The New School at Commonweal

TKV Desikachar and Kate Holcombe Healing Yoga Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with TKV Desikachar and his senior student Kate Holcombe about his teaching healing yoga method, based on T Krishnamacharya’s fundamental principle that yoga must always be adapted to an individual’s changing needs in order to derive the maximum therapeutic and personal benefit. TKV Desikachar TKV Desikachar is the son and foremost student of the legendary yoga master T Krishnamacharya—teacher of Patthabi Jois, BKS Iyengar, and Indra Devi. Find out more on his website. For more than 45 years, TKV Desikachar has devoted himself to teaching yoga and making it relevant to people from all walks of life and with all kinds of abilities. In addition to the three decades of yoga training he received from his father, TKV Desikachar holds a degree in structural engineering. He is one of the world’s foremost teachers of yoga and a renowned authority on the therapeutic use of yoga. Kate Holcombe Kate is a senior student of Mr. Desikachar and founder of the Healing Yoga Foundation in San Francisco. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Walter Murch Music of the Spheres: Rediscovering the Harmonic Relationship among Planets Walter Murch is an Academy Award-winning film editor and sound producer, but his greatest historical contribution may yet prove to be in astronomy, where he has refined and rehabilitated an ancient observation that the planets and moons in our solar system are arranged in a harmonic relationship that gives scientific expression to the concept of “the music of the spheres.” Join Michael Lerner in this conversation about the harmonic relationship among planets—the music of the spheres. Note: This conversation relied heavily on Mr. Murch’s visual presentation, which is unavailable. Still, we found the conversation so compelling as to make it available for listening. Please familiarize yourself with this article for further understanding of Walter’s work in this area. Walter Murch Walter is an Academy Award-winning film editor and sound designer who has done celebrated work with George Lucas, Francs Ford Coppola, Anthony Minghella, and others. He is the subject of Michael Ondaatje’s The Conversations, based on their dialogues when Murch was editing Minghella’s The English Patient (based on Ondaatje’s novel). He has written an acclaimed book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Catharine A. MacKinnon Are Women Human? Reflections on Sexual Violence Join Michael Lerner in conversation with feminist legal scholar and leading public intellectual and political philosopher Catharine MacKinnon about legal views on sexual violence. Catharine A. MacKinnon Catharine is America’s foremost feminist legal scholar and a leading public intellectual and political philosopher. She has made major contributions to law and public policy on equality, sexual harassment, pornography, trafficking, rape, and genocide. MacKinnon is a lawyer, teacher, writer, and activist on sex equality domestically and internationally. She has taught at twelve law schools including Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Osgoode Hall (Toronto), Columbia, and Hebrew University (Jerusalem). Her books include Sex Equality (2001/2007), Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (1989), Only Words (1993), Sexual Harassment of Working Women (1979), Women’s Lives, Men’s Laws (2005), and Are Women Human? (2006). MacKinnon created the concept that sexual abuse violates equality rights, pioneering the legal claim for sexual harassment as sex discrimination and, with Andrea Dworkin, recognition of the harms of pornography as civil rights violations. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Keith Block, MD Life over Cancer: Program for Integrated Cancer Treatment Join us for a presentation from Keith Block about his book, Life Over Cancer, an encouraging, compassionate, and authoritative program every cancer patient deserves in order to have the best chance for recovery and restoration of health. Keith is a longtime Commonweal friend and an extraordinary resource for cancer patients and health professionals. He will be accompanied by Mark Renneker, M.D., also a longtime Commonweal friend and an equally eminent investigator of medical treatments for a wide range of serious illnesses. Keith Block, MD Keith is an internationally recognized expert in integrative oncology. Referred to by many as the “father of integrative oncology,” Dr. Block combines cutting-edge conventional treatment with individualized and scientifically based complementary and nutraceutical therapies. In 1980, he co-founded the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care in Skokie, Illinois, the first such facility in North America. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Hanford Woods and Eric Karpeles What Is Art? Reading Shakespeare and Tolstoy Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Shakespearean professor Hanford Woods and artist Eric Karpeles about Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tolstoy’s What Is Art. Familiarity with both works of art is optional but recommended. Hanford Woods Hanford teaches Shakespeare at Dawson College in Montreal and is a longtime Bolinas resident. Eric Karpeles Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is a painter and writer. Born and raised in New York, he has also lived in India and in France, settling in Bolinas in 2007. His painting career has been shaped by the quest for a spiritual presence in art, and by a negative response to the elitism of the contemporary marketplace. The Rockefeller Chapel is a room-sized painting he completed in 1996, a permanent installation at the HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York City. Karpeles writes about painting and the intersection of literature and visual aesthetics; his book, Paintings in Proust, translated into several languages, was a “book of the year” in the NY Times, the Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Russell Jaffe, MD The Alkaline Way: Diet, Supplements, Detoxification, and Real Health Reform Join Michael Lerner in another conversation with a remarkable Commonweal friend, Russell Jaffe, M.D. Russ will talk with us about his book and research, The Alkaline Way: Diet, Supplements, Detoxification, and Real Health Care Reform. Russell Jaffee, MD Trained in clinical pathology at the National Institutes of Health, Russ served on the permanent NIH staff as a practicing molecular biologist and molecular pathologist. In the course of his later career, Russ has worked extensively in optimal health, nutrition, oriental medicine, and color and music therapy. He was the founding chairman of the Scientific Committee of the American Holistic Medical Association. In 1984, Dr. Jaffe developed the lymphocyte response assays (LRA) by ELISA/ACT tests. These tests enable physicians to examine the responses of patients’ immune systems to challenges. He is also the founder of Perque, a nutritional supplement company. