize the way schools work. The city invested $80 million and three years in an outside company developing a system called The Achievement Reporting and Innovation System, or ARIS. Today, when teachers in a school want to check a student’s progress, they go to a computer, but they don’t go to ARIS. ARIS, even with a lot of fixes, is a total flop. This is the kicker: A group of high school teachers from Brooklyn designed a system that would help teachers get achievement data for their students so they could tailor instruction to each student’s need. Schools are scrapping the ARIS system and investing in this teacher-designed system that costs a fraction of what the city of New York sank into ARIS. This one allows a teacher to click on a picture of a student and get everything from attendance by class period to parents’ cell phone numbers to last night’s math homework and to even the type of help the student might need because the student has a disability.

If you want effective and cost-effective solutions, the people who are closest to the challenges we face should have a say in shaping those solutions.

The act of giving workers a voice is a tool: collective bargaining. Some have pointed to public employees and their right to collectively bargain as a cause of their state’s fiscal problems. This is nonsense. States that deny employees’ bargaining rights – like Arizona, Nevada, Texas – have some of the biggest deficits. Those where public employees have a say in their work – like Massachusetts and Montana, which are heavily unionized – have among the smallest shortfalls....

No one wants a bad teacher. The issue becomes: How do we ensure that we help teachers become the best they can be? How do we ensure that we prepare, develop, train, support? And then how do we evaluate people so there’s a focus on continuing improvement, and if people are not doing a good job, help them, and if they’re (still) not doing a good job, usher them out of the profession? We have to focus primarily on quality, but we still need fairness....

I see the whole notion of accountability sometimes being used in a damaging way. Having said that, accountability is really important. I prefer to call it responsibility, 360-degree accountability; not just having top-to-bottom accountability, but there should be bottom-to-top accountability. If teachers say, “This is what I need to do my job,” and a principal doesn’t listen, there should be a ramification for that. It can’t simply be a boss telling somebody what to do; you have to have the tools and conditions to be able to do that.

There are some things we can control and some things we can’t.

Having said that, our obligation is to teach kids. That’s why – and this has been controversial within our union – on evaluation, it should not simply be about what our practice is, but also what kids have learned. There has to be other pieces to this puzzle. We can’t be about making up curriculum every day. That never happens in the countries that outcompete us.

Teaching is like speed dating. We throw a teacher in and say, “Do it.” They don’t have any preparation, no support, and then if somebody doesn’t [succeed], we say, “How come you didn’t?” Gone – off with your head. Ω

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well. We have groups of teachers based on their subject areas and grade levels. We have a whole online resource community. We have a searchable database of teaching resources that our teachers use to share lesson plans [and] things they’ve discovered from other sources. We have quite a powerful set of supports around them.

WILCOX: Another criticism that you receive that I think that you have been fairly successful in addressing is the notion that it’s just two years. I think you’ve said the 60

percent – is it? – of your – KOPP: Actually 65 percent of our 20,000 alums are working full time in education, half of them teaching; we have 600 school principals, growing numbers in district leadership and such. That’s important.

We’re never going to solve the problem unless we have long-term, sustained, committed leadership from within the system.

All you have to do is teach to realize [that] we’re not going to solve this problem from within classrooms alone. We need some of

these folks to leave and go out and change our policies, go into business and influence our policies, and go into journalism and change the public consciousness around this problem. I share in A Chance to Make History the story of my eight-year-old interviewing me for a school paper – you’re supposed to interview someone who solved a problem – and I think we’re done, when he says, “You know, Mom, one more question. I don’t really get it. If the poor quality of education in high poverty communities

The Student-Parent-Teacher Relationship Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and Students First CEO Michelle Rhee talk about important factors in student success. Excerpt from “How to Transform American Education,” April 20, 2011.

JOHNSON: Detroit has the dubious title of having the worst public schools in the country. It used to be Washington, D.C., until Michelle went in – and then she was successful and no longer had the job; I don’t quite understand how that works.

But one of my jobs with mayors around the country is to try to get them to understand that if you want to have a great city, you have to have great public schools. Any mayor who doesn’t understand that is abdicating his or her responsibility. Economic vitality, public safety – every imaginable quantifiable that you would measure for a city being successful all boils down to how well your children do.

When you’re a mayor of a city, you can shine a light on any issue. You can do education initiatives. You can get a community to rally around dropouts or whatever issue you think is important.

RHEE: Teachers are incredibly important. Nobody wouldn’t say teachers have a huge impact on the quality of education. Oftentimes I ask parents, “If you have two choices, you can choose this classroom to put your child in – there are only 14 kids in the class, all the technology you need, state-of-theart facility, with a mediocre teach-

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er – or you can choose this classroom over here with 30 kids in it, the building is not so great, no technology, etc., but there’s a master teacher whom everyone knows is great. Which one would you choose?” I’ve never met a parent yet who said anything but that [they] would choose the master teacher.

On the other hand, do parents matter? Absolutely. There’s no one who wouldn’t say that more parental engagement and involvement won’t result in better outcomes for kids.

We’ve got to be doing our best to invest in more parental engagement and involvement.

JOHNSON: Are you a tiger mom? [audience laughter] RHEE: I have not read Amy Chua’s book [Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother], but from some of the excerpts of it that I have read, I thought some of it was way more than I would ever want any kid to be exposed to.

I will say this, though. I think that as a country, we have gone soft. We are so concerned with making kids feel good about themselves that we’ve lost sight of putting the time in to make them good at something. We are creating a generation of kids who celebrate mediocrity.

We have to take a really hard look at the culture we’ve created in this country and what kind of drive we are either building in our kids or not.

JOHNSON: That’s a tiger mom. Ω

Photos by Ed Ritger

is such a big problem, why would you get people who are so young to just commit two years to solve it?” This is literally from my eight-year-old. I could not believe it.

Seriously, at that moment, you just realize that there’s something so counterintuitive about this idea, and it really does come up against all of our traditional paradigms about the teaching profession, how teachers should be trained and all. We have a tendency to become immune to the crisis that is happening in our country. In Oakland, 14 percent of African-American boys graduate from high school. Fourteen percent. Right here in our backyards, in communities in this region, of all regions, right? We’re not giving our kids the chance to have any set of true professional options.

We’ve had this problem for decades.

Fifteen million kids in our country grow up below the poverty line. By the time they’re in fourth grade, they’re three grades behind kids in high-income communities. Half of them will not graduate from high school and the half that do, the kids we celebrate for graduating, have on average an eighth-grade skill level. When we have the big crises in the history of our country, in the history of our world, what do we do? We channel our most talented minds against it. That’s what Teach for America is working to do. It’s working to build a movement of our country’s future leaders to do something about it.

WILCOX: You refer to the leadership that a teacher brings to bear in the classroom.

Can you define that, discuss that?

KOPP: In A Chance to Make History, I write about the sort of daunting realization when you spend time in classrooms like Megan’s that this may not be the solution, this may not be the realistic path to truly ensuring educational opportunity for all kids. What we have seen that I think is so encouraging [is] that we can create whole schools, that make it never easy but easier and more sustainable to attain that kind of result.

Now we’re seeing meaningful change for kids at a whole system level. In New Orleans and Washington, D.C., we had given up on [school systems] five years ago that are now the fastest improving urban school systems in the country. What’s happening in those places? What does it take to actually effect meaningful change for kids? When you think about the magnitude of the problem, we need a lot more than incremental change.

A few percentage points more for kids’ [proficiency] according to state standards doesn’t actually effect the kind of path change that we need for the kids growing up today. We need transformational change, and wherever we have it – whether it is at the classroom level, as we saw in Megan’s example, whether it is in these schools, whether it’s in the systems that are moving in meaningful ways – always, always you have a transformational leader.

When you get into the school and system levels, you realize more often than not there are people who themselves taught successfully in urban and rural areas, and as a result, believe so deeply in their kids and have such a deep understanding of what it would actually take as a result of their teaching experience, that they step up and operate in ways that few other folks in influential positions actually do.

What we’ve seen in the last 20 years is [that] there’s something so transformational about teaching successfully in this context, and it’s that experience that undergirds real educational leadership and educational advocacy. That fuels our sense of urgency to get much bigger and much better; we need to accelerate their leadership as alumni as well.

WILCOX: When we think of a social entrepreneur, we often think of a lone ranger with a great idea out to conquer or change the world. The question is about knowing that there are so many other educators in this space. How did you navigate those individuals on your way through this journey?

KOPP: You really ground yourself in the reality of our urban and rural areas and the school systems within them. Twenty years ago, when I was walking around meeting people in school districts and showing them lists of colleges where we were going to recruit, people were responding by simply laughing. “Really, you think you’re going to get students from Stanford who want to teach in the Los Angeles Unified School District? I’ll tell you what: You make that happen, we’ll hire all 500 of them.” That was truly the reaction.

Still today, we read all the headlines, all the teacher layoffs, and certainly we wouldn’t say that we have a teacher shortage today – and yet there are still schools in our urban areas, in our remote, rural regions, that are very, very hard to staff. So Teach for America is an incredible ally for school dis-

tricts, schools and other institutions in our lowest-income communities who know that we have a huge need for talented, committed teachers who are not going to those schools as a last resort but because they want to be teaching in those schools. At the same time, when I think about all of the people out there – working in and around our school districts in pursuit of changing the system – always, there’s one limiting factor. Get any group of education reformers from inside the districts and outside of them together and ask them, What is the great constraint?

What do you think? Always, it’s one thing.

WILCOX: Money.

KOPP: No. Talent. Leadership. That’s all.

There’s plenty of money. People are getting results; people want to invest in them. Not that we don’t need to spend more money, especially in the state of California, on our schools and school systems. But honestly, it’s not the greatest constraint. It’s talent and leadership. We’re potential ally number one.

That’s led to Teach for America’s growth. Ω This program was made possible by the generous support of Chevron.

Helping shine the light on the truth from your office?

Do you work for an organization that gives you a special opportunity to donate each year through a workplace giving campaign?

Through these campaigns, you can contribute to lots of deserving nonprofit groups, including The Commonwealth Club. We’d like to invite you to select the Club when you complete your pledge form.

What are the benefits?

• Your donation is tax-deductible.

• Giving through payroll deduction is easy and convenient. Every pay period, a portion of your check - in any amount that you decide - is automatically deducted and sent to us.

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• Many companies match employee contributions, doubling an employee’s gift. Through your employer’s matching gift program, your donation has an even greater impact.

Learn more: Contact Penny Eardley by calling 415-597-6709 or emailing peardley@commonwealthclub.org Thank you for being a member!

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Am se

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merica’s ex drive How have the private lives of American leaders affected policy and history? How much knowledge is enough? Excerpt from Inforum’s “Larry Flynt: One Nation Under Sex,” May 18, 2011.

EISENBACH: We didn’t want to write a book that was just a collection of one sexcapade after another involving the presidents and the first ladies. We wanted to write a book that connected the personal and the private to the political. So if the story was something that was just Chester A. Arthur’s mistress, we weren’t interested in that. We wanted to see how the mistress maybe was involved in policy, and if that was the case, if she had an effect on policy, she made it into the book. So that’s why we don’t cover every single president with a dalliance.

BRONSTEIN: Do you think this is a function of power and the convergence of power, politics and ego?

EISENBACH: Yeah, I think politics attracts a certain personality type. They aren’t motivated by money. They’re motivated by this desire to get in front of the crowd and get some feedback. That’s a kind of needy personality type. Then, couple that with the opportunity – when you are a man and when you are speaking in front of large audiences, chances are there is a woman or two in the crowd who’s interested, if you do it well, and these guys do it well. That and traveling a lot open up a lot of opportunities, so that you see, for example, the divorce rate of the incoming freshmen class of congressmen: They have like a 30 percent divorce rate after the first two years in office. Well, there’s a reason for that. Opportunity and personality type have a lot to do with it.

FLYNT: We were accused of: All you want to do is expose a guy’s sex life. Well, that’s not it at all; it was just the hypocrisy that was there. But in all of these people that I’ve studied over the years – some of them have been inconsequential congressmen, and some of them have been governors, many of them have been U.S. senators – I

found that there was a common trait with them: They had a huge ego, and in order to feed that ego, they did it with the conquest of young women or men. I found out that was prevalent in those that we ended up exposing over the years.

BRONSTEIN: I wonder: Redemption always seems possible in politics. You write about a number of presidents who had redeemed themselves, or did redeem themselves after being outed after having affairs and so forth, and hookers, and all the other stuff. There was a quote in your book, “Purity of character after a period of political existence is not necessary for public patronage.” In other words, you can be a hound and somehow get away with it.

FLYNT: People could forgive Bill Clinton.

They never will forgive Arnold Schwarzenegger, because he was a dog. He picked on the housekeeper – been under his roof for over 20 years – and you know it wasn’t just that one time that she happened to get pregnant. It was probably a regular occurrence. So it’s almost as bad as John Edwards, who was having an affair while his wife was

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Flynt photos by Ed Ritger, flag by royal19 / Flickr

larry flynt Publisher; Activist; Co-author, One Nation Under Sex David Eisenbach Ph.D., Core Lecturer of U.S. History, Columbia University; Co-author, One Nation Under Sex PHIL BRONSTEIN Editor at Large, San Francisco Chronicle – Moderator

dying of cancer.

There’s some things that you will have redemption in. I don’t know what’s going to happen to Arnold’s career. Any personal redemption he’s looking for, he’s not going to get.

BRONSTEIN: What is not attributable in American history, in the key moments, to sex?

EISENBACH: We don’t attribute it all to sex. The Second World War and America’s inability to join the League of Nations was not a result of Woodrow Wilson’s sexual affair with Edith Galt. But we are saying that in each of these cases, sex played a major role in how the history unfolded. So that when historians who have traditionally turned a blind eye to the private lives and the sex lives of presidents and first ladies, because they don’t consider it serious history, [they] have missed a very important component of the larger history of America. This book is the corrective of that, bringing the sex back into the politics.

BRONSTEIN: Larry, you have particular respect for the Kennedy era. You’ve talked about it as an era of hope. I saw an interview that you did where you said that you had

“Historians have traditionally turned a

blind eye to the private lives of presidents.”

– Eisenbach

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revelations about the Kennedys, and I think you should buy [the book] just for that.

FLYNT: It was devastating for me to work on the chapters with Kennedy, because I grew up in that era. Camelot, when everyone loved their country, you could accomplish whatever you believed, and it was sort of that feel-good generation – EISENBACH: Definitely, they were feeling good in that administration.

FLYNT: – and Kennedy, I think, was part of that. There’s no doubt that had President Kennedy lived, everything that has come out would have come out, and even more.

I want to explain to you what bothered me. He’s the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world; if he wants a woman, he’s not going to have any trouble. Why did he have to go with the starlets like Marilyn [Monroe], Angie Dickinson, Marlene Dietrich, and on and on – a laundry list of Hollywood conquests that he was interested in? These rendezvous were not very well thought out, or planned.

They were just careless.

First of all, I am the first person to defend a philandering president. I think if you can fight two wars and balance a budget at the same time, you deserve to sleep with whoever you want to. He just wasn’t being cool about it.

His wife Jacqueline, the first lady, women in this country thought of her as royalty.

Her approval ratings were through the roof.

Jackie could do no wrong. She was having affairs even before the president was assassinated and continued them afterwards, one of them being with Bobby, the president’s brother who later was assassinated. I don’t know how you can get any more tacky than that.

BRONSTEIN: There was something more tacky than that. She, Jackie, according to your book, was sleeping with Aristotle Onassis – whom she had been sleeping with before her husband died – two days after he died, in the White House.

EISENBACH: We give a whole chapter to Jackie, because it’s a much more complicated story than the story we’ve been taught. We present her not as she’s been traditionally been presented, as a victim, but she’s also a player. That’s not something that we’ve traditionally liked to have seen in our first ladies, but they are complicated and in many cases voracious in their sex lives also, not

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just the guys.

In 1963, the Republicans had already begun to gear up for the 1964 re-election campaign that Kennedy intended to run.

They were about to smear the administration with [charges of ] lax morals. They had already begun to develop dossiers on the president’s sex life. One of the women that they knew about was Ellen Rometsch, who was from East Germany and a prostitute who frequented the White House swimming pool parties that the Kennedys would throw.

Senator [John James] Williams, this prude from Delaware, intended to bring Ms. Rometsch into the Senate chamber and grill her on her relationship with the president.

If that [had] happened, it’s quite possible that Kennedy would have been impeached – not only on the morals issue, but because the FBI had begun to investigate her as a possible communist spy. Here you have the president of the United States carrying on an affair with a prostitute from a communist country. You can see how this could have doomed the Kennedy presidency. So how do you stop the Senate from going forward with an investigation? There was one man who could stop the Senate, and that was J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI. Hoover wanted a concession, so he says to the Kennedys, “Okay, I’ll stop the Senate. But you’ve got to give me two things.

Number one, make me FBI director again, and number two, give me written approval and permission to wiretap and bug Martin Luther King Jr.” Washington was an absolute cesspool, in large part because these guys were not exposed in the press, but they were sexually blackmailing each other. And J. Edgar Hoover was at the forefront of this entire operation.

