The Radical Centrist

Competency Based Education: Fred Bramante Has a Dream for our Public Schools.Public schools so exciting and effective that no one would want to send their children anywhere else.

47% Rate Increase for Electric Transmission Proposed by Eversource, Kreis Warns.Here's what you can do:47%. That is the increase that Everource is requesting before the PUC in their current rate case for the distribution part of their bill. But the folks at Eversource are doing their best to bury the lead in an avalanche of other charges in which the 47% is embedded. That's 47% over just a bit more than 2 years, well over the rate of inflation.

18 Months On: David Concannon looks back on the Oceangate Tragedy Scheduled to be aboard the Titan, a business emergency sidelined David. Soon he was immersed in the efforts to help save the submersible. In this podcast David looks back 18 months to the tragedy and adds to the historic record. . . and he pulls no punches.Since June 18, 2023 the tragedy aboard the OceanGate Titan submersible remains a topic of discussion in gathering spots everywhere. David Concannon, "The Sixth Passenger" on the ill-fated Titan submersible, was scheduled to be the "Titanic whisperer" (my words not his - aka the subject matter expert) aboard the Titan when a last-minute business conflict forced him to give up his spot on the vessel's voyage to the shipwreck.In August of 2023 David recounted to Wayne the events that transpired after the Titan was launched with five souls and when communications were lost; he reflects on the loss of the crew and the submersible, the inept, opaque and feckless approach of the US authorities in the Coast Guard, and the US Navy, and the frustration and heartbreak of the outcome when it was finally revealed.18 Months later David joins us again - with some benefit of hindsight - to talk about both the tragedy and the personal impacts on he, his family and others who were deeply affected by the implosion of the submersible. David ConcannonAttorney, Explorer,Partner Concannon & CharlesFounder of Explorer ConsultingFormer General Counsel to the Explorer Club InternationalVP of the Explorers ClubMember of the Apollo 11, F-1 Engine Recovery Project with Jeff BezosBoard Member Holt-Elwell Memorial Foundation, Camp Mowglis, School of the Open

Step aside Elon. Lex Luthor is here. He is badass and out to save the planet. It's an interesting contrast really. Elon Musk has his sights set on colonies on Mars and continuing to aggressively exploit the resources of earth in service to that, and other goals. On the other hand, the supervillain that most Americans and much of the world know as Lex Luthor, the nemesis of Superman, may be turning over a new leaf. "May be" is the operative phrase though. Nevertheless you can't help but notice that Luthor's bottom line is saving the planet that we currently call home rather than hastening a move into the cosmos.

Is the Fever Breaking? What lies ahead for the US Senate and Representative Democracy?In this podcast we catch up with Ira Shapiro one week out from the historic 2024 election. We take Ira's temperature on the upcoming election and discuss some of the challenges ahead for democracy. As is always the case, for those who listen through the full podcast there are always gems to take away from the experience and this podcast is no exception.

Building Community and Empowering Lives - Dr. Michael SwackWelcome to this joint production of The New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore and The Radical Centrist Podcast. I'm your host Wayne King.It's not often that we feel compelled to do a joint podcast but there is something quite special about our guest Michael Swack - Senior Fellow at the Carsey Center for Impact Finance, having recently stepped aside from his previous role as its director - In hopes of being able to direct more of his energy to practical and positive projects. Michael has been New Hampshire's secret weapon for Community Development for forty years. Those of us who have known him over the course of those years are very proud of him and the contributions he has made toward building community here. But he isalso a man of the world and he has worked his magic in countries from North America to Asia, Latin America and Africa. He is, by every standard we have established on the Radical Centrist Podcast, a radical centrist - more interested in getting things done than towing the line of any dogma or ideology.Michael Swack is probably not a name that sets off a lot of bells and whistles with most folks, but for more than forty years he has been the brains behind some of the most innovative and empowering ideas for Community Economic Development and finance - not only in New Hampshire but nationally. In other words, he is a superstar, but a superstar without a super-ego. His joy - what gets him out of bed every day raring to go - is his work and the powerful understanding that his actions are making a difference in the lives of those too-often overlooked when it comes to building community and equity in our future.All of us have a shortlist of people in our lives whom we have met and immediately realized that we were in the presence of someone very unique and talented. For me Michael Swack is one of those people.I've known Michael now for more than 40 years. We were founding members of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, one of the very first nonprofit loan funds in America helping low-income families purchase and manage their cooperative housing. I was the prime sponsor of two key pieces of legislation that Michael - along with two other giants in my eyes: Elliot Berry and Julie Eades - were the brains behind. To this day Those two bills, that both became law, along with New Hampshire's first homeless shelter legislation, are among the laws of which I am most proud.But the thing about Michael is that he's never satisfied and his brain is always looking beyond today for the next series of ideas to achieve even more.All this is not to say that Michael is simply a "tinkerer" because among professionals in his field he - in fact - sets off all those bells and whistles I spoke of before, because Michael Swack is a pioneer in the field of Community Development, who never rests on his laurels. To dispense with the tinkerer analogy - and to make it even more silly but meaningful: He's the ever-ready bunny of Community Economic Development. His gears always seem to be turning, ferreting out ideas that use public and charitable dollars to leverage private sector investment,all in the name of benefitting the hub of our lives . . . our communities and more specifically the people of those communities.That's why In 2019, the National Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) awarded Michael the industry's highest individual honor, the 2019 Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Finance. Then, In 2021, Michael was appointed by President Biden to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Advisory Board - a position he has recently been reappointed to by the President. It's also why his position as a professor at UNH and as the founder of the Center for Impact Finance at the Carsey School is the ideal spot for him, teaching others is the next best thing to cloning Michael himself.

