Before Fiona Hill became a celebrated foreign policy expert and key witness in the 2019 impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump, she was a coal-miner's daughter from northern England in a

Before Fiona Hill became a celebrated foreign policy expert and key witness in the 2019 impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump, she was a coal-miner's daughter from northern England in a town where the last of the coal mines had closed. Her father urged her to get out, saying “There is nothing for you here, pet.” Hill went on to study in Moscow and at Harvard and served under three United States presidents. But in both Russia and the United States, she saw troubling reflections of her hometown and similar populist impulses. Her new book, There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century, draws on her own journey out of poverty and her unique perspective as a policymaker to warn that America is on the brink of socioeconomic collapse and an authoritarian swing that could rival modern Russia. In her powerful and deeply personal account, Hill reveals why expanding opportunity for desperate and forgotten Americans is the only long-term hope for our democracy. Join us as she reflects on her own experience and expertise to analyze the future of American democracy. NOTES This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Hill photo by Associated Press. OCTOBER 12, 2021 SPEAKERS Fiona Hill Former Senior Director for Europe and Russia, National Security Council; Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Author, There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century In Conversation with Ellen Nakashima National Security Reporter, The Washington Post 💯SUBSCRIBE for more VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/user/commonwealthclub 📆 UPCOMING EVENTS: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events 🎉 BECOME a MEMBER: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/membership 💰 DONATE NOW: https://support.commonwealthclub.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=298 📺➕📻 Watch & Listen https://www.commonwealthclub.org/watch-listen CWC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonwealthclub/ CWC Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cwclub/ CWC Twitter https://twitter.com/cwclub The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum 📣, bringing together its 20,000 members for more than 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Founded in 1903 in San Francisco California 🌉, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to Hillary Clinton in 2010. Along the way, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have all given landmark speeches at the Club.

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Get the inside scoop during this discussion with congressional staffers, moderated by Jamari Hartley, CCL Government Affairs Coordinator. Learn how things really work on Capitol Hill, what moves an

Get the inside scoop during this discussion with congressional staffers, moderated by Jamari Hartley, CCL Government Affairs Coordinator. Learn how things really work on Capitol Hill, what moves an issue in a congressional office, and how to take your congressional relationships to the next level. Featuring: Jamari Hartley, CCL Government Affairs Coordinator Jamari’s work focuses on tracking and researching pertinent legislation, meeting with congressional offices and NGOs, and advocating for CCL’s policy goals. After completing his studies at St. John’s University, Jamari worked on Capitol Hill in various roles, most recently, he was a Legislative Correspondent for Rep. Cook (CA-08). Full bio: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/?team=jamari-hartley Tom Erb, Legislative Aide for Congressman Scott Peters (CA52) Adeline DeYoung, Legislative Aide for Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM-03)

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Fiona Oakes gives us a resounding “Yes” answer to the question “Can vegans also be world-class athletes?”. Fiona has been vegan since she was 6 years old and in 2013, she won both the

Fiona Oakes gives us a resounding “Yes” answer to the question “Can vegans also be world-class athletes?”. Fiona has been vegan since she was 6 years old and in 2013, she won both the Antarctic Ice Marathon and the North Pole Marathon. She runs despite losing a kneecap from an illness when she was 17. She founded Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary, is an ambassador for The Vegan Society, and is a patron of the Captive Animals Protection Society. Fiona joins us to discuss her many distance running achievements and how supporting animal welfare is the driving force behind all of her successes. Founded in 1993, Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary provides care and a forever home to animals in need. 100% of all donations go to the running of the sanctuary. To donate please visit https://www.towerhillstables.org/donate-1

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What are the impacts of climate change that are felt around the world? How are people responding? And what is the role of today's youth in all of this? Julia Blocher, researcher at the Potsdam