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Eric Karpeles My Book Is A Painting: Marcel Proust and the Resonance of the Visual Image Artist and Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles, author of Paintings in Proust, presents this illustrated talk about the visual images alluded to in Marcel Proust’s writing. Paintings in Proust has received considerable acclaim in the United States, Britain, and France, where the French edition sold out its first printing in three weeks. Salman Rushdie called it his favorite book of the year. The New York Times claimed the book elicited “the literary equivalent of a hosanna.” A New York Observer critic wrote that the work is “authoritative, intelligent, amusing, and can be enjoyed without prior exposure to Proust.” The same can be said about Eric’s talk, which, while specifically about Proust, is also generally about the mind of the artist and the creative process. Eric Karpeles Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is a painter and writer. Born and raised in New York, he has also lived in India and in France, settling in Bolinas in 2007. His painting career has been shaped by the quest for a spiritual presence in art, and by a negative response to the elitism of the contemporary marketplace. The Rockefeller Chapel is a room-sized painting he completed in 1996, a permanent installation at the HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York City. Karpeles writes about painting and the intersection of literature and visual aesthetics; his book, Paintings in Proust, translated into several languages, was a “book of the year” in the NY Times, the Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Jeffrey and Leila Masson Dogs Never Lie About Love and Other Topics When animals are no longer colonized and appropriated by us, we can reach out to our evolutionary cousins. Perhaps then the ancient hope for deeper emotional connection across the species barrier, for closeness and participation in a realm of feelings now beyond our imagination, will be realized. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Jeff and Leila Masson about their reflections and their books, including Dogs Never Lie About Love. Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson Jeffrey is a writer who lives with his family in New Zealand. He has been a professor at several universities in Canada and America. After serving as projects director of the Sigmund Freud Archives, he wrote a series of books critical of psychiatry and therapy. In the 1990s he turned his attention to animals, and in particular, their emotional lives. His book When Elephants Weep became an international best seller, as was Dogs Never Lie About Love. Since those two books, he has published six more books about animals. Please visit Jeffrey’s website for more information. Dr Leila Masson Leila is a pediatrician interested in disease prevention through healthy nutrition and lifestyle. Her goal is to help her two sons and her husband—and all her patients—to live in optimal health. She provides biomedical treatment for children on the autistic spectrum, a wholistic approach to behavior and learning challenges, as well as assessment and treatment of children with allergies and other pediatric health problems. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Cindy Sage and Nancy Evans Wireless or Wellness? New wireless technologies have changed the face of the world in the last decade. Cell and cordless phones, and the wireless towers that send their signals around town have very real bioeffects. Decision-makers and the public are just learning about possible health risks of electromagnetic fields (EMFs). What can you do to help protect your health? Join Michael Lerner in conversation with two national authorities on the impact of electromagnetic fields on our health. Both Cindy and Nancy co-facilitate the EMF Working Group of the Collaborative for Health and the Environment. Cindy Sage Cindy Sage is the owner of Sage Associates, Montecito, CA. She also is a Research Fellow at Orebro University Hospital, School of Health and Medical Sciences, Department of Oncology, Orebro, Sweden. She and 14 other scientists and public health experts have written a definitive report on the science and public health implications of wireless technologies, and co-editor of the BioInitiative Report. Nancy Evans Nancy Evans is a health science writer and editor with more than three decades of experience in health science publishing. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991, Nancy became a leader in the grassroots breast cancer movement, and has spoken on breast cancer issues nationally and internationally. She is currently Health Science Consultant to the Breast Cancer Fund in San Francisco. Nancy is the original editor of State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Environment and Breast Cancer, published by the Breast Cancer Fund in a new 5th edition. Nancy has co-produced three documentary films: Rachel s Daughters: Searching for the Causes of Breast Cancer Children and Asthma Good Food, Bad Food: Obesity in American Children. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Julia Brody, PhD Endocrine Disruptors in Indoor and Outdoor Air Dr. Julia Brody and her team at the Silent Spring Institute in Massachusetts are well-known pioneers in exploring linkages between toxic chemicals exposures and breast cancer, prompted by the high incidence of breast cancer in Cape Cod. Upholding the legacy of Rachel Carson in exploring how environmental threats contribute to disease incidence, Brody has produced compelling results from her work in Cape Cod. Recent work has brought her team to Richmond and Bolinas where the team as tested a number of homes for the presence of toxic chemicals in indoor and outdoor air. Householders in both towns found the results surprising. Like most people, they assumed that exposures to toxicants occurred primarily if one were to live near an industrial area, a military facility or near the site of some sort of chemical accident. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Julia about her research, which indicates that many of us may be additionally exposed to toxicants through the use of products we use everyday, products such as cleaners, personal care products, paints, solvents, or the materials we use in constructing our houses. Julia Brody, PhD Julia, executive director of Silent Spring Institute, is a leader in research on breast cancer and the environment and in community-based research and public engagement in science. Brody’s current research focuses on methods for reporting to people on their own exposures to hormone disruptors and other emerging contaminants when the health effects are uncertain. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Mark Gerzon Decision-Making As If Consciousness Matters Mark Gerzon is a leader in building global community and conflict resolution. His passion is designing environments that meet Einstein’s transformative challenge: to ensure that we do not try to solve problems on the same level awareness at which they were created. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Mark Gerzon about decision making and the importance of nurturing a consciousness that elicits our deepest wisdom. Mark Gerzon Mark is founder and president of Mediators Foundation and author of Leading Through Conflict: How Successful Leaders Transform Differences into Opportunities. You are also invited to visit EastWest Institute website …working to make the world a safer place by addressing the seemingly intractable problems that threaten regional and global stability. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Terry Tempest Williams Finding Beauty in A Broken World Terry is one of the most exquisite and powerful voices for healing ourselves and the earth. Terry has been called “a citizen writer” who speaks out eloquently on behalf of an ethical stance toward life. A gifted naturalist and fierce advocate for freedom of speech, Terry has shown us how environmental issues are social issues that ultimately become matters of justice. “So here is my question,” she asks, “what might a different kind of power look like, feel like, and can power be redistributed equitably even beyond our own species?” Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Terry about her book, Finding Beauty in A Broken World. Terry Tempest Williams Known for her impassioned and lyrical prose, Terry is the author of the environmental literature classic, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place; An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field; Desert Quartet; Leap; Red: Patience and Passion in the Desert; and The Open Space of Democracy. Her book Finding Beauty in a Broken World, was published in 2008 by Pantheon Books. She is a columnist for the magazine The Progressive. In 2006, Williams received the Robert Marshall Award from The Wilderness Society, their highest honor given to an American citizen. She also received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association and the Wallace Stegner Award given by The Center for the American West. She is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in creative nonfiction. In 2009, Terry Tempest Williams was featured in Ken Burns’ PBS series on the national parks. She is also the recipient of the 2010 David R. Brower Conservation Award for activism. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