Kent Nerburn occupies a prominent place in the pantheon of writers who observe and document native life in a world where real people meet the challenges of real life amid the simplistic mythologizing/pathologizing characterizations of Native people to which we all a drawn from time to time. Kent does not avoid controversy in his writing process, he sees it as exploring what Jonathan Rauch calls "The Constitution of Knowledge" a healthy and robust discussion of ideas that allow us to develop revealed knowledge and truth from frank and often-ongoing dialog. Precisely what we advocate in The Radical Centrist Podcast series.This podcast celebrates the 25th anniversary of the first publishing of "Neither Wolf Nor Dog - On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder", documenting Kents travels through Indian Country with a Native American Elder he calls "Dan".This podcast is dedicated to the memory of Charles "Bud" Thompson, founder of the Canterbury Shaker Museum, in Canterbury, New Hampshire; and, at 68, Founder of the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner NH. Though Kent and I have never actually met, both of us knew Bud and count him as among our most cherished mentors.

If you have not yet seen the Netflix biopic "Rustin" a project of Barach and Michelle Obama, it is a movie well worth your time. The movie unveils the extraordinary genius and timeless persistence of Bayard Rustin who in a very short 2 month window of time pulled off the Magnum Opus of citizen action. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Richard KahlenbergThe climax of the movie is the 1963 March on Washington, an obvious place to end this movie but less than satisfying for its failure to pose the broader and more important historic questions about the direction of change that was to follow the March. This series of questions are the ones raised in Richard Kahlenberg's critique of the movie. His satisfaction with the pure recognition of Rustin is apparent but so too is his disappointment that the Obama's failed to use this movie as a teachable moment, beyond introducing this extraordinary man to a generation of citizens who have missed an important moment in time and the contributions of a gay, black man, persistent in a time when he was, at best, a second class citizen, even among those in the movement.

Kate Burgess is a Salazar Center partner and serves as the National Conference of Environmental Legislators NCEL's Conservation Program Manager, where she enjoys collaborating with legislators on a variety of land, water, wildlife, and human issues. In this podcast she shares with us the new (yet old) push for nature-based solutions to climate and biodiversity challenges.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn - The Rebel Girl Continues to Educate, Incite and InspireAppropo of the current moment in our country, New Hampshire is currently embroiled in a legal battle at the intersection of history, free speech, labor law, and women's rights. Earlier in the year the state's department of historic resources approved and erected a historical marker recognizing the birthplace of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, known as the "Rebel Girl" who was born in Concord in 1890. Guests Arnie Alpert and Mary Lee Sargent, who have filed suit to restore the marker to its agreed location in Concord along with Attorney Andru Volinsky who is representing them against the state, join host Wayne King in this episode.

The Sixth Passenger: David ConcannonThe OceanGate Titan Tragedy: Looking Back and Looking Forward.Since the June 18, 2023 disaster aboard the OceansGate Titan submersible, David Concannon, "The Sixth Passenger" on the ill-fated Titan submersible, who was scheduled to be the "Titanic whisperer" (aka the subject matter expert) aboard the Titan when a last-minute business conflict forced him to give up his spot on the vessel's voyage to the shipwreck.This podcast, his first extensive interview since the Titan Disaster, represents an opportunity for David to look both backward and forward.He recounts the events that transpired after the Titan was launched with five souls and when communications was lost; he reflects on the loss of the crew and the submersible, the inept, opaque and feckless approach of the US authorities in the Coast Guard, and the US Navy, and the frustration and heartbreak of the outcome when it was finally revealed.And he makes the case for continuing the quest to explore the planet and the universe.

Don Kreis and his daughter Rose Keller make a formidable team. Whether as guests on a podcast or fighting the battle against Cystic Fibrosis. This year when Don turned 65 he announced that he would get 65 rose tattoos on his body if he could raise $65,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. But when he called to tell his daughter Rose about his plan, Rose told him he wasn't thinking big enough. After all, if he was going to sell that kind of real estate on his body it should be worth a lot more to the foundation dedicated to working on a cure for Rose's genetic disorder than a mere $65,000, she challenged him to raise it to $650,000 and he accepted the challenge. In this episode Don and Rose open up about the challenges of living with Cystic Fibrosis as a dad and a daughter with C.F. and their team effort to end it once and for all.