FLYNT: Hoover’s technique – he didn’t necessarily go through political channels if he wanted to destroy somebody’s career. Walter Winchell, a well-known radio commentator in New York, was friends with Hoover because of the information he could get, as was Drew Pearson, a very famous columnist in Washington. When [Hoover] wanted to leak a story, he went to one of them. He could be so deadly; a career could just evaporate overnight. That’s how powerful Hoover was.

You’ve got to think about: Here’s a guy who stayed in power as the director of the FBI

for almost 50 years. You know something had to be going on there. Nixon wanted to fire him but couldn’t, because [Hoover] had too much. Every president who came into office and wanted to do something about it couldn’t, because Hoover had so much information.

BRONSTEIN: In fact, Roosevelt was the first president who used Hoover, right?

EISENBACH: Right, and that’s it. Hoover was very useful to presidents if they needed to have something shut down. So he worked with presidents, not only against them.

Everybody knew that even if the stuff in your FBI file wasn’t true, it still could destroy you. The problem is that no one could criticize J. Edgar Hoover, even though he was director of the FBI. He refused to acknowledge the existence of the national mafia syndicate. At a time when the mafia was taking over America’s unions, flooding America’s cities with heroin, basically becoming this huge menace, he was running around chasing after communists.

BRONSTEIN: Wasn’t that because the mob essentially had information about [Hoover] being gay?

Women play a huge role in this book and obliviously not just as subjects – as hookers and mistresses and so forth – but really, it’s interesting to think about; particularly the women who were cheated on and sometimes themselves did the cheating as well. You have these women who stood by their men in a sense. A lot of them did. A lot of the wives of presidents past have: Hillary Clinton did, Maria Shriver did in 2003, probably regrets it today. Then, a lot of them traded that for some power. I think the idea that Hillary Clinton was sort of the first co-steward first lady – you know, you had Edith Galt, and Warden Harding’s wife was counting delegates at the convention, and Jackie Onassis was an extraordinary manipulator.

The women come out as having a certain kind of power in these relationships.

EISENBACH: That’s right. Ellen Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, they all make their compromise, because they believe that “once we get into the Oval Office we’re going to do good.” They’re not standing by their man just because they love them. They want the power too. And they’re powerful actors, not just victims.

BRONSTEIN: I’m wondering, as we talk about this, whether we are not better off in

the days, I would say, in the first 50 years of the 1900s, where, go up through the Kennedy administration, where Bobby Kennedy could call his friends in the press or enemies in the press and say, “Don’t run that story,” and they wouldn’t run it. There was a politician in San Francisco – I will not reveal who it is – many years ago who we found out, as reporters, had a very active night life. Was married, with kids; two reporters went out and followed this guy for two weeks and filled their notepads with the most eye opening kind of activity – you know, three in the morning, in a Volkswagen in the shadow of Grace Cathedral. But we decided at that time, again 20 years ago, that the politician showed up for work every morning and did his job. Therefore, what he did on his own time, however scandalous, was not a story. Would we be better off to going back to those days?

FLYNT: There’s a saying: Sunshine is the best transparency. Now we hear that our government agencies talk about transparency. Problem is, you never see it. Now I think the time is eroded, the time is gone where we’re going to be able to ever regain any of the individual liberties and personal freedoms that we gained with the very liberal Warren [Supreme] Court back in the ’60s. I think we might as well accept that, because of companies like Google and Facebook, we’ll probably see the loss of privacy. It’s probably what we pay for this technology.

It’s a terrible thing for me to conceive of, because I feel just as strongly about the privacy issue as I do about the First Amendment issue.

Life changes, technology changes, but the problem really is not the technology. It’s not the lifestyle of the American people. American people have to become brave enough to create a revolving door in Washington, D.C., and keep that thing going each election. If you vote for somebody and he doesn’t perform the way you think he should, then the next two years or the next six years, you vote him out again. But Americans have so much apathy that they don’t feel like they can make a difference, so they sit back and do nothing. Millions don’t even vote at all. That’s a disservice to yourself and your friends.

EISENBACH: On the issue of the changes of technology and how that has opened up the sex lives of presidents and politicians as

“Americans have to become

brave enough to create a revolving door in Washington, D.C.” – Flynt never before: One of the interesting things that we talk about in the book is how, with the Founding Fathers and in the early 19th century, the press was filled with stories of the sexual affairs and private lives of presidential candidates and first ladies.

It’s not until the 20th century, with the rise of the national security state and the professionalization of journalism, that journalists began to see themselves as part of the establishment, that they were there to kind of guard against any threats to the president, including gossip about his personal life.

That continues and intensifies in the Cold War, but once the Cold War is over, then there is this sense of: “Oh, well, the heat’s off.” Right? America is the best nation on earth. We’ve got no threats, stock market’s up, let’s have fun [with a] little sex scandal involving the president. We got burned by that. Our hope in this book is, in a weird way, that yes, we’re returning to the days of the pamphleteers, now called bloggers, but we have to have the maturity to handle this power, to handle this information, so the next time we do have a sex scandal involving the president, it doesn’t occupy the country’s attention for two years.

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Club Leadership OFFICERS of The Commonwealth Club of California Board Chair Dr. Mary G. F. Bitterman Vice Chair Maryles Casto Secretary William F. Adams Treasurer Anna W. M. Mok President and CEO Dr. Gloria C. Duffy

BOARD OF GOVERNORS Dan Ashley Massey J. Bambara Ralph Baxter Hon. Shirley Temple Black* John L. Boland J. Dennis Bonney* Helen A. Burt John Busterud* Michael Carr Hon. Ming Chin* Jack Cortis Mary B. Cranston** Dr. Kerry P. Curtis Dr. Jaleh Daie Evelyn S. Dilsaver Lee J. Dutra Joseph I. Epstein* Rolando Esteverena Jeffrey A. Farber Dr. Joseph R. Fink* Carol A. Fleming, Ph.D. Lisa Frazier William German* Dr. Charles Geschke Rose Guilbault** Jacquelyn Hadley Edie G. Heilman Hon. James C. Hormel Mary Huss Claude B. Hutchison Jr.* Dr. Julius Krevans* Lata Krishnan Don J. McGrath Jill Nash

Richard Otter* Joseph Perrelli* Hon. Barbara Pivnicka Hon. Richard Pivnicka Fr. Stephen A. Privett, S.J. Dr. Mohammad H. Qayoumi Dan C. Quigley Toni Rembe* Victor A. Revenko* Skip Rhodes* Dr. Condoleezza Rice Fred A. Rodriguez Renée Rubin* Robert Saldich** Joseph W. Saunders George M. Scalise Connie Shapiro* Charlotte Mailliard Shultz George D. Smith, Jr. James Strother Hon. Tad Taube Charles Travers Thomas Vertin Robert Walker Nelson Weller* Judith Wilbur* Dr. Colleen B. Wilcox Dennis Wu* Russell M. Yarrow * Past President ** Past Chair

ADVISORY BOARD Karin Helene Bauer Hon. William Bradley Dennise M. Carter Steven Falk Amy Gershoni

Heather M. Kitchen Amy McCombs Hon. William J. Perry Ray Taliaferro Nancy Thompson

BRONSTEIN: I agree with what Larry said about hypocrisy; I think California voters have proven that they’ll accept lying, cheating and stealing, but they do not like hypocrisy.

When you talk about sex scandals and the doors and windows that you’ve opened in this book and other people open on a daily basis, there’s really a question: Does it reflect a character, a personality? Let’s talk about John Edwards, who not just let down his family, but let down millions of people who believed that he was someone he was not. You quote Joseph Kennedy as telling his sons, “Doesn’t matter who you are, it’s who people think you are.” Is there a character issue that we ought to take from this kind of behavior and apply it to what kind of leader they would be? Is bad behavior a character trait that we ought to apply when judging someone as a politician?

FLYNT: I think so. You know, the sad part of it is, most people are pretty good about judging people. They just don’t take action.

They can’t get it to the ballot box.

EISENBACH: But in the terms of sex, the fact is that we’ve had bad presidents who were on the straight and narrow in terms of their wives and we’ve had good presidents who were fooling about. So there’s really no correlation. Jimmy Carter is one president that we can definitely say was entirely loyal, but an awful president. So there you go.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: When I was a kid

learning history, we kept on reading that “George Washington slept here,” “George Washington slept there.” Was that a doubleentendre?

FLYNT: If he did, he was awful slick. What I found interesting is that Jefferson and Washington were the only two Founding Fathers that never freed their slaves. We know why Jefferson didn’t, because he was doing them all.

Another interesting take that we really didn’t dwell on in the book, because there was no way of substantiating it, but it’s a theory that’s been around for over 200 years, is: When George Washington married Martha, she was 27 years old and had two kids by a previous marriage. They wanted desperately to have more children. They weren’t able to.

After the Revolutionary War, Washington was the most popular man in the country. He was a hero, a legend, he was everything the colonies believed in. If he wanted to be King George instead of president, he could have been. There’s a school of thought that thinks that because he couldn’t produce an heir that he decided to go the presidential route. We can’t back it up with research, but it’s interesting to discuss occasionally, especially when we are able to document how desperate they were to have additional children. Ω This program was made possible by the generous support of Levi Strauss & Co.

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putting you face-to-face with today’s thought leaders

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THe

NEXT BIG HIT

Patterson researches his novel about an attack on the United States. Excerpt from “Richard North Patterson,” May 11, 2011.

Richard North Patterson Author, A Devil’s Light and Exile

CURIEL: Among the people you interviewed for this book was Mohammed Fadlallah, who is often described as the spiritual leader of Hezbollah. You actually traveled to Lebanon and elsewhere. For example, you went to Ayn al-Hilweh, a very well known Palestinian refugee camp about an hour or so south of Beirut.

PAT T E R S O N : I went there, and t o Sa b r a a n d Shatila. Both scary places.

Yo u c a n’t imagine

these conditions Palestinians live under in Lebanon: not allowed to vote, not allowed to hold jobs in most areas of work or most professions. That in itself is remarkable.

Fadlallah, one of the spiritual heads of the Shia world, was really an incredibly interesting man. I felt it necessary to speak to those folks to advance my knowledge.

Obviously the government wasn’t arranging that for me, because he was on the terrorist list of the State Department until his death.

Nonetheless, conversations with Hamas, Hezbollah, Fadlallah and others were very useful to try to create a rounded picture of what would have been an incredibly complex situation if you’re hunting for a bomb in the Middle East.

CURIEL: [Did] any of these interviews change your personal assessment of the Middle East and cause you to say, “Wait a minute, maybe U.S. policy is X, Y or Z?” PATTERSON: That’s a complicated question. You don’t believe, obviously, when you’re talking to these folks, or any folks, everything you hear from them. I had an interesting conversation with Fadlallah about the bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in ’82, and the bombing of the American embassy in Beirut. He was alleged to have blessed those events before the fact. He said, essentially, without saying much about that, “You were on our soil; I don’t come to your soil. I condemned al-Qaida for 9/11. These were acts of resistance, not acts of terror.”

It’s actually good to hear that point of view

when you’re trying to figure out how these folks think.

CURIEL: A lot of your books are international best sellers. I’m wondering when you were in the Middle East whether, for example, if someone like Mohammed Fadlallah went, “Oh, of course, Mr. Patterson; I loved blah, blah, blah. Come on in.” Or were they a little wary of having this novelist come in?

PATTERSON: It is sort of funny; you sometimes have to jump through a few hoops. When I was talking to the Palestinians for Exile [Patterson’s 2007 novel about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict], and when I was talking to the Ayatollah Fadlallah, one thing you’re aware of is they don’t feel that their point of view is very well circulated in the Western press. So to the extent that you show up and can write, and someday something you say will get into print, they’re actually more keen to talk to you than other people might [be]. Because they have a feeling that they aren’t understood, that they are basically satirized and cast as terrorists in a one-size-fits-all sort of way, they’re quite fine with talking to you for the most part.

With Fadlallah, there is a priceless picture of me giving him a copy of Exile and him giving me a book on the dialogue between the Islamic and Western world. But I don’t think he was a fan before I showed up. Ω This program was made possible by the generous support of The Bernard Osher Foundation.

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Photo by Ed Ritger

Jonathan Curiel Author, ‘Al’ America – Moderator

Dianne Feinstein (Continued from page 7)

cial situation. So let’s talk about the budget situation. We’ve recently been through an unusual middle of the fiscal year hazard a guess they have not. budget fight over continuing to fund the government for DALTON: Are all leaks harmful leaks or a common oc- the rest of this fiscal year, and almost shut down the governcurrence in Washington? Everybody does it, both parties. ment. I believe it was Paul Krugman of The New York Times What leaks are OK, and what leaks who wrote that the Democrats had should be prosecuted? a chance last fall to pass a budget FEINSTEIN: Classified informafor the entire year and chose not to, “Classified information is tion is classified information and because the elections were coming. Is should not be released until it’s information that a fair assessment? declassified, and I really believe FEINSTEIN: They also have to get that. You can do it by error, and 60 votes, and it’s difficult to do it and should not be it’s hard for those of us on the because, unfortunately, what the until it’s Intelligence Committee, because Republicans have done is slow-rolled if you’ve seen it in a classified in the Senate: Virtually everything .” form, you can’t release it, period, that comes up goes to cloture, which even if it later means it has to get 60 votes. You can appears look at the numbers and see that in in the newspaper and some- the past session this began, and it’s continuing to some extent body asked you about it. in this session, and the minute you begin a cloture motion, The fact that you’re on the it runs for three days. committee gives credibilSo it slows things down. It’s a way of stopping the presiity to it. So you have to dent’s appointments. It’s a way of stopping progress, and it’s be very careful. For me, wrong. I’m elected to go there and cast a vote, yes or no, that’s the hardest thing, and a majority is 51 votes in the United States Senate. So because I tend to be what they have effectively done is created a super majority, forthcoming; I tend to say sometimes even to bring up a bill, to vote on a bill, you need what I think and I always 60 votes. So the cloture and 60 votes becomes a determining have to pull myself up, back. factor, and I believe that’s a mistake.

DALTON: Admiral DALTON: Paul Ryan is a Republican from Wisconsin who Mullen, chairman of has put forward a roadmap for the upcoming budget battle the Joint Chiefs of that preserves Medicare for people over 55 and preserves Staff, has said that Social Security for people over 55. What do you think of one of the great- the Ryan roadmap? est threats to FEINSTEIN: It’s basically unfair, that’s what I think of it, national se- because what it does is make the cuts basically in programs c u r i t y i s that the poor and the lower income of our nation are depeno u r f i - dent on. And it does this to avoid having to put taxes back n a n - up where they were for the very wealthy – Everybody in this room has watched the recession, and we know who gained and who did well and who didn’t do well. [The Ryan approach is] a huge mistake. I don’t think you can solve the problem without revenue increases, and it should be a fair share. When I was mayor and I had to make some changes in the revenue structure, we did it in a fair share way that everybody does their fair share. You can’t leave the very wealthy out of this problem.

DALTON: So your position is to let the Bush tax cuts expire, which President Obama extended for a couple of years?

FEINSTEIN: That’s correct. It’s about 3 percent. It’s about $40 billion over a period of 10 years. It’s important funding and it’s necessary, because where we’re going to go is into real class animosity if we don’t maintain fairness. It’s estimated, I think [Alan] Blinder wrote, that some 72 percent of [Ryan’s] cuts are taken just so the wealthy can maintain the 36 percent instead of going up to 39 percent, and it’s just not right.

classified

released declassified

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DALTON: We addressed the revenue side. How about the standard for California energy. That’s positive. We have led expense side – Social Security, Medicare, defense? the way and California will have a cap-and-trade system. I FEINSTEIN: The best chance for movement in the Sen- think the United States can well learn from that system. ate is the Bowles-Simpson plan. We now have from that DALTON: A question from the audience asks: Are committee that worked on it three Republicans and three California climate policies putting other state-funded Democrats essentially [who] have sat down to see if they programs at risk by driving industries out of state that could come to an agreement on how to proceed. That, to produce jobs and tax revenues? me, offers the most hope. I’m told that they may have an FEINSTEIN: I don’t believe that. Energy is the largest answer within the next couple of weeks. I hope they can source of new jobs for this state. The estimate is that reach an accommodation, because Democrats, though we’re it can produce 100,000 additional jobs. Whether it’s in a bare majority, can’t do anything to get the 60 votes solar or wind or biofuels, a lot of experimentation is without some Republicans. So if that can be the case, that’s going on at the University of California, at the labs, the best of all worlds, and it should combine the revenues to come up with additional fuels. I went over to see and the cuts. the old Toyota factory, which is now a Tesla factory, DALTON: Speaker John Boehner recently said that big oil [where they’re building] an all-electric automobile companies do not need the oil depletion allowance, and the which is very smart-looking. Things are happenpresident then got on that issue. Do you think that that is ing, and we have to support them and see that the true, that the subsidies for fossil fuels ought to be changed programs are in place that enable solar and wind as part of this – to really develop to FEINSTEIN: Absolutely, and a be a substantial share lot of other things as well. of our energy pro“ is the largest DALTON: How about encourduction. agement for renewable energy?

