Podcasts about anti-globalisation

11.1 Battle for Seattle11.2 the Algebra of Infinite Justice11.3 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)In this final episode, Chloe and Emma look at two, possible end dates for the 1990s: the 1999 Battle for Seattle, and 9/11. They then explore how Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ was replaced by a ‘Clash of Civilisations’, what other stories they could have told about the 1990s, and try to answer the question of whether the long 1990s ever ended?LinksHarry Cheadle, How Seattle Police in 1999 Set the Terrible Example Others Have Followed Ever Since, Daily Beast, 14 June 2020 https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-seattle-police-in-1999-set-the-terrible-example-others-have-followed-sinceMark Engler, The Legacy of “Anti-Globalization”, Dissent, 19 September 2011,https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/the-legacy-of-anti-globalizationFeyzi Ismael, Protest has helped define the first two decades of the 21st century – here’s what’s next, The Conversation, 30 December 2019, https://theconversation.com/protest-has-helped-define-the-first-two-decades-of-the-21st-century-heres-whats-next-128745Dara Lind, Everyone's heard of the Patriot Act. Here's what it actually does, Vox, 2 June 2015, https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8701499/patriot-act-explainMax Fisher, Lessons of the Oklahoma City Bombing, The Atlantic, 19 April 2010, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/lessons-of-the-oklahoma-city-bombing/345921/Jamelle Bouie, The March of White Supremacy, From Oklahoma City to Christchurch, 18 March 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/opinion/mcveigh-new-zealand-white-supremacy.htmlJ.M. Berger, The Strategy of Violent White Supremacy is Evolving, The Atlantic, 7 August 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/the-new-strategy-of-violent-white-supremacy/595648/Annika Neklason, The Columbine Blueprint, The Atlantic, 19 April 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/columbines-20th-anniversary-mass-media-shooting/587359/Rachel Tresiman, Poll: Number Of Americans Who Favor Stricter Gun Laws Continues ToGrow, NPR, 20 October 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/10/20/771278167/poll-number-of-americans-who-favor-stricter-gun-laws-continues-to-growArundhati Roy, My Seditious Heart (particularly “the Algebra of Infinite Justice”), Penguin 2019https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1993-06-01/clash-civilizationsArundhati Roy, ‘Things Can’t Go On Like This’, National Herald, 20 July 2020, https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/things-cant-go-on-like-this-author-activist-arundhati-roy-writes-to-jailed-friend-prof-saibabaCreditsBattle in Seattle, 1999 - AP ArchivesGeorge W. Bush Excerpts, Sept. & Nov. 2001 - George W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum

11.1 Battle for Seattle11.2 the Algebra of Infinite Justice11.3 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)In this final episode, Chloe and Emma look at two, possible end dates for the 1990s: the 1999 Battle for Seattle, and 9/11. They then explore how Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ was replaced by a ‘Clash of Civilisations’, what other stories they could have told about the 1990s, and try to answer the question of whether the long 1990s ever ended?LinksHarry Cheadle, How Seattle Police in 1999 Set the Terrible Example Others Have Followed Ever Since, Daily Beast, 14 June 2020 https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-seattle-police-in-1999-set-the-terrible-example-others-have-followed-sinceMark Engler, The Legacy of “Anti-Globalization”, Dissent, 19 September 2011,https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/the-legacy-of-anti-globalizationFeyzi Ismael, Protest has helped define the first two decades of the 21st century – here’s what’s next, The Conversation, 30 December 2019, https://theconversation.com/protest-has-helped-define-the-first-two-decades-of-the-21st-century-heres-whats-next-128745Dara Lind, Everyone's heard of the Patriot Act. Here's what it actually does, Vox, 2 June 2015, https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8701499/patriot-act-explainMax Fisher, Lessons of the Oklahoma City Bombing, The Atlantic, 19 April 2010, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/lessons-of-the-oklahoma-city-bombing/345921/Jamelle Bouie, The March of White Supremacy, From Oklahoma City to Christchurch, 18 March 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/opinion/mcveigh-new-zealand-white-supremacy.htmlJ.M. Berger, The Strategy of Violent White Supremacy is Evolving, The Atlantic, 7 August 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/the-new-strategy-of-violent-white-supremacy/595648/Annika Neklason, The Columbine Blueprint, The Atlantic, 19 April 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/columbines-20th-anniversary-mass-media-shooting/587359/Rachel Tresiman, Poll: Number Of Americans Who Favor Stricter Gun Laws Continues ToGrow, NPR, 20 October 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/10/20/771278167/poll-number-of-americans-who-favor-stricter-gun-laws-continues-to-growArundhati Roy, My Seditious Heart (particularly “the Algebra of Infinite Justice”), Penguin 2019https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1993-06-01/clash-civilizationsArundhati Roy, ‘Things Can’t Go On Like This’, National Herald, 20 July 2020, https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/things-cant-go-on-like-this-author-activist-arundhati-roy-writes-to-jailed-friend-prof-saibabaCreditsBattle in Seattle, 1999 - AP ArchivesGeorge W. Bush Excerpts, Sept. & Nov. 2001 - George W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum

11.1 Battle for Seattle11.2 the Algebra of Infinite Justice11.3 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)In this final episode, Chloe and Emma look at two, possible end dates for the 1990s: the 1999 Battle for Seattle, and 9/11. They then explore how Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ was replaced by a ‘Clash of Civilisations’, what other stories they could have told about the 1990s, and try to answer the question of whether the long 1990s ever ended?LinksHarry Cheadle, How Seattle Police in 1999 Set the Terrible Example Others Have Followed Ever Since, Daily Beast, 14 June 2020 https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-seattle-police-in-1999-set-the-terrible-example-others-have-followed-sinceMark Engler, The Legacy of “Anti-Globalization”, Dissent, 19 September 2011,https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/the-legacy-of-anti-globalizationFeyzi Ismael, Protest has helped define the first two decades of the 21st century – here’s what’s next, The Conversation, 30 December 2019, https://theconversation.com/protest-has-helped-define-the-first-two-decades-of-the-21st-century-heres-whats-next-128745Dara Lind, Everyone's heard of the Patriot Act. Here's what it actually does, Vox, 2 June 2015, https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8701499/patriot-act-explainMax Fisher, Lessons of the Oklahoma City Bombing, The Atlantic, 19 April 2010, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/lessons-of-the-oklahoma-city-bombing/345921/Jamelle Bouie, The March of White Supremacy, From Oklahoma City to Christchurch, 18 March 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/opinion/mcveigh-new-zealand-white-supremacy.htmlJ.M. Berger, The Strategy of Violent White Supremacy is Evolving, The Atlantic, 7 August 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/the-new-strategy-of-violent-white-supremacy/595648/Annika Neklason, The Columbine Blueprint, The Atlantic, 19 April 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/columbines-20th-anniversary-mass-media-shooting/587359/Rachel Tresiman, Poll: Number Of Americans Who Favor Stricter Gun Laws Continues ToGrow, NPR, 20 October 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/10/20/771278167/poll-number-of-americans-who-favor-stricter-gun-laws-continues-to-growArundhati Roy, My Seditious Heart (particularly “the Algebra of Infinite Justice”), Penguin 2019https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1993-06-01/clash-civilizationsArundhati Roy, ‘Things Can’t Go On Like This’, National Herald, 20 July 2020, https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/things-cant-go-on-like-this-author-activist-arundhati-roy-writes-to-jailed-friend-prof-saibabaCreditsBattle in Seattle, 1999 - AP ArchivesGeorge W. Bush Excerpts, Sept. & Nov. 2001 - George W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum

With concern about anti-globalisation policies in developed countries medium term, China’s Belt and Road Initiative is an important factor linking Asia together in a multilateral approach, said Dr Raghuram Rajan at AFF 2017. The former Reserve Bank of India Governor also said Hong Kong could act as a super-connector to the Initiative, given important Belt and Road requirements for design, finance and construction management.

Aired: 12/1/13 What do you know about hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" of natural gas?Probably depends on who you're listening to. The fossil fuel industry tells you it's the biggest energy development of the century, which promises America energy independence for the US and a huge boost to our economy with benefits to local economies. Many of the communities themselves tell a different story - of pollution on the one hand and social disruption on the other. For the spoils of success, I recommend an article in March 2013 Harpers, Where Broken Hearts Stand, Grief and Recovery on the Badlands of North Dakota by Richard Manning. RICHARD HEINBERG has a new book, SNAKE OIL: How Fracking's Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future, looks at fracking from both economic and environmental perspectives, informed by the most thorough analysis of shale gas and oil drilling data ever undertaken. Join us as I try to find out, Is fracking the miracle cure-all to our energy ills, or a costly distraction from the necessary work of reducing our fossil fuel dependence?

