The New School at Commonweal

Russell Jaffe, MD The Alkaline Way: Diet, Supplements, Detoxification, and Real Health Reform Join Michael Lerner in another conversation with a remarkable Commonweal friend, Russell Jaffe, M.D. Russ will talk with us about his book and research, The Alkaline Way: Diet, Supplements, Detoxification, and Real Health Care Reform. Russell Jaffee, MD Trained in clinical pathology at the National Instit...

Eric Karpeles My Book Is A Painting: Marcel Proust and the Resonance of the Visual Image Artist and Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles, author of Paintings in Proust, presents this illustrated talk about the visual images alluded to in Marcel Proust’s writing. Paintings in Proust has received considerable acclaim in the United States, Britain, and France, where the French edition sold out its f...

Jeffrey and Leila Masson Dogs Never Lie About Love and Other Topics When animals are no longer colonized and appropriated by us, we can reach out to our evolutionary cousins. Perhaps then the ancient hope for deeper emotional connection across the species barrier, for closeness and participation in a realm of feelings now beyond our imagination, will be realized. Join Michael Lerner in a conversat...

Cindy Sage and Nancy Evans Wireless or Wellness? New wireless technologies have changed the face of the world in the last decade. Cell and cordless phones, and the wireless towers that send their signals around town have very real bioeffects. Decision-makers and the public are just learning about possible health risks of electromagnetic fields (EMFs). What can you do to help protect your health? J...

Julia Brody, PhD Endocrine Disruptors in Indoor and Outdoor Air Dr. Julia Brody and her team at the Silent Spring Institute in Massachusetts are well-known pioneers in exploring linkages between toxic chemicals exposures and breast cancer, prompted by the high incidence of breast cancer in Cape Cod. Upholding the legacy of Rachel Carson in exploring how environmental threats contribute to disease...

Mark Gerzon Decision-Making As If Consciousness Matters Mark Gerzon is a leader in building global community and conflict resolution. His passion is designing environments that meet Einstein’s transformative challenge: to ensure that we do not try to solve problems on the same level awareness at which they were created. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Mark Gerzon about decision making and...

Terry Tempest Williams Finding Beauty in A Broken World Terry is one of the most exquisite and powerful voices for healing ourselves and the earth. Terry has been called “a citizen writer” who speaks out eloquently on behalf of an ethical stance toward life. A gifted naturalist and fierce advocate for freedom of speech, Terry has shown us how environmental issues are social issues that ultimately...

James S Gordon, MD Life Lessons in Healing: Cancer, Trauma, and Mind-Body Medicine Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with James S. Gordon, MD, about healing, cancer, trauma, and the mind-body connection. From our podcast: Depression is not a sentence. The signs and symptoms are a signal: your life is out of balance. It is possible to discover and to right the imbalances, and in undertaking the...

Therese Poulsen Yoga for Trauma Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Therese Poulsen—yoga teacher, acupuncturist, doula, and founder/director of Breath of Hope Foundation, which brings hope to impoverished children in south Asia. Therese Poulsen Therese, a long time educator and holistic healer, brings nearly twenty years of experience in teaching and practicing yoga to the Breath of Hope Foun...

Shodo Harada Roshi Dharma Talk and Meditation Harada Roshi (Roshi means “teacher”) is heir to the teachings of Rinzai sect Zen Buddhism as passed down in Japan from Hakuin and his successors. Harada Roshi’s teaching includes the traditional Rinzai practices of daily sutra chanting, zazen (seated meditation), sanzen (private interviews with the teacher), susokkan (breathing), koan (‘past cases’) st...

Paul Hawken Life Lessons in Sustainability and Resilience ~Co-presented with Mainstreet Moms and Point Reyes Books~ Join Michael Lerner in conversation with author, speaker, and activist Paul Hawken about the resilience needed for a sustainable response to our ecological crisis. Paul Hawken Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author. Paul heads the Natural Capital Institute, which has c...

Charles Halpern Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~ Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Charles Halpern—a pioneer in the public interest law movement, a successful public interest entrepreneur, an innovator in legal education, and a long-time meditation practitioner and advocate—about his book, Making Waves and Riding...