Tony Wagner is one of the world's most respected and distinguished Educational thinkers. Where the names of John Dewey, John Holt, Piaget, Wigginton and others have been on the lips of prospective teachers and educators in the past, today, and in future years Tony Wagner's name will be joined with them. Why? Because Tony Wagner, for more than 20 years has been urging and cajoling political, economic and educational leaders, as well as citizens, to recognize that rethinking education in this age of innovations is urgently needed. Not simply reform of the outdated “seat-time” model we have employed for generations but a recognition that the world has changed and our system for educating citizens and entrepreneurs must reflect the new world in which we live.You'll understand after listening why I wanted to speak with Tony for this special edition of our “Rediscovering Our Song” series. As you might guess, I am an enthusiastic proponent of Tony Wagner's ideas. I think after listening to this podcast, and following some of the links on our show notes to learn more, you will be as well.

Mark Blyth is the Carl Sagan of economics. Making the topics that usually cause our eyes to glaze over understandable, and approachable, dare I say, even fun. In 2016 a Political Economist and the Director of the William R. Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance, within the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, at Brown University predicted that Donald Trump would win the Presidential election. Despite the fact that nearly every poll and the broadly held belief in political circles was that Clinton would win in a rout . . .That lone voice was the voice of Mark Blyth.At the time, economists and pundits both looked at Blyth's prediction as a humorous anecdote they could toss into their various presentations about the upcoming election. They soon would be consuming large quantities of CROW.In the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump, Blyth was seen as prescient and his theories that wove together economics and historic trends and precedents were suddenly highly sought after.To Blyth, the growing disparty of wealth was a potent driver in the growing divisions infecting the body politic and a systemic existential threat to democracy. But Mark Blyth had not only seen the danger ahead. As they say these days - he brings the receipts.

Chris Hedges is one of our greatest public intellectuals and a prodigious writer with 14 books, a Pulitzer Prize and other prestigious awards to his credit. All of these achievements have come over the course of a long and storied career as a war correspondent, NPR, Christian Science Monitor, and New York Times journalist, and the wisdom and perspective on the human experience that few have endured. At the height of his career he quit his job at the New York Times rather than to be muzzled by the paper on his opposition to the war in Iraq. He can claim as mentors the great Sheldon Wolen, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Berrigan, Václav Havel, and Cornell West, among others.Hedges often speaks of a quote - ostensibly from St Augustine of Hippo: “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” In this interview Christopher Hedges speaks of both compellingly.

A joint podcast with NH Secrets, Legends & LoreTom Irwin, an attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, joins me on this podcast along with Roger Stephenson of the Union of Concerned Scientists and Biologist Dr. Cynthia Walter of the NH Network, to discuss one of the newer technologies in solid waste management called Advanced Recycling. Tom succinctly outlines the scope of the problem with respect to dealing with plastic wasteBut plastic waste is only one of the issues that we need to address moving forward. Reduction and substitution is also a critical component of building a future where plastics do not pose the threat that faces us today. Finally, there is the overarching issue of climate change and the question of whether Advanced recycling will improve carbon emissions associated with the disposal of plastics or make the problem worse.

Ira Shapiro is among the foremost experts on the United States Senate in the country - and a regular friend of the podcast. In this podcast Ira shares not only his observations on the current state of the Senate but also some ideas for fixing these problems.His latest book The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America details the ways in which the Senate has gone astray in recent years. Ira began his relationship with the Senate as an aid to the legendary Jacob Javitts and was involved during that time in the 70s when the giants of the US Senate joined together to convince Richard Nixon to resign, rather than being impeached.Ira Shapiro is the President of Ira Shapiro Global Strategies, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in international trade, U.S.-Japan relations, and American politics, which he founded in 2014. He brings to the firm 40 years of experience in senior staff positions in the U.S. Senate, the Clinton administration, and private law practice. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Last Great Senate: Courage and Statesmanship in Times of Crisis, published in 2012. He has also written "Broken - Can the Senate Save Itself and the Country?"and most recently, his newest book: "The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America"

It's probably a measure of how deeply divided politics has become that when Former Florida Republican Congressman David Jolly, former Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Joe Sestak, 2020 Presidential candidate Andrew Yang, and Governor Christine Todd Whitman joined forces to found the Forward Party in 2021 they had to hone the issues on which they would work down to a few very basic goals. They took some heat for that from both ends of the political spectrum but they have persisted. Largely because they all knew something was deeply wrong with the system and that some fundamental reforms around voting - like instituting ranked-choice voting - would be required to really kick-start their efforts. Reforms that the current party system, mired in the past and completely corrupted by money and power, were not going to do anything about. So their primary goals are the reduction of partisan polarization and implementation of electoral reforms. But here's the thing . . . they didn't just bitch about how things were, they took action and today they are the third largest "party" in terms of numbers in the US. That alone is a testament to the power of their message with a lot of Americans who are feeling disenfranchised by the political system but determined not to allow that to come between them and their civic responsibility and their patriotic beliefs.Interestingly enough, the net result of this has been to create a true big-tent political party where people of goodwill can join together and work for change.