D A LT O N : for O source of FEINSTEIN: Well, I happen to ne way believe that global warming is real. that some this state; it can produce I have a constituent breakfast evpeople think ery [week], and I go through this. to do that is additional I’m surprised how many people to make fos.” don’t know that the atmosphere sil fuels more around the Earth is limited, and expensive or that when you put fossil fuels and have them actucarbon dioxide or methane or other things into that atmo- ally reflect their true cost. The sphere, they don’t dissipate. They warm the atmosphere. Bowles-Simpson plan We’ve had a degree of change in the last century ever since calls for a 15-cent-athe Industrial Revolution, and so the temperature of the gallon tax increase Earth is warming. on gasoline.

I looked up at a map of the Arctic and you see, for the There’s a group first time in history, the Northwest Passage open year round. here in CaliYou see the oceans beginning to rise. You see the weather f o r n i a changing, which is a product too of global warming – more tornadoes, more heavy hurricanes, raindrops bigger. And you know that if we do nothing in the next 100 years, the Earth will warm four to seven degrees. It’s catastrophic if that happens.

And people believe that the Earth is immutable, that it doesn’t change. Go back 250 million years and the likelihood is that there was just a single land mass and that land mass split apart based on earthquakes, based on volcanoes. The Earth can change, and we can destroy the Earth unless we’re sensitive to these changes. So there is no question in my mind that we need to pay attention, and the way we need to pay attention is the development of alternatives to fossil fuels. That can be done. Just the other day, the governor signed legislation coming out of the legislature, which requires a 33 percent renewable

Energy new jobs

100,000 jobs

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that includes George Shultz and people from Chrysler and Volvo who want to raise the gasoline tax one penny a month over 10 years, very predictably and stably. Do you think the gasoline tax ought to be part of some mechanism for encouraging renewables in addressing climate change?

FEINSTEIN: Well, I go slow on that. We have very long commutes for workers in this state. You know, if you’re buying $5 a gallon gas for 20 gallons a tank and you’re driving 100 miles to work and 100 miles back from work, which people do, it’s very expensive. This is not the time. Gasoline is high, the nation is trying to pull itself out of recession. We need to keep gasoline below the $4 mark right now.

DALTON: Another energy issue that you’ve been engaged in recently is nuclear energy. The disaster in Japan has raised new questions about nuclear programs in the United States and elsewhere. Recently you wrote a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they should consider newly discovered fault lines before granting license extensions for operating nuclear plants. Most of the U.S. nuclear plants are near the ocean. Several of them, like the Diablo Canyon in California, are near earthquake faults. How do you think we should respond on a nuclear front after Japan?

FEINSTEIN: We have 104 nuclear plants in this country; two in California. About 23, I think, have the same nuclear system as the Daiichi system. There should be deep concern over what happened in Japan. It’s a big learning lesson. I visited the two nuclear plants, both Diablo run by PG&E and San Onofre run by Southern California Edison.

What I found there was staff very much concerned about safety, really good staff – 1,100 staff at Diablo and 3,000 staff at San Onofre, each one producing about the same amount of megawatts.

However, what we have is a lack of attention to the whole fuel cycle and, particularly, the spent fuel cycle. Hot rods are put in pools, where they remain for up to 24 years now in our state. They should remain there for five to seven years, then they can be transferred to what are called dry casks, which are like cylinders that are made to survive. They were made as transfer products for the fuel rods to be put in and transferred into permanent nuclear storage somewhere.

That was going to be Yucca Mountain. Yucca

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Mountain is no more.

We need either regional or centralized nuclear fuel storage. It’s asking for trouble to keep hot rods in spent pools for decades and dry casks right on the site of nuclear reactors. They should be moved away.

DALTON: An audience question says: Thank you for your work with baby bottle toxins. Do you think regulation of toxins and plastics will be feasible in the current political climate? There’s a phthalate bill that

“It’s asking for trouble to keep hot [nuclear fuel] rods in spent

pools

for decades ... on the site of

nuclear reactors.” came out of San Francisco, went to California, and now you hope to make it national.

FEINSTEIN: I did a bill to essentially ban something called phthalates from plastic toys. It was based on some science that came forward that said these plastics, with their softeners and their hardeners, are really bad, particularly for young children.

I have been trying to remove BPA from baby bottles, from infant formula, and I haven’t been able to get it through yet. But there is solid evidence that it’s an endocrine disrupter for small children, and that means that they have changes in their endocrine system, and we now know that girls are increasingly going through puberty at a much younger age. So I become very interested in chemicals that are added that we know very little about.

Europe has a precautionary system. That means that the chemical has to be tested and found to be benign before it’s added to a product. We don’t. You have to prove after it’s added to a product that it’s harmful.

This is a hard fight, because the grocery stores want it, but there are some that are now taking action voluntarily to see that it does not exist and taking on BPA and baby bottles. I’m very proud. Wal-Mart, Target, other places don’t sell them. Baby bottle companies are now changing. So there’s good news happening.

Au gu s t/s e p tem be r 2011

DALTON: Can you talk about the terrible killings in Mexico?

FEINSTEIN: Yes. You have seven big cartels that are now down to four big cartels and they’re called drug trafficking organizations. They are more brutal than the Mafia ever was, and it’s just terrible. In Ciudad Juarez, I think some 35,000 people have been killed. The brutality, the chopping off of heads, the killing of families, the killing of law enforcement, of reporters, of judges, is just a scourge, and you have a president, Calderon, who’s trying to do the best he can to fight it. You have a real element of corruption within the military and within the police in Mexico.

What we are trying to do through special task forces is build vetted units that can concentrate on intelligence on both sides of the border and begin to address special operations through the FBI. Mexico is now extraditing people to the United States to be tried. Some of the Arellano Felix cartel, which was the Tijuana cartel, and is now taken over by another cartel – most of those leaders are now serving time in American prisons. So this has to continue.

DALTON: As long as we buy and want this stuff and the guns come from the U.S., what’s our accountability and role in creating the demand and supplying the guns?

FEINSTEIN: Well, some people say legalize drugs. I’m not there. I’ve seen what drugs have done to people. I spent five years sentencing women convicted of felonies in the early 1960s down at the state prison as an appointee of [Governor] Pat Brown’s. I saw firsthand what drugs do to people and the addicting quality. I visited Needle Park when it existed in Zurich and I saw people passed out on the ground and vomiting. I don’t think legalization is the way to go.

We need to concentrate on prevention, and that begins with the very young. Parents need to play a much bigger role than they [now] play in knowing what their youngsters are doing, what they’re smoking, what they’re drinking, what they’re using.

DALTON: Will you run for another term, Senator? And when can we see your birth certificate?

FEINSTEIN: Yes, my intention is to run for another term.

And I don’t know where my birth certificate is. But I was born right up here at UC Medical Center on Parnassus. Ω

Programs

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OVERVIEW

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The Commonwealth Club organizes more than 450 events every year – on politics, the arts, media, literature, business and sports.

Programs are held throughout the Bay Area.

Prepayment is required. Unless otherwise indicated, all Club programs – including “Members Free” events – require tickets.

Programs often sell out, so we strongly encourage you to purchase tickets in advance. Tickets are available at will call. Due to heavy call volume, we urge you to purchase tickets online at commonwealthclub.org; or call (415) 597-6705. Please note: All ticket sales are final. Please arrive at least 10 minutes prior to any program. If a program is sold out and your tickets are not claimed at our box office by the program start time, they will be released to our stand-by list. Select events include premium seating; premium refers to the first several rows of seating.

STANDARD PROGRAMS Typically one hour long, these speeches cover a variety of topics and are followed by a question and answer session. Most evening programs include a wine and cheese reception.

PROGRAM SERIES FOOD LIT showcases pre-eminent chefs and cookbook authors and often includes a mouth-watering meal or tasting.

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INFORUM is for and by people in their 20s and 30s, although events are open to people of all ages.

Hear Club programs on about 200 public and commercial radio stations throughout the United States. For the latest schedule, visit commonwealthclub.org/broadcast.

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Member-Led Forums Chair

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KLIV (1590 AM) Thursdays at 7 p.m.

FORUM CHAIRS 2011 ARTS Anne W. Smith asmith@ggu.edu Lynn Curtis lynnwcurtis@comcast.net ASIA–PACIFIC AFFAIRS Cynthia Miyashita cmiyashita@hotmail.com BAY GOURMET Cathy Curtis cathy_curtis2@pacbell.net SF BOOK DISCUSSION Howard Crane cranehow@aol.com BUSINESS & LEADERSHIP Kevin O’Malley kevin@techtalkstudio.com ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES Kerry Curtis kcurtis@ggu.edu Marcia Sitcoske msitcosk@yahoo.com GROWNUPS John Milford Johnwmilford@gmail.com

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HUMANITIES George C. Hammond george@pythpress.com INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Norma Walden norwalden@aol.com LGBT Stephen Seewer stephenseewer@gmail.com Julian Chang

Watch Club programs on KGO-DT Plus channel 7.2 or Comcast 194 from 4 – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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View streaming video of Club programs at fora.tv and commonwealthclub.org/media/video

julianclchang@gmail.com MIDDLE EAST Celia Menczel celiamenczel@sbcglobal.net PSYCHOLOGY Patrick O’Reilly oreillyphd@hotmail.com science & technology Chisako Ress chisakoress@gmail.com

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HARD OF HEARING? To request an assistive listening device, please e-mail Ricardo Esway at resway@commonwealthclub.org or call (415) 869-5911 seven working days before the event. au g u s t/s e p tem b e r 2011

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Eight Weeks Calendar August 01 – September 25 M on

Tue

August 01

02

6:00 p.m. Swami Beyondananda FM

Wed

03 6:00 p.m. Investing in India Today 6:30 p.m. James Beard Award Winnners 7:00 p.m. Ken Denmead

08

09

10

6:00 p.m. The Philosophy of Yoga in the

Bhagavad Gita FM 6:30 p.m. How Far Would You Go to Save a

Marriage? FM

6:00 p.m. Jai Ranganathan

7:15 p.m. Muslims of India

15

16

17

6:00 p.m. Family Farallones Discovery FM

6:00 p.m. Spice of Life: Growing up Queer

in India FM

22

23

24

6:00 p.m. Sacred Heritage

6:00 p.m. Spices of India Cooking 6:00 p.m. India Shining

6:00 p.m. Bollywood Now

29

30

6:00 p.m. Medical Technology Innovation

for India FM

05

06

Labor Day

31 6:00 p.m. INDOvation

07 5:15 p.m. The Real Costs of Retirement

Club offices closed

12

13

14

6:00 p.m. Silicon Valley’s Success FM

6:00 p.m. Software Alchemy and the Arc of Technology 6:30 p.m. The Good Among the Great

6:00 p.m. Finding Faith and Spirituality 6:00 p.m. A New Energy Paradigm for the European Union and East-Central Europe

19

20

21

Noon The North American Idea FM 6:00 p.m. Israel and the Arab Spring FM 6:00 p.m. Death Valley FM

6:00 p.m. Public-Private Partnerships 6:00 p.m. Cloud Computing and Customers

Noon Winning the War on War 2:00 p.m. Northbeach Walking Tour 5:15 p.m. Practical Approaches to Managing Life Transitions

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Journey to Cuba

Education, Health Care, Religion and Culture February 14 - 20, 2012 Call now to be one of the first to reserve your space on this exciting departure. Complete details for this program are pending license approval from the U.S. Treasury Department.

Death Valley

Wildflowers, Canyons and Controversy March 12 - 16, 2012 Explore this magnificent land of extremes with study leader Frank Ackerman, a former Death Valley National Park Ranger. Visit Badwater Salt Flats, which, at 282 feet below sea level, is the lowest place in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth lowest place on Earth. Enjoy a stunning panoramic view of all 11,049 feet of Telescope Peak. Hike through the multi-hued walls of Golden Canyon and experience sunrise at Zabriskie Point. Learn about the dramatic geology, the remarkably hardy flora and fauna, and the controversial issues surrounding the park. Visiting mid-March optimizes the chance of witnessing the vibrant spring wildflower bloom. cost:

$1,995 per person, based on double occupancy

Between Two Oceans: Panama Canal Expedition Aboard the Silver Explorer

March 28 - April 4, 2012 Discover Costa Rica’s Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the most bio-diverse areas of the world. Meet with the creators of the Santuario Silvestre de Osa, a rainforest wildlife rehabilitation center. Look for capuchin and howler monkeys, three-toed sloth, parrots, macaws, and the endangered great curassows. Kayak through tropical mangroves; hike tropical rainforest trails; snorkel and swim amidst colorful sea life. Visit an Embera village in the Darien Jungle of Panama.

See the former Canal Zone and transit the locks of the Canal, an engineering marvel. Learn from our expert expedition staff – including naturalists, a historian, anthropologist and oceanographer. cost:

from $3,030 per person, based on double occupancy

Centers of Culture and Art in the Mediterranean A Voyage from Seville to Venice aboard the Corinthian II

April 14 - 27, 2012 Marvel at the best of Moorish art and architecture at the 13th-century Alhambra palace. Experience a private flamenco performance in Seville. View works of 20th-century artists such as Gaudi in Barcelona and Cezanne in Aix-en-Provence. Take in the limestone cliffs of Bonifacio in Corsica and the magnificent fjord of Boka Kotorska en route to Montenegro’s Kotor. Admire the well-preserved Greco-Roman antiquities collection at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples and enjoy a private performance of traditional Croatian klapa singing in Dubrovnik. Expert scholars discuss Greek and Roman civilizations and the artistic achievements associated with these cities. cost:

from $8,395 per person, based on double occupancy

Moroccan Discovery

From the Imperial Cities to the Sahara

April 28 - May 11, 2012 Discover Morocco’s ancient ruins, sacred mosques, lush desert oases, imposing kasbahs and spirited souks. Explore Rabat, capital of Morocco, both historic and contemporary. Visit the ancient Roman ruins at the UNESCO site of Volubilis. Wander through the fascinating medina in Fez and experience a special visit and discussion with an Imam in his home. Follow the fabled caravan route in the High Atlas Mountains and see spectacular Todra Gorge. Travel to the ancient fortified city of Ait ben-Haddou, another UNESCO Site. Spend three nights in alluring Marrakech, before concluding in storied Casablanca. cost:

$5,295 - including air from SFO - per person, based on double occupancy

Botswana Safari Desert Sunset, Delta Dawn

May 17 - 27, 2012 Discover Botswana’s breathtaking landscapes, spectacular wildlife and luxurious tented camps with one of Southern Africa’s top naturalist guides, Dave Hamman. Enjoy wildlife viewing in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, one of Africa’s largest and most pristine wildlife parks. Search for blackmaned lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, cheetah and the exceedingly rare African wild dog. In the evening, watch for lion passing under the camp’s walkway and listen to elephants splashing in the river as you dine. Experience a serene ride in a traditional mokoro as you learn about the Okavango Delta’s unique system of waterways. Optional trip extensions to Cape Town and Victoria Falls. cost:

$6,895, per person, based on double occupancy

Changing Tides of History: Cruising the Baltic Sea With former Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and Lech Walesa

May 28 - June 8, 2012 Experience the cultural rebirth of the Baltic States and the magnificent imperial riches of St. Petersburg on this 10-night program, cruising for eight nights aboard the deluxe M.S. Le Boréal. Hear speeches by former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and former President of Poland Lech Walesa. In the tradition of ancient Viking mariners, sail across the Baltic Sea beginning in the historic port of Copenhagen and disembarking in cosmopolitan Stockholm. Revel in the medieval charms of Riga and Tallinn. Discover the stunning architecture of Helsinki, and enjoy two nights in regal St. Petersburg, including an early-opening tour of the world-acclaimed State Hermitage Museum. cost:

from approximately $7,695 per person, based on double occupancy

Danube River and the Habsburg Empire

Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic & Poland

June 14 - 27, 2012 This 14-day journey through the heart of Central Europe visits six countries, six UNESCO World Heritage sites, and features a seven-night cruise on the legendary Blue Danube aboard one of the deluxe vessels of the Amadeus fleet. Cruise from Budapest, Hungary, to Passau, Germany, through the spectacular Wachau Valley. Discover Bratislava’s charming Old Town, imperial Vienna, magnificent Melk Abbey and the storybook village of Dürnstein. Explore the medieval gems of Prague, Cesk´y Krumlov and Kraków, virtual open-air museums of Central European history and architecture. Spend three nights in Prague and two nights in Kraków. Optional extensions in Budapest and Warsaw. cost:

from $3,995 per person, based on double occupancy

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Theater and Art in Ashland

June 26 - 30, 2012 Founded in 1935, the Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland, OR, is among the oldest and largest professional nonprofit theaters in the nation. Attend four plays and enjoy lively post-theater discussions with fellow Club members and our study leader. Explore OSF’s three theater auditoriums and areas behind the Elizabethan Stage during a backstage tour, and enjoy specially arranged discussions with company members. Learn about this town’s history during a walking tour of Ashland. Stay at the historic Ashland Springs Hotel, steps away from the festival theaters. cost:

approximately $1,495 per person, based on double occupancy

The Black Sea: Crossroads of Culture Aboard the All-Suite, 114-Guest Corinthian II

July 17 - 28, 2012 The magnificent Black Sea region is the home of many pivotal events in world history, from the fall of Constantinople to the fall of the Soviet Union. Sail from Athens to Constanta, Romania’s main port, and explore the ruins of Tomis Danubius. Discover the famous Potemkin Steps in Odessa.

