Our fall season features documentary filmmaking, climate leadership, artificial intelligence, tax policy, and the secret lives of whales.
The Better Tomorrow Speaker Series is pleased to announce our schedule of fall events, which will bring together journalists, authors, scientists, attorneys, and, we hope, you!
Out of Plain Sight: Film Screening and Director Talkback
Saturday, August 22, 2026
A haunting tip prompts a Los Angeles Times reporter to discover that as many as half a million barrels of toxic waste had been dumped into the ocean, just off the coast of Southern California. The screening will include remarks by director Rosanna Xia. This event is produced by the Sustainability Film Series and supported by the Davis Democracy Initiative at Punahou School.
Kaiāulu Ā Pa‘a
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Kaiāulu Ā Pa‘a is an action-oriented climate convening featuring a keynote address by Julian Aguon and a special performance by violinist Iggy Jang. An award-winning author and attorney, Aguon recently won a landmark case before the International Court of Justice on behalf of Pacific nations harmed by climate change. The keynote will be followed by the Climate Leadership Awards. The event is a co-production of Climate Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Green Growth and BTSS.
Karen Hao
Thursday, October 8, 2026
Karen Hao is an award-winning technology reporter based in Hong Kong. She has served as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and as artificial intelligence editor at MIT Technology Review. She writes regularly for The Atlantic, and she leads the AI Spotlight Series at the Pulitzer Center. Hao’s new book is the bestselling Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Hao is the Dai Ho Chun Chair in the College of Social Sciences.
Lars Bejder
Friday, November 20, 2026
Lars Bejder is director of the Marine Mammal Research Program at UH Mānoa. His team deploys advanced technologies, including drones, satellites and suction-cup sensors, to better understand how whales and dolphins live, communicate, reproduce and respond to a changing environment. He is the author of more than 180 scientific papers and has served as an advisor to the International Whaling Commission and the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group.
Ray Madoff
DECEMBER 2026
Ray Madoff is a professor at Boston College Law School. An expert on trusts, estate planning and tax law, she is the author of The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made America an Aristocracy, named by The New Yorker as one of the best books of 2025. She writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, and she directs Boston College’s Forum on Philanthropy and the Public Good.
We look forward to seeing you.
Mahalo