James S Gordon, MD Life Lessons in Healing: Cancer, Trauma, and Mind-Body Medicine Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with James S. Gordon, MD, about healing, cancer, trauma, and the mind-body connection. From our podcast: Depression is not a sentence. The signs and symptoms are a signal: your life is out of balance. It is possible to discover and to right the imbalances, and in undertaking the process—taking the journey—you can heal yourself and become more healthy and more whole than you ever have been. —James S Gordon, MD James S Gordon, MD Jim Gordon is one of America’s leading authorities in mind-body medicine. He founded the influential Cancer Guides training program, sponsors the premier Food as Medicine training, and conducts Healing the Wounds of War trainings in Israel, Gaza, and other conflict zones. Jim Gordon is the founder and director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), clinical professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at Georgetown Medical School, and recently served as chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Therese Poulsen Yoga for Trauma Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Therese Poulsen—yoga teacher, acupuncturist, doula, and founder/director of Breath of Hope Foundation, which brings hope to impoverished children in south Asia. Therese Poulsen Therese, a long time educator and holistic healer, brings nearly twenty years of experience in teaching and practicing yoga to the Breath of Hope Foundation as founder and director. Her interest in Eastern philosophy and medicine began with a study of acupuncture, including a clinical internship in China and the completion of an advanced degree. She then became a massage therapist and a doula—a birth counselor and midwife, building a busy holistic practice assisting women and their families to prepare emotionally and physically before, during, and after childbirth. These multiple areas of specialization and her first-hand experience with integrative therapy eventually led her to the study and practice of yoga, which has since become her life’s work and passion. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Shodo Harada Roshi Dharma Talk and Meditation Harada Roshi (Roshi means “teacher”) is heir to the teachings of Rinzai sect Zen Buddhism as passed down in Japan from Hakuin and his successors. Harada Roshi’s teaching includes the traditional Rinzai practices of daily sutra chanting, zazen (seated meditation), sanzen (private interviews with the teacher), susokkan (breathing), koan (‘past cases’) study, samu (work), sesshin (intensive retreats), teisho (lectures by the teacher), and takuhatsu (alms receiving). Join Shodo Harada Roshi for this meditation, dharma talk, and another meditation. The dharma talk is translate from Japanese into English. Shodo Harada Roshi Shodo was born in 1940 in Nara, Japan. He began his Zen training in 1962 when he entered Shofuku-ji monastery in Kobe, Japan, where he trained under Yamada Mumon Roshi (1900-1988) for twenty years. He was then given dharma transmission (inka) and was subsequently made abbot of Sogenji monastery in Okayama, Japan, where he has taught since 1982. In September 1989, Harada came to the United States to provide instruction for students and in 1995 founded One Drop Zendo (or, Tahoma One Drop Zen Monastery) on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, where the practice mirrors the practices found at Sogen-ji. Nearby the Tahoma One Drop Monastery, Harada has opened a hospice known as Enso House in 2001. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Paul Hawken Life Lessons in Sustainability and Resilience ~Co-presented with Mainstreet Moms and Point Reyes Books~ Join Michael Lerner in conversation with author, speaker, and activist Paul Hawken about the resilience needed for a sustainable response to our ecological crisis. Paul Hawken Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author. Paul heads the Natural Capital Institute, which has created a hub for global civil society called WiserEarth, a collaboratively written, free content, open source networking platform that links NGOs, funders, business, government, social entrepreneurs, students, organizers, academics, activists, scientists, and citizens. Find out more about Paul on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Jed Emerson Investing for the Earth and the Common Good Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Jed Emerson—international leader in the field of strategic philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. In 2000, Jed began focusing upon his interest in the Blended Value Proposition (BVP), which states that instead of operating in terms of non-profit and for-profit constructs or a double bottom-line, there is a single, blended value proposition for both for-profit and nonprofit firms, as well as philanthropy and capital investments, with multiple value components and generated returns. Jed Emerson Jed is senior fellow with Generation Foundation, fellow with Said Business School at Oxford University, and past founder and executive director of Roberts Enterprise Development Fund. Find out more about Jed on his website. He is recognized as an international leader in the field of strategic philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and blended value investing. His career has spanned work in management, academia, investing and human services. He has launched nonprofit ventures, lead foundation initiatives and engaged in research assessing global innovations in sustainable investing and finance. His work on alternative investing, nonprofit capital markets, foundation strategy, Social Return on Investment frameworks, social purpose business development and other areas of practice has been viewed as significant in terms of its broad contribution to the field and efforts to support others engaged in the community application of business skills and practice. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Mark Finser Social Finance Join Michael Lerner in this conversation with socially responsible financier Mark Finser about his work with RSF Social Finance. Mark A. Finser Mark is chair of the board of RSF Social Finance. RSF Social Finance provides innovative investing, lending, and philanthropic services to catalyze the growth of organizations creating a more sustainable future. Mark grew RSF’s assets from $6,000 in 1984 to $120M today. Since 1984, RSF has made a total of $130M in mission-related loans to social enterprises. Mark brings communities of philanthropists and socially responsible investors together to further RSF’s mission: to transform the way we work with money. Mark is an advisor to the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and Sophia House, a shelter for homeless mothers and children. He leads TBL Capital, a sustainable venture fund he founded in 2007. Mark has a lifelong interest in biodynamic agriculture, integrative medicine, and meditation. He lives with his family in Mill Valley, California. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Charles Halpern Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~ Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Charles Halpern—a pioneer in the public interest law movement, a successful public interest entrepreneur, an innovator in legal education, and a long-time meditation practitioner and advocate—about his book, Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom. The book illustrates the life-enhancing benefits of integrating a commitment to social justice with the cultivation of wisdom. Charles Halpern Charles is social entrepreneur and a pioneer in legal education, public interest advocacy, and philanthropy. The founder of the nation’s first public interest law firm, and a major public interest law school, he ran the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and was the founder of Demos, a New York-based think tank. During his years of activism, he began to see ways to develop his inner resources to complement his cognitive and adversarial skill, a journey described in his book, Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom (Berrett-Koehler). Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Jerry Mander Will Globalization Soon Be Over? Will globalization soon be over? What do climate change and resource depletion mean for the dominant paradigm? Join Michael Lerner in conversation with social critic, activist, and author Jerry Mander. Jerry wrote such iconic books as Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (1977), In the Absence of the Sacred (1991), and Paradigm Wars (2006). Jerry Mander Jerry is the founder and director of the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) a “think tank” and activist community with board and associate members on every continent. IFG has focused since 1994 on exposing the negative impacts of economic globalization on nature, human communities, equity, and democracy. IFG publishes reports, positions papers, and books, and also produces private and public education events, from private strategic seminars to large teach-ins. Best known among these were the huge events in Seattle in 1999 in opposition to the World Trade Organization. IFG has been generally credited with being among the leading international organizations that have defined, articulated and acted on a comprehensive critique of economic globalization. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Community Forum Mapping Local Resilience in Bolinas ~Co-presented with the Mainstreet Moms~ Participants came for images and stories from the pioneering Bolinas Community Plan “old guard” days. Bolinas architect Steve Matson showed his beautiful and evolving maps, and explained how he and the Regenerative Design Institute students at the Commonweal Garden have started to visualize more local economy, diverse and creative food production, wild paths for wildlife, community-building, and more—on paper. One of our event attendees, Bill Braasch, posted a blog with the presentation. Many thanks to Bill for the slideshow. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Michael Samuels, MD Demeter, Buddha, and the Bears: Ancient Roots of Contemporary Spiritual Healing The Eleusian Mysteries, the story of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, was the most important art and healing ritual for consciousness transformation in history. The mysteries were enacted in ancient Greece for 2000 years. The Tibetan Buddha realms provide the technology of guided imagery and were the high point of body, mind, and spirit technology for thousands of years. The Bear Dance conducted currently in southern California has healed the Chumash people for thousands of years. These three rituals help us understand how we can heal patients with spiritual tools in present day medicine. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Michael Samuels about his current work with all three forms to develop a contemporary spiritual technology to aid in healing patients today. Michael Samuels, MD Michael is the founder and director of Art As a Healing Force, a project started in 1990 devoted to healing oneself, others, the community and the earth with creativity and art making. Michael teaches art and healing at San Francisco State University, Institute of Holistic Studies. He is a bear dancer with the Chumash People. He has used creativity, art, and guided imagery with patients with life threatening illness and life crises for more than thirty years in private practice and in consultation. He lectures and does workshops nationwide for physicians, nurses, artists, and patients on how to use creativity and spirituality in healing. He is the author of 21 books including the best selling Well Body Book, Well Baby Book, Well Pregnancy Book, and Seeing With the Mind’s Eye, one of the first books on guided imagery. Find out more about Michael on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Annie Leonard The Story of Stuff: Movie Screening and Community Forum From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. Join Commonweal’s Charlotte Brody in a conversation with environmentalist and film maker Annie Leonard. Annie Leonard Annie is an expert in international sustainability and environmental health issues, with more than 20 years of experience investigating factories and dumps around the world. Coordinator of the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, a funder collaborative working for a sustainable and just world, Annie communicates worldwide about the impact of consumerism and materialism on global economies and international health. Annie’s efforts over the past two decades to raise awareness about international sustainability and environmental health issues has included work with Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance, Health Care without Harm, Essential Information, and Greenpeace International. She currently serves on the boards of GAIA, the International Forum for Globalization and the Environmental Health Fund. Find out more about Annie on her Story of Stuff website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Binka Le Breton Rainforests and Slavery Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Binka Le Breton, writer and lecturer on environmental and human rights. Binka Le Breton Binka lives on a Brazilian rainforest farm, runs the Iracambi Rainforest Research Center, lectures and broadcasts internationally on rainforest and slavery topics, is president of Amigos de Iracambi, is on the board of directors of the Keystone Center, and, in her spare time, writes books. Binka’s most recent book, The Greatest Gift: The Courageous Life and Martyrdom of Sister Dorothy Stang, is based on the 40 years Sister Dorothy Stang spent aiding in the struggle of poor farmers for land rights against logging and development companies in Brazil. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Lloyd Kahn What Really Happened in the Sixties? A longtime Bolinas resident, Lloyd was living in San Francisco in the 1960s and has a powerful narrative about what he believes really happened between 1963 and 1967. He has some wonderful visual images that capture that iconic moment in time. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with author, publisher, and Bolinas resident Lloyd Kahn about the decade and shared some slides from Home Work—evidence that the power of the 1960s lives on in the buildings visionary home builders are still creating today. Event attendees Bill Braasch has a slideshow of the event on his blog. Thanks, Bill! Lloyd Kahn Lloyd creates visually exquisite and conceptually visionary books about the buildings we live in. His most recent book is Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter. Lloyd Kahn is the editor and publisher of Shelter Publications in Bolinas, California. He was formerly the shelter editor for the Whole Earth Catalog, the editor of the 1973 book Shelter. Shelter Publications has been in business for 37 years and has also published the international bestseller Stretching, by Bob Anderson. Their latest book is The Barefoot Architect: A Manual On Green Building. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Ursula Goodenough, PhD The Sacred Depths of Nature Join Michael Lerner in conversation with professor and author Ursula Goodenough about her work and book, The Sacred Depths of Nature. As well as her biology courses, Ursula co-teaches The Epic of Evolution, with a physicist and a geologist, for non-science students. Her research has focused on the cell biology and (molecular) genetics of the sexual phase of the life cycle of the unicellular eukaryotic green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and, more recently, on the evolution of the genes governing mating-related traits. Ursula Goodenough Ursula is professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the author of The Sacred Depths of Nature (Oxford University Press, 1998), which offers religious perspectives on our scientific understandings of nature, particularly biology at a molecular level. Ursula was educated at Radcliffe and Barnard Colleges, Columbia University, and Harvard University. She did two years of postdoctoral work at Harvard, and was assistant and associate professor of biology at Harvard from 1971-1978 before moving to Washington University. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Dr Martha Herbert Can Autistic Children Recover? A pediatric neurologist and a brain development researcher, Dr. Martha Herbert’s main focus is autism. She received the first Cure Autism Now Innovator Award and directed the Cure Autism Now Foundation’s Brain Development Initiative. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Herbert about the new paradigm of autism research and treatments. Martha Herbert, MD Martha is the co-chair of the Environmental Health Advisory Board of the Autism Society of America and directs their Treatment Guided Research Initiative (TGRI). Her research program includes studying what makes some autistic brains unusually large and how the parts of the brain are connected and coordinated with each other. She is director of the TRANSCEND Research Program, Treatment Research and Neuroscience Evaluation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Martha earned her medical degree at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Prior to her medical training she obtained a doctoral degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Martha trained in pediatrics at Cornell University Medical Center and in neurology and child neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where she has remained. Find out more about Martha on her website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Paul J. Growald The Way of the Bees (and Other Pollinators) Join Michael Lerner in conversation with investor, venture philanthropist, and beekeeper Paul J. Growald. While a long-time resident of San Francisco, Paul served on and chaired the board of directors of the California League of Conservation Voters for more than 20 years. He currently lives on a farm in Vermont, is married, the father of two college-aged sons and the keeper of tens of thousands of honeybees. Paul J Growald Paul is chairman and founder of the Coevolution Institute and its Pollinator Partnership including the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. He is also a trustee of the Rockefeller Family Fund and donor/advisor to the Growald Family Fund. His main philanthropic interests are in the conservation of ecosystem services as exemplified by pollinators, in the minimization, mitigation, and management of climate change, and in policies and politics that impact conservation. Paul has been an amateur entomologist and naturalist since childhood. Following graduate school Paul worked as a special correspondent for The Washington Post, and then founded what became the Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose, California. He was appointed by the Governor as the first public member of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Gary Cohen Green Chemistry, Green Materials, Green Energy: A Toxic-Free Future Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Gary Cohen, executive director of the Environmental Health Fund in Boston and co-director of Health Care Without Harm—a global partnership for environmentally responsible healthcare. Gary Cohen Gary is one of the foremost strategists and activists in the international community of those seeking to move us toward a world free of toxic chemicals. Gary is a founder and co-executive director of Health Care Without Harm, the international campaign for environmentally responsible healthcare. Gary is also the Executive Director of the Boston-based Environmental Health Fund, which works on domestic and global chemical safety issues. Gary is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Sambhavna Clinic and Documentation Center in Bhopal, India, which provides free medical care to the survivors of the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal. He has been working on environmental health issues for twenty years and has published numerous articles on environmental health issues in the United States and India. Gary is an advisor to the John Merck Fund on issues of environmental health and a co-founder of Green Harvest Technologies, a bio-based materials start up. He was awarded the Skoll Global Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006 and the Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service Award in 2007. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Carl Anthony Community Forum: Environmental Justice Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Carl Anthony, one of the preeminent thought leaders in environmental justice in the United States. Carl is the author of many publications including Eco-Psychology and the Deconstruction of Whiteness and a ground breaking chapter in Theodore Roszak’s book, Eco-Psychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. Carl Anthony Carl is the founder and was for 12 years the executive director of the Urban Habitat Program, one of the oldest environmental justice organizations in the country. With a colleague, Luke Cole at the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, he published and edited the Race, Poverty and Environment Journal, the only environmental justice periodical in the country. From 1991 through 1997, Anthony served as president of Earth Island Institute, an international environmental organization to protect and conserve the global biosphere. He taught at Columbia University and has been an advisor to the Stanford University Law School on issues of environmental justice. Anthony has a professional degree in architecture from Columbia University. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Nancy E Adler, PhD How Increasing Income Disparities Affect Health Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Nancy Adler, professor of psychology at the University of California, vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and director of the Center for Health and Community. Nancy Adler Nancy Adler is professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and director of the Center for Health and Community. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and is currently the chair of an IOM committee on psychosocial services for cancer survivors. Nancy’s earlier research examined the utility of decision models for understanding health behaviors with particular focus on reproductive health. As director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health, she coordinates research spanning social, psychological, and biological mechanisms by which socioeconomic status influences health. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Virginia Veach, PhD A Life Exploring Healing Virginia was a psycho-oncologist, psychotherapist, and educator who worked extensively with people with cancer and many other life-threatening diseases. From family therapy to war zones, from pain management to death and dying, her efforts to ease the effects of war, illness, and environmental degradation took her throughout the world. In this conversation with Michael Lerner, she describes how she does her work and some of the major influences on the development of her unique approach to healing. Virginia Veach, PhD Virginia was a psycho-oncologist, psychotherapist, and educator with a private practice in Marin County, California, who worked extensively with people with cancer and many other life-threatening diseases. The Charlotte Selver Oral History and Book Project has a wonderful interview with Virginia, where she speaks about the relevance of sensory awareness for her work, how it helped her living through severe illness, and how it informed her engagement in a Cambodian refugee camp. Virginia died in October 2012 in Point Reyes Station, CA. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Krista Tippett Speaking of Faith A journalist and former diplomat, Krista Tippett came up with the idea for her book and radio show Speaking of Faith while consulting for the internationally renowned Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. She has hosted and produced the program since the Speaking of Faith project began as an occasional feature in 2000, before taking on its current form as a national weekly program in 2003. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Krista about her work and her conversations about faith, meaning, and religion. Krista Tippett Krista is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and a former Fulbright Scholar. She has reported and written for The New York Times, Newsweek, the BBC, and other international news organizations. Tippett also served as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to West Germany. In 2007, Viking published her first book, Speaking of Faith—Why Religion Matters, and How to Talk About It. Of that book and her program, journalist and author Yossi Klein Halevi has written, “there is no more trustworthy guide to the challenges of faith in a dangerous world than Krista Tippett.” Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Paul Gorman The National Religious Partnership for the Environment Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Paul Gorman, founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993. Paul Gorman Paul is founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993, received the Heinz Award for the Environment in 1999. A graduate of Yale and Oxford University, Paul worked in the U.S. Congress and served as press secretary and speechwriter to Senator Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential campaign. He taught at the City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College and Adelphi University, hosted a public radio program for 29 years and co-authoredHow Can I Help? From 1985-91, Paul served as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine’s vice president for program, overseeing community-based initiatives and helping organize international conferences on religious and environment in Assisi, Oxford, and Moscow. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Paul Gorman The National Religious Partnership for the Environment Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Paul Gorman, founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993. Paul Gorman Paul is founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993, received the Heinz Award for the Environment in 1999. A graduate of Yale and Oxford University, Paul worked in the U.S. Congress and served as press secretary and speechwriter to Senator Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential campaign. He taught at the City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College and Adelphi University, hosted a public radio program for 29 years and co-authoredHow Can I Help? From 1985-91, Paul served as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine’s vice president for program, overseeing community-based initiatives and helping organize international conferences on religious and environment in Assisi, Oxford, and Moscow. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

David Bonbright What International Philanthropy Can and Cannot Do David Bonbright has been an international grantmaker with the Ford Foundation in Africa during the end of apartheid and with the Aga Khan Development Network in pre- to post-911 Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. Originally from Ross, California, David is based in London with his talented South African filmmaker wife, Elaine Proctor. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with David about his project he calls Keystone Accountability, creating a better way for foundations, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists, and other civil society actors to evaluate the actual effectiveness of third-sector projects. David Bonbright David is founder and chief executive of Keystone. Over the past three decades, as a grantmaker and manager with Aga Khan Foundation, Ford Foundation, Oak Foundation, and Ashoka, David has sought to evolve and test innovative approaches to strengthening citizen self-organization for sustainable development as an alternative to prevailing bureaucratic, top-down models of social service delivery and social value creation. While with the Ford Foundation, he was declared persona non grata by the apartheid government in South Africa. In 1990 he returned to South Africa and entrepreneured the development of key building blocks for civil society, including the first nonprofit internet service provider, the national association of NGOs, the national association of grantmakers, and enabling reforms to the regulatory and tax framework for not-for-profit organisations that were among the first laws passed by the newly elected Mandela government. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Rachel Kyte Investing in Women, Equity, and Sustainability Join Michael Lerner for this conversation with Rachel Kyte, director of the Environment and Social Development Department at the International Finance Corporation. Rachel Kyte Rachel, a British national, became director of the Environment and Social Development Department at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in January 2004. The IFC’s new performance standards serve as a basis for Equator Principles which have now been adopted by over 50 financial institutions. A graduate of the University of London and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, she has worked extensively within the environment, women’s, and health movements as a policy analyst and advocate. Rachel has worked with and for private sector concerns on private/public partnerships in the fields of health and environment and has served as an advisor, and on the boards of a number of NGOs, private philanthropic foundations, the United Nations, and government. She has taught negotiation and public policy at a number of institutions. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Teddy Cruz Beyond Borders: Local Architectural and Planning Solutions Urban designer Teddy Cruz ‘s work dwells at the border between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, inspiring a practice and pedagogy that emerges out of the particularities of this bicultural territory and the integration of theoretical research and design production. Join host Chris Desser, a fellow at the Tomales Bay Institute and co-editor of Living with the Genie: Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery, in a conversation about local architectural and urban planning solutions for global political and social problems. Teddy Cruz Teddy has taught and lectured in various universities in the U.S. and Latin America, and in 1994 he conceived and began the LA/LA Latin America / Los Angeles studio, an experimental summer workshop at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles. During 2000-05, he was associate professor in the school of architecture at Woodbury University in San Diego where he began Border Institute to further research the urban phenomena at the border between the United States and Mexico. He has been recently appointed associate professor in Public Culture and Urbanism in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego. His firm, Estudio Teddy Cruz, was selected among eight other firms as one of the national “Emergent Voices” in architecture by the Urban League in New York City. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim Living Cosmologies: Nature and Spirit Converging Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Yale scholars and historians of religion Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim about the interface between religion and the environment, the cosmology of nature, and their organization, Emerging Earth Community. Mary Evelyn Tucker Mary is a senior lecturer and senior scholar at Yale University where she has appointments in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies as well as the Divinity School and the Department of Religious Studies. She is a co-founder and co-director with John Grim of the Forum on Religion and Ecology. Together they organized a series of ten conferences on World Religions and Ecology at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. She is the author of Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase (Open Court Press, 2003) and many other books. More about Mary Evelyn Tucker. Find out more about Mary Evelyn on her website. John Grim As a professor of religion John taught courses in Native American and indigenous religions, religion, and ecology, ritual, and mysticism in the world’s religions. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Institution of Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, and president of the American Teilhard Association. His published works include: The Shaman: Patterns of Religious Healing Among the Ojibway Indians (University of Oklahoma Press, 1983) and, with Mary Evelyn Tucker, a co-edited volume entitled Worldviews and Ecology (Orbis, 1994, 5th printing 2000). Find out more about John on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Peter Kingsley Finding What Is Real Join Michael Lerner in conversation with author, researcher, and professor Peter Kingsley about spirituality, culture, and philosophy. Peter Kingsley Peter is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work on the origins of western spirituality, philosophy, and culture. He is the author of the books Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic; Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition; In the Dark Places of Wisdom; Reality; and A Story Waiting to Pierce You. Peter emigrated with his wife to the United States in 2002, and teaches and writes in North Georgia. He is currently a Research Associate at Emory University in Atlanta as well as an honorary professor both at the University of New Mexico and at Simon Fraser University in Canada. Find out more about Peter on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Geoff Lawton Permaculture Design Join permaculture teacher, designer, and speaker Penny Livingston-Stark as she hosts this New School conversation with Geoff Lawton, Australian permaculture teacher and advocate. Geoff Lawton Since 1985, Geoff has undertaken thousands of positions consulting, designing, teaching and implementing in seventeen different countries around the world. Clients have included private individuals, groups, communities, governments, aid organizations, non-government organisations and multi-national companies. In October 1997, Bill Mollison, upon his retirement, asked Geoff to establish and direct a new Permaculture Research Institute on the 147 acre Tagari Farm previously developed by Bill. Geoff Lawton developed the site over three years and established The Permaculture Research Institute as a registered charity and global networking centre for permaculture projects. Geoff Lawton is the managing director of The Permaculture Research Institute. Find out more about Geoff on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Jacob Needleman Why Can't We Be Good? Overcoming Obstacles to Our Higher Ideals Join this conversation between author and philosophy professor Jacob Needleman and Steve Heilig, the director of Public Health and Education for The San Francisco Medical Society and a research associate for The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) at Commonweal. Jacob Needleman Jacob is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University and the author of many books, including The American Soul, The Wisdom of Love, Time and the Soul, The Heart of Philosophy, Lost Christianity, and Money and The Meaning of Life. In addition to his teaching and writing, he serves as a consultant in the fields of psychology, education, medical ethics, philanthropy, and business, and has been featured on Bill Moyers’s acclaimed PBS series A World of Ideas. Find out more about Jacob on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Parker Palmer, PhD The Politics of the Brokenhearted Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Parker Palmer—an author, educator, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. From our podcast: I think what our times require of us is a profound understanding of how we’re all called to stand in the tragic gap between what is and what could and should be, without falling out into one side or the other of that gap…both corrosive cynicism and irrelevant idealism take us out of the action, as it were. —Parker Palmer Parker Palmer, PhD Parker served for fifteen years as senior associate of the American Association of Higher Education. He now serves as senior advisor to the Fetzer Institute. He founded the Center for Courage and Renewal, which oversees the “Courage to Teach” program for K-12 educators across the country and parallel programs for people in other professions, including medicine, law, ministry, and philanthropy. Find out more about Parker on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Sandra Steingraber, PhD Healing Inside Out: A Poet's Quest, A Mother's Journey Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Sandra Steingraber, a mother, an American biologist, cancer survivor, poet, and author in the tradition of Rachel Carson. From our podcast: There are a million things that suddenly you have to learn about, that you never thought about before, when you become a new parent. But for me that responsibility includes the evidence linking air pollution to premature birth, or mercury contamination in fish to learning disabilities. And I don’t really feel any sense of conflict between the joy of parenting and the responsibility of taking care of the environment. They both spring from the love one feels for one’s child. —Sandra Steingraber Sandra Steingraber Sandra received her doctorate in biology from the University of Michigan and master’s degree in English from Illinois State University. She is the author of Post-Diagnosis, a volume of poetry, and coauthor of a book on ecology and human rights in Africa, The Spoils of Famine. She has taught biology at Columbia College, Chicago; held visiting fellowships at the University of Illinois, Radcliffe/Harvard, and Northeastern University; and served on President Clinton’s National Action Plan