Aired: 03/31/13 I do my best to question conventional wisdom, but I had heard and repeated the fact that the US had lost its manufacturing and it was never coming back so often that I assumed it must be true. But I pick up the December 2012 issue of the Atlantic magazine recently and two articles jump out at me - both declaring that manufacturing is re-emerging. James Fallows writes of US startups exploiting new technologies to speed up the process of design-to-product, and Charles Fishman writes about US corporations like GE moving production back to the US. James Fallows' article, Mr. China Comes to America, opens with these words: "For decades, every trend in manufacturing favored the developing world and worked against the Unites States. But new tools that greatly speed up development from idea to finished product encourage start-up companies to locate here, not in Asia." That got my attention! Charles Fishman's article The Insourcing Boom goes even a step further. It's opening words: "After years of offshore production, General Electric is moving much of its far-flung appliance-manufacturing operations back home. It is not alone." I make no bones about the fact that I like to report good news, but I don't want to make nice or play Pollyanna. This information from these reporters strikes me as the real thing and I'm only too glad to admit I may have prematurely buried "made in America".

Aired: 12/23/12 Recorded: 10/17/12 When gas prices were at or near record highs a few months ago in the US, that got people's attention. What about food prices? Have you noticed them rising? Are you making different choices in the supermarket? If not, it might be because of two things. One, in America so much of our food is processed, packaged and marketed, that raw commodity prices make up only a fraction of the price of the food we buy. In other countries, especially the less developed ones, an increase in the price of rice or corn can have a major effect on how much a family can afford to eat. Two, Americans spend only 9% percent of their income on food, while millions around the world spend 50-70%. Millions of households now routinely schedule foodless days each week-days when they will not eat at all. A recent survey by Save the Children shows that 14% of families in Peru now have foodless days. India, 24%. Nigeria, 27%. In his newest book, FULL PLANET, EMPTY PLATES, LESTER BROWN writes, "The U.S. Great Drought of 2012 has raised corn prices to the highest level in history. The world price of food, which has already doubled over the last decade, is slated to climb higher, ushering in a new wave of food unrest. This year's corn crop shortfall will accelerate the transition from the era of abundance and surpluses to an era of chronic scarcity. As food prices climb, the worldwide competition for control of land and water is intensifying. In this new world, access to food is replacing access to oil as an overriding concern of governments. Food is the new oil, land is the new gold. Welcome to the new geopolitics of food."

Aired 12/16/12 We'll talk about her newest book, THE LAW OF DIVINE COMPENSATION: On Work, Money, and Miracles. Examines the power of thoughts to attract-or deflect-breakthroughs in the areas of work and money. Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer. Six of her ten published books have been New York Times Best Sellers. Four of these have been #1 New York Times Best Sellers. Her books include The Age of Miracles, Everyday Grace, A Woman's Worth, Illuminata, Healing the Soul of America, A Course in Weight Loss, and The Gift of Change, and her newest, THE LAW OF DIVINE COMPENSATION: On Work, Money and Miracles http://marianne.com/

Susan Segal Horn weighs up the Pros and Cons of Globalisation?

Aired 12/02/12 Last July in an interview with Charlie Rose, President Obama said that "the mistake" of the early years of his presidency was his failure to be a better storyteller. "The mistake of my first couple of years was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. And that's important, but the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times." In a second term, he said, he would "spend more time with the American people, listening to them, but also being in a conversation with them about where do we go as a country?" This week's show is not about Obama or politics. It's about story and narrative. My guest is JONATHAN GOTTSCHALL author of THE STORYTELLING ANIMAL. The late evolutionary biologist Steven Jay Gould called humans "the primate who tells stories..." And it's not just Gould. Anthropologists have found societies that have existed for millennia without the wheel, but they've never found one that doesn't tell stories. My website leads with a quote: "On the radio, I tell stories of a world that just might work. As a consultant, I help you tell yours." Building on time as a teacher, two decades in the entertainment industry, and 15 years of radio interviews, I help non-profits, foundations, public agencies, and businesses to tell better stories and build better narratives. I'm eager to learn from Jonathan what the latest science has to tell us. Why is narrative so powerful? What is its evolutionary value? And can what we're learning help us get even better at tapping its power? http://jonathangottschall.com

Aired 11/18/12 I'll be talking with RANDY HAYES, former head of Rainforest Action Network, currently ED of Foundation Earth, whose primary work these days is rethinking and "ecologizing" the economy. While Balog offers evidence of some symptoms of our way of life, the consequences of our actions, Hayes is attempting to develop radical approaches to economics that will enable us to deal with the underlying causes. RANDY HAYES is a Climate Policy Officer at the World Future Council, a global forum composed of 50 individuals from around the world championing the rights of future generations and working to ensure that humanity acts now for a sustainable future. Hayes is also the founder of Rainforest Action Network, a veteran of many high-visibility corporate accountability campaigns, served as President to the City of San Francisco Commission on the Environment, and as Director of Sustainability in the office of Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. Hayes has a Master's degree in Environmental Planning from San Francisco State University and his master's thesis, The Four Corners, won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award for "Best Student Documentary" in 1983. http://www.fdnearth.org

Aired 11/11/12 I will reflect on Tuesday's election with ROB JOHNSON of the INSTITUTE FOR NEW ECONOMIC THOUGHT and SHERLE SCHWENNINGER of NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION. Asking things like: Who does the campaign and the result say we are as a nation or a culture? Where are we likely to go from here? What does the election mean -- in the broadest sense: about money, politics, power, media, culture, parties, movements, as well as in relationship to Europe, China, the Middle East, and the rest of the world? We'll talk about the (ideal) (evolving) (actual) role of the United States in the unfolding global story. http://ineteconomics.org/ http://newamerica.net/

Aired 10/28/12 I haven't done a lot about the election on this show. I've been talking more about the foundational issues that underlie the situation we find ourselves in -- an age of very imperfect politics, government, finance, and business. Our democracy and our governance are dominated by a handful of billionaires, and a number of multimillionaires and their corporations who do not share the interests of the larger society. But In early September I read a piece by Tom Hayden at Truthout.com. Over the next several days, it appeared all over the progressive blogosphere - Saving Obama, Saving Ourselves. I immediately contacted Tom to come on and talk about the election. Among other things, he reminds us of the accomplishments of the first Obama administration in light of the actual political and economic circumstances he faced. He also looks at history of previous social movements. How did they interact with the political process in pursuit of their goals? And what did they gain and sacrifice in the process? HAYDEN: "History will show that the first term was better than most progressives now think...By their nature, the achievements of social movements are lesser versions of original visions...If Obama loses, it will be unfair to blame the left, but they will be blamed nonetheless. As a consequence they will become more marginal, far less able to connect with the progressive constituencies and mass movements with vital stakes in Obama's re-election." http://tomhayden.com

Aired 10/14/12 I'll be talking with NADER about the critical ideas in his wonderful new book, THE 17 SOLUTIONS: Bold Ideas for Our American Future. Learn more about RALPH NADER and SEVENTEEN SOLUTIONS at http://nader.org/ Some of the 17 solutions: * Reforming the tax system * Making our communities more self-reliant * Reclaiming science and technology for the people * Getting corporations off welfare * Creating national charters for large corporations * Reducing our bloated military budget * Organizing congressional watchdog groups * Enlisting the enlightened super-rich * Use government procurement to spur innovation RALPH NADER was recently named by the Atlantic as one of the 100 most influential figures in American history, one of only four living people to be so honored. The son of immigrants from Lebanon, he has launched two major presidential campaigns and founded or organized more than one hundred civic organizations. His groups have made an impact on tax reform, atomic power regulation, the tobacco industry, clean air and water, food safety, access to health care, civil rights, congressional ethics, and much more. He is the author of eleven books, including UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED; THE GOOD FIGHT; THE SEVENTEEN TRADITIONS; and his latest, THE SEVENTEEN SOLUTIONS: BOLD IDEAS FOR OUR AMERICAN FUTURE.