Tom is a terrestrial ecologist and professor emeritus at Antioch University New England where he founded the master's degree program in Conservation Biology. His interest range from forest, desert, arctic, and alpine ecosystems, geomorphology, evolutionary ecology, complex systems science, to the interface of landscape , culture, and economy.Tom calls himself a terrestrial ecologist. But he is also a philosopher and an astute observer of all kinds of communities, including human ones.He has conducted workshops on ecology and sustainability throughout the country for over three decades and he is the author of numerous books including his Reading the Forested Landscape series. His book The Myth of Progress is now in its third printing.

Nadine Hack is the CEO of CEO of Be Cause Global Consulting (https://www.because.net/ ); globally ranked one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders on Trustworthy Business Behavior.If I were to take the time to share with you the hundreds of accolades she has received during the course of her illustrious career it would take up the entire podcast. Suffice it to say that photographs and letters from the likes of Nelson Mendella, Bishop Tutu, Andrew Young, and an entire range of business and nonprofit executives worldwide adorn her walls. She is a graduate of Harvard and the New School and was chosen as the very first woman to be Executive-in-Residence at IMD Business School in Switzerland where she continues to maintain an affiliation. From cutting her teeth on the first state assembly campaign of Shirley Chisholm, later the first African-American candidate for President, to enduring the slings and arrows from all sides to bridge the divide between Loggers and environmentalists in California, to working to bring an end to the horrors of Apartheid in South Africa, and sectarian and religious strife in Northern Ireland, just to name a few of her causes, Nadine has established herself among the most preeminent thought leaders internationally, specializing in the challenges of bringing together adversaries and enemies, and she has done so for more than 60 years with no signs of slowing down.She has been an envoy to the UN, and she is currently working on a book: likely titled "The Power of Connectedness" - with a forward written by the late Rev Bishop Desmond Tutu with whom she served as the Board Chair of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation.She has also served as a director on both for-profit and not-for profit boards internationally. One of those Boards - of which she is exceedingly proud - is Global Citizens Circle, co-founded by her husband Jerry Dunfey. If you are a longtime listener to the Radical Centrist Podcast you may remember that in the very early days of the podcast I interviewed the newest Executive director of Global Citizen's Circle Theo Dunfey Spanos and we'll put a link to that podcast as well as a few other related podcasts in the show notes of this podcast.Her company has 33 Senior Associates internationally, each with their own teams and networks.As I said, Nadine volunteered on Shirley's first 1964 race for NYS Assembly. As a mentor, she taught Nadine that racism, sexism, classism, militarism, and environmental degradation are inextricably intertwined: what today we call intersectionalism.Still keeping hope alive all these decades later, it is my great privilege to bring you a conversation with Nadine Dunfey-Hack.

Daniel Webster was at the center of the great issues that defined his times. He was opposed to slavery, vehemently opposed the Indian Removal Act - that ended in the notorious and, illegal, Trail of Tears - with fellow congressman Davy Crockett; argued consistently for freedom of religion and the protection of religious minorities. Yet even today an ambivalence exists about him that reflects a judgment of him based on current standards. In his book Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the Birth of American Nationalism, historian Joel Richard Paul seeks to draw our attention to the two most abiding principles of Webster: Freedom - that drove his belief that slavery was wrong, and Union, without which securing freedom for slaves in the southern states would not be possible and without which America could not fulfill its most promising ideals. Paul makes a convincing case that Webster was the force that gave birth to the to the belief that we were Americans, not merely Virginians, or Pennsylvanians or New Hampshireites; That the Constitution of the United States was the thread that wove us together and gave us common cause.Joel Richard Paul is a Professor of Constitutional and International Law, University of California Hastings College of the Law; Author, Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the Birth of American Nationalism

David McDermott Hughes is a Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University in New Jersey. His book "Who Owns the Wind?: Climate Crisis and the Hope of Renewable Energy," is one of the most important books of the past five years addressing the existential crisis of climate change; One of the reasons that we feature our interview with David Hughes for the "Rediscovering Our Song" series - the focus of The Radical Centrist podcast for the next three months. In 2015 Hughes found himself frustrated with the slow pace of building out a renewable infrastructure that would permit us to decarbonize our economies. His interest in wind energy led him to decide to study the problem by identifying an area where it seemed that they were making better progress than the rest of us. He choose a village in the Andalusia region of Spain and a town pseudonymously named "Serano" for the purpose of the book.Hughes expected to find that life was all rainbows and unicorns in Serano as they retooled for a greener future. What he discovered was quite different. The local folks were not in favor of the towers; at least not at first blush. Further research led him to conclude that there was more to the story pointing to a sense that they were being victimized by the process, Being asked to sacrifice for a future that saw few or no benefits for them. It led to the conclusion that economic justice was an important part of the equation for creating a carbon-free future.