What are the impacts of climate change that are felt around the world? How are people responding? And what is the role of today's youth in all of this? Julia Blocher, researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and President of the International Youth Federation (IYF), breaks all of it down for us. She illustrates several concrete events which are causing people to migrate and leave their homes, but also highlighting to the stories of several young people that are making real change. Striving for a future which is just, peaceful and inclusive is not impossibile with this new generation of leaders. Julia Blocher is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and President of the International Youth Federation (IYF). She has worked for a decade on the interaction between climate change and the many factors that influence the movement of people and communities. She believes that there are two main development issues facing the global community for which youth lead the way in providing solutions: climate change and migration. In her work as a doctoral researcher at PIK and as an Associate Member of the Hugo Observatory (Belgium), her studies focus on environment, climate change, and migration linkages in the East and Horn of Africa and in island nations. Prior to joining PIK, Ms. Blocher was a Project Manager at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research in New York (UNU-CPR), a think tank within the UN system. She previously worked for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC-NRC) This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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Tamara Hill-Kennedy of the Green Meeting Industry Council addresses the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference panel presentation, "Where's the ROI in green travel? The conference sponsored by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) was held September 8-10 in Portland, Oregon. Ms. Kennedy-Hill was videotaped by Ruth Ann Barrett of EarthSayers.tv, the voices of sustainability.
The Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) is the premier global community solely dedicated to sustainability in the meetings and events industry, not only through education but also by spearheading research, policy and standards. GMIC is a non profit professional meetings association with member representation in over 20 countries. The GMIC is 100% focused on advancing sustainability in the meetings industry and is a member of the Convention Industry Council.

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As you may know climate change is a major issue right now, which makes the production of energy one of the factors that increase the emission of GHG in the atmosphere. Therefore, it is necessary for

As you may know climate change is a major issue right now, which makes the production of energy one of the factors that increase the emission of GHG in the atmosphere. Therefore, it is necessary for our survival to realize how the transition to renewable energy is inevitable and it might be closer to happen than you may think! This talk explains a little bit more about what your attitude should be to make this process occur faster and how you should realize that the transition is inevitable to be able to have a more sustainable future! When would you think of a girl that is a geek and also likes to play sports? Not usually, right? But that is exactly how Julia is. She is a member of her school's GINs club and is always up to new activities. Her passions range from doing cosplays and watching sci-fi series/films to playing field hockey, ice hockey, and soccer. Not forgetting that she also enjoys reading books and comics with a cup of coffee. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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The Butterfly Effect with Catharine MacKinnon

Equality seakers spread your wings! Under the right conditions, small simple actions in a collective context can produce large complex effects

The Butterfly Effect with Catharine MacKinnon

Equality seakers spread your wings! Under the right conditions, small simple actions in a collective context can produce large complex effects and change. Pioneering lawyer and activist for women’s rights Catharine A. MacKinnon argues that seemingly minor interventions in the legal realm can have a butterfly effect that generates major social and cultural transformations.

Watch Catharine MacKinnon, lawyer and activist, in our latest RSA Spotlight - the edits which take you straight to the heart of the event! Loved this snippet? Watch the full talk here. 

Substantive Equalty, Multidimensional Political Thinking, Principled Creativity, Inspired Intervention, Open debates on strategy, old and new forms of organizing. 

Catharine A. MacKinnon is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at Michigan Law and the long-term James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She holds a BA from Smith College, a JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in political science from Yale. She specializes in sex equality issues under international and domestic (including comparative, criminal, and constitutional) law. 

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Viral Shah, an Indian Computer Scientist, brings into light how computation can work towards solving some of the world’s biggest climate change issues. Bringing a fresh insight to getting involved

Viral Shah, an Indian Computer Scientist, brings into light how computation can work towards solving some of the world’s biggest climate change issues. Bringing a fresh insight to getting involved in the social impact space through the Julia Language, his very own creation, Viral Shah, who is the co-founder and CEO of Julia Computing, brings forward opportunities through which students can get involved in making a difference and following their ambitions in tandem. Emphasizing on the steady growth of the Technology Industry, his talk strongly conveyed the importance and necessity of computation to solve global issues, motivating students to take a leap of faith and delve deeper into their interests within the industry. Viral Shah is an Indian computer scientist and is the co-founder and CEO of Julia Computing. Albeit a common belief that productivity and performance do not function in tandem in programming, he defied the odds through co-creation of the Julia Language, a high impact language that is now widely adopted all across the world. He was actively involved in the Aadhaar Project, which provided Indian residents a 12-digit unique identity number based on their biometric and demographic data. Based on his vast experience and exposure within this industry and with regard to the government of India, he co-authored the Book Rebooting India; a call to reshape the country. In 2019, he was awarded the J. H. Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software for his work on the Julia Programming Language, and in 2013, he received The Spatial Ecology and Telemetry Working Group (SETWG) award for the co-creation of Circuitscape. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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