Aired 09/23/12 This radio show aims to offer "pieces of the puzzle of a world that just might work." I hope that if you listen a few times, you begin to imagine a future of revolutionary and evolutionary success. My hope is rooted in this vision: Reality is not dead, mechanical, or separate; in fact, it is alive, evolving, and composed of interdependent systems. I believe this worldview has been shared by indigenous peoples for millennia, revealed by science since early in the 20th century, and obvious every time we walk outside or look into the eyes of another living creature. This vision inspires the annual Bioneers conference that takes place each fall (this year October 19-21) in San Rafael, just north of San Francisco. I'll be talking with Bioneers founder and co-director, KEN AUSUBEL, and one of this year's speakers, ELLEN BROWN, President of the Public Banking Institute and author of WEB OF DEBT. Human creativity focused on problem solving can explode the narrative of despair. For the most part the solutions to our problems already exist. Bioneers focuses on strategies to help us realize these solutions by restoring community, justice and democracy. Other speakers this year include BILL McKIBBEN, PAUL HAWKEN, ETHAN NADELMANN, GABOR MATE, and LA's own JODIE EVANS and ANDY LIPKIS. http://www.bioneers.org http://www.webofdebt.com http://publicbankinginstitute.org

Aired 09/16/12 Last week I interviewed longtime reporters Don Barlett and James Steele regarding their new book, THE BETRAYAL OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, looking at the relentless economic, financial, and governmental process over the last 40 years to enrich the largest corporations and richest individuals at the expense of the middle class. This week I'll talk with another wise and experienced Pulitzer prize winner with a long term perspective, HEDRICK SMITH, about his newest book, WHO STOLE THE AMERICAN DREAM? I don't think it's a coincidence nor do I think it's redundant to turn so soon to the same questions being pursued by another savvy journalist. HEDRICK SMITH had already won a Pulitzer by 1973, the year that the post-WWII boom for the middle class began to wane. Real wages for all Americans had risen pretty consistently from the war years, and have done so almost not at all ever since. I point this out to highlight the fact that Smith has witnessed first-hand the rise and long fall of the middle class and brings that experience to this book and this conversation. http://americawhatwentwrong.org/ http://barlettandsteele.com/

Aired 09/09/12 Let's suppose, for a moment, there was a country where the people in charge charted a course that eliminated millions of good-paying jobs. Suppose they gave away several million more jobs to other nations. Finally, imagine that the people running this country implemented economic policies that enabled those at the very top to grow ever richer while most others grew poorer. You wouldn't want to live in such a place, would you? Too bad. You already do. Those are the words of this week's guests,DON BARLETT and JIM STEELE. These are some of the consequences of failed U.S. government policies that have been building over the last three decades - the same policies that people in Washington today are intent on keeping or expanding...Most significant of all, the American dream of the last half-century has been revoked for millions of people - a dream rooted in a secure job, a home in the suburbs, the option for families to live on one income rather than two, a better life than your parents had and a still better life for your children. Barlett and Steele wrote these words in 1992. They are the first words of their Pulitzer Prize winning series of articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which led to the #1 best-selling book, America: What Went Wrong. They put their finger on things and connected dots that really established a lens through which to view the next 20 years. The point of view of the 99% movement is basically the one Barlett and Steele described and predicted at the birth of the Clinton era. http://americawhatwentwrong.org http://barlettandsteele.com

Aired 09/02/12 When I first met TERRY TAMMINEN, he was living on a houseboat in the Marina and filling a position he'd founded as the first Santa Monica Baykeeper. No too long before that, he had been running a pool services company. And not too long after, he was Secretary of the California EPA. Tamminen has reinvented himself successfully in several very different worlds -- business, government, non-profit, foundation, from the grassroots to the halls of power. All of this for a long time now to achieve a sound and healthy relationship between society and the environment. He pursues that consistent vision with whatever works. We'll talk about the ideas in his book, CRACKING THE CARBON CODE: The Key to Sustainable Profits in the New Economy - which is very much a plan of action for companies who figure out that reducing carbon emissions reduces waste and is therefore good for the bottom line. He'll tell stories of companies that have made or saved money by cutting carbon. How has he been able to move things forward through politics and government in an era when so little seems to get done? Bottom line, are we moving fast enough? If not, how do we integrate all these different players to accelerate movement in the right direction? http://seventhgenerationadvisors.org

Aired 08/26/12 Humans are not alone in being creatures of habit, but can we do anything about it? Brain science has learned a lot about habits over the last few years. On the one hand, that gives corporations new power with which to manipulate us, but it also gives us greater power over our own behavior. What is a habit? Are habits positive - a sign of cultivation and industry, or negative, a sign of weakness and mindlessness? Or are they neutral, their value up to us? Today's guest, CHARLES DUHIGG an award-winning reporter for the New York Times, has written the best-selling THE POWER OF HABIT: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. He tells us that at its most basic level, a habit is a simple neurological loop: a cue (my mouth feels gross), a routine (I should brush my teeth), and a reward (ahhh, minty fresh!). Backing out of the driveway, replying to emails, running before work - many of our most basic daily actions are not, in fact, the products of well considered decision-making, but outgrowths of habits we often don't even realize exist. We'll talk about what a habit is, how they are formed, and how we can put what we've learned about habits into practice, so that we are at least somewhat their masters rather than their slaves. We will also discuss Duhigg's investigative New York Times series on Apple, including their labor practices and why they don't manufacture in the U.S. http://charlesduhigg.com/

Aired 08/05/12 I am joined by Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, who offers a radical solution to the stresses and problems that face Americans today -- radical in its original meaning of having to do with roots of things. He has written a book, A MINDFUL NATION: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit. Ryan has a daily practice of meditation and now he's advocating that the spread of similar practices could help heal us, not just as individuals but as a nation. His book is filled with examples of how mindfulness is already being successfully applied in education, healthcare, even the military.

Aired 07/29/12 I'll be joined by DOUG FINE to talk about his new book,TOO HIGH TO FAIL: Cannabis and the New Green Economic Revolution. As the economy continues to limp along for most Americans and California cities declare bankruptcy, one action -- the legalization of marijuana -- would save government billions per year while raising huge sums in taxes. According to TIME, the legal medicinal cannabis economy already generates $200M annually in taxable proceeds from a mere 500,000 registered medical users in just 16 states. 51% of Americans support full legalization (cannabis regulated for adults like alcohol), and 80% support medicinal cannabis legalization. In the last few minutes, DON DUNCAN, CA director of Americans for Safe Access will give us a brief report on the LA City Council's recent vote to ban all cannabis dispensaries within city limits.

Aired 07/22/12 Did you know that LSD is being tested as a treatment for alcoholism? Or that psilocybin is being taken to ease the anxiety of late stage cancer patients? In government-sanctioned studies. Psychedelic substances have been used for ceremony and as medicine for millennia. Such properties were being cultivated and studied in the US in the 60s and early 70s until widespread and careless use of psychedelics and sensational media reports produced a backlash. I will talk with CHARLES GROB MD about the latest scientific research, including his own ground-breaking studies. And with JAMES FADIMAN about the vision, ideas and advice in his book, PSYCHEDELIC EXPLORERS: Safe, Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys. CHARLES S. GROB, M.D, Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine, conducted the first government approved psychobiological research study of MDMA, was the principal investigator on a research project in the Amazon studying the visionary plant brew, ayahuasca, and investigated the efficacy of psilocybin to treat anxiety in terminally ill patients. A founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute, devoted to fostering research on psychedelics, he is the editor of Hallucinogens: A Reader and co-editor with Roger Walsh of Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics. JAMES FADIMAN did his undergraduate work at Harvard and his graduate work at Stanford, doing pioneering research with the Harvard Group, the West Coast Research Group in Menlo Park, and Ken Kesey. A former president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and a professor of psychology, he currently teaches at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, CA, which he helped found in 1975. He is the author of PSYCHEDELIC EXPLORERS: Safe, Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys.