John Gage, NH State Coordinator for the National Citizen's Climate Lobby, this episode's guest, makes the case that - while our individual efforts to reduce our carbon footprints are important - national and International change is only achieved through the power of all our efforts taken together.50 years ago Bobby Kennedy - a radical centrist in his own right - put it this way."Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."~ Robert F. KennedyDrawing on this notion of the power of our collective efforts, Climate activists from across the country - led by the non-partisan Citizen's Climate Lobby and the conservative Climate Leadership Council - have embraced the idea of a Carbon fee and direct dividend payments to citizens - circumventing the bureaucracy of traditional taxation methods and putting the revenues from the carbon fee directly into the pockets of every citizen.Striking right at the heart of the problem - the need to dramatically reduce the amount of carbon that we are putting into the atmosphere - they propose a creative market-based idea called - among other things - the Carbon Cashback Initiative: Marshaling the forces of grassroots activists, citizens through their local governments and both State and Federal initiatives.Simply put, Carbon Cashback recognizes that we all pay the price of putting more and more carbon into our atmosphere, But it is only the emitters of that carbon who currently profit. To use an old bridge builder's term, Carbon Cashback "trues up" the shortcomings of the market and rewards those who make substantial progress in reducing their carbon footprint, making them more competitive in the international marketplace and at the same time making the planet safer for all of us.

New England School of the Arts TO OPEN IN FALL 2023https://www.nesarts.org/Open House Sunday Dec. 11thJennifer ChambersCo-Founder of the School

Pat Martin campaigned hard for local NH state representatives who were committed to local action on climate change, but found her candidates on the losing side in those elections. Rather than waiting for the next election, and the uncertain promise that they held Pat has chosen a third path, she has opened up communication with her newly elected representatives with a letter that provides a model we all could use now, to build the relationships needed for change now. Pat, is a member of a growing and well-informed network of local grassroots organizations that are pooling their expertise and energy - if you will - to actively reach out to make their voices heard on the triple threats of climate, energy and environmental sustainability. Pat and my second guest, Susan Richman who serves as the communications director of the NH Network for Environment, Energy and Climate are an example of the many environmental patriots who are speaking out to make sure that all of our voices are heard and that we work to build bridges between people of goodwill with the hope that calling other in will be more effective than simply calling them out.This podcast is important not only because it stresses the power we have when we join together to make our voices heard, but because it offers some real and pragmatic ideas for what we can do right now as citizens of New Hampshire and the planet to foster change and sustainability.

Don Kreis, New Hampshire's Consumer Advocate to the Public Utilities Commission, has in the past, shied away from wading into the briar patch of debate over Net Metering. In this episode Dr. Don shares a whimsical story about how net metering began as well as a brief primer on the technology and why it is so important now that consumers consider the advantages of adding solar to their homes and businesses in light of skyrocketing electric rates.

Dr. Adam FinkelAdam Finkel is a resident of Dalton, NH and Princeton, NJ. He served in leadership positions in both the Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations aimed at promulgating and evaluating risk-based regulations to protect the nation's workers from chemical, radiological, and biological hazards. He has a Masters Degree in public policy from the JFK School of Government at Harvard and a Doctorate in Environemtnal Health Science from Harvard as well. In the past few years he has jumped into important New Hampshire issues including the efforts to stop the placement of a landfill in the area adjacent to Forest Lake in Dalton as well as other local efforts to protect the NH environment. His concern over the ramifications of the Dobbs decision of the US Supreme Court regarding In Vitro Fertilization have started to consume addition attention of his time because he is concerned that it may be the next target of the fundamentalist forces that have gained control of the Court.

Congressman Dick Swett:: Civility, Vision, and Honor Matter In an era where civility is a rare commodity, recalling the way that Dick Swett conducted himself as a US Congressman and later as an Ambassador to Denmark is a reminder that civility, humility and conscience are still honorable and - perhaps even possible again. Dick was elected to the second congressional district seat in congress in 1990 and in 92 he was handily re-elected for another term. The turning point of Dick's political fortunes came in 1994 with the successful passage of the assault weapons ban. Despite the danger to his own career, Dick voted for the measure and it became law. He lost his reelection bid by less than a percentage point. FOLLOWING ON THE HEELS of the ban, there was a decline in gun violence but when the ban was not extended under George W. Bush we reverted to the status quo ante and we all know what that has looked like for our country. In 1998 he was named Ambassador to Denmark by President Bill Clinton a post he held until 2001. In this podcast I speak with Dick Swett about his political journey and his life journey since his act of courage led to the passage of the (temporary) assault weapons ban in 1994 and his razor close loss, fueled by the NRA, in the subsequent election.

Here Comes the SunDaniel Weeks, Revision Energy and the Fight for a Livable WorldA 12th-generation Granite Stater, Dan Weeks is well steeped in New Hampshire history but he is also a citizen of the world. Dan left New Hampshire after high school to serve with AmeriCorps and attend Yale and Oxford on scholarships. He lived and worked on four continents before returning to NH with his South African wife Dr. Sindiso Mnisi Weeks, a human rights lawyer and academic. Dan and Sindiso are the proud parents of three young children.

