Public Trust and Public Land

Will Rogers, President and CEO, The Trust for Public Land

Monday Night Philosophy looks at America's increasing need for more and better urban parks. As urban areas become ever more densely populated, and urban populations ever more sedentary, both the health and economic benefits that vibrant park systems provide to local economies have too often been overlooked. Rogers will discuss how local conservation communities have worked together to educate their neighbors and to inspire more leaders to commit public and private resources to enhance our parks.

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
Also know: In association with the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department

Power Mix

Trevor Houser, Partner, Rhodium Group; Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute
Ross Macfarlane, Senior Advisor, Climate Solutions
Bruce Nilles, Senior Director of the Beyond Coal Campaign, Sierra Club

Cheap natural gas is changing the energy mix in the U.S. Energy companies are increasingly making the switch from coal to cheaper, cleaner natural gas to fuel their power plants. This combined with more stringent health regulations has the nation's coal industry looking to surging economies in China and India to lift its fortunes. Tapping those international markets will require getting coal to water via railways and seaports. But new coal ports are meeting heavy political and environmental resistance in the Pacific Northwest.  The natural gas industry is looking to the export game too and prices are expected to rise as the international economy absorbs American surplus. Will that allow coal to bounce back? Join us for a conversation about the changing electricity landscape of the U.S. in a global energy economy.

Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. networking reception
Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students (with valid ID)
Also know: The speakers and audience will be videotaped for future broadcast on the Climate One TV show on KRCB TV 22 on Comcast and DirecTV.

Why Free Trade Doesn’t Work

Ian Fletcher, Author, Free Trade Doesn’t Work; Senior Economist, Coalition for a Prosperous America

Free trade is one of the sacred cows in American economic policy. But as our $500 billion a year trade deficit continues, people are asking whether it deserves this status. The principles of economics that underlie free trade are controversial, and some of the most recent economic models question its soundness as policy. Fletcher will look at what economic history really says about free trade, and what some rational alternatives might be.

MLFs: Business & Leadership/International Relations
Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing
Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students
Program Organizer: Norma Walden

National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism

Melvin Goodman, Author, National Insecurity; former Soviet Analyst at the CIA and U.S. State Department

Post-election, everyone is focusing on how to create a robust economy. Twenty-four-year CIA veteran Goodman argues that American military spending makes us poorer and less secure while undermining our global political standing. Drawing on his first-hand experience with war planners and intelligence strategists, Goodman offers an insider's critique of the U.S. military economy from President Eisenhower's farewell warning to President Obama's military expansion. He outlines a vision for how to alter our military policy, practices and spending to better position the U.S. globally and enhance prosperity and security at home.

MLF: International Relations
Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing
Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID)
Program Organizer: Sy Yuan
Also know: in association with City Lights Publishers

Follow the Open Doors: How Boomers Are Creating Second Careers through Franchising

Gordon Dupries, President, FranNet of San Francisco

Dupries shares stories of boomers who have achieved second careers, security and success through franchising. He will address what is uniquely important to the boomer generation, what kind of person is right for self-employment, why franchising works for boomers, and what opportunities are most exciting now. He will discuss second incomes, semi-absentee ownership, sources for free business counseling, financing options and access to free online assessment.

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

Jared Diamond

Professor of Geography, UCLA; Author, Guns, Germs, and Steel and The World Until Yesterday

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Diamond examines how Amazonian Indians, Inuit and other traditional societies have adapted and evolved for nearly 6 million years. He explains what we can still learn from these traditional societies regarding universal human problems like elder care, child rearing, physical fitness and conflict resolution.

Location:  Schultz Cultural Hall, Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto
Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program, 1 p.m. book signing
Cost: Regular: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students. Premium (priority seating and copy of new book) $45 standard, $45 members.