Aired 07/08/12 My guest will be NORA BATESON, and we'll talk about AN ECOLOGY OF MIND, the wonderful documentary she's made about her father, the late anthropologist GREGORY BATESON. He saw reality as made up of relationships and systems and had a big impact on a lot of people's worldview in the late 60s and early 70s, myself included. NORA BATESON is a media producer and educator. Her work includes documentaries, multimedia productions, magazine columns, and developing curriculum for elementary and high school students. Central to all her pursuits is the idea of utilizing media and storytelling to encourage cultural understanding, social justice, and environmental awareness. http://anecologyofmind.com/

Aired 07/08/12 I seldom interview writers of fiction, but the debut novel THE AGE OF MIRACLES got my attention. It's being heavily promoted as one of THE books of the summer. Enough so that I read the first couple of pages and I really like the writing. It's about how one family in Southern California responds to a global crisis, the slowing of the earth, and the lengthening of days and nights. The writer, KAREN THOMPSON WALKER joins me for a delightful interview. http://www.theageofmiraclesbook.com/

Aired 06/24/12 JOHN FULLERTON has spent a career at the highest reaches of the financial world, including as chief investment officer of a division of JP Morgan. He is the founder and director of Capital Institute, which describes itself as "a non-partisan, transdisciplinary collaborative space, whose mission is to explore and effect economic transition to a more just, resilient, and sustainable way of living on this earth through the transformation of finance." That's a big, bold, and daunting mission and I'm eager to learn how they plan to do that and a sense of their progress so far. JOHN FULLERTON is also principal of Level 3 Capital Advisors, LLC. whose investments are primarily focused on sustainable, regenerative land use, and food, and water issues. Fullerton is the creator of the weekly Blog, "The Future of Finance" on the Capital Institute http://capitalinstitute.org

Aired 06/17/12 DAVID DeGRAW, who a year ago was among a handful who called for the 99% to rise up. On June 14th, Flag Day, last year, Anonymous and the 99% Movement launched a collaborative effort to announce the birth of a "decentralized non-violent resistance movement to end the system of political bribery and break up the big banks centered at the Federal Reserve." This morphed into Occupy Wall Street, and we will talk about one of the newest incarnations of that effort. DAVID DeGRAW. David is founder and editor of http://ampedstatus.com/, formerly editorial director of http://mediachannel.org/, and author of The Economic Elite Vs The People of the United States. He is one of the early leaders of the the Occupy/99% movement and one of the founders of http://moneyoutpack.org/

Aired 06/17/12 This week's show will deal with the Occupy/99% movement from two different perspectives. For most of the hour I'll be joined by renowned scholar and activist, NOAM CHOMSKY. His newest book, a collection of interviews and speeches on the movement, is entitled simply OCCUPY. NOAM CHOMSKY is Professor of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where has taught for over 50 years. He is also a renowned political activist and writer. His scores of books on linguistics, human rights, economics and politics, include Manufacturing Consent, Necessary Illusions, Hegemony or Survival, 9/11, and his latest, OCCUPY. http://chomsky.info/about.htm

Aired 06/10/12 PAUL GILDING says it's time to stop worrying about climate change. We need instead to brace for impact because global crisis is no longer avoidable. He believes this Great Disruption started in 2008, with spiking food and oil prices and melting ice caps. It is not simply about fossil fuels and carbon footprints. We have come to the end of Economic Growth, Version 1.0, a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our planet's ecosystems and resources According to Gilding, the coming decades will see loss, suffering, and conflict as our planetary overdraft is paid; however, they will also bring out the best humanity can offer: compassion, innovation, resilience, and adaptability. Gilding says we must fight-and win-what he calls The One Degree War to prevent catastrophic warming of the earth. He believes the crisis offers us a chance to replace our addiction to growth with an ethic of sustainability, and an unmatched business opportunity as old industries collapse and new companies reshape our economy. In the aftermath of the Great Disruption, we will measure "growth" not by quantity of stuff but quality of life. PAUL GILDING is an independent writer, advisor and advocate for action on climate change and sustainability. He has been involved with and led activist campaigns on a wide variety of social and environmental issues and served as Executive Director, Greenpeace Australia and Greenpeace International. Gilding founded Ecos Corporation in 1995, consulting to some of the world's largest corporations on issues of sustainability until its sale in 2008. His first book is THE GREAT DISRUPTION: Why the Climate Crisis will Bring on the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World. http://paulgilding.com

Aired 05/16/12 Crazy though it may be, I assume many have accepted the fact that the Republican party has a problem with science and ultimately with evidence facts -- reality. It is now a matter of politics for them to deny science. Among their presidential primary candidates, only Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney accept that warming is happening and humans are a contributing factor. CHRIS MOONEY has been on this trail for years. In 2005, he wrote the best-selling THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE. By the time their anti-science, anti-reality bias was established, MOONEY was asking a deeper question. Did science have anything to teach us about why? And it turns out, recently, science does. That brings us to Chris's new book, The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science and Reality. According to Mooney, from climate change to evolution, the rejection of mainstream science among Republicans is growing. Not only that, so is denial of expert consensus on the economy, American history, foreign policy, and much more. Why won't Republicans accept things that most experts agree on? Why do they fight facts? He writes that the political parties reflect personality traits and psychological needs -Republicans wedded to certainty, Democrats to novelty - and this is the root of our divide over reality. Hopefully, understanding how or why Republicans deny science and facts should suggest ways to interact and work with that "reality" differently in order to be more effective moving forward. http://scienceprogressaction.org republicanbrain.com

Aired 04/29/12 Should we pay children to get good grades? Is it ethical to pay people to test risky new drugs or donate their organs? What about hiring mercenaries to fight our wars, outsourcing inmates to for-profit prisons, auctioning admission to elite universities, or selling citizenship to immigrants able to pay? Phenomenally popular Harvard professor, Michael Sandel, notes that in recent decades, market values have crowded out non-market norms in almost every aspect of life-medicine, education, government, law, art, sports, even family life and personal relations. He argues that we have drifted from having a market economy to being a market society. In his new book, What Money Can't Buy, Sandel asks: Is there something wrong with a world in which everything is for sale? If so, how can we prevent market values from reaching into spheres of life where they don't belong? What are the moral limits of markets? http://www.justiceharvard.org

Aired 04/15/12 For over thirty years, you and I have lived through a radical redistribution of wealth -- upward, to a tiny fraction of the population -- as though we're part of a bizarre experiment to see how much inequality a democratic society can tolerate. Finally this past year, as a result of the Great Recession that burst the mortgage/refi/credit card bubble that had allowed too many of us to deny reality, people have woken up and "We are the 99%," the rallying cry of the Occupy movement, has spread far and wide. CHUCK COLLINS has been on the case since at least 1995, when he co-founded United for a Fair Economy to raise the profile of the inequality issue and support efforts to address it. In fact, when he did so, he was one of my first guests on this show and we talked then about the same issues we will talk about today. Chuck's new book, 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It, paints a picture of how disparities in wealth and power play out in America and the world, and identifies the shifts in social values, political power, and economic policy that have led to our current era of extreme inequality. He lays out the destructive cost of inequality on virtually every aspect of society. But Collins believes there's hope and offers proposals for closing the gap, and a guide to many of the groups working toward a society that works for everybody. http://inequality.org/

Aired 03/25/12 Recently the annual TED conference took place in Long Beach California. I have long recommended its famous 18 minute TED talks. Check out TED.com/talks, they cover a wide range of topics including science, technology, design, business, global issues and they have recurring themes of inspiration, challenge, and optimism. Not unlike what I try to do with this radio show. On opening day the recent conference scheduled two talks one after the other. The first by Paul Gilding entitled The Earth is Full asked questions like Have we used up all our resources? Have we filled up all the livable space on Earth? Gilding suggests we have with the possibility of devastating consequences. In a talk that's equal parts terrifying and oddly hopeful, he says "It takes a good crisis to get us going. When we feel fear and we fear loss we are capable of quite extraordinary things." That talk was followed by one by today's guest, PETER DIAMANDIS, entitled Abundance Is Our Future in which he makes the case for optimism -- that we'll invent, innovate and create ways to solve the challenges that loom over us. "I'm not saying we don't have our set of problems -- problems - climate crisis, species extinction, water and energy shortage - we surely do. But ultimately, we knock them down." Since the dawn of humanity, a privileged few have lived in stark contrast to the majority. Conventional wisdom says this gap cannot be closed. But, according to a new book by Diamandis and co-author Steven Kotler, it is closing-fast. In Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think, they document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, infinite computing, ubiquitous broadband networks, digital manufacturing, nanomaterials, synthetic biology, and many other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous two hundred years. They believe we will soon have the ability to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman, and child on the planet. http://diamandis.com http://www.abundancethebook.com