When Bob Dunfey first planned a trip to Ukraine to visit his son Rob he had no way of knowing that Russia would attack the peaceful country that had become the adopted home of his son. Neither did his son Rob who was on a ski trip when the attack began and was forced to flee directly to Warsaw, Poland. What had originally been planned as a family visit to Ukraine instead became a singular mission for Bob flying directly to Poland, meeting up with his son, and then venturing by train on the tenuous journey to Kyiv to effectuate a move to Warsaw, where Rob can continue to safely operate his business. But simply making the trip was not enough. Bob was also looking for a way that he could contribute to the effort while he was in the area, and he found that working with the World Central Kitchen providing meals to thousands of Ukranian refugees in Warsaw was a way to fulfill that desire. Bob comes from a family that for 3 generations has set the standards for both business (Dunfey Hotels, Omni International Hotels) and citizen activism. The Dunfey family, more than any other family in America, has been at the forefront of democracy and human rights, whether that was in the struggle to end Apartheid in South Africa or bringing peace to Northern Ireland and other troubled regions of the globe. Global Citizen's Circle, formerly New England Circle, founded by the Dunfey family continues the work begun by the family today, with the active support of the family.

When a young Jack Maresca and his mother fled pre-war Europe (WWII) Jack's father was forced to remain behind because he was an Italian male. They would never see him again. Jack and his mother found warm and welcoming arms among the counselors and campers at Camps Onaway and Mowglis on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire.; his mother as a counselor at Onaway and Jack as a young camper at Mowglis - School of the Open, where he recounts the memories of NH icons like Col. Alcott Farrar Elwell and the great Clyde (Micky) Smith who would go on to become an internationally-renown wildlife photographer as men who helped heal his heart and provide supportive role models. Jack would go on to become one of the most preeminent diplomats of the 20th century, focusing his efforts from Europe to the Urals. In this podcast Jack talks about his life as a diplomat and the current crisis in Ukraine as well as his newest book "The Unknown Peace Agreement" ending WWII.

When attorney Christopher Kriesen started his law firm Kalon in 2017 he wanted to found a different kind of law firm; one that was built around his vision of a better way to practice law, serve clients, and promote social good through entrepreneurship. Today, he leads the firm and serves as the ethics officer. He is also the founder of Cyrano, a story consultancy.But his newest venture “Kindred” is quite a different approach to the same set of problems: Enhancing communication, building bridges, deepening relationships. Kindred is an experience, a game with social aims and a social message. Despite the wrapping, underneath we are all very much alike and if we share deeply enough with one another that will become clear and open up whole new avenues of communication and community.Refreshingly, especially for those who are longing for more human interaction, it is not an app and does not require one nanowatt of electricity to play. In fact, one of the rules of the game is a simple command “Cellphones Off”! Kindred comes as a deck of cards, perfect for your backpack or your back pocket and convenient for whatever venue you choose.

Tom Wessels is a national treasure. In years to come I believe he will be remembered among the most important environmental and civil leaders of our generation. It's interesting that for someone for whom evolution, natural selection, and succession became the (early) hallmarks of his professional life it all began at an early age when he would escape to a nearby 70 acre forest for his own personal peace and evolved from an almost therapeutic and innate understanding of the natural world to a deeper understanding of our social and civic relationships. As a generalist, with a deep understanding of natural ecosystems, ranging from biological -both plant and animal - to geologic, Tom calls himself a terrestrial ecologist. Today he is professor emeritus at Antioch University New England where he founded the master's degree program in Conservation Biology. With interests in forest, desert, arctic, and alpine ecosystems, plus geomorphology, evolutionary ecology, complex systems science, and the interface of landscape , culture, and economy. I caught up with Tom in order to speak with him about some of our mutual interests and present this episode of The Radical Centrist to you as both an introduction to Tom for those who don't know him as well as a call to arms for reimagining our story as humans and communities.

Though he is modest and self-effacing Michael Hutchings has forgotten more historical information than most so-called experts can remember. I caught up with him this week to get his perspective on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its implications for all of us.

Will Electric Vehicles form an important Component of Energy Storage in the Future? Hosts Wayne King and Don Kreis - NH Consumer Advocate before the Public Utilities Commission - speak with Bill Johnstone, business development executive, and Brian Callnan, VP of Power and Resources Access at the NH Electric Cooperative about a pilot project with big implications for energy storage and cost control with respect to electric rates.