Visit Yalta and Sevastopol, crucible of the Crimean War. Sail to the seldom-visited north coast of Turkey to explore Trabzon, and admire the spectacular frescoes that adorn the Rock Church within the Sumela Monastery. Experience the rock-tombs of the Pontic Kings carved into vertical cliffs overlooking the city of Amasya. Enjoy lectures led by an incredible team of onboard experts. cost:

from approximately $7,495 per person, based on double occupancy

China and the Yangtze

Ancient Dynasties to Modern Superpower

September 4 - 17, 2012 Begin in 2000-year-old Beijing, China’s modern-day capital, and discover its legendary sites: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, and the Great Wall.

Learn about communal life along Beijing’s alleyways, or hutongs. Marvel at Xian’s terra cotta army of nearly 8,000 life-size warriors, called the Eighth Wonder of the World. Board our Victoria Cruises ship at Chongqing for a three-night cruise on the Yangtze, one of the world’s longest and busiest rivers. Witness daily life along its shores and see the spectacular Three Gorges and its new dam. Explore Shanghai, a dazzling city that epitomizes 21st-century China. Optional extension to Hong Kong. cost:

$4,195 - including air from SFO - per person, based on double occupancy

Waterways of Russia: From St. Petersburg to Moscow Aboard the Princess Victoria

September 26 - October 9, 2012 Begin in beautiful St. Petersburg with a performance at the Alexandrinsky Theater and a visit to Catherine’s Palace to see the famous Amber Room. Enjoy an early entrance to the State Hermitage Museum, before our 6-night cruise on the Volga, Svir and Neva Rivers. Journey to the quaint village of Mandrogi and to Kizhi Island. Explore Goritsy, once closed to western visitors; Yaroslavl, home to one of Russia’s oldest monasteries; and the historic town of Uglich. In Moscow, visit the Kremlin, the Armory Museum and wander through Red Square. Learn about Russia’s history from revolution to communism, Gorbachev to Putin, and examine the country’s challenges today. cost:

from $3,495 per person, based on double occupancy

Legacy of the Silk Road Uzbekistan & Turkmenistan

October 6 - 20, 2012 Discover Uzbekistan’s UNESCO-listed Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, with their rich histories and incredible architecture. In Tashkent’s Old Town, visit the private art studio of a sixth-generation Uzbek ceramicist. Discuss Central Asia’s geopolitics over lunch with a representative of the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent. Meet with the senior advisor for Bukhara’s Ark Museum, and students and faculty during a school visit. Enjoy an archaeologist-led walking tour of Nisa. Explore Ashkhabad’s colorful Tolkuchka Bazaar. Our study leader, Ambassador Elizabeth Jones, spent 35 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, and designed U.S. policies for NATO, European Union countries and Central Asia. cost:

approximately $4,995 per person, based on double occupancy

Burma (Myanmar) and Laos Kingdoms of the East

October 14 - 27, 2012 Join study leader and author Dr. Donald Stadtner as we visit temples, pagodas and sacred Buddhist shrines. Admire the decaying colonial facades of Yangon, and enjoy a reception at the U.S. ambassador’s residence. Tour Mandalay, the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the center of Burmese culture. Discover the remarkable ruins of Pagan, the ancient capital and once a vast and populous kingdom. Fly to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Experience charming Luang Prabang, a UNESCO site and a treasure trove of the nation’s greatest artistic achievements. Visit Wat Xiang Thong and take a boat ride on the Mekong. Lectures will focus on sacred sites, history, and contemporary issues. cost:

$5,495 per person, based on double occupancy

We still have space on these 2011 departures: Burgundy’s Food and Wine

Journey to Northern India

October 9 - 14, 2011

November 1 - 15, 2011

A Bay Gourmet Adventure in France

with the Pushkar Camel Fair

CST# 2096889-40 Photos (l to r) To Uncertainty and Beyond / Flickr, Marina & Enrique / Flickr, Andy Biggs, n/a, n/a, JakobSoderstrom / Flickr, daneen_vol / Flickr, stevebrownd50 / Flickr, Marc Verat, National Parks Service, n/a, Francisco Diez / Flickr, n/a, n/a, n/a, wikimedia commons, n/a, n/a, n/a, n/a, n/a, Stefan Munder / Flickr, Jon Snelgrove / istockphoto.com, @superamit / Flickr

For Information & Reservations: visit commonwealthclub.org/travel call (415) 597-6720 email travel@commonwealthclub.org

Legend

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6:00 p.m. The Future of the Housing Market

11 2:00 p.m. Chinatown Walking Tour 6:00 p.m. India’s Economic Growth 6:30 p.m. Sramana Mitra

18 2:00 p.m. Russian Hill Walking Tour 6:00 p.m. Veena Srinicasan

25 6:00 p.m. India and Her Fragments 6:30 p.m. Urban Wine Uncorked

September 01 6:00 p.m. Social Capital

08 6:00 p.m. Percutaneous System Developed

for Carpal Tunnel 6:30 p.m. Gavin Newsom

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7:30 a.m.

Farallon Islands Whale Watching

22

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9:00 a.m. Green Walking Tour of Berkeley

Noon Saving California’s Government FM

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August 01–09 Jul 15 – Sep 16

M on 0 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M on 0 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Sacred Heritage: The Paintings of Salma Arastu

The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga

Wake Up Laughing, Wise Up Loving

Drawing from both the Islamic and Hindu faiths, Arastu brings a modern interpretation to her spiritual heritage.

Her paintings are a marriage of Arabic calligraphy, miniatures and Indian folk art, richly textured in surface and color.

She will be speaking about her artwork on Monday, August 22, at 6 p.m., at the Club office. You can enjoy her artwork on display in the Club office during July, August and September.

We will discuss this biting satirical novel, winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize and set in modern-day India, about a self-made chauffeur and his wealthy but corrupt employers. As a reminder, this is a book discussion; the author will not be present.

Swami Beyondananda, Cosmic Comic

MLF: The Arts Location: SF Club Office Time: Regular Club business hours Cost: FREE Program Organizer: Lynn Curtis

Special Series this August:

MLF: SF Book Discussion Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. program Cost: FREE Program Organizer: Howard Crane

Join Swami Beyondananda for a heartopening presentation and find out why noted author Marianne Williamson has called Swami “The Mark Twain of our generation.” The Swami will also be taking live questions from the audience, so if you have an answerable question, the Swami will have a questionable answer.

MLF: Humanities Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. reception, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students (with valid ID) Program Organizer: George Hammond

Wed 0 3 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

SF’s 2011 James Beard Award Winners: What Makes a Restaurant Great?

The land of the earliest civilizations has added a growing space program to its national image, revealing its evergrowing role in modern international science and commerce. Still, its ancient allure of art, food, meditation, color and passion is compelling as ever.

How do the new and old features of India get along in the modern world?

The Commonwealth Club will use the month of August to explore the many sides of this wonderful country.

Gold sponsor: Wells Fargo & Co. Silver sponsor: Ernst & Young India Now programs are organized by volunteer members of The Commonwealth Club’s Member-Led Forums.

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Joshua Aidlin, Architect, Designer and Owner, Aidlin Darling Design; Owner and Designer, Bar Agricole; James Beard Award, “Outstanding Restaurant Design” Paolo Lucchesi, Author, “The Scoop,” SF Chronicle; James Beard Award, “Best Food Section” Charles Phan, Owner and Chef, The Slanted Door; James Beard Award, “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America Inductees” Michael Tusk, Owner and Chef, Quince; James Beard Award, “Best Chef in the Region” Marcia Gagliardi, Founder, Tablehopper.com; Author, The Tablehopper’s Guide to Dining and Drinking in San Francisco – Moderator

From the five-star food truck to the elegant sit-down dinner, SF is a city well known for its culinary accomplishments. We’ve asked some of the critics, designers, chefs and owners of San Francisco’s hottest restaurants, who also happen to be this year’s James Beard Award winners. Deemed “the Oscars of the food world” by Time, the James Beard Foundation Awards are the country’s most coveted honor for the restaurant industry. Join us to celebrate San Francisco’s winners and discover what has made them so successful.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 reception Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students (with valid ID)

au gu s t/s e p tem be r 2011

w ed 0 3 | S i l i c o n V a l l e y

Wed 0 3 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

th u 0 4 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Ken Denmead

Investing in India Today

The Future of the Housing Market

Editor and Publisher, GeekDad.com; Author, The Geek Dad’s Guide to Weekend Fun

Sunil Asnani, Portfolio Manager, Matthews International Capital Management Jennifer Schatz, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Matthews International Capital management

Barbara Desoer, President, Bank of America Home Loans

India’s ability to not only achieve respectable economic growth in a turbulent environment but to do so without injecting mammoth stimulus, demonstrates its inherit resilience, according to Asnani. However, blindly investing in India could lead to disappointment.

Come learn about growth opportunities as well as the challenges for this country of more than a billion people.

Bank of America recently announced a payment of $8.5 billion to investors burned by fraudulent mortgage securities is the largest settlement in the banking industry to date. Desoer will discuss the future of the housing market: the various reforms in play, the state of lending, foreclosure trends and housing recovery metrics. With Bank of America being the largest U.S. bank by assets and the nation’s second largest lender, Desoer is uniquely positioned to provide insight into the housing industry.

Want to learn how to build a robot from scratch? Or create the ultimate slip n’ slide? Get your geek on with GeekDad’s Denmead. Learn more about fun DIY projects, experiments and weekend adventures that the whole family can do together. GeekDad receives more than one million page views per month and was named one of Time’s best blogs of 2010.

Location: Cubberley Theatre, 4000 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto Time: 6:30 p.m. check-in, 7 p.m. program, 8 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students (18 and under) Also know: In association with the Youth Science Institute

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Cathy Curtis

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students

M on 0 8 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M on 0 8 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

t u e 09 | San Francisco

The Philosophy of Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita

How Far Would You Go to Save a Marriage?

Jai Ranganathan: A Success Story from India’s Farmlands

Monday Night Philosophy dives deep into dharma, as detailed in the divine conversation between Krishna and Arjuna.

Listen as they discuss the byways of yogic philosophy, and delight in Krishna’s failure to convince the warrior Arjuna to do battle with his relatives until Krishna realizes he must forego reasoning and rely on the usual divine persuasiveness of overwhelming power.

MLF: Humanities Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students (with valid ID) Program Organizer: George Hammond

Susan Pohlman, Author, Halfway to Each Other

Ph.D., Center Associate, Natl. Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, UCSB; Producer, “Curiouser & Curiouser Science” Podcast

Fueled by faith and a desperate desire to keep their family together, Pohlman and her husband made a decision during a business trip to Italy: They signed a lease on an apartment on the Riviera, rather than divorce papers. What began as a seemingly crazy idea turned out to be the most significant and transformational decision of their lives.

She will take you inside a modern marriage.

Can environmental conservation and economic development go hand in hand?

Ranganathan shares an amazing story from the fields of India, where environmental consciousness and the prospects for farmers have advanced together. Farmers have achieved economic success through eco-friendly agricultural methods.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students Also know: Underwritten by The Bernard Osher Foundation

MLF: Environment & Natural Resources/Science & Technology Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Chisako Ress

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August 10–24 Wed 1 0 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

th u A U G 1 1 & W E D 1 4 S E P

T h u 11 | San Francisco

Muslims of India: Their Politics, Identity and Economy

Chinatown Walking Tour

India’s Economic Growth: What Can We Expect?

Rafiq Dossani, Ph.D., Author; Senior Research Scholar, Stanford University

Enjoy another Commonwealth Club Neighborhood Adventure. Join Rick Evans for a memorable midday walk and discover the history and mysteries of Chinatown. Explore colorful alleys and side streets. Visit a Taoist temple, an herbal store and the famous Fortune Cookie Factory. There is a short break for a tea sample during the tour.

Nirvikar Singh, Ph.D., Professor of Economics, UC Santa Cruz; Author; Member of an Advisory Group to the Finance Minister of India on G-20 issues

India’s 160 million Muslims differ geographically by language, socio-economic status and culture. The Muslim-Indian community shares a common trajectory of challenges in their political power and socio-economic status. Their identity, in the eyes of some Indians, is increasingly monolithic and faith-based. To some politicians, Muslim Indians are now considered a security risk. Dossani will discuss the causes of these challenges and possibilities for the future.

MLF: International Relations Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Norma Walden

Location: Meet at Chinatown Gate, corner of Grant and Bush, in front of Starbucks Time: 2–5 p.m. tour Cost: $45 standard, $35 members Also know: Temple visit requires walking up three flights of stairs. Limited to 12 people.

Participants must pre-register. Tour also offered on September 14!

India’s economy is projected to grow in 2011 at a rate faster than almost every other country in the world. Is this growth sustainable? What will drive, and limit, its growth? How will it sustain innovation and entrepreneurship? What will be the role of the government? A prominent economist and expert on India will share views on the Indian economy and its future.

MLF: Asia-Pacific Affairs Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizers: Cynthia Miyashita and Lillian Nakagawa

T h u 1 1 | S i l i co n Va l l e y

T u e 16 | San Francisco

Wed 1 7 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Sramana Mitra

Family Farallones Discovery

Spice of Life: Growing Up Queer in India

Founder, 1M/1M; Author, Vision India 2020

Peter Wynch, Visitor Center Naturalist, Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association Justin Holl, Visitor Center Manager, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary

Mitra looks at the current challenges facing India and the untapped opportunities in technology, technologyenabled services, rural and slum development, energy, infrastructure, health care, film, and education. She believes start-up companies in India could develop into billion-dollar enterprises in the next 10 years. She will also speak about her global initiative, One Million by One Million, which aims to help a million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue by 2020.

Location: SV Bank, 3005 Tasman Dr., Santa Clara Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, $12 members

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The Farallon Islands and surrounding sanctuary are overflowing with local wildlife, including 36 species of marine mammals and the country’s largest seabird breeding ground. Our fun Farallon experts will give us an interactive and educational tour of the plants, animals and habitats that make up this incredible island ecosystem. Bring your children (we recommend ages 8 and up) to explore this national treasure in our own bay backyard.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. reception, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, kids free

au gu s t/s e p tem be r 2011

See website for panelists

Growing up gay and lesbian in India imbues a broad world view consistent with the multi-culturalism of secular India, and the pluralistic religions of the subcontinent. At the same time, Asian family pressures drive conformity amid strong expectations of an individual born to be part of a collective. Our speakers have each forged powerful identities as accomplished LGBT activists, authors and builders of a new class of LGBT world citizens equally at home in India and the United States.

MLF: LGBT Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:15 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students Program Organizer: Julian Chang

T hu A U G 1 8 & T U E 2 7 S E P

T h u 18 | San Francisco

M on 2 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Russian Hill Walking Tour

Veena Srinivasan: Pipe Dreams – Water for Thirsty Cities in India

Sacred Heritage: A Merging of Islamic and Hindu Traditions

Join a more active Commonwealth Club Neighborhood Adventure! Russian Hill is a magical area with secret gardens and amazing views. Join Rick Evans for a two-hour hike up hills and staircases and learn about the history of this neighborhood. See where great artists and architects lived and worked, and walk down residential streets where some of the most historically significant houses in the Bay Area are located.

Ph.D., Research Associate, Pacific Institute

As India’s urban population and income grow in huge numbers, supplying water reliably has become a growing concern.

No Indian city today has a constant water supply. Because infrastructure is still being built, India has the opportunity to follow a different development path than has been followed elsewhere. Srinivasan explores possible pathways to build a sustainable water supply system in India.

Salma Arastu, Artist; Author

Renowned Indian-born Muslim artist Arastu speaks to the contemporary relation of religion to art. In conjunction with her art exhibit at the SF Club office beginning July 15, she will share the inspiration for her imagery, a blending of spirituality, Islamic values and beauty in modern culture.

MLF: Environment & Natural Resources/ Science & Technology Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Chisako Ress

MLF: Middle East/The Arts Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $8 SFIC members, students free Program Organizer: Celia Menczel Also know: In association with the SF Interfaith Council

T u e 23 | San Francisco

T u e 23 | San Francisco

Wed 2 4 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Spices of India Cooking and Henna Party

India Shining: From the Ground Up

Bollywood Now

Location: Meet at corner of Union and Hyde streets, outside Swenson’s Ice Cream Time: 2– 4 p.m. tour Cost: $45 standard, $35 non-members Also know: Steep hills and staircases, recommended for good walkers. No street parking.

Limited to 20. Must pre-register. Tour also offered on September 27!