Aired 03/18/12 Among the things that most people agree are in big trouble these days are the European Union and democracy in the US. I will talk with today's guest, STEVEN HILL, about both. We have been hearing for two years about the trouble Europe is in. The debt crisis in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and beyond is challenging this federation of nations and economies to share the solutions to problems that have proven worst in individual countries who took greater risks than their more prudent neighbors. After Europe seemed to have fared better than the US in the early stages of this prolonged crash, what brought on this crisis? How close are they to solving it? How close are they to blowing it? What would Hill's advice be? And what does it mean for the rest of the world and for the US in particular? While the bad news of this Euro crisis makes headlines in the US, what has not made headlines is the good news contained in HILL's 2010 book EUROPE'S PROMISE. I will check in with Hill about the current state of that promise. Closer to home, HILL believes that America's recent economic collapse was preceded by a longer-term political collapse. Even before the economic crisis, the US faced choice-less elections, out-of-control campaign spending,partisan polarization, a rigidly divided Congress, a filibuster-wild U.S. Senate, superficial debate, mindless media, a partisan Supreme Court, and paralysis in the face of new global challenges. As the middle collapses and partisans take over, Americans' frustration grows - witness the Tea Party and the 99%. In a brand new 2012 Election edition of his 2006 book, Steven Hill renews his 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy. http://www.steven-hill.com

Aired 03/11/12 RICHARD DAVIDSON, author, The Emotional Life of Your Brain DAVID EAGLEMAN, author, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain PETER BAUMANN, convener, BEING HUMAN 2012 In 1989 I addressed the 20th reunion of my Harvard class. In 1969, we'd spearheaded student protests that led to a month long strike of the University. Our demands included removing ROTC from campus, creation of an African-American studies program, and reforming Harvard's behavior as a landlord. Twenty years later, I encouraged my classmates to live up to our youthful ideals. I recall focusing on environmental challenges, including the mounting evidence of man-made contributions to climate change. But when asked where we needed to focus our attention to turn things around, I pointed to the environment within our own minds. Now, over twenty years later, my conversations about politics, economics, technology, ecology, etc. focus more and more on the need to tinker with the human software that drives or interprets everything we do. As we use the tools of science to explore the nature of humanity, we are learning more and more about how our brains function and what motivates our behavior, built-in biases and blind spots. I find myself paying a lot of attention to the fields of behavioral economics, cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, social anthropology, philosophy - that promise to overthrow long-held biases and stories about what it means to be human. http://thebaumannfoundation.org http://eagleman.com http://richardjdavidson.com

Aired 03/02/12 Iranians went to the polls in parliamentary elections today. With many reformists and opposition leaders not participating, the vote is a contest between hard-line supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pressure from the West over Iran's nuclear program has been a central issue. Barbara Slavin is Washington correspondent for AL-Monitor.com, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and the author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US and the Twisted Path to Confrontation. Guests: Barbara Slavin: AL-Monitor.com, @barbaraslavin1 Also Vladamir Putin is almost certain to regain the presidency in elections in Russia on Sunday, but that victory may be more a reflection of voters' resignation than broad support for his twelve-year rule. Putin, who has been suggesting Russia could walk away from the Start II treaty and is accusing Hillary Clinton of funding protests in his country, is heavily favored. Matthew Rojansky is Deputy Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Guests: Matthew Rojansky: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, @MatthewRojansky

Aired 03/02/12 The stock market's roaring, and applications for unemployment are down, but there was disappointing news in Thursday's economic data. In January manufacturing growth slowed, construction spending dipped, and Americans' after-tax income fell, leading to a fourth straight month of weak consumer spending. Guest host Terrence McNally explores the continued gap between Wall Street and Main Street, and what we can do about it. Although it's down a bit today, the Dow hit 13,000 this week for the first time since May, 2008. NASDAQ flirted with 3000. One US company, Apple, is now valued at over $500 billion, higher than the gross domestic product of Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Saudi Arabia or Taiwan. Yet manufacturing growth has slowed, construction spending has slipped, and consumer spending remains weak. Both housing construction and Americans' after-tax income actually fell in January. What accounts for the disparity? How important is it? What can be done about it? And how will all this play out in this year's elections? Guests: * Daniel Gross: Yahoo! Finance, @grossdm * Robert H. Frank: Cornell University * Tom Donlan: Barron's National Business and Financial Weekly * Dean Baker: Center for Economic and Policy Research, @DeanBaker13 Links: * Gross' 'Better, Stronger, Faster: The Myth of American Economic Decline' * Frank's 'The Darwin Economy: Liberty Competition and the Common Good' * Baker's 'The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive'

Aired 03/04/12 In the early 1960s, MARSHALL GANZ dropped out of Harvard to join the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. He then spent 16 years working with César Chávez and the United Farm Workers. He returned to Harvard in the 1990's, graduated, earned his Ph.D., and now teaches organizing and the power of public narrative at the Kennedy School. During Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, he was lead organizer of the grassroots for the former community organizer. GANZ offers a valuable perspective on the Occupy/99% movement. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/organizing/?utm_source=03-04-2012-Marshall+Ganz&utm_campaign=Mardhall+Ganz-03-04-2012&utm_medium=email http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k2139&utm_source=03-04-2012-Marshall+Ganz&utm_campaign=Mardhall+Ganz-03-04-2012&utm_medium=email

Aired 02/05/12 How did the Egyptian people overthrow longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak and are the people of Egypt better off today? I am very excited to speak with WAEL GHONIM, the Egyptian web exec who played a leading role in last year's Tahrir Square protests. With the first anniversary of those protests and the recent elections in Egypt, we have a lot to talk about. WAEL GHONIM was a little-known 30-year-old Google manager, unwilling to publicly criticize the Egyptian regime -- silenced like many by resignation and the fear of reprisals -- until he anonymously launched a Facebook campaign to protest the death of one particular Egyptian man at the hands of security forces. In his new memoir, he tells us - from his experience -- why and how the Egyptian people finally rejected 30 years of oppression and found their voice. Let me read two quotes from WAEL GHONIM: "Social media allow ideas to be shared. They are places where people can unite, Revolutions can begin. A new type of Revolution - Revolution 2.0" and finally -- "People have called me a hero, but that is ridiculous - this has not been a revolution of heroic individuals, but about people coming together to overcome dictatorship. https://www.facebook.com/WaelGhonim http://hmhbooks.com/hmh/site/hmhbooks/bookdetails?isbn=9780547773988&srch=true&utm_source=02-05-2012-GHONIM&utm_campaign=Wael+Ghonim-02-06-2012&utm_medium=email

Aired 01/20/12 There are 183 million active video gamers in the US, and the average young person will spend 10,000 hours gaming by the age of 21. There are now more than five million "extreme" gamers" in the US who play an average of 45 hours a week. According to game designer JANE McGONIGAL, this is because videogames are increasingly fulfilling genuine human needs. But she goes way beyond that, in her first book, REALITY IS BROKEN -- just out in paperback - she suggests we can use the lessons of game design to fix what is wrong with the real world. Drawing on positive psychology, cognitive science, and sociology, she shows how game designers have hit on core truths about what makes us happy so that videogames consistently provide the exhilarating rewards, stimulating challenges, and epic victories that are so often lacking in the real world. I recommend Reality Is Broken to people who have no interest in games. Separate from what it says about the current reality and possible future of games, the book is an excellent primer on what we have learned - and most people don't know - about happiness, learning, productivity and growth. http://janemcgonigal.com/

Aired 01/15/12 Guests: David De Graw, one of the central figures in the leaderless and horizontal Occupy/99% movement and Dr Ben Chavis, longtime civil rights leader, from his youthful days with King, to his leadership of the Million Man March, to his current role in the Hip Hop Summit Action Network. We talk about the alliance between African American faith leaders and the Occupy movement -- Occupy the Dream. The coalition called a National Day of Action for January 16, 2012, Martin Luther King Day, with demonstrations in multiple cities nationwide, focusing attention on the injustice visited upon the 99% by a financial elite. You can learn more at occupy the dream.org. DAVID DeGRAW is founder and editor of AmpedStatus.com, as well as OWSnews.org, formerly editorial director of MediaChannel.org, and author of The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States. In 1965, while a college freshman, BENJAMIN CHAVIS became a statewide youth coordinator in North Carolina for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As a chemist, he was a founder of the environmental justice movement, then an organizer of the Million Man March, and since he has been CEO and Co-Chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, in New York City which he cofounded with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

Aired 01/15/12 In the winter of 1417, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late thirties plucked a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. The man was Poggio Braccionlini, the greatest book hunter of the Renaissance. His discovery was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic, On the Nature of Things by Lucretius—a beautiful poem of the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion, colliding and swerving in new directions. The copying and translation of this ancient book fueled the Renaissance, inspiring artists such as Botticelli and thinkers such as Giordano Bruno; shaped the thought of Galileo and Freud, Darwin and Einstein; and had a revolutionary influence on writers such as Montaigne and Shakespeare and even Thomas Jefferson. Stephen Greenblatt is John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. Among his books are Will of the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, a Finalist for the 2004 National Book Award in Nonfiction and a New York Times best seller, and Hamlet in Purgatory. He holds honorary degrees from Queen Mary College of the University of London and the University of Bucharest.