on Breast Cancer. Find out more about Sandra on her website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Pete Myers, PhD Environmental Health Science: Human and Ecosystem Health Join Michael Lerner in conversation with environmental scientist and author Pete Myers. From our podcast: All this time we’ve been talking about problems. We’ve got to start showing there are practical, realistic solutions… I think one of the most important things we can do right now is to figure out how to get more resources into the field of green chemistry so that when we identify something that is dangerous, not only can we offer an alternative to the consumer, but we can argue in front of people making public health decisions that that molecule isn’t necessary because there’s a replacement. —Pete Myers Pete Myers, PhD Pete is founder, CEO, and chief scientist of Environmental Health Sciences in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is also coauthor of Our Stolen Future (1996), which explores the threats posed by man-made chemical contaminants to fetal development and human health, and he is senior advisor to the United Nations Foundation (Washington, DC). From 1990-2002 Myers was director of the W. Alton Jones Foundation, a private foundation supporting efforts to protect the global environment and to prevent nuclear war. He received his doctorate in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, and lives in Virginia. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Rick Ingrasci, MD, MPH Joy, Social Intelligence, and the Ethical Imagination Join Michael Lerner in conversation with healer and activist Rick Ingrasci, MD, about joy, social intelligence, and the ethical imagination. From our podcast: I really feel that our generation, the sixties generation, had made a breakthrough that was almost like a recidivist, that we went back and rediscovered what indigenous cultures have known for many, many years, which is that carnival and festivity and ritual and ways to experience communitas, which is really spontaneous love in community, is probably a part of how we’re going to find our way out of the jam we’re in, as a planet let’s say. —Rick Ingrasci Rick Ingrasci, MD, MPH Rick is a healer and activist who has been involved in consciousness exploration and social transformation since the mid 1960s. Ingrasci has a strong background in psychiatry, holistic medicine, and community development. He co-founded Physicians for Social Responsibility, the American Holistic Medical Association, Interface, and Hollyhock, a retreat center in British Columbia. He is the co-author of Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Daily Life Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Nipun Mehta The Invisible Revolution of the Inner-net Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Nipun Mehta—ex-dot-com whiz kid and founder of ServiceSpace.org—in conversation about impermanence, service, and co-creating a better world. From our podcast: I think that so many times younger people are talked down to; they’re talked at rather than talked with. And I think that is sort of the biggest strategic mistake…I really have the view and I found that it works really well—to see them as equals, to see them as co-creators of a shared life that we are doing. And that is true at a deep spiritual level. We are all co-creating. Nipun Mehta Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace.org, a fully volunteer-run organization that has delivered millions of dollars of web-related services to the nonprofit world for free. The recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service, the President’s Volunteer Service Award and an honor from the world’s most famous clown, his work creatively leverages web technologies for collaborative and transformational giving. He serves on the advisory boards of the Seva Foundation, Dalai Lama Foundation, and Airline Ambassadors. Nipun has a computer science and philosophy degree from UC Berkeley. He started his software career at Sun Microsystems, but, dissatisfied by the dot-com greed of the late 90s, Nipun changed direction and created a website and an organization named CharityFocus, now ServiceSpace. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Idelisse Malave and Gihan Perera Race, Justice, and the American Dream Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Tides Foundation‘s Idelisse Malave and union organizer and activist Gihan Perera. Idelisse Malave Responsible for the overall management of the Tides Foundation since 1996, Idelisse works with Tides staff to deliver excellent service and create opportunities for donors to increase the impact of their grantmaking. Over a twenty-five-year career dedicated to social justice, Idelisse litigated civil rights cases with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, represented women in family law matters, and co-authored a bestseller, Mother Daughter Revolution. She was a founding board member of the New York Women’s Foundation and served as Vice President of the Ms. Foundation for Women for six years before coming to Tides. Gihan Perera Gihan co-founded the Miami Workers Center together with Tony Romano in 1999. Gihan is a native of Sri Lanka and grew up in South Los Angeles. He is a strategist, published writer, and public speaker. Prior to founding the Center, Gihan was a union organizer, leading union recognition and contract agreement campaigns in Miami, South, and North Carolina. He began his activism at an early age and became a trainer and recruitment director for the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute before completing college work. Gihan serves on the board of the local ACLU, PRE (Philanthropy for Racial Equality), and the Miami Light Project. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Sushmita Ghosh Social Entrepreneurs Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Ashoka social entrepreneur Sushmita Ghosh. Ashoka’s Changemakers program is pioneering a transparent online community that “open sources” innovative solutions to social problems worldwide. With its focus on thematic, collaborative competitions, it has sourced over 500 high-impact action blueprints for solving social problems. From our podcast: The stories began reporting not just about this social entrepreneurial who was a hero, but how a bunch of people took initiative in their own way and connected. So the whole dynamic becomes not just about one person being great, but strategies for connecting with greatness. Sushmita Ghosh Born in India, Sushmita was a journalist who rose through the ranks to become President of Ashoka, the global network of social entrepreneurs. In this conversation she describes Ashoka and her new work with Changemakers, an Ashoka program that extends social entrepreneurship to a wider global community. Find out more about Sushmita on Ashoka’s website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Chet Tchozewsi Intuition and Grantmaking In this conversation with Michael Lerner, Chet describes the critical role intuition plays if you want to distribute small grants to thousands of grassroots organizations in over one hundred countries. Chet Tchozewski Chet is the founder and executive director of the Global Greengrants Fund, an international environmental foundation that makes small grants to grassroots environmental groups in developing nations around the globe. Since 1993, Greengrants has made in excess of 3,000 grants, in more than 100 countries, totaling about $10 million. He was awarded the prestigious Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Philanthropy by the Council on Foundation, an award that honors grantmakers who “possess a combination of vision, principle and personal commitment to making a difference in a creative way through grant making.” Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.