Ranjan Dey, Proprietor, New Delhi Restaurant; Founder, New World Spices

Join us for a special event with the acclaimed chef and proprietor of San Francisco’s New Delhi Restaurant. The evening will include a cooking demonstration using Chef Dey’s “speed scratch” style with a masala spice blend, sampling of traditional Indian flavors, and henna hand painting. Afterwards, enjoy a dinner buffet full of the tantalizing, showcased dishes.

MLF: Bay Gourmet Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program Cost: $52 standard, $40 members Program Organizer: Cynthia Miyashita

Rajasvini Bhansali, Exec.

Director, International Development Exchange

In spite of great economic progress, India’s social and cultural inequities continue in a country where over 400 million people live in extreme poverty. A vibrant civil society and grassroots efforts work to deepen democracy and bolster ordinary people’s power. Bhansali discusses what’s been learned from the ground up, focusing on the success of women-led, communitydriven initiatives working for longlasting social transformation.

MLF: LGBT Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Laurie Wagner

Bulbul Tiwari, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University

In this special program, Stanford Fellow Tiwari introduces us to historical and contemporary Indian Hindi film. She will provide insight into the significant conventions, economics and genres, including a screening of excerpts from old and new musical film performances.

MLF: The Arts/humanities/Middle East Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID) Program Organizer: Anne W. Smith

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August 25 – September 07 Thu 25 | East Bay

T h u 25 | San Francisco

Urban Wine Uncorked

India and Her Fragments: Migrations from Old to New Worlds

Derek Rohlffs, Proprietor and Winemaker, Bravium Wines Sasha Verhage, Proprietor and Winemaker, Eno Wines Christopher Lynch, Oakland Winemaker; Graduate, UC Davis Viticulture and Oenology program Courtney Cochran, Owner, Your Personal Sommelier; Author, Hip Tastes Blog: The Fresh Guide to Wine and Hip Tastes - Moderator

Move over, Napa and Sonoma. Wine producing is making a huge shift from rural wineries to urban producers. For the past five years, wine has been making its way downtown, ditching Napa and taking root in the East Bay. Urban winemakers in Oakland, San Francisco and beyond source their fruit from the best vineyards in California and around the globe, turning the grapes into world-class juice in their metropolitan facilities. Not being tied to the land gives these urban artisans the freedom to experiment, producing small batches of lovingly crafted wines that are original, local and affordable.

Drink up and indulge your inner oenophile and locavore as our panel of wine wizards explores this urban trend growing in your own backyard. Then, after the discussion, enjoy exquisite tastings provided by some of the best urban wineries in the Bay Area.

Location: Lafayette Veterans Memorial Hall, 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. wine tasting reception Cost: $22 standard, $12 members, $7 students (with valid ID). Must be 21+ to attend

Minal Hajratwala, Author, Leaving India

The story of India’s 30-million-plus worldwide diaspora is reshaping trade, identity and culture. Hajratwala speaks on what she says Americans need to know today about the rapidly changing country to which nearly 2 million Americans trace their roots. She will draw from the seven years of research that led to her nonfiction book, Leaving India, winner of a California Book Award (Silver) and other literary honors.

MLF: International Relations Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Linda Calhoun Also know: Underwriter: Bernard Osher Fdn.

M on 2 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M on 2 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Wed 3 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Middle East Discussion Group

Medical Technology Innovation for India

INDOvation: India’s Rise as an Innovation Superpower

Make your voice heard in an enriching, provocative and fun discussion with fellow Club members as you weigh in on events shaping the face of the Middle East. Each month, the Middle East Member-Led Forum hosts an informal roundtable discussion on a topic frequently inspired by recent headlines. After a brief introduction, the floor will be open for discussion. All interested members are encouraged to attend. There will also be a brief planning session.

MLF: Middle East Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. program Cost: FREE Program Organizer: Celia Menczel

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Rajiv Doshi, M.D., Executive Director (U.S.), Stanford-India Biodesign Anurag Mairal, Ph.D., Director, Global Biodesign Exchange Programs, Stanford

Navi Radjou, Independent Consultant, Former Exec.

Director, Centre for India & Global Business, University of Cambridge

Stanford’s program in biodesign has been working closely with India’s government to promote medical technology innovation within industry and academia in order to create scalable medical technology innovation for the masses.

Doshi and Mairal share their experiences and discuss the opportunities and challenges for innovation in the future.

India’s pervasive resource and capital scarcity combined with massive diversity and growing connectivity are turning it into a large-scale, living laboratory where grassroots entrepreneurs and corporations are coming up with frugal inventions that are both affordable and sustainable. Radjou explains how “indovations” have relevance not only within India but worldwide.

MLF: Health & Medicine/Science & Technology Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students Program Organizer: Chisako Ress

MLF: Business & leadership / Science & Tech Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Chisako Ress

au gu s t/s e p tem be r 2011

T h u 01 | San Francisco

Social Capital: The Intersection of Money and Meaning, Part Two Gary Bolles, Producer, Google Zeitgeist; Founder and CEO, xigi Sarah Brooks, Director of Social Innovation, Hot Studio David Hodgson, Co-founder, Connective; Fellow, the International Futures Forum Kevin Jones, Founder, Good Capital; Convener, SOCAP Kevin O’Malley, President, TechTalk / Studio – Moderator

SOCAP is a multi-platform organization dedicated to the flow of capital toward social good. Four sold-out conferences have connected innovators worldwide – investors, foundations, institutions and social entrepreneurs – to build a market where everyone wins. This year SOCAP returns to San Francisco. Join us for an exciting and informative preview of the ideas and issues of SOCAP 2011 in conversation with the team leading the upcoming conference.

MLF: Business & Leadership Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID) Program Organizer: Kevin O’Malley

Foreign Language Groups Free for members Location: SF Club Office FRENCH, Intermediate Class Thursdays, noon Pierrette Spetz, Graziella Danieli, danieli@sfsu.edu FRENCH, Advanced Conversation Tuesdays, noon Gary Lawrence, (925) 932-2458 GERMAN, Int./Adv. Conversation Wednesdays, noon Sara Shahin, (415) 314-6482 ITALIAN, Intermediate Class Mondays, noon Ebe Fiori Sapone, (415) 564-6789 RUSSIAN, Int./Advanced Conversation Mondays, 2 p.m. Rita Sobolev, (925) 376-7889 SPANISH, Advanced (fluent only) Fridays, noon Luis Salvago-Toledo, (925) 376-7830

T u e 06 | San Francisco

t u e 06 | San Francisco

Wed 0 7 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Ecomind

The Great Crash 1929

The Real Costs of Retirement Community Living

Frances Moore Lappé, Author, Diet for a Small Planet

We will discuss The Great Crash 1929

by John Kenneth Galbraith. This classic history of the most memorable year in America’s financial history has never been out of print since its publication in 1955. Galbraith, a noted economist and U.S. diplomat, wrote a new introduction in 1997, drawing parallels between the Great Crash and the great bull market of the 1990s.

Drawing on the latest research in disciplines ranging from anthropology to neuroscience and her own field experience, Lappé argues that the biggest challenge to human survival isn’t our fossil fuel dependency, melting glaciers or other calamities. Rather, she says, it’s our faulty way of thinking about these environmental crises that robs us of power. Lappé dismantles seven common “thought traps” that belie what we now know about nature, including our own, and offers contrasting “thought leaps” that suggest our hidden power.

MLF: Environment & Natural Resources Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Kerry Curtis

MLF: SF Book Discussion Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. program Cost: FREE Program Organizer: Howard Crane

Elizabeth Krivatsy, Elder Law Attorney; Estate Planner Candiece Lindstrom, Director of Marketing, The Sequoias, San Francisco

Join us for an informative and objective review of the real costs of retirement living. Krivatsy is passionate about helping people choose where and how they will live in retirement, drafting wills and trusts that both reflect their values and protect their assets, and preparing for times of incapacity. Lindstrom is especially well versed in the details of continuing care, retirement communities and life care.

MLF: Grownups Location: SF Club Office Time: 4:45 p.m. networking, 5:15 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: John Milford

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September 07–17 T h u 08 | San Francisco

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Letters The Commonwealth Club 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94105

For more information, visit commonwealthclub.org/podcast

Percutaneous System Developed for Carpal Tunnel Release by San Francisco Neurosurgeon Dr. Bruce McCormack, M.D., Director/ Neurosurgeon, The Neurospine Institute

The crippling effects of carpal tunnel syndrome afflict about 5 percent of us, mostly women. Championing the advancement of the minimally invasive CTS surgical technique, McCormack discusses the implications of his new project, the MANOS system. MANOS requires as little as 2mm for surgical access, therefore minimizing surgical trauma and reducing patient recovery time.

feedback@commonwealthclub.org

MLF: Health & Medicine Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Bill Grant

T H U 08 | San Francisco

M on 1 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

T u e 13 | San Francisco

Gavin Newsom: The Man, the Issues and the State of California

The Ideas Underlying Silicon Valley’s Success

Software Alchemy and the Arc of Technology

Dan Cooperman, Former General Counsel, Apple and Oracle Mark Tuttle, Former Entrepreneur Check website for additional panelists

Alan Cooper, President and Founder, Cooper; Author, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum and About Face In conversation with Chris Shipley, CEO, Guidewire Group; Former Executive Producer, DEMO Conference

Lieutenant Governor, California; Former Mayor, San Francisco

Now that Newsom has packed up his San Francisco office and moved to Sacramento, he’ll encounter many new challenges and responsibilities. He began his term with California billions of dollars in debt and facing numerous contentious issues. Come hear Newsom’s positions on the most important issues facing California and how he thinks we can get back on track.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. reception Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students (with valid ID)

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Monday Night Philosophy takes a local detour into the reasons for the phenomenal success of Silicon Valley. Its companies and entrepreneurs seem poised to continue having an outsized worldwide impact on technological and cultural change. Why? Hear a panel of experts who have lived the experience, and then ask them your questions about what makes the Bay Area well suited to this particular kind of success.

MLF: Humanities Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students Program Organizer: George Hammond

au gu s t/s e p tem be r 2011

An outspoken pioneer in the modern computing era and best known as the “Father of Visual Basic” and inventor of “personas,” Cooper will share rare insights into the evolution of software and interaction design based on human goals and needs – and a new vision for meeting the personal and business needs of the upcoming era.

MLF: Business & Leadership Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Kevin O’Malley

Tue 13 | East Bay

Wed 1 4 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

The Good Among the Great

Finding Faith and Spirituality in the 21st Century

Donald Van de Mark, Former Anchor, CNN and CNBC-TV; Author, The Good Among the Great

Julian Guthrie, Journalist, San Francisco Chronicle; Author, The Grace of Everyday Saints Michael Krasny, Ph.D, KQED Radio Host; Author, Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic’s Quest Rabbi Stephen Pearce, D.D., Ph.D., Senior Rabbi, Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco Bishop William Swing, President and Founder, United Religions Initiative; Episcopal Bishop of California, 1980-2006

Van de Mark knows all too well that not all newsmakers are exemplary people.

Among the world’s mega-successes, however, are a minority who are surprisingly aware, egalitarian, dutiful and happy.

Their associates and staffs love them; their competitors respect them. Van de Mark identifies the personality traits that these super high achievers share that allow them to remain great human beings, and reveals how we can apply these traits in our own lives.

A panel of provocative thinkers and leaders of San Francisco’s interfaith community will discuss the role faith and the sacred play in modern society. Is faith found in nature any less or more powerful than faith felt in a house of worship? Can spiritual communities save us when hierarchies fail? Must a religious community depend on a physical structure for its reality? In this eye-opening conversation, an esteemed group of panelists will shed light on what it means to have faith in the 21st century, and push us to rethink what people hold as truly sacred in their lives.

Location: Lafayette Library and Learning Center, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette Time: 5:45 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program Cost: $22 standard, $12 members, $7 students

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students (with valid ID)

Wed 1 4 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

1 6 Sep – 0 4 N O V

Sat 1 7 | T h e B a y A r e a

A New Energy Paradigm for the European Union and East-Central Europe?

One Room, Many Voices: Prints

by Sherry Smith Bell, Ruth Gendler, Elizabeth Jameson and Sasha Miyamoto

Farallon Islands Whale Watching Adventure

Piotr D. Moncarz, Ph.D., Consulting Professor, Stanford; Principal Engineer and Corporate Vice President, Exponent; Chairman, U.S.-Polish Trade Council

Moncarz presents a global economic perspective on the European Union’s dream of clean, efficient and renewable energy: Where is it within the climate challenge of coal, politicized natural gas supply and nuclear power? Will the huge amount of shale gas being developed by U.S. firms in Poland tilt the scale?

MLF: Environment & Natural Resources/ International Relations Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Caria Tomczykowska

Take one studio, add several artists, and what do you get? Duplication is not the answer. The contagious energy of artists working together generates a multitude of responses. This exhibit features the work of Sherry Smith Bell and three artists who have excelled while working with her in her Lafayette studio. Their spirited work is a colorful celebration of the creative spirit. Join us for a “Meet the Artists” reception on Monday, September 26th, 5 to 7 p.m. Free for members and non-members.

MLF: The Arts Location: SF Club Office Time: Regular Club business hours Cost: FREE Program Organizer: Lynn Curtis

Sail out to the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary with our captain and marine naturalists aboard the privately chartered Kitty Kat, a 65-ft. x 25ft. catamaran. This ocean sanctuary serves as breeding grounds for more seabirds than any other area in the contiguous United States. The numerous mammal species include blue and humpback whales, northern fur seals, elephant seals and a population of great white sharks.

September is a great time for spotting whales, so bring your binoculars.

Location: Boat departs PIER 39, Dock B Time: Arrive by 7:30 a.m. to check in. Sail promptly at 8 a.m., return by 2 p.m.

Cost: $159 standard, $149 members Also know: Limited to 42 people. Lunch provided. Must preregister. For full details, visit Club website.

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September 19–23 M on 1 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M on 1 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M on 1 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Israel and the Arab Spring

The North American Idea: A Vision of a Continental Future

Death Valley: Wildflowers, Canyons and Controversy

Dr. Robert A. Pastor, Professor of International Relations and Founder and Director, Center for North American Studies, American University; Author, The North American Idea

Frank Ackerman, Retired National Park Ranger, Death Valley; Curator of Education, Nevada State Railroad Museum

Joel Brinkley, Journalism Professor, Stanford University; Foreign Affairs Columnist

Former NY Times Israel bureau chief and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Brinkley will take us inside his recent working trip to the Middle East, where he covered a tour of U.S. and European officials in the Middle East and interviewed several senior, regional leaders in Israel and Jordan. Come hear an eyewitness perspective on the changes reshaping that region.

MLF: Middle East Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, students free (with valid ID) Program Organizer: Celia Menczel

To compete against a rising Asia and a united Europe, former National Security Council official Pastor proposes that the United States seek a deeper form of collaboration with its two neighbors and largest trading partners, Canada and Mexico. He will explain his bold vision.

MLF: International Relations/ Business & Leadership Location: SF Club Office Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students (with valid ID) Program Organizer: Linda Calhoun

Many think of Death Valley as a land of geological wonder and remarkable wildflowers, but few know its protection has not been simple. Ackerman will speak about the conflicting forces driving decisions made in Death Valley, part of the National Park Service for nearly 80 years. Ackerman will discuss policies on mining and groundwater extraction, the effects on the region, and where the preservation mandate is paradoxically in conflict with itself.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students

T u e 20 | San Francisco

T u e 20 | San Francisco

Public-Private Partnerships: Boosting America’s Jobs, Education and Economic Development

Cloud Computing and Customers: Strategies for Success

Julie Abrams, CEO, WISE (Women’s Initiative for Self Employment) John Donahoe, CEO, eBay; Member, White House Council for Community Solutions John Lee, Executive Director, The Bread Project.

Additional panelists TBA

In challenging economic times, creative solutions to boost underserved communities are at a premium. A panel of experts will discuss how the private and public sectors can best join forces to support underserved communities through education, entrepreneurship and job training. The CEO of eBay, Donahoe will bring his unique expertise in both business and government (through his presence on the White House Council for Community Solutions) to this high-profile panel. All panelists will offer creative solutions aimed at providing empowerment not only to the underserved communities but to California as a whole.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students (with valid ID) Also know: Part of the Innovating California Series, sponsored by Chevron.

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Chris Jones, Principal, Engineering and Strategy, Hot Studio Ian McFarland, VP Technology, Principal, Pivotal Labs

Without massive customer adoption, any cloud strategy is prone to failure.

Jones and McFarland posit that we need to shift our thinking from pushing computation to pulling demand. Learn from two industry insiders about this newly emerging field and how to make it work for you, your company and your customers.

MLF: Business & Leadership Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Kevin O’Malley

w ed 2 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

w ed 2 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Practical Approaches to Managing Life Transitions (Part One)

Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide

Denise Michaud, CFP Mary Radu, MS, MSW, CPCC Ben Yohanan, President, Hatch Retirement Services

Joshua Goldstein, Ph.D., Author; Professor Emeritus of International Relations, American University

For a healthy 65-year-old couple, there is a 50 percent chance that at least one will live beyond the age of 92, and a 25 percent chance at least one will live to age 97. Even for forward-thinking individuals, the amount of planning necessary to cover the logistics can be overwhelming. Our panel addresses two core concerns of this generation: Will my nest egg allow me to maintain my lifestyle through retirement, and what if I or my spouse/partner becomes chronically ill?