Aired 01/08/12 This will be a conversation about the state of things as we embark on 2012. I will be joined by TOM FRANK (What's the Matter with Kansas?) and EDGAR CAHN (founder of Legal Services and Time Dollars). We will talk about their passions and projects. http://www.tcfrank.com/ In his new book, PITY THE BILLIONAIRE, Frank examines how the crash that has hurt so many millions of Americans has delivered wildly perverse political results. He gives us a diagnosis of the cultural malady that has transformed collapse into profit, reconceived the Founding Fathers as heroes from an Ayn Rand novel, and enlisted the powerless in a fan club for the prosperous. Edgar Cahn was a serial social entrepreneur before the term was invented. In 1974, he and his wife co-founded the Legal Services Program to deliver legal services to the poor, then co-founded Antioch School of Law, where students learned through providing legal services to the poor. Two decades later Cahn created TIme Dollars, a system to bank and exchange services rather than currency. In the larger conversation, I want to take a fairly big picture, historical, and forward-looking perspective. While I assume we will talk about global economics and international conflicts, the emphasis would be on the US. Though I assume we will talk about the fall election, I want to look more broadly. Questions like: Where are we as a society - socially, culturally, economically, and politically? What's working and why is it working? What are your fears and hopes for the year ahead? What stories and narratives will you be paying attention to in the next year? Maybe something about the battle over the narrative of America's founding and the American dream. Is there a story in which humanity turns things around? THOMAS FRANK, a former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, is the founding editor of The Baffler and a monthly columnist for Harper's. He is the author of The Conquest of Cool; What's the Matter with Kansas? One Market Under God; and his newest, PITY THE BILLIONAIRE. EDGAR CAHN teaches Law and Justice, and directs the Community Service Program at the University of the District of Columbia School of Law. A co-founder with his late wife Jean Camper Cahn of the Antioch School of Law, UDC-DCSL's predecessor; the first law school in the United States to educate law students primarily through clinical training in legal services to the poor. In the late 1980s, Professor Cahn began the Time Dollars project, a service credit program that now has more than 70 communities in the US, UK and Japan with registered programs (www.timebanks.org). He's the author of several books, including Hunger USA, Time Dollars and No More Throw-Away People.

Aired 12/25/11 As an activist, presidential advisor, cofounder of the Enough Project, and the author of ten books on Africa, including his most recent, The Enough Moment, John is passionate about ending genocide and raising awareness about human rights issues in Africa. But the not-so-public face of John Prendergast is the life he’s led as a Big Brother to Michael Mattocks. As an emotionally wounded twenty-one-year-old, John made the life-changing decision to form a “Big Brother/Little Brother” relationship with then seven-year-old Michael, who was living out of plastic bags and roaming from one homeless shelter to the next with his mother and siblings. In a book they wrote together, UNLIKELY BROTHERS: Our Story of Adventure, Loss, and Redemption, John and Michael share their experiences over the past twenty-five years. As John became more and more involved with Africa, he became less and less involved with Michael, who dropped out of school and into drug dealing. The two slowly disconnected and then reconnected at a critical moment for both of them. JOHN PRENDERGAST is the co-founder of the Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity affiliated with the Center for American Progress. John has worked for the Clinton White House, the State Department, two members of Congress, the National Intelligence Council, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and the U.S. Institute of Peace, and is the author or co-author of ten books.  His previous two books were co-authored with Don Cheadle:  Not On Our Watch,  and  The Enough Moment: Fighting to End Africa's Worst Human Rights Crimes. John is a board member and serves as Strategic Advisor to Not On Our Watch. MICHAEL MATTOCKS lived in homeless shelters as a child and began dealing drugs as a teenager. He is now a husband and father of five boys, working two jobs at once in order to support his family. He helps coach his sons on their football teams.

Aired 11/07/11 From a small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan and back, a raw and powerful documentary WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM follows the four-year journey of childhood friends, their families, and their town. At its heart a story about growing up, the film is an intimate look at the young men who fight our wars, where they come from, and their struggles when they return and try to fit back into their previous daily routines. On the podcast, HEATHER COURTNEY, producer/director of the documentary, is joined by DOMINIC FREDIANELLI, one of the young veterans she follows in the film. Heather Courtney has directed and produced several documentary films including award-winners LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE and LOS TRABAJADORES. She was recently named one of Film Independent's Top 10 Filmmakers to Watch. LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE was the Closing Night film at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2006. LOS TRABAJADORES won the Audience Award at SXSW and the International Documentary Association David Wolper award. She spent eight years writing and photographing for the United Nations and several refugee and immigrant rights organizations, including in the Rwandan refugee camps after the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Just a quick reminder that the Indie Spirit Award-nominated film WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM is now available on DVD, and if you order today, you'll get it by Christmas! You can go to http://www.wheresoldierscomefrom.com/dvd.php or see info below for more info on ordering, to read some reviews and to watch the trailer.

Aired 12/04/11 ELISE WHITAKER, Action Committee, OccupyLA DAVID DeGRAW, OWSnews.org, AmpedStatus.com TODD GITLIN, The Sixties; Letters to a Young Activist SARAH VAN GELDER, YES magazine, editor, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING I have invited four guests to have a conversation about the movement referred to as the Occcupy movement, the Occupy Wall Street movement, or the 99% movement. From a group of people encamping in New York city September 17th, to affiliated actions or camps in 900 cities in the US and the world, through the removal of most of the physical camps -- where do we stand now, where do we go from here? I will ask for a brief update of status reports from around the country and then I want to explore the impact so far, its meaning, its prospects, its challenges and possibilities. How does OWS/99% interact with other movements and other political entities, including the 2012 elections and the Democratic party? How much of our hopes can we fulfill through this movement? How wide can it be? How far can it go? And what will it demand of us? SARAH VAN GELDER is co-founder and Executive Editor of YES! Magazine and YesMagazine.org. She was a television and radio producer, a community organizer, founder of a cooperative of food co-ops, and a founding board member and resident of Winslow Cohousing. She is editor with the staff of YES Magazine of THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement. TODD GITLIN, a professor of journalism and sociology and chair of the Ph. D. program in Communications at Columbia University, holds degrees from Harvard University, University of Michigan, and UC Berkeley (sociology). Giltin was the third president of Students for a Democratic Society in 1963-64, and is the author of fourteen books, including, and Letters to a Young Activist; The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage; aND The Whole World Is Watching. He gave three lectures on media, revolutions, and democracy as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the American University in Cairo between March 23 and 29 of this year. DAVID DeGRAW is an investigative journalist, founder and editor of AmpedStatus.com, as well as OWSnews.org, formerly editorial director of MediaChannel.org, and author of The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States. In DeGraw's expanded "reports" he piles on (amply footnoted) data with a relentless fury that makes a reader want to cry uncle. Then he connects the dots, building a narrative that makes clear "uncle" is not an option. DeGraw's challenge: Will we the people come together to take on our common enemies - the economic elites who have stolen our money, our media, and our democracy - before they steal our future?" http://www.occupylosangeles.org/ https://www.facebook.com/occupyLA http://owsnews.org/ http://www.ampedstatus.com/ http://www.yesmagazine.org/ http://www.toddgitlin.net/

Aired 11/27/11 At a time when social media is being utilized to coordinate protests against the domination of our economy, our government, and our society by corporations and the very wealthy individuals who profit most from them, SIMON MAINWARING sees a hopeful path to save society from capitalism's worst excesses. http://wefirstseminar.com/ A social media expert with global experience with brands such as Nike, Toyota and Motorola- he offers a new brand model in which they leverage social media to earn consumer goodwill, loyalty and profit, while promoting sustainable social change through contributions from customer purchases. The goal of We First is a sustainable practice of capitalism. It is based on the belief that selfish Me First thinking hurts our businesses and the lives of millions of people around the world. It asserts that a brighter future depends on an integration of profit and purpose within the private sector. To achieve this, companies and customers must become partners in social change to build a better world. Could such innovative partnerships (with shared goals) practice capitalism in a way that satisfies the need for both profit and a healthy, sustainable planet? How realistic is his vision at a time when greed keeps consolidating gains? How much difference could it make even if successful? What has MAINWARING seen in working with these brands that makes him talk about his vision as a likely alternative? http://wefirstbranding.com/ http://simonmainwaring.com/

