Spirit in Action

Instead of just handling emergencies downstream, Up The River Endeavors creatively seeks to fix the causes of our problems. Peter Alsop's newest album, River of Life is full of songs growing out of Peter's connections with Mal Jones and Up The River Endeavors .

Elza Maalouf ’s new book Emerge! The Rise of Functional Democracy and the Future of the Middle East explores the possibilities for peace and prosperity in the Middle East from a different direction - the process of human & cultural emergence. Spiral Dynamics was one of the tools which helped South Africa transition successfully, and Elza has dedicated years, using this tool, with the Build Pal...

James Loewen is a sociologist, historian and author. His writings include the renowned Lies My Teacher Told Me . In an effort to expose the truth and improve our world, James stirs the passion for knowledge that unbiased history can provide. His first history textbook had too much fact in it, was suppressed, and led to his successful First Amendment challenge to the censorship of free speech &...

The Cornucopia Institute is a watchdog for the organic standards for food in the USA. Co-founder Will Fantle presents a  SLIDESHOW demonstrating the issues & scope of Cornucopia's work at NSR's annual membership meeting last year, and updates us about food issues, including GMOs and regulation.

Mediation is an art of practical peacemaking. Jennifer Beer , is co-author of the 4th edition of the The Mediator's Handbook , a skilled mediator and teacher of mediation, including teaching negotiation at Wharton . She has a Ph. D. in cultural anthropology.  

Ben Merens is well-known throughout Wisconsin and beyond for his 21 years on WPR and, especially, for his years as host of At Issue. His latest book is People Are Dying to Be Heard, where he shares his lessons & insights about listening, silence, and being heard.

One of the multiple pipelines proposed to carry tar sands out of Canada is the Northern Gateway Pipeline. It would go through North America's only remaining temperate rain forest and a refuge with exceptional and threatened wildlife, including the Spirit Bear.

The Raging Grannies of Madison, Wisconsin are part of a nationwide & international movement of women singing and standing for peace, justice, and creation. Three of the Madison group - Bonnie Block, Rebecca Alwin, & Barbara Park, speak of the motives, methods, & movement of older women and the songs they sing to change our world.

Tyler Norman and The Beehive Collective are tackling the big issues, like globalization, climate change, and the danger of extinction in creative and decentralized ways. Grown out of the anti-WTO movements and with an eye to encouraging, energizing methods of spurring change, an important approach to spreading the word has been super-sized graphic creations which empower alternative story-telling....

Part 2 of interviews about treatment courts which achieve impressive results and save lots of money. Today we visit with participants of the local Drug & Mental Health Courts - Mike Gumulauskas & Rob Bergeron.

Reformatories seldom reform, and penitentiary seldom produce penitence, but groom criminals to re-offend. For certain offenders, treatment courts achieve impressive results and save lots of money, bringing bi-partisan support.

There are struggles continuing within our country on so many fronts, often invisible to those in power or even in comfortable conditions, but badly in need of a cadre of those to faithfully walk with the beleaguered and afflicted. Then there's this book...

Greg & Terry of Magpie create beautiful, conscious music with a message, often around environmental subjects. Today they address, in word and music, issues surrounding climate change, mining, mountain-top removal, and preserving life on this planet.

Dawn Ravella does amazing and varied work for the healing of the world - restorative justice and prison ministries, food pantries and homeless shelters, education on social justice issues, and on and on. She is currently Director of Mission and Outreach at The Reformed Church of Bronxville , and has served Presbyterian and Catholic churches in similar roles, in addition to her work as a holistic t...

Penny Rosenwasser is author of several books, including her latest, Hope Into Practice: Jewish Women Choosing Justice Despite Our Fears , an activist's call to repair the world. Penny is a "life-long heartfelt, rabble-rouser for social Justice" with a Ph. D. in Transformative Learning & Change.

Since 1991, Jim Ziolkowski & BuildOn.org have been transforming inner city schools in the USA and building schools - over 550 to-date - in the poorest countries of the globe.

Peter Brown Hoffmeister's new book, Graphic the Valley, wraps readers in an adventure that connects us to the Earth (Yosemite in particular), replaces the official lies of history with the truth, and introduces us to useful skills like dumpster diving, all while thrilling the reader with human foibles and triumphs.

Daniel Hunter vs The Casinos is a case of David vs Goliath, only more impressive. Daniel co-led that battle retold in Strategy & Soul: A Campaigner's Tale of Fighting Billionaires, Corrupt Officials, and Philadelphia Casinos . Ingenious, creative, & steadfastly principled, this is a tale of inspiration and adventure, and there's an immense amount of info about community organizing that is...

For folks seeking ways to change the world that are rooted in community & faith, consider Quaker Voluntary Service.

Ingrid Lakey and Lola Georg are board members of Earth Quaker Action Team, doing their bit to fight Climate Change, featuring their campaign to get PNC Bank to eliminate its investments in mountain-top removal.

Judy Wicks is author of Good Morning, Beautiful Business: The Unexpected Journey of an Activist Entrepreneur and Local-Economy Pioneer and was owner of the White Dog Cafe in Philly for almost 30 years, pioneering business that was engaged, transformational, community-building, fun, and successful. On the cutting edge of local food, organic, humane, politically-involved, food & business.

Business can sometimes seem mostly exploitation and evil (though counter-examples abound, both current and historical). But how does one do good through business, instead of just doing well? Robert Pierson is an engineer who has seen small business from the inside, thoroughly. After years of diverse job positions, and rising to become a systems engineer, the spiritual side of that work led Rob to...

Improvisational humor is an awesome tool used by The Theater of Public Policy (t2p2.net) to find new ways forward in public discourse. Co-founded by Tane Danger & Brandon Boat in 2011, they've tackled a surprisingly wide variety of issues with their creative and disarming approach, including farm policy, robotics, clean water, and religion. Back on Feb 15th they performed for the Love Your Pla...

Susan Silberstein is author of Kitchen Chemotherapy and a number of other books & publications, and she is the founder & educational director of the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education (beatcancer.org) .

Jacqui Dunne & Bernard Lietaer are co-authors of Rethinking Money: How New Currencies Turn Scarcity into Prosperity , a book that will open your eyes and transform your thoughts about money and economics. With a view toward rescuing the world from economic and ecological collapse, Jacqui & Bernard write of complementary currencies and the potential they hold - and changes they are making -...