Mark Finser Social Finance Join Michael Lerner in this conversation with socially responsible financier Mark Finser about his work with RSF Social Finance. Mark A. Finser Mark is chair of the board of RSF Social Finance. RSF Social Finance provides innovative investing, lending, and philanthropic services to catalyze the growth of organizations creating a more sustainable future. Mark grew RSF’s a...

Jed Emerson Investing for the Earth and the Common Good Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Jed Emerson—international leader in the field of strategic philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. In 2000, Jed began focusing upon his interest in the Blended Value Proposition (BVP), which states that instead of operating in terms of non-profit and for-profit constructs or a double bottom-line, the...

Jerry Mander Will Globalization Soon Be Over? Will globalization soon be over? What do climate change and resource depletion mean for the dominant paradigm? Join Michael Lerner in conversation with social critic, activist, and author Jerry Mander. Jerry wrote such iconic books as Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (1977), In the Absence of the Sacred (1991), and Paradigm Wars (2006)....

Community Forum Mapping Local Resilience in Bolinas ~Co-presented with the Mainstreet Moms~ Participants came for images and stories from the pioneering Bolinas Community Plan “old guard” days. Bolinas architect Steve Matson showed his beautiful and evolving maps, and explained how he and the Regenerative Design Institute students at the Commonweal Garden have started to visualize more local econo...

Michael Samuels, MD Demeter, Buddha, and the Bears: Ancient Roots of Contemporary Spiritual Healing The Eleusian Mysteries, the story of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, was the most important art and healing ritual for consciousness transformation in history. The mysteries were enacted in ancient Greece for 2000 years. The Tibetan Buddha realms provide the technology of guided imagery and wer...

Annie Leonard The Story of Stuff: Movie Screening and Community Forum From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections betwe...

Lloyd Kahn What Really Happened in the Sixties? A longtime Bolinas resident, Lloyd was living in San Francisco in the 1960s and has a powerful narrative about what he believes really happened between 1963 and 1967. He has some wonderful visual images that capture that iconic moment in time. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with author, publisher, and Bolinas resident Lloyd Kahn about the deca...

Binka Le Breton Rainforests and Slavery Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Binka Le Breton, writer and lecturer on environmental and human rights. Binka Le Breton Binka lives on a Brazilian rainforest farm, runs the Iracambi Rainforest Research Center, lectures and broadcasts internationally on rainforest and slavery topics, is president of Amigos de Iracambi, is on the board of directors of...

Ursula Goodenough, PhD The Sacred Depths of Nature Join Michael Lerner in conversation with professor and author Ursula Goodenough about her work and book, The Sacred Depths of Nature. As well as her biology courses, Ursula co-teaches The Epic of Evolution, with a physicist and a geologist, for non-science students. Her research has focused on the cell biology and (molecular) genetics of the sexua...

Dr Martha Herbert Can Autistic Children Recover? A pediatric neurologist and a brain development researcher, Dr. Martha Herbert’s main focus is autism. She received the first Cure Autism Now Innovator Award and directed the Cure Autism Now Foundation’s Brain Development Initiative. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Herbert about the new paradigm of autism research and treatments. Martha...

Gary Cohen Green Chemistry, Green Materials, Green Energy: A Toxic-Free Future Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Gary Cohen, executive director of the Environmental Health Fund in Boston and co-director of Health Care Without Harm—a global partnership for environmentally responsible healthcare. Gary Cohen Gary is one of the foremost strategists and activists in the international community o...

Paul J. Growald The Way of the Bees (and Other Pollinators) Join Michael Lerner in conversation with investor, venture philanthropist, and beekeeper Paul J. Growald. While a long-time resident of San Francisco, Paul served on and chaired the board of directors of the California League of Conservation Voters for more than 20 years. He currently lives on a farm in Vermont, is married, the father of...

Carl Anthony Community Forum: Environmental Justice Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Carl Anthony, one of the preeminent thought leaders in environmental justice in the United States. Carl is the author of many publications including Eco-Psychology and the Deconstruction of Whiteness and a ground breaking chapter in Theodore Roszak’s book, Eco-Psychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the M...