11/20/11 This week's show is about a Los Angeles institution and source of local pride, nurtured to greatness as a family-owned business, purchased by someone from out-of-town who knew little about the business, put up little of his own money, and ran the property into the ground so that it is now a shell of its former self. And many customers have reacted by not buying the product. No, we're not talking about the Dodgers, but the Los Angeles Times. After buying Times Mirror, The Tribune Company sent JAMES O'SHEA to LA to run the Times. Sam Zell bought the Tribune Company in a deal that even I - no financial expert - thought was both bad and doomed, and soon the Tribune Company was in bankruptcy where it remains. O'Shea refused to do his bosses' bidding in terms of cutbacks and he was let go. Over the next two years the Times cut nearly 40% of its journalists. JAMES O'SHEA has since founded a Chicago news cooperative of which he is editor, attempting a new model of journalism. JAMES O'SHEA is editor and co-founder of the Chicago News Cooperative, former editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times and past managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. Under his leadership, the Tribune's news staff received six Pulitzer prizes. O'Shea is the author of THE DAISY CHAIN about the savings-and-loan crisis of the 1980s, DANGEROUS COMPANY, an examination of management consultants' role in corporate decision making, and his latest THE DEAL FROM HELL: How Moguls and Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers. http://thedealfromhell.com/ http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/

Aired 11/13/11 Some bad news: In 2008 more than 50% of all US harvested cropland grew only two crops - corn and soybeans and more than 40% of the food calories consumed worldwide came from just three crops: wheat, corn and rice. 30% of Detroit residents receive food stamps, but 92% of Detroit's food stamp retailers offer few or no fresh fruit or vegetables. The average plate of food eaten in our homes or restaurants travels 1,500 miles from where the food is grown. Our food system consumes 10.3 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce 1.4 calories of food energy." And some good news: There are now 8000 farm to school programs across the US. Eight years ago there were only 4. There are now 6000 farmers' markets in the US three times as many as in 1995. 330 hospitals in the US and Canada have pledged to purchase food that is grown according to Fair Food principles. In recent years a number of books and films have documented the dangers of our current food system, and a number of those have been featured on Free forum. Just as you can't alter the course of climate change by simply switching to efficient light bulbs, today's guests believe that you can't fix the broken food system by simply growing a backyard garden. It requires redesigning our food system. My first guest, ORAN HESTERMAN has a new book FAIR FOOD, a guide to changing not only what we eat, but how our food is grown, packaged, delivered, marketed and sold. Hesterman opens the book talking about Detroit, Michigan, an unlikely beacon of hope in the fight for fair food. Prior to starting the Fair Food Network, where he is President & CEO, ORAN HESTERMAN was the inaugural president of Fair Food Foundation, leading their sustainable food systems programs. Before that, he researched and taught in the crop and soil sciences department at Michigan State University in East Lansing, and for more than 15 years he co-led the Integrated Farming Systems and Food and Society Programs for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, during which time the Foundation seeded the local food systems movement with over $200 million. FAIR FOOD is his first book. My second guest LEILA CONNERS, a founder of Tree Media in Santa Monica, is a producer of URBAN ROOTS, a documentary on the food revolution taking place in Detroit. Directed by Detroit-native Mark McInnis the film tells the powerful story of a group of dedicated Detroiters working tirelessly to fulfill their vision for locally-grown, sustainably farmed food in a city where people -- as in much of the county -- have found themselves cut off from real food and limited to lifeless offerings of fast food chains, mini-marts, and grocery stores stocked with processed food from thousands of miles away. LEILA CONNERS is Founder and President of Tree Media Group. Conners is director, producer, and writer on THE 11TH HOUR, as well as the short films "Global Warning" and "Water Planet" (all with Leonardo DiCaprio). She was Associate Editor at New Perspectives Quarterly and Global Viewpoint, focusing on international politics and social issues. She is producer of URBAN ROOTS. fairfoodbook.org, fairfoodnetwork.org, urbanrootsamerica.com, treemedia.com

Aired 10/16/11 Both Ira Glass and Malcolm Gladwell say today's guest is their favorite storyteller. In his books and magazine articles, Lewis writes about sports, business, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, political campaigns, fatherhood. Stuff that matters to a lot of people. He's smart and he has a sense of humor. Lewis was a trader at Salomon Brothers before he wrote his first best-seller, LIAR'S POKER about the excesses of Wall Street during the 1980s. He continues to write about that world with his last two books, a column for Bloomberg, and articles in Vanity Fair. His newest book BOOMERANG: Travels in the New Third World is made up of articles originally published in Vanity Fair and picks up where 2010's THE BIG SHORT left off. What happens after the meltdown of 07-08? Governments are the focus of this book. Mostly because they have taken on the bad debts of the too big to fail banks, so now they are themselves at risk. Now politics and culture become much more important as to how they will deal with that risk. Then there's the story of California which as a state ran up unsustainable debts during a series of bubbles and can't raise the taxes to pay for them. We'll also talk about the twisted path taken to get MONEYBALL into theatres. The film based on his 2003 book is now a popular and critical success. MICHAEL LEWIS received a BA in art history from Princeton University and a Masters in economics from the London School of Economics. He contributes to bloomberg.com and Vanity Fair. His other books include The Blind Side, Panic, The New New Thing, and Home Game.

Aired 10/09/11 Politics and the media have for the most part shown themselves impotent, indifferent, or in cahoots when it comes to confronting and rolling back the takeover of the United States by the super-rich and the super-corporations. Since the days of Clinton, we've been reminding ourselves of the words of FDR to progressives pressing for the New Deal -- "Make me do it." Envying the attention and power granted the tea party. Millions march all over Europe in response to austerity measures that make the people pay for the failures of the financial class. Millions march in the Arab Awakening when hunger, poverty, corruption, and autocracy prove too much to bear and social media connects and informs the people like never before. When will Americans take to the streets? September 17th, a small group of demonstrators camped out in a downtown New York park and Occupy Wall Street was born. Occupy Los Angeles emerged a week ago, October 1st. Both are alive and well. As of Saturday the Occupy movement has spread to 1,016 cities in the US and abroad. There has been carping in the mainstream media about the movement's lack of focus, lack of clear message, lack of specific platform or demands. The closest thing to a brand for the movement so far is the claim that, "We are the 99%". I think this is a wonderful opening. It's based on cold hard facts. It is inclusive. Even a tea partier knows they are part of the 99%. Inequality is problem #1 in this country. from which all else follows, including a corrupted political system that is not able to meet the challenges we face. I don't think anyone knows where this goes...At some level a lot of us have grown so resigned to the dominance of money in our society that I'm not sure too many have a plan how to get from here to where we need to get. I think we each also have to invent the role we are going to play as this story unfolds. I'll be joined by representatives for both Occupy Wall Street -- NELINI STAMP (Working Families Party) and MELANIE BUTLER (Code Pink) -- and Occupy Los Angeles -- LISA CLAPIER (media, Occupy LA) and SHARIF ABDULLAH (Commonway.org). I plan to ask them to tell their individual stories, report what's happening around them and what they think it means. http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/occupywallstreet

Aired 10/02/11 This radio show aims for "pieces of the puzzle of a world that just might work." Many of those pieces arise out of a vision that reality is not dead, mechanical, or separate, but rather alive, evolving, and composed of interdependent systems. I believe this worldview has been shared by indigenous peoples for millennia, revealed by science since early in the 20th century, and obvious every time we walk outside or look into the eyes of another living creature. It is this world view that inspires the annual Bioneers conferences that take place each fall in the San Francisco Bay area and now stream via satellite to sites across the country. The conference is a gathering of scientific and social innovators who draw from four billion years of evolutionary intelligence and apply nature's operating instructions to develop and implement visionary and practical models for restoring the Earth, and its communities and people. In addition to founding and co-directing Bioneers (Collective Heritage Institute), KENNY AUSUBEL, is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and social entrepreneur specializing in health and the environment. He co-founded Seeds of Change, a biodiversity organic seed company. He authored the books, Seeds of Change; Restoring the Earth: Visionary Solutions from the Bioneers. Recently he edited the first two titles in the Bioneers book series with J.P Harpignies, Ecologocal Medicine, and Nature's Operating Instructions. He founded Inner Tan Productions to produce visionary feature films. DAVID ORR is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and Special Assistant to the President of Oberlin College and a James Marsh Professor at the University of Vermont. He is perhaps best known for his pioneering work on environmental literacy in higher education and his recent work in ecological design. He raised funds for and spearheaded the effort to design and build a $7.2 million Environmental Studies Center at Oberlin College, a building described by the New York Times as "the most remarkable" of a new generation of college buildings and selected as one of 30 "milestone buildings" in the 20th century by the U.S. Department of Energy. Orr is the author of six books including THE LAST REFUGE: The Corruption of Patriotism in the Age of Terror; THE NATURE OF DESIGN; EARTH IN MIND; ECOLOGICAL LITERACY; and co-editor of The Global Predicament and The Campus and Environmental Responsibility. http://www.bioneers.org/ http://davidorr.com/