MLF: Grownups Location: SF Club Office Time: 4:45 networking reception, 5:15 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID) Program Organizer: John Milford

Despite the headlines, Goldstein maintains that armed conflict is decreasing and peace is succeeding. Fewer wars are starting, more are ending, and those that remain are smaller and more localized.

Goldstein says that focusing on the strategies that have worked in reducing conflict in the recent past can help us know which ones to employ and support in the future.

MLF: International Relations Location: SF Club Office Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program, 1 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Norma Walden

Wed 2 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Thu 22 | East Bay

F ri 2 3 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

North Beach Walking Tour

Green Walking Tour of Downtown Berkeley

Saving California’s Government: Burn the Wagons?

Lower your carbon footprint on an engaging and lively tour of one of the nation’s environmental epicenters. Go behind the scenes and visit local pioneering, high-impact, immediate models of sustainability.

We’ll tour the David Brower Center, Gather Restaurant, the Bike Station, a rooftop community garden and e-waste recycling while meeting leaders in the green movement.

Bruce Cain, Heller Professor of Political Science and Director of the Washington Center, University of California

Join another Commonwealth Club Neighborhood Adventure. Explore vibrant North Beach with Rick Evans during a two-hour walk through this neighborhood with a colorful past, where food, culture, history and unexpected views all intersect in an Italian “urban village.” In addition to learning about Beat generation hangouts, you’ll discover authentic Italian cathedrals and coffee shops.

Location: Meet at Washington Square Park at Saints Peter and Paul Church (Filbert & Powell), along the Muni bus #30 route Time: 2-4:30 p.m. tour; no-host optional socializing to follow Cost: $45 standard, $35 members Program Organizer: Kristina Nemeth Also know: Limited to 20 people. Must preregister. For questions, call (415) 597-6720.

Location: Meet at David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, one block from Berkeley Downtown BART Time: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. tour Cost: $50 standard, $45 members Also know: Must pre-register for this event

Though almost everyone realizes California currently has enormous politically caused economic problems, not as many of us have realistic ideas for how to move forward again. Professor Cain is a wellknown acute observer of the California political scene. Come hear his insightful prescriptions.

MLF: Humanities Location: SF Club Office Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students (with valid ID) Program Organizer: George Hammond

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September 26 – October 05 M on 2 6 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M on 2 6 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

T u e 27 | San Francisco

Meet-the-Artists Reception for “One Room, Many Voices”

Middle East Discussion Group

The Principles of a Lean Startup

Printmakers Sherry Smith Bell, Ruth Gendler, Elizabeth Jameson and Sasha Miyamoto will be available to personally answer your questions about their art, their inspiration and their process.

Do you understand what printmaking entails? Could you identify the following from their exhibition: a monotype, a monoprint, a collograph or a giclee?

Join us and learn. Tools of the trade will be on display, and a short video of the artists in action will be played at intervals throughout the evening.

MLF: The Arts Location: SF Club Office Time: 5–7 p.m. reception, with a short video played at intervals during the evening Cost: FREE Program Organizer: Lynn Curtis

Make your voice heard in an enriching, provocative and fun discussion with fellow Club members as you weigh in on events shaping the face of the Middle East. Each month, the Middle East Member-Led Forum hosts an informal roundtable discussion on a topic frequently inspired by recent headlines. After a brief introduction, the floor will be open for discussion. All interested members are encouraged to attend. There will also be a brief planning session.

MLF: Middle East Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. program Cost: FREE Program Organizer: Celia Menczel

Eric Ries, Author, The Lean Startup

Starting one, working for one, going public with one – startups seem to be the thing to do in SF. But how do you make your startup great? Ries, the guru behind the “Lean Startup” sensation, asks: Is your startup employee-centric and knowledge-obsessed? Is your company functioning at optimal efficiency?

Is your office a fun place to work? Ries will reveal what he believes to be the necessary hard facts that lead to a successful startup.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. book signing/networking reception Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students

T u e 27 | San Francisco

Wed 2 8 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M on 0 3 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Nuclear Energy After Fukushima

Big Green

In 6 Minutes, 40 Seconds: How to Build a Sustainable Future

Frank H. Shu, University Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego

The media and public reaction to the nuclear accident at Fukushima involving light water reactors and their associated spent-fuel storage pools threaten to cripple the nuclear renaissance that is humanity’s best hope for mitigating climate disruption, Shu contends. He will review how light water reactors and the “oncethrough” fuel cycle came to dominate the landscape for generating nuclear power today and assess options for the future.

MLF: Science & Technology Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Brandon Allgood

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Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club Peter Lehner, Executive Director, Natural Resources Defense Council

What are the nation’s two largest environmental advocacy groups doing to combat climate change? What are their successes and failures so far? With more than 2.6 million members combined, both organizations are big players. This rare joint appearance will explore their priorities and challenges ahead.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 9:30 a.m. check-in, 10 a.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students

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See website for panelists

Pecha Kucha is a method of presentation developed in Japan based on a simple idea: 20 images, 20 seconds per image.

This method is a way of bringing several and diverse leaders together for quick, concise and interesting presentations.

We’re bringing together designers, business leaders, tech giants, poets, scientists and politicians to solve one of the most important issues of our time: How do we build a sustainable future? Join us.

Location: Levi’s Auditorium, 1155 Battery St. Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 book signing and networking reception Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students

T u e 04 | San Francisco

T u e 04 | San Francisco

Redesigning Learning: Hope or Hype?

Shaping a 21st Century Strategy for National Security

Arnold Wasserman, Chairman, The Idea Factory, Singapore; Founding Principal, Collective Invention, San Francisco Scott Stropkay, Co-founder and Partner, Essential Kevin O’Malley, CEO, TechTalk / Studio – Moderator

In schools from Singapore to San Francisco to Copenhagen, designers worldwide are on a mission to teach non-designers how to use new methods of creative problem solving.

Enthusiasts say that recreating education around principles of “design thinking” is the essential first step toward building “World 3.0” – a life of health, equity and creative fulfillment for 10 billion people, and sustainble on the resources of our planet. Is this hope, or hype?

MLF: Business & Leadership Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, students free (with valid ID) Program Organizer: Kevin O’Malley

Joseph Cirincione, President, Ploughshares Fund; Author, Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons

How should the U.S. confront nuclear terrorism and the currently unstable economic and political dynamics in the Middle East? Osama bin Laden’s death and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan indicate that the post-9/11 security era is ending. While the U.S. defense budget shrinks, strategic priorities rise to importance. Which priorities will remain? Cirincione will explore these points and more.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students

Wed 0 5 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Wed 0 5 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Wed 0 5 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Susan Herman: War on Terror and the Erosion of Democracy

The Battle of the Bulge

Dan Akerson

Andrew Jameson, Military Historian; Former Asst. Vice Chancellor, UC Berkeley

Chairman and CEO, General Motors

Following the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government implemented antiterrorist legislation in an effort to fight the war on terror. In recent years, however, civil rights advocates have increasingly argued that these emergency measures may pry too deeply into the lives of not only suspected terrorists, but of nearly all Americans. Herman will examine whether laws and policies, like the Patriot Act, are constitutional and effective, or just counterproductive.

A veteran of the Battle of the Bulge takes us behind the scenes of the biggest and costliest battle ever fought by the U.S. Army, lasting from December 16th, 1944, to January 25, 1945. As many as 250,000 German soldiers and 1,000 tanks pushed the Allied line back during a very cold, snowy Ardennes Forest winter. Jameson, who was a decorated 19-year-old sergeant in the battle, will describe with visuals and maps both the German and American perspectives on this historic event.

What’s ahead for the “new GM” now that it’s back in the black? The company bet much of its future on the new Chevy Volt, which is now hitting the streets.

How are customers responding? Can the U.S. keep up with China’s investment in clean technologies? Join us for a conversation with the man steering the auto giant into the future.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students Also know: Part of the Geschke Family Series on the U.S. Constitution in the 21st Century

MLF: Humanities Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: George Hammond Also know: In assn. with Humanities West

President, ACLU; Author, Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of Democracy

Also, join us for a second morning program featuring transportation executives immediately following. See Club website for details.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 9:30 a.m. check-in 10 a.m. program Cost: $65 standard, $45 members. Includes all morning sessions.

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October 06–13 T h u 06 | San Francisco

M on 1 0 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Pebble Mine: Toxic Gold and Global Impact

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

Michael Kowalski, Chairman and CEO, Tiffany & Co. Joel Reynolds, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council Kimberly Williams, Executive Director, Nunamta Aulukestai Wendy Schmidt, The Schmidt Family Foundation – Moderator

Stephen Greenblatt, Author, The Swerve; Professor of English and American Literature, Harvard University

The proposed Pebble Mine would be one of the largest gold and copper mines in the world, located in southwest Alaska. The proposal is being pushed by a consortium of international mining giants – including Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Northern Dynasty Minerals – and opponents argue that it would generate an estimated 10 billion tons of waste, rife with toxic contaminants, stored in perpetuity behind giant earthen dams taller than the Three Gorges Dam in China, all within an active earthquake zone. It would require construction of major power plants, slurry pipelines, heavy industrial traffic-bearing roads across the mountains, and a deep-water port in Cook Inlet. Some 50 leading jewelry companies, including Tiffany & Co., have taken the “No Pebble Pledge,” committing not to source minerals from the mine. Come hear a panel of opponents of the mine discuss this project that has the potential to re-shape the land, wildlife and people in its path.

Monday Night Philosophy hosts Greenblatt and his account of how, nearly 600 years ago, a cannily alert man took an ancient manuscript off a library shelf and realized it was the last surviving manuscript of Lucretius’s epic, On the Nature of Things. This rediscovery unearthed ancient but dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging, and that matter was made up of atoms in motion.

MLF: Business & Leadership: Environment & Natural Resources Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID) Program Organizer: Ann Clark

MLF: Humanities Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students Program Organizer: George Hammond

M on 1 0 | S i l i c o n V a l l e y

T u e 11 | San Francisco

Wed 1 2 | S F a n d E a s t B a y

Dr. Jeffrey Sachs

It’s Your Money, So Take It Personally

Rethinking Waste in the Bay Area

Valerie Coleman Morris, News Correspondent/ Anchor

One person’s garbage is another one’s gold.

Experience how waste is transformed into valuable products through creative re-use and recycling methods on this full day tour. Meet the leaders who are responsible for keeping tons of reusable materials out of landfills. We’ll visit transfer stations: Urban Ore, Omega Salvage and other innovative models of sustainability. Join the tour in SF or in Berkeley.

Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University, Special UN Advisor; Author, The Price of Civilization

Sachs gives a startling account of the inadequacies of U.S.-style capitalism. He offers a bold plan of reforms relating to sustainable infrastructure, taxes, job training, etc., that he says must be taken to avoid further damage. One of the most influential international economic advisors, Sachs was the director of the UN Millennium Project and is the president and co-founder of Millennium Promise Alliance.

Location: Schultz Cultural Hall, Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto Time: 6:30 p.m. check-in, 7 p.m. program, 8 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, $12 members Also know: In assn. with Oshman Family JCC

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Do you control your money, or does your money control you? Morris will review money basics: the process of identifying what you want, why you want it when you want it, and what it takes to achieve it. She will explore how to recover from the recession in a sustainable way, and how to recalculate our relationship with money.

MLF: Grownups Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: John Milford

au gu s t/s e p tem be r 2011

Location: Meet at SF Ferry Building’s Northwest exit.

Time: Arrive by 8:30 a.m. Bus departs at 9 a.m.

Staff has signs for BAGT (Bay Area Green Tours).

OR meet in Berkeley at David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, 9:30 a.m. End approx. 4:30 p.m. in Berkeley and return 5 p.m. in SF. Cost: $120 standard, $120 members. Includes bus transportation and a box lunch Also know: Must pre-register

Wed 1 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Wed 1 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Red Alert: China Time, China Scale and China for a Day

The Tai Ji Way to Healthy Living

Beijing’s huge commitment to clean technologies has quickly made it a major player in solar electricity, batteries, high speed rail and other key sectors. The scale and pace of China’s pursuits is challenging U.S. leadership and reshaping capital flows and markets. Will China’s green juggernaut eat America’s lunch? What are the most promising clean tech opportunities in China? Join us for a two-part program as we discuss China’s power surge and what it means to the rest of the world.

Dr. Alex Feng, LAc, Ph.D., OMD, Founder, Zhi Dao Guan, Taoist Center

Red Alert: China Time, China Scale Peter Greenwood, Executive Director of Strategy, China Light and Power Group Stephen Leeb, Co-author, Red Alert Additional speaker TBA Time: 9:30 a.m. check-in, 10 a.m. program Networking break: 11-11:30 a.m.

China for a Day

Tai Ji Quan is a Chinese internal martial art that emphasizes working with your qi, or life energy, with precise body postures and natural movements to improve physical health and increase energy. Tai Ji is so versatile that people of all ages can find it useful. Feng will give a live demonstration of the form, and audience members will be able to participate. He is a grandmaster of this traditional Chinese internal martial art form.

MLF: Asia-Pacific Affairs Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students Program Organizer: Sylvie Grillet-Rivera

Bryce Lee, Partner, Silver Lake Other China clean tech investors TBA Time: 11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. program Location: SF Club Office Cost: $65 standard, $45 members, $15 students. Includes all morning sessions.

T h u 13 | San Francisco

J u s t added !

J u s t added ! W ed 0 ct 1 9

Daniel Yergin: On Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World

Please see the Club website for full information on these and other events!

Jim Lehrer

M on O ct 0 3 | S a n F r a n c i s c o Executive VP and Chairman, IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates; CNBC Global Energy Expert; Author, The Quest

Yergin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Prize, established him as one of the foremost energy authorities. He now offers inside stories of the oil market, the rise of the “petrostate” and the race to control the resources of the former Soviet empire.

Location: SF Club Office Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students Also know: Part of the Innovating California Series sponsored by Chevron

Jeremy Rifkin President, Foundation on Economic Trends; Author, The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy and Changing the World

Wed O ct 1 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

International Criminal Court Jacob N. Foster, Associate Attorney, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP; served on secondment in the Immediate Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

Former News Anchor, PBS “NewsHour”; Author, Tension City: Inside the Presidential Debates, from Kennedy-Nixon to Obama-McCain

Legendary broadcaster Lehrer has presided more than 11 presidential and vice-presidential debates. Drawing on his own experiences and interviews with candidates and other moderators, Lehrer gives an insider account of all of the backstage drama and reflects on some of the “major moments” and “killer questions” that defined each historical debate.

Location: Silicon Valley location TBA Time: 6:30 p.m. check-in, 7 p.m. program, 8 p.m. book signing Cost: $20 standard, $15 members

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Flag photo by kancer777 / flickr, Castaneda by Ed Ritger

Will America recognize how Mexico has changed? Will Mexicans recognize how Mexico still needs to change? Excerpt from “Mexico’s Future and Its Relationship with the U.S.,” June 1, 2011.

Jorge G. castaneda Former Foreign Minister, Mexico; Professor of Politics and Latin American and

Caribbean Studies, NYU; Author, Manana Forever?

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he Mexico we built thanks to [our] traits of [national] character, as well as others, today cannot function with these same traits. For example, Mexican exacerbated extreme individualism – which goes way beyond American individualism [or] individualism anywhere in Latin America – is no longer compatible with Mexico having become a middle class society. The point of middle class society – where a majority of the population belongs to a broad lowermiddle class on upward – is that people are pretty much the same. They all more or less dress the same, eat the same, work the same, sing the same, are the same. When people are all more or less the same, they cannot continue to have this strident extreme radical individualism that Mexicans have.

[In my book,] I go on to look at how Mexicans consistently refuse any form of direct confrontation, rhetorical or real; that is incompatible today with a full-fledged

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Mexican representative democracy, which we now have. Democracy allows you to resolve fundamental differences peacefully, not to eliminate them.

I [also] speak about the fear of the foreign, and the obsession with the past, to show how that has become incompatible now with one of the most open economies and societies in the world. With the exception of El Salvador and Ecuador, Mexico is the country in the world that has the highest share of its population living abroad. One out of every nine Mexicans in the world lives outside of Mexico – Mexican citizens. We have one of the most open economies in the world. In a country this open, how can you be as opposed and as intransigent in regard to the rest of the world in general, and the United States in particular?

Then I look at our traditional disregard for the rule of law, which those of you who know Mexico know is a fact. When we have [laws], we don’t like to respect or abide

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by them. If we can, we try to get around them. On many occasions we do this with proper laws. On many occasions we do this with stupid laws, which we’re very good at inventing.

I try to conclude, in the last chapter, why I think that it’s not impossible for Mexicans to change because we’re not going to change Mexico’s material reality. We’re not going to change the middle class society that we have, thank God. We’re not going to change our representative democracy, which took us so long to build. We’re not going to change our open economy and society, which we have for better or for worse, and is now irreversible. And we need to change, in terms of establishing the rule of law, but in order to do that we have to change the way we think.