Howard Mansfield is a prolific and talented writer residing in Hancock, New Hampshire. Chasing Eden is a book about seekers. Those in search of that special brand of “happiness” of which Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence. The search can and does take many forms: religious, spiritual, economic, political. Mansfield leads us through an examination of believers in his chapters on the Shakers - a highly successful religious sect - as well as the man who helped them preserve their legacy for future generations, Bud Thompson, who also founded the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner.A reflection on the “White Mountain/Hudson River School of Painting serves as the canvas that draws the public interest into the beauty of the natural landscape of the White Mountains and spurs the building of the Mt Washington Auto road and a growing love of the landscape nationwide that would shape its future. Hope in the wake of Civil War victory and emancipation followed by the heartbreak of the betrayal of Reconstruction's promise and Andrew Johnson's betrayal of Lincoln's legacy, stealing land intended for freed slaves and returning it to slaveholders, reminds us that not every story has a happy ending. Likewise Mansfield busts the myths about Thanksgiving and Native American people and leads readers through the betrayal, by or of seekers, testifying to the reality that for some their promised lands collide with the dreams of others or only come with great difficulty; and for some, they do not come at all. Yet, in busting myths Mansfield gives new life to the seekers he features, whether it is new life in the opportunity for redemption based on truth and reconciliation; or new life in granting a more honest and sustainable future for all in the context of the nobility of the struggle itself.

Reggae musician Free Joseph has been planning for a US tour and the launch of his new CD "Believers and Non-Believers" and its been challenging trying to hit a moving target as he prepares. Nevertheless, the confusion over travel in the midst of a pandemic has not slowed his creative juices. He is currently preparing a video and launch of a new single "Leave Me Alone". Wayne King speaks with Free about the genesis of the sing and Free provides a sneak peak (Listen) to the song.

Take a trip back into history with your kids, your students, your friends and neighbors with this fantastic collaboration between Author Beverly Stoddart and educator Ann Welch as they describe their collaboration built upon the extraordinary stories of journalists from United Press International in the latter half of the 20th century.In the final days of the Boston office of UPI , Beverly Stoddart who was working for the Boston Herald wandered into the offices of UPI to satisfy her curiosity. She was captivated by a huge Rolodex still among the detritus of the quickly vanishing equipment and memorabilia and she inquired what was to be done with it.When she was informed it would be thrown out Beverly immediately asked if she could have it, thus beginning a 20 year journey to "Stories from a Rolodex" where Beverly becomes investigative journalist to some of the most consequential investigative journalists of their time reporting on everything from integration and busing in Boston to the largest mass murder in New Hampshire history.Finally, as if sharing these life-altering stories with us were not a generous enough act, Beverly teamed up with Ann Welch a curriculum development specialist (among many other things!) to build a study guide around the book and to offer it at no cost to teachers, parents and schools at no cost so that their work could serve as a template for experiencing the thrill of journalism and history first hand and learning to discern between real news and the fake news that now lurks in every corner of the Web.

While this podcast features a conversation with sustainable energy pioneer Paul Popinchalk, you cannot help but notice that every step along the way has been beside his life partner and wife Nancy, whom he mentions regularly. It's fair to say that the journey he has been on is nothing if not a collaboration between two remarkable people who have had one anther's backs through thick and thin. Early in their professional careers Paul and Nancy - after the birth of their first child, Seth - discovered that the waste from the nuclear plant where Paul was employed had leaked from 3 of the 10 massive storage tanks where it had been stored, contaminating more than 50 miles of the Columbia river basin so completely that it was unsafe to even disturb the soil for fear of exposure to high levels of radiation. This and other cascading events caused a sea change in the lives of Paul and Nancy and set them on the path that has placed them in the vanguard of those working to create what Amory Lovins called the "Soft Path" to a low carbon future. In a candid and soul-searching conversation, this Podcast brings us a rare look at the "ground-level" experience of scientists who chose to take a risk that they could help bring about a better future for their son and the sons and daughters of all of us.

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, war correspondent, and author of 14 books. His latest book, "Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison" chronicles his experience teaching in a NJ prison and is an intense, at times, heartbreaking and joyous journey. I spoke with Chris about "Our Class".

Ever since his father took him on tours of a hydroelectric dam and a nuclear reactor as a young child Clifton Below has had an outsized interest in technology, electricity and energy from both a scientific perspective as well as a public policy one. As a result of this Clifton Below has become one of the foremost thinkers and policy innovators in the country. New Hampshire's good fortune has been that “Cliff” chose to live here and to grow and think here - instead of somewhere else. Over the course of 30 plus years that has led Cliff from election to the NH House, the NH Senate and then an appointment to the state Public Utility Commission.

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, war correspondent, and author of 14 books. His latest book, "Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison" chronicles his experience teaching in a New Jersey prison an intense, at times, heartbreaking and joyous journey.

Bill Boicourt has had a distinguished career, following his dream to be an Oceanographer. Today he is among the world's leading figures in a field that is at the center of the action in a world where Climate change has become the number one threat to the planet - or more accurately to the current residents of the planet. Bill is Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory.