Aired 09/25/11 In CONNECTED, as her father battles brain cancer and she confronts a high-risk pregnancy, TIFFANY SHLAIN, co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences and a Fellow at the Aspen Institute, asks what it means to be connected in the 21st century. The documentary film continues at three theaters in the Bay area, opens 09/30 at the Arclight Hollywood (Q&A w Shlain)and at the Angelika in New York 10/14 (Q&A w Shlain). TIFFANY SHLAIN, honored by Newsweek as one of the "Women Shaping the 21st Century," is a filmmaker, artist, founder of The Webby Awards, co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences and a Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute. Her films include Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness, about reproductive rights in America and The Tribe, an exploration of American Jewish identity through the history of the Barbie doll, Yelp: With Apologies to Allen Ginsberg's Howl, about our addiction to technology and the importance of "unplugging", and her newest Connected: A Declaration of Interdependence http://www.tiffanyshlain.com/tiffanyshlain/Home.html http://connectedthefilm.com/

Aired 09/18/11 ROBIN WRIGHT said of her last book DREAMS AND SHADOWS, "My goal was to probe deep inside societies of the Middle East for the emerging ideas and players that are changing the political environment in ways that will unfold for decades to come." Just three years later, ROCK THE CASBAH tells the stunning personal stories behind the rejection of both autocrats and extremists in the Muslim world. She describes the new phase of the Islamic activism as a counter-jihad. For some, it's about reforming the faith. For others, it's overhauling political systems. For all, it is about basic rights-on their own terms and not necessarily based on Western models. Muslims are now confronting extremism and rescuing their faith from a virulent minority, thereby taking charge of history and doing what the West cannot. ROBIN WRIGHT has reported from more than 140 countries on 6 continents for numerous news organizations, including several years with the LA Times. She has been a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Brookings Institution, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Yale, Duke, Stanford and others, and is the author of five books. Her latest is ROCK THE CASBAH: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World. http://www.robinwright.net/

Aired 09/04/11 I am currently focusing the show on the breakdown and restoration of the American Dream. Recent guests include Rob Johnson, Richard Eskow, Drew Dellinger, Jacob Hacker, Paul Pierson, and David Cay Johnston. Today I'll be joined by VAN JONES, co-Founder and President of REBUILD THE DREAM. Learn more at rebuildthedream.com Introducing the American Dream Movement, Jones said, "It is the American Dream that the GOP's "slash and burn" agenda is killing off. We need a movement dedicated to renewing the idea that hard work pays in our country; that you can make it if you try; that America remains a land committed to dignity, justice and opportunity for all. Right now, this very idea is on the GOP chopping block. And we must rescue it now -- or risk losing it forever. America will not make it through this crisis healthy and whole if -- at the first sign of trouble -- we are willing to throw away our teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses and others who make our communities and country strong. Their daily work is essential to the smooth functioning and long-term success of our nation. An attack on them is an attack on the backbone of America. Nobody objects to politicians cutting budgetary fat. But the GOP program everywhere is so reckless that it would actually cut muscle, bone and marrow, too. This approach is both shortsighted and immoral. We should rise up against it -- in our millions." VAN JONES is Co-Founder and President of REBUILD THE DREAM, and a co-founder of three other successful non-profit organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change and Green For All. Jones served as the green jobs advisor in the Obama White House in 2009, and is currently a senior fellow at the Center For American Progress and a senior policy advisor at Green For All. He holds a joint appointment at Princeton University, as a distinguished visiting fellow in both the Center for African American Studies and in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is the author of The Green Collar Economy. http://ourfuture.org/conference 10 CRITICAL STEPS TO GET OUR ECONOMY BACK ON TRACK I. Invest in America's Infrastructure II. Create 21st Century Energy Jobs III. Invest in Public Education IV. Offer Medicare for All V. Make Work Pay VI. Secure Social Security VII. Return to Fairer Tax Rates VIII. End the Wars and Invest at Home IX. Tax Wall Street Speculation X. Strengthen Democracy

Aired 08/28/11 ROBERT JOHNSON serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and Director of the Project on Global Finance at the Roosevelt Institute. He recently served on the United Nations Commission of Experts on International Monetary Reform under the Chairmanship of Joseph Stiglitz. Previously, Johnson was a Managing Director at Soros Fund Management where he managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets. He also served as Chief Economist of the US Senate Banking Committee and was an Executive Producer of the Oscar winning documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side. http://ineteconomics.org/

Aired 08/14/11 I've invited three people to begin a conversation with me about what's broken at the intersection of our society, our politics, and our economy, how it got broken, and how we can fix it. ROB JOHNSON served as chief economist of the US Senate Banking Committee, was a Management DIrector at Soros Fund Management, and is now Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), funded by Soros to encourage and support a rethinking of the fundamentals of economics so that they take into account the role of human behavior including politics. R J ESKOW, a former executive and consultant on matters of finance and information technology, to AIG, the World Bank and the State Department, is a prolific blogger at the Huffington Post and Campaign for America's Future. DREW DELLINGER is a poet, teacher, activist and founder of Planetize the Movement. He is currently finishing his doctoral dissertation on the last years of Martin Luther King Jr., and co-wrote the documentary film, The Awakening Universe. Learn more at drewdellinger.org, for RJ Eskow -- ourfuture.org/users/new-4468 or nightlight.typepad.com/, for Rob Johnson -- ineteconomics.org

Aired 08/08/11 KILL THE MESSENGER emerged from MARIA ARMOUDIAN's studies into the causes of genocide, war, peacemaking, democratization, and the protection of human rights and the environment, while she was working on her Ph.D. at the University of Southern California, as well as during her work as a broadcast journalist and public official. Looking across conflicts and policy successes and failures, she found that media (and media professionals) were among key factors in determining political outcomes, including matters of life and death. Written in five parts, KILL THE MESSENGER shows how media fomented rage and genocide in Rwanda, the Holocaust and the Bosnian war; how they helped bring peace in the Northern Ireland Conflict and the war in Burundi; how media contributed to democratization and the protection of human rights in South Africa, Taiwan, Mexico, and Senegal, and how they aided both the destruction and rebuilding of democracy in Chile. In its final case study, Kill the Messenger explores the media's role in the fate of the world, as journalists disentangle the issue of climate change for the public. The book's forward was written by Tom Hayden.

Aired 08/05/11 Left, Right & Center The global markets have been heading steadily south for the last two weeks, but on Thursday, they took a sharp dive. The Dow lost more than four percent of its value, its worst day in three years. As our program went to air on Friday afternoon, the markets continued to sputter downward. There was a bit of good news: unemployment went down and jobs went up in July, but only slightly. The jobs report appears to have prevented another day like Thursday on Wall Street, but is it enough to calm investor fears that we're entering into a double-dip recession? And with the grim economic forecast and a bruising fight over the budget, what are the political implications of all this for President Obama and lawmakers on Capitol Hill? What are their prospects for re-election? (Terrence McNally sits in for Matt Miller. Chrystia Freeland joins us as our special guest panelist.)

Aired 07/31/11 PAULA CAPLAN, a clinical and research psychologist, is currently Affiliate at the DuBois Institute and Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government, both at Harvard University. She has been a Lecturer at Harvard and a Professor of Applied Psychology and Head of the Centre for Women's Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She is the author of 11 books, including Don't Blame Mother: Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship; You're Smarter Than They Make You Feel; They Say You're Crazy; and her latest, When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans. Paula is also a playwright. http://www.paulajcaplan.net/ http://whenjohnnyandjanecomemarching.weebly.com/