We actually have a real-time experiment that shows that we can change: the roughly 12 million Mexicans in the United States who are radically different from Mexicans in Mexico. I’m referring to people who have

come here recently, in the last 15 years. All of the traits that I’ve just described about Mexicans in Mexico changed dramatically.

Mexicans in the United States change their attitudes toward the law, toward the police, toward security, and, most important, toward associative practices – working together with other Mexicans on anything.

On the drug issue

I

share the view that a large part of Mexican elites share in private on this issue, but not in public. The only solution is the legalization of drugs. Ideally in Mexico and in the United States and in Colombia at the same time, all drugs; if that can’t be done, then some drugs in come places at some point; if that can’t be done, than at least one drug for starters and let’s see how it goes with marijuana. We were all very, very optimistic and hopeful about Proposition 19 because it would have been a tremendous detonator for change in the relationship between Mexico and the United States. Didn’t happen, but it might happen in 2012. Two former presidents of Mexico support this; Mexico’s most distinguished novelist, Carlos Fuentes, supports this; most of the Mexican business community, in private, supports this; most of Mexico’s intellectuals support this.

The real question is, What do we do in Mexico if the United States continues to refuse to legalize? Obviously at a federal level, there is not going to be any full-fledged legalization any time soon, but more and more states are de facto legalizing through medical marijuana. If California has a new proposition in 2012 and it does pass, then we are going to be placed in an incredibly difficult situation.

A few weeks ago I went to Canada and asked some friends there what [Canada] had done back in the ’20s when alcohol production and consumption was illegal in the United States but not in Canada. I said, “What did you do to make sure that no booze was produced and shipped from Canada to the United States?” They said, “What do you mean ‘what did we do’? We encouraged all the booze in the world to be produced here and we taxed them. We made a lot of money – the government and a few people like the Bronfmans and others, and they all did very well.”

The only country that makes a point by trying not to make money by helping

somebody else pursue a silly policy, is us.

So, if we can’t do it another way, I’m increasingly inclined to think that Mexico [should] start moving unilaterally. We should say that we have scarce resources for law enforcement to protect people from the violence that affects them – kidnapping, extortion, automobile theft, home theft.

We’re going to concentrate those resources on fighting that kind of crime, not on fighting drug trafficking. We will let the drug traffickers do what they have to do. Some people say, “But the drug traffickers are the kidnappers.” Okay, let’s go after the kidnappers. If you get a drug trafficker at the same time, that’s great; it’s a two-for. Sometimes you can be a drug trafficker-kidnapper and the guy who shakes people down, so then you get a three-for. But let’s go after that violence, not the other one.

What will the Americans do? It depends.

I heard a story – since it was told to me by someone I cannot mention, I can tell the story without giving the source – about a discussion between presidents Calderón and Obama, a couple of months ago. President Calderón began with a traditional Mexican litany about how the United States is not doing enough to reduce consumption, about how the United States is not doing enough to reduce weapons shipments to Mexico, illegal exports of weapons, and that as long as the United States didn’t do this, Mexico would never be able to truly succeed in its efforts. It’s a futile argument, but an accurate argument.

I’m told by someone who was in the room that President Obama responded by saying, “You really can’t say that, because we make an enormous effort to combat drugs in the United States. So much so that we have the largest incarcerated population in the world, by far, and most of the people we have in jail are in jail because of drug offenses. And by the way, most of them are Latino and black.” All of which is true. I think President Obama should have added, “By the way, this is not a very intelligent thing to do.” If someone should be sensitive to how ridiculous that policy is, it’s someone who is as intelligent and sophisticated as President Obama is. But the fact that someone like him, as intelligent and sophisticated and knowledgeable as he is, is using this kind of argument, shows you how absurd it is all becoming. Ω

FAMILY DAY AT THE CLUB Remember your first visit to the Club? Many members tell us that the first time they attended was with their father, grandmother, mentor – and you can start your own tradition by inviting a young person to this event.

If you’ve been considering the Club’s September 17th Farallon Island trip, this is a great chance to learn more.

August 16, 2011 - 6:00 p.m.

Family Farallones Discovery Peter Wynch, Visitor Center Naturalist, Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association Justin Holl, Visitor Center Manager, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Location: SF Club Office, 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in and reception, 6:00 p.m. program Cost: FREE for members, $20 nonmember, KIDS FREE

Sometimes called California’s Galapagos, the Farallon Islands and the surrounding sanctuary are overflowing with local wildlife, including 36 species of marine mammals and the country’s largest seabird breeding ground.

Our fun Farallon experts will give us an interactive and educational tour of the plants, animals and habitats that make up this incredible island ecosystem. Summer is a great time to learn as a family, so bring your children (we recommend ages 8 and up) to explore this National treasure in our own backyard.

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Photo by DanieVDM / Flickr

America’s transportation leaders are being called upon to do more with a lot less. The budget standoff in Washington, D.C., is requiring a new discipline and creativity in the field. Excerpt from “U.S. Transportation Infrastructure: Buying the Future,” June 24, 2011. polly trottenberg Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation

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he challenge of reforming and funding our federal transportation system is ... the fundamental challenge facing our nation right now. We owe it to future generations of Americans to provide them with a transportation system that is as remarkable and productive as the one that our parents and grandparents left us.

We need to make major investments in roads, bridges, rails and ports. We need to create jobs to be economically competitive and to provide safe and reliable transportation for our citizens, for our businesses and for our communities. It is both urgent and immediate. Unfortunately, the fiscal and political consensus on how to do it is not.

I [used] to work for two New York senators and then for Senator Barbara Boxer. I got to travel all over California, and I got to learn firsthand about the visionary side of this state: tackling climate change and smart growth, expanding transit systems, and now laying the groundwork for highspeed rail. In a lot of ways, California has always been a model and a leader for the rest of the country.

But I also got to see about a lot of the

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challenges you’re facing in California right now: the housing market crash, high unemployment, the budget fights and the political dysfunction in Sacramento, the increasing indebtedness, and, obviously, the decline in the physical infrastructure, which is what made this state so great.

I was also really impressed with the vision and the creativity of a lot of the California transportation leaders. And the willingness you have here – the 18 counties that tax themselves and have gotten the super-majorities to do it – is extraordinary.

There’s really nothing like it in the rest of the country.

You [have heard about] the fiscal dilemma we face at the federal level. The federal gas tax has not been raised in 18 years. It’s not adequate to cover our existing needs, let alone the things we need to do in the future. We have in the past few years added $35 billion of general taxpayer funds to pay for highways and transit, and another $36 billion through the economic recovery [legislation]. We can’t continue that, and yet we face a profound political stalemate about how to move forward.

Having a highway trust fund has turned

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out to be a mixed blessing. For many years it worked tremendously well for us; it provided a steady and growing revenue source.

But I think in three ways now it’s come back to hurt us.

First, having our own trust fund walled off from what was going on in the rest of the federal budget has actually let us off the hook in some ways from having to make the best economic and public policy case for our programs. It’s let us off the hook sometimes from having to make tough decisions about the best projects and programs to invest in, some of those less glamorous projects that are needed to maintain things in a state of good repair. Any of you who’ve spent time with Asian and European transportation experts know that they engage in much more rigorous analysis than we do here in the United States.

At USDOT, we got to see that firsthand when we ran this very unique discretionary program called TIGER. We’ve run it the past two years, and we’re about to gear up and run it a third year. Instead of awarding funds in the traditional way that we do in Washington, through formulas, we ran a competition and we encouraged applicants

to focus on project outcomes, to use costbenefit analysis, and to leverage other public and private funds as California has done so well. But we discovered through TIGER that unlike California, a lot of states and transportation agencies could not enumerate, even at a basic level, the cost and benefits or track outcomes for projects that were going to cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. This turned out to be especially true, not surprisingly, in states that have relied upon what is now the endangered species in Washington: earmarks. States – particularly more rural states – have really not been able to move to a more analytic and outcome-based model of selecting projects and finding those new sources of revenue beyond federal funds.

Second, at the federal level our trust fund is a sea of complexities. Some of the terms we use at the federal level for transportation – contract authority, obligation limits, outlays, revenue aligned budget authority – have made our program needlessly opaque, and it’s very hard for the uninitiated to understand. It’s no wonder the public feels disconnected, especially at the federal level, from what we’re trying to do. This has turned out to be especially true with the federal gas tax.

Almost no one in the country knows anything about it, other than their belief that it’s too high and it goes up every year – even though it hasn’t gone up in quite a few years.

They don’t know what they’re paying and they don’t know what they get.

Finally, our trust fund has enabled us, in transportation, to remain a relatively insular discipline. We’ve been very slow to embrace a lot of the bigger reform trends that you see in a lot of other public policy areas: health care, education, housing, criminal justice.

As a result, transportation has really lagged behind in some instances in keeping up with the nation’s changing transportation priorities. Using, as we do, basically a mid-20th century funding source – the gas tax user fee, which we passed to build a brand new interstate system, which at the time we never thought we had to repair or rehabilitate – that 20th century funding source has not served us so well in the 21st century.

The gas tax has largely been used to build the interstate system. In 1982 we opened it up a little bit and let some of the funds be used for transit. In 1991 we opened it up a little bit more and made it easier for bicycle

and pedestrian projects to get in. But generally speaking, we haven’t opened it up very much. Over 55 years we’ve only managed to raise the gas tax four times, so we’ve done it [on] average [every] 14 years.

I have been in Washington over 15 years, and every year I see the gas tax becoming more and more unpopular in the rhetoric of elected officials, at a time when, frankly, the impact of the gas tax is felt less and less by the public. I think, with only two exceptions, every Republican in Congress has signed the Grover Norquist no-tax pledge,

“I see the gas

tax

becoming more and more

unpopular at a time when [its] impact is felt

less by the public.” and that makes it, even if in their heart of hearts they wanted to change their minds at some point, pretty difficult when you’ve signed a pledge like that to go back on it.

What we hear from the American public is that they want it all. They’re going to keep their car, but they don’t want to have to drive every minute of the day. They want to have choices. So as part of President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget, we did seek to address the demand we’re hearing from the American public. We put out admittedly a very big and bold reauthorization proposal with a lot of new reforms and new ideas – price tag of $556 billion for six years – with big new investments in highways and transit safety programs. We proposed an infrastructure bank, which I think California would do well in; our own innovative version of Race to the Top, a transportation version that we’re hoping would spur some further reform at the state and metropolitan level. We also proposed $53 billion for our signature initiative, creating a high-speed rail system for America, led by California. You know, just as we had the interstate system, high-speed rail is the type of challenge that will take a generation or two to complete. Whether we want to admit it or not, our nation’s population is projected to grow by 100 million people

by 2050, which is an astonishing number.

We’re going to have to find ways to move these people, and high-speed rail is going to have to be part of the solution. It can be fast, convenient, environmentally friendly. If we do it right, it’ll put thousands of people to work, and hopefully, revitalize our domestic rail manufacturing center. This is incredibly important for California. California is going to be almost 60 million people by 2050.

The money discussion in Washington is not gelling, but the reform discussion actually is to some degree. We’ve looked at things like consolidating the hundred-plus federal programs that there are, improving project delivery, system preservation, creating a more integrated performance-based planning system, environmental sustainability, and a national freight policy.

We have put some tools on the table to help with transportation finance. We’re proposing a national tolling policy that will allow congestion pricing and cordon pricing, and allow those revenues to be used for a whole variety of transportation solutions.

We also will have an infrastructure bank, and we’re proposing increasing the amount of private activity bonds. There’s been some progress on the legislative process in Washington, too. But it is true: We are miles apart on funding. We’ve proposed a big, big, big bill, $556 billion; Chairman Boxer is looking at a bill in the area of $340 billion; and [Representative] John Mica [R-FL] right now is looking at just what the gas taxes could support, which I heard is $119 billion.

The truth is that we’ve started to achieve consensus on what a 21st century vision of a policy should be, but I have to admit, we don’t have [the] 21st century vision of how to pay for it, and we’re clearly going to need both if we’re going to succeed.

We do actually have an advantage in our field: It has traditionally been bipartisan in a way that a lot of other things in Washington haven’t. So if we can do a better job in transportation, reforming our field and demonstrating to the American public that we have real value, that we’re an important part of their daily lives, maybe our political leaders in Washington will come together and address our infrastructure needs. Ω This program was made possible by the generous support of the Mineta Transportation Institute.

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Parks Renovati and

One of the country’s great public parks is at the center of local controversy over land use, contracting and ever-deeper budget challenges. A panel discusses the top issues. Excerpt from “Golden Gate Park Under Siege?,” May 11, 2011.

Mike Lynes Conservation Director and General Counsel for Environmental Matters, Golden Gate Audubon Society kathy howard ASLA, Landscape Architect; Member, Steering Committee, Golden Gate Park Preservation Alliance anthea hartig Ph.D., President, Western Office National Trust for Historic Preservation george wooding President, West of Twin Peaks Central Council mark buell President, San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission Jim Chappell Executive Director, San Francisco Beautiful; Former Executive Director, SPUR – Moderator CHAPPELL: Treasured by people from all over the world, Golden Gate Park’s meadows, forests and lakes have served as a refuge from the pressures of life for people and wildlife for over 140 years. Throughout its history, the park has attracted those who view it as free land available for their favorite projects – some good, some not good at all.

It’s sometimes [said] that some view this precious civic asset as first a source of revenue, and only second as a public treasure.

BUELL: The Recreation and Park Department [RPD] budget has had $43 million cut in the last seven years. This translates into a shortage of 16 to 30 gardeners in Golden Gate Park. Depending on how you define those responsibilities, [it means] the reduction of recreation opportunities and the reduced use of facilities. We are challenged by concern for the environment, a changing population and substantially reduced budget resources. It is in that context that we make decisions at the commission. According to the most recent Neighborhood

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Parks Council survey of over 1,400 park users, the number one problem facing the park is park maintenance. That translates directly into budget cuts and fewer gardeners. The number one solution that was identified by that survey was that 92 percent [of respondents] believe that park amenities should be used for revenue generation, like bike rentals, but they also weighed in with support for vendors, leases and concessions.

[Among] the projects in contention: For 75 years, the soccer fields have been sports fields. The state of the art is synthetic turf in all soccer fields in all parks in the country.

The debate has gone on, and the result is that [synthetic turf ] is the way to proceed.

What that does is reduce the water and maintenance required, but more important, it increases from 4,738 hours of use a year to 14,340.

I have a National Parks magazine that uses the Muir Woods vendor as the example of what we ought to be doing in sustainability, organic food and good practices from

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an environmental standpoint. They want to make that the national model in national parks. That’s the entity that was selected as the vendor in Stow Lake. We also closed the Haight-Ashbury Recycling Center.

That is an industrial use in the park. It’s an outdated facility. We are trying to make well-balanced decisions at the Recreation and Park Commission.

HOWARD: A couple projects are on the drawing board right now that would have negative impacts on the more wild and forested end of Golden Gate Park. Just across the Great Highway from Ocean Beach and screened by trees lie the Beach Chalet soccer fields. The Beach Chalet soccer fields are in a meadow surrounded by groves of trees and inhabited by wildlife. The playing fields still need maintenance; the gophers are having a field day. We know it needs maintenance, but it’s beautiful parkland, and it’s a really great place. The Beach Chalet construction project will change these fields forever into a hard-edged urban sports complex. It will

ion Photos (clockwise) by Google/TerraMetrics, tbcoraghessa, JohnnyO & HughFry / Flickr

rip out over seven acres of topsoil and living grass and replace it with artificial turf. Artificial turf is made of about a six-inch base of gravel in which you put a plastic carpet and then you fill it with old ground-up tire waste. There will be lots of new concrete and asphalt, an expanded parking lot, seating for a thousand and other built elements.

We’re going to lose about 55 trees for sure and probably more. I can tell you, as a landscape architect, that when you get into construction that’s what happens. To cap it all off, there will be 10 sets of multi-fixture sports lights. The lights will be twice as high as the trees that screen the fields from the Great Highway. So we’re going to have these intense stadium lights shining down with a quarter of a million watts from sunset until 10 o’clock every night of the year. So you go down to Ocean Beach with your significant other, or maybe stroll on the beach, maybe you want to gaze up at the stars, and all of a sudden the lights go on. It’ll be like the mother ship landing.

We support youth soccer. We think it would be really great if kids could play on a quality, real grass soccer field. We think the field should be renovated with grass using modern construction methods, better drainage, good sod and some kind of gopher controls. Yes, there will be more maintenance, but Rec and Park is pursuing endowments.

Let’s use one for a groundskeeper for all of Golden Gate Park’s playing fields.

LYNES: We always hear about how we’re losing biodiversity. The fact is that we’re losing biodiversity in the world and we’re losing it in San Francisco. The reason we’re losing that is that we’re losing habitat and

we’re losing the value of stewardship on how to maintain what’s left in the face of growing population pressure.