Don Kreis is the Carl Sagan of public utility law and electric power generation and rate-setting. With a wry smile, a finely tuned sense of humor, and keen intellect, he makes topics that would normally cause our eyes to glaze over understandable and interesting. A combination of factors have recently caused the price of natural gas to go haywire and that is likely to cause a spike in electricity costs of as much as 60+ percent among those New Hampshire consumers who are customers of a shareholder-owned utility company. Don Kreis, the consumer's last line of defense as the ratepayer's advocate, has issued a warning about impending rate shock and shares some of his thoughts on arming yourself against the coming storm in this interview. While the focus of this interview is on New Hampshire energy law and issues, the problems, challenges and market realities cross state borders and are important to utility customers everywhere. Likewise, the ideas and innovations that Don shares may offer hope for ameliorating the effects of these rate spikes now and in the future.

An interview with author Ken Ellingwood who shares with us the story of a man for whom free speech meant enough to die, particularly in service to the cause of abolition.A vividly told tale of a forgotten American hero - an impassioned newsman who fought for the right to speak out against slavery.The history of the fight for a free press has never been more vital in our own time, when journalists are targeted as “enemies of the people.” In this brilliant and rigorously researched history, award-winning journalist and author Ken Ellingwood animates the life and times of abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy.First to Fall illuminates this flawed yet heroic figure who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for free press rights in a time when the First Amendment offered little protection for those who dared to critique America's “peculiar institution.”

In the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic the public is understandably concerned about the notion of returning to school, particularly in light of a complete lack of national leadership and partisan treatment of the crisis by too many state leaders. Education reformer Fred Bramante offers his concerns and observations about the question of resuming school in the midst of the pandemic and the need to leverage this crisis to address longer-term reform of our entire education system.

Reading Counter Culture is like reading the "Cliff or Spark Notes" of an extraordinary family's journey from the start of the 20th century to today. It is the tale of an era in American history as witnessed and acted upon by a family of first and second generation immigrants to the US - in which each decade yielded countless stories that, told over, would form the template of an American success story for the ages. Courage, tragedy, humor, resiliance, happiness, sadness and hope all were a part of the Dunfey family tableau. I describe the book as Cliff notes because 360 pages just cannot do justice to the colorful and amazing story of this family of 14. Having been through the process of interviewing only some of the extraordinary people profiled in this memoire I can tell you that a 20-30 episode podcast series would be needed to even come close to doing justice to their legacy. Perhaps this podcast will lead to just such a series but understanding the basics of the rise of the Dunfey family is a study in the American dream and a celebration of how tenacity, hard work and a deep and abiding commitment to community, service, social justice and progressive ideals can change history. In the summer of 1913 two cottages in the beachside community of Salisbury Massachusetts housed separate "clubs" of young single women and men from the Mills of Lowell. It was here that Leroy "Roy" Dunfey and Catherine ("Kate") Manning met, fell in love and - by labor day - were engaged. Together they would raise a family that helped reshape the world.

From the deck of the home that Tony and PJ Wagner share on the shores of Squam Lake in New Hampshire you can hear the Loons calling at night. The long lonely call of a Loon is a haunting and beautiful metaphor for the life that Tony has lived as he has developed an educational philosophy and framework. Lonely because Tony has surely felt alone at times as he has navigated the change-averse educational establishment attempting to map out a vision of what a 21st Century education should look like; long because his ideas, musings, and theories will surely continue to echo well into the future.Tony Wagner is an eminent education specialist: he has taught at every grade level from high school through graduate school; worked at Harvard; done significant work for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and speaks across the country and all over the world.

Kenyon Salo is one of the top keynote speakers and trainers in the fields of inspiration, leadership, and adventure.One of only five members on the Denver Broncos Thunderstorm Skydive Team, he is seen each week during game season flying into the Denver Broncos Stadium at 60+mph, ending with a soft tip-toe landing on the ten yard line. He brings to the stage over 20+ years of successful audience engagement through humor, awe-inspiring moments, prolific storytelling, and ‘edge-of-the seat' content. With over 6,000 skydives under his belt and travels that have taken him all around the world, he's determined to live life to the fullest and help others do the same. Through his passions for adventure, storytelling, and connecting with people, he found a simple process to guide others on a path to what most of us crave – living a more fulfilled life. His goal through his engagements is to deliver a powerful and heart-touching message on the possibility of how amazing life can be through providing actionable steps that will help any audience, both personally and professionally, embark on a path to achieve anything they desire.

The political, social and democratic systems that govern utility law differ from state to state but there are fundamental principles that apply and there are many ways in which states and the federal government cooperate to assure the resilience of our power grid. The recent meltdown of the "system" in Texas is one example of the challenges that confront us as we make our way to a world where sustainable energy, conservation, and democratic values help define a greener and brighter future.

Braver Angels - Politics is tough. It always has been. American politics is competitive, thrilling, frustrating – and infuriating. The stakes are high. Issues are important. Outcomes matter. This is why we care, and should care, about our politics. But do our politics have to be demonizing? Does it have to bring out the worst in us? Do our politics have to destroy the goodwill of our society? Braver Angels is a relatively young organization that answers these questions with a resounding no and is seeking to assure the same.