So we began to get up in arms about what we see as the industrialization of Golden Gate Park – and that’s really what this is, at least at the western end. We have a soccer field project which is the ecological equivalent of a seven-acre parking lot. If they were to go out and pave it and lay down asphalt, ecologically that would be the same thing.

So we have to understand that as a loss of habitat and be realistic about it. Now, there are other values that people are getting out of it and I acknowledge that, but ecologically, it’s like a parking lot. We will be adding an immense amount of traffic – three to four times the amount of usage – that brings a lot more people and a lot more disturbance to the surrounding area.

Raymond Clary wrote in The Making of Golden Gate Park: “Each new generation and each new social trend places added pressure on the woodland park originally designed to balance the effects of urban living. Each change serves to defeat the very purpose of the park. It was to serve as a quiet retreat, a natural environment. Although the setting aside of buildings for specific uses may be important to certain groups of people, in total these changes destroy the woodland park.”

WOODING: I’m going to talk a bit about budget. The RPD has changed its financial model to become self-sustaining, and new changes in the financial policy have caused the RPD to privatize revenue generation above all other RPD services. As Mark [Buell] had stated earlier, the amount of

The gopher problem is one of the main arguments both for and against installing astroturf.

Construction equipment gathered near Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse.

Soccer players enjoy a game on the natural turf currently covering the Polo Field.

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Photo by Jill Clardy / Flickr

The park’s western end stands to gain a big sports complex – at the expense of natural habitat?

money given to the RPD over the last decade

by San Francisco’s general fund has constantly been reduced by the mayor’s office.

Long before the current financial crisis, San Francisco had decided to make the RPD a low financial priority, and started allocating funds that were formerly budgeted for the RPD to other city departments.

Now there’s a new financial plan. The lower-paid operational employees who provided services to the public, specifically the recreation directors, were fired. Park facilities [are being rented or leased] to private businesses for their financial benefit.... The opinions of donors who make philanthropic contributions have become much more important than public opinion to the RPD. That’s where they get their money.

The park needs of San Francisco citizens who pay for the parks are now secondary to the RPD’s attempts to generate more revenue. I don’t blame them for wanting to make more money, because of the current [budget] situation, but that’s a hard reality. Golden Gate Park was supposed to be a place that the taxpayers supported for the good of all. It was never intended to be self-sustaining nor pay money into the general fund.

CHAPPELL: There are a number of questions about the financial structure of the park, Rec and Park. Going forward 10 years in the future, what do you want to see the financial institutional structure of the park

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look like? What is that going to mean for us as users of the park?

BUELL: The parks are funded from three sources: bond money, revenue generated and general fund money. It’s about a third, a third, a third. The general fund money is in the range of $30-35 million.

What I would like to see is a tax structure that takes it out of the general fund, which makes it less subject to the political whims of trying to meet budget requirements. I’d rather see a partial tax or special assessment, and I think that would be a recognition of the value we place on parks, because we historically get down the totem pole after fire and police and Muni and health. Those are the places that people squawk the most if you do the cuts, so Rec and Park gets the brunt of it.

CHAPPELL: What is the story on the stateof-the-art synthetic turf: How long will it last, and when will it need to be replaced?

What kind of maintenance does it take?

HOWARD: There are two issues here. First, I don’t think there’s any doubt, synthetic turf does last longer, it can be played on longer during the week and during the year, and it requires somewhat less maintenance, though we’ve been looking at some of the figures and we believe there should be more maintenance than what Rec and Park has talked about. Though water may be used less than on lawn, on the other hand it is supposed to be rinsed off quite a bit. Our

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position isn’t that synthetic turf is any better or worse than grass in terms of a playing surface exactly.

The other question is that they have to be replaced about every 8 to 10 years. So in San Francisco, we’ve got almost 30 acres now of synthetic fields, and in 8 to 10 years the bill is going to come due on this stuff. If a grass field dies or isn’t taken care of, you just go out there and water it and throw out grass seed, but for the synthetic turf you’re going to have to go out and you’re going to have to replace it – I’ve heard for $200,000, $400,000, $600,000.

From the money that’s being spent on this particular field, which is up to $12 million, we’d like to take $1 million and fix up the field and we’d like to use that money for artificial turf fields, which we are not opposing in principle, in other parts of the city. We’d like to spread it around so we can meet the playing time that Mr. Buell was talking about. It would be better, instead of a Rolls Royce of a project, to have a bunch of minivans.

CHAPPELL: Do you have some prescriptions on how the park can move forward, and also on improving wildlife habitat in the long run?

LYNES: The park would be better served by trying to come up with a better habitat management plan.

A good example is [that] every few years the park feels the need to clear out brush.

Brush is scrub, shrubs and leaf litter, and it’s an important ecological fixture in the park, but people are worried that someone may lurk and can hide in there, and there can be legitimate safety concerns about that. So they’ll go through and clear it all out, and a couple years later they’ll plant it all back again. What it shows is that there hadn’t been a real long-term plan on how they want to manage that habitat over all.

CHAPPELL: Why hasn’t GGP been landmarked?

HARTIG: It’s certainly been talked about for a long time – I think [it’s] part of the post-Union Square controversy. It kind of cast its shadow over that.

It’s also been caught up in the changes Prop. J wrought, and sadly I think it’s been caught up in some of the broader and very real concerns, but also the hyped-up concerns over what a designation is and what a designation isn’t. Ω

green capitalism A green visionary argues that capitalism is the savior of the environment, not necessarily its enemy. Excerpt from Inforum’s “Capitalism in an Era of Climate Change,” April 12, 2011.

L. Hunter lovins President and Founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions; Author, Climate Capitalism:

Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change

C

limate capitalism is capitalism the way it ought to be done.

Assume that climate change is a hoax. Now, don’t go to Vegas on the odds of that being true, but if all you care about is being a profit-maximizing capitalist, you’ll do exactly the same thing you would do if you were scared to death of climate change, because we know how to solve this one at a profit.

And the smart companies are doing it.

Where it differs from capitalism as it is most commonly practiced is, as Randy Hayes would call it, cheater capitalism. That’s capitalism that requires subsidies for its very existence. The International Energy Agency now reckons that the incumbent fossil energy companies get each year $550 billion around the world in subsidies to make the energy look cheaper than it is.

The clean tech companies would be very happy to eliminate all forms of subsidy and let these technologies – the green technologies, the clean technologies, the climate capitalist technologies – win on their merits. So we’re better capitalists than most people who claim to wear that hat, because we believe in markets, we believe in the productive use of all forms of capital.

Illustration by Steven Fromtling, photo by Norm Clasen

Where’s the money?

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e don’t really have a free market. There are eight categories of barriers to the market running efficiently, the biggest of which is lack of information.

Particularly in the climate space, there has been an enormous amount of money spent on disinformation. That is having an effect.

Most people out on the street believe that if you invest in a triple bottom line, you take profit and you bolt onto it people and planet as cost centers. The truth, as those wild-eyed environmentalists at Goldman Sachs have recently pointed out, is that the companies that are the leaders in environment, social and good governance policy have 25 percent higher stock value than their less sustainable competitors. The Economist Intelligence Unit found that the more sustainable companies have the fastest growing stock value.

It is happening. I was recently at L’Oreal, and the first thing I had to say was, “I don’t know why I’m here. I don’t usually use your product.” But I looked on the web, at what L’Oreal is doing that it would invite someone like me to come. Nothing, they weren’t saying a thing. So I said to them, “Why aren’t you talking about this?” I sat through a morning of their North American operations people talking about net zero factories, where first of all they’re doing efficiency, and then they’re putting solar on. Talking about bio-fueled factories, distribution centers where they’re doing a complete retrofit to LED lighting.

I said, “Why aren’t you talking about this? This is authentic sustainability.”

They said, “Oh, we just thought it was the right thing to do for financial reasons.” So we are starting to see what we used to call “sustainability” become business as usual. Ω This program was made possible by the generous support of Wells Fargo.

InSight Under a Tuscan Roof Dr. Gloria C. Duffy Photo courtesy of Gloria Duffy

President and C.E.O.

M

y husband Rod and I to new uses with modern infrastructure, and everything is clean celebrated our tenth and meticulously maintained. anniversary in June Transportation is efficient in Northern Italy, as throughout by spending 10 days in Pisa, Europe, with Frecciarossa high-speed trains whisking us the 150 Italy, with my husband’s cous- miles from Milan to Florence in two hours. This casts a dim light on ins, Nadia and Amadeo. Pisa the continuing difficulties for the United States in getting our high is a charming town, often overlooked by tourists except those who speed rail system going, since having this modern transportation come to see the “Torre Pendiente,” the Leaning Tower. It is home system has become an index of prosperity and economic developto the University of Pisa, one of the oldest universities in Europe. ment in the rest of the world.

Established in 1343, it was there that in the 16th Century Galileo Yet the problem of unemployment of younger people is everdeveloped the law of the pendulum, measured the weights of differ- present in Italy, as it is throughout Europe. Almost 30 percent of ent forms of matter, and overturned Aristotle’s law by demonstrating those aged 15 to 24 in Italy are unemployed, the highest point in a that objects of various weights fell from the Leaning Tower at the steadily climbing rate over the past decade. Pensions of older gensame pace. We stayed with our cousins in their 1920s villa, right erations and an aging population place a burden on the economy next to the university, from which they both graduated. and leave those newly seeking employment out in the cold. Graffiti The spirit of inquiry and learning still pervades Pisa, with stu- on the walls of Pisa University reads, “F**k Austerity!” – perhaps dents and professors walking and bicycling reflecting the frustration at the lack of ecoabout the colorful narrow streets lined nomic promise for those graduating. Our Our cousins love family, with ancient buildings. History is alive relatives roll their eyes at the perpetually there, as in a church in the Piazza Dei food, animals and opera, not deficit-ridden national budgets.

Cavalieri that commemorates the Pisa But everyone we met seems to be necessarily in that order. knights who fought in the Crusades alcoping. Rather than being a stigma, most a thousand years ago. It is filled with young people often live at home with captured battle flags and other talismans they brought back from their parents until they marry, avoiding the expense of setting up the Middle East. In the spirit of continued scientific evolution, our households of their own. Our cousins obviously relish their 29 year cousins, both medical doctors, started practicing internal medicine old son Antonio being at home while he finishes his architecture and neonatology, moved into dental surgery, and now incorporate degree, and his girlfriend of a decade, Francesca, who studies Ayurvedic and homeopathic medicine into their practice. engineering alongside Antonio, is always part of family life and Our cousins love family, food, animals and opera, not neces- meals. They shuttle between his family and hers, study together sarily in that order. They have three dogs, and a giant white duck at the dining room table, and there is no expectation that they named Gina roamed their garden until she died a little while ago. will set up a separate household or even marry until their careers Instead of watching TV, on a Sunday afternoon they watch a DVD are well launched. of La Boheme, commenting on the plot and shedding tears at the It’s always fun to exchange cross-cultural observations with our conclusion. Lunch is still a family affair, where both professionals, a relatives. One evening we were all watching CNN in English, which brother, an elderly father, a grad student son and his girlfriend may was reporting on the follies of Rep. Anthony Weiner, the former all convene for a hot meal at home, followed by the traditional hour U.S. congressman who resigned over his “sexting” on the Internet. of rest before all return to their occupations for the rest of the day. Our cousins and their son looked at us quizzically – what was this all Tuscany today strikes the visitor as both prosperous and intel- about? We explained in our broken mixture of Italian and English, ligent in its economic development. Most products available in its and saw the light dawn in their eyes. “Ah,” Antonio said, “Bunga stores are produced in Italy and usually in Tuscany. Wine, cheese, Bunga!” This has become the shorthand in Italy for politicians’ sex breads, fruit, vegetables, meats and grains are all delicious, mostly scandals, used by the Italian newspapers to describe Prime Minister organic, and locally sourced. After all, Tuscany is the origin of the Berlusconi’s dalliances with underage girls and other ladies.

Slow Food movement. Old buildings are preserved but often turned Bunga Bunga. Some things are the same the world over! Ω

54

THE COMMO N WE AL TH

au gu s t/s e p tem be r 2011

Death Valley Wildflowers, Canyons, and Controversy

March 12-16, 2012

Explore this magnificent land of extremes with study leader Frank Ackerman, a former Death Valley National Park Ranger.

Learn about the dramatic geology, the remarkably hardy flora and fauna, and the controversial issues surrounding Death Valley. Mid-March is a great time to visit and we have an excellent chance of witnessing the vibrant spring wildflower bloom.

March 12th

March 13th

March 14th

March 15th

March 16th

Amargosa Opera House and Salt Creek

Badwater and Golden Canyon At 282 feet below sea level, Badwater Salt Flat is the lowest place in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth lowest place on Earth! The dramatic depth is enhanced by the backdrop of the Panamint Range rising over 11,000ft.

Learn about the creation of the park’s many alluvial fans, the product of millions of years of sporadic yet constant erosion. Hike through the multi-hued walls of Golden Canyon toward the Red Cathedral, lit by the afternoon sun.

(B, L,D)

Harmony Borax Works, Dante’s View and Artist’s Palette

Zabriskie Point and Rhyolite Ghost Town

Meet at Las Vegas airport and transfer to Death Valley National Park. En route visit the Amargosa Opera House, the passionate creation of a dancer and artist Marta Becket. Arrive at Furnace Creek, and meet up with travelers who have driven to the park. Visit Salt Creek and learn about the amazing pupfish, endemic to Death Valley and uniquely adapted to survive in the desert’s harsh environment. Enjoy a welcome reception and dinner at the Furnace Creek Inn. (L,D)

Ubehebe Crater, Scotty’s Castle, Mosaic Canyon and Dunes Marvel at Ubehebe Crater, site of a massive volcanic explosion leaving a pit in the earth over 500 feet deep and a half a mile across. Visit Death Valley Ranch or “Scotty’s Castle” a beautiful, yet highly controversial, Spanishcolonial style mansion constructed in the 1920s.

Explore Mosaic Canyon and hike to the waterpolished stratifications of Noonday Dolomite marking millions of years of geological history. (B,L,D)

Tour Harmony Borax Works and learn about the mining history of borax, or “white gold.” Experience Dante’s View located at 5,475 ft, and take in a stunning panorama of all 11,049 feet of Telescope Peak. This afternoon relax in the spring-fed waters of the hotel pool, before we visit the pastel-colored Artist’s Palette. Enjoy a farewell dinner at the Furnace Creek Inn. (B,L,D)

Wake before dawn and depart for sunrise at Zabriskie Point and watch the sunlight illuminate the Badlands and Manly Beacon. Return to Las Vegas for flights home. En route, stop at the ghost town of Rhyolite, NV and pass by the controversial Yucca Mountain on the Nevada Test Site. (B, L)

Cost: $1,995 per person, double occupancy at Furnace Creek Ranch (upgrade to Furnace Creek Inn for $495 per person) Photos (clockwise) by ChuckThePhotographer / Flickr, Alaskan Dude / Flickr, Frank Ackerman, IceNineJon / Flickr, Ken-ichi / Flickr, arno gourdol / Flickr

Come hear study leader Frank Ackerman speak about Death Valley on September 19th!

For Information & Reservations: visit commonwealthclub.org/travel call (415) 597-6720 email travel@commonwealthclub.org

The Commonwealth Club of California 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94105

Purchase event tickets at commonwealthclub.org

PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID IN SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

or call (415) 597-6705 or (800) 847-7730 To request full travel itineraries, pricing, and terms and conditions, call (415) 597-6720 or email travel@commonwealthclub.org

Delhi

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Agra

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Jaipur

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Pushkar Camel Fair

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Udaipur

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Varanasi

Home to the ancient Indus Valley civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent has been identified with its commercial and cultural wealth throughout history. Four of the world’s major religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism – originated here, and the art, architecture and culture continue to beckon curious travelers. India is also the world’s most populous democracy and a leader in technology

JOURNEY To NORTHERN INDIA November 1 - 15, 2011 • Explore the colonial capital of New Delhi and enjoy a pedi-cab (rickshaw) ride in Old Delhi.

• Discover the mesmerizing Taj Mahal

and take in the grandeur of the forts and palaces of Rajasthan.

• Visit the vibrant bazaars of Jaipur, the “Pink City.”

• Experience the colorful Pushkar Camel Fair - a photographer’s delight!

• Witness the Hindu rituals on the holy Ganges in Varanasi.

development. It offers remarkable perspectives on where the modern world intersects with life as it has been lived for centuries.

• Admire the ornate Jain temple at Ranakpur and marvel the Crystal Gallery at City Palace in Udaipur.

• Take in India’s visual and performing arts with behind the scenes access.

• Learn from our lectures and

discussions with local experts on topics pertaining to economic development, population control, the media and the rural banking system.

Cost: From $5,090 per person, double occupancy CST# 2096889-40 Varanasi photo by nicocrisafulli / Flickr

Check out our exciting calendar of events in August during the Club’s “India Now” program series!

Join our November tour to India and receive free access to many of these fascinating events.

For Information & Reservations: visit commonwealthclub.org/travel call (415) 597-6720 email travel@commonwealthclub.org