The New School at Commonweal

Virginia Veach, PhD A Life Exploring Healing Virginia was a psycho-oncologist, psychotherapist, and educator who worked extensively with people with cancer and many other life-threatening diseases. From family therapy to war zones, from pain management to death and dying, her efforts to ease the effects of war, illness, and environmental degradation took her throughout the world. In this conversat...

Nancy E Adler, PhD How Increasing Income Disparities Affect Health Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Nancy Adler, professor of psychology at the University of California, vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and director of the Center for Health and Community. Nancy Adler Nancy Adler is professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), vice-chair of the...

Krista Tippett Speaking of Faith A journalist and former diplomat, Krista Tippett came up with the idea for her book and radio show Speaking of Faith while consulting for the internationally renowned Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. She has hosted and produced the program since the Speaking of Faith project began as an...

Paul Gorman The National Religious Partnership for the Environment Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Paul Gorman, founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993. Paul Gorman Paul is founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993, received the Heinz Award for the Environment in 1999. A g...

Paul Gorman The National Religious Partnership for the Environment Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Paul Gorman, founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993. Paul Gorman Paul is founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993, received the Heinz Award for the Environment in 1999. A g...

David Bonbright What International Philanthropy Can and Cannot Do David Bonbright has been an international grantmaker with the Ford Foundation in Africa during the end of apartheid and with the Aga Khan Development Network in pre- to post-911 Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. Originally from Ross, California, David is based in London with his talented South African filmmaker wife, Elaine Pro...

Rachel Kyte Investing in Women, Equity, and Sustainability Join Michael Lerner for this conversation with Rachel Kyte, director of the Environment and Social Development Department at the International Finance Corporation. Rachel Kyte Rachel, a British national, became director of the Environment and Social Development Department at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in January 2004. The...

Teddy Cruz Beyond Borders: Local Architectural and Planning Solutions Urban designer Teddy Cruz ‘s work dwells at the border between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, inspiring a practice and pedagogy that emerges out of the particularities of this bicultural territory and the integration of theoretical research and design production. Join host Chris Desser, a fellow at the Tomales Bay Institute and...

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim Living Cosmologies: Nature and Spirit Converging Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Yale scholars and historians of religion Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim about the interface between religion and the environment, the cosmology of nature, and their organization, Emerging Earth Community. Mary Evelyn Tucker Mary is a senior lecturer and senior scholar at Yal...

Peter Kingsley Finding What Is Real Join Michael Lerner in conversation with author, researcher, and professor Peter Kingsley about spirituality, culture, and philosophy. Peter Kingsley Peter is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work on the origins of western spirituality, philosophy, and culture. He is the author of the books Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic; Empedocles and P...

Geoff Lawton Permaculture Design Join permaculture teacher, designer, and speaker Penny Livingston-Stark as she hosts this New School conversation with Geoff Lawton, Australian permaculture teacher and advocate. Geoff Lawton Since 1985, Geoff has undertaken thousands of positions consulting, designing, teaching and implementing in seventeen different countries around the world. Clients have includ...

Jacob Needleman Why Can't We Be Good? Overcoming Obstacles to Our Higher Ideals Join this conversation between author and philosophy professor Jacob Needleman and Steve Heilig, the director of Public Health and Education for The San Francisco Medical Society and a research associate for The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) at Commonweal. Jacob Needleman Jacob is a professor of phi...

Parker Palmer, PhD The Politics of the Brokenhearted Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Parker Palmer—an author, educator, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. From our podcast: I think what our times require of us is a profound understanding of how we’re all called to stand in the tragic gap between what is and what cou...

Sandra Steingraber, PhD Healing Inside Out: A Poet's Quest, A Mother's Journey Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Sandra Steingraber, a mother, an American biologist, cancer survivor, poet, and author in the tradition of Rachel Carson. From our podcast: There are a million things that suddenly you have to learn about, that you never thought about before, when you become a new parent. But for...

Pete Myers, PhD Environmental Health Science: Human and Ecosystem Health Join Michael Lerner in conversation with environmental scientist and author Pete Myers. From our podcast: All this time we’ve been talking about problems. We’ve got to start showing there are practical, realistic solutions… I think one of the most important things we can do right now is to figure out how to get more resources...

Rick Ingrasci, MD, MPH Joy, Social Intelligence, and the Ethical Imagination Join Michael Lerner in conversation with healer and activist Rick Ingrasci, MD, about joy, social intelligence, and the ethical imagination. From our podcast: I really feel that our generation, the sixties generation, had made a breakthrough that was almost like a recidivist, that we went back and rediscovered what indige...

Nipun Mehta The Invisible Revolution of the Inner-net Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Nipun Mehta—ex-dot-com whiz kid and founder of ServiceSpace.org—in conversation about impermanence, service, and co-creating a better world. From our podcast: I think that so many times younger people are talked down to; they’re talked at rather than talked with. And I think that is sort of the biggest s...

Idelisse Malave and Gihan Perera Race, Justice, and the American Dream Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Tides Foundation‘s Idelisse Malave and union organizer and activist Gihan Perera. Idelisse Malave Responsible for the overall management of the Tides Foundation since 1996, Idelisse works with Tides staff to deliver excellent service and create opportunities for donors to increase the im...

Sushmita Ghosh Social Entrepreneurs Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Ashoka social entrepreneur Sushmita Ghosh. Ashoka’s Changemakers program is pioneering a transparent online community that “open sources” innovative solutions to social problems worldwide. With its focus on thematic, collaborative competitions, it has sourced over 500 high-impact action blueprints for solving social probl...

Chet Tchozewsi Intuition and Grantmaking In this conversation with Michael Lerner, Chet describes the critical role intuition plays if you want to distribute small grants to thousands of grassroots organizations in over one hundred countries. Chet Tchozewski Chet is the founder and executive director of the Global Greengrants Fund, an international environmental foundation that makes small grants...

Dean Radin, PhD Entangled Minds: Are We Linked Together More Deeply than We Imagine? One of the most surprising discoveries of modern physics is that objects aren’t as separate as they may seem. When you drill down into the core of even the most solid-looking material, separateness dissolves. All that remains, like the smile of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, are relationships extending...

Peter Warshall The Spiritual Labor of Earth Healing Join Michael Lerner in conversation with ecologist, activist, and essayist Peter Warshall, editor of Whole Earth Review, and teacher at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute. Peter Warshall Peter was an ecologist, activist, and essayist whose work centered on conservation and conservation-based development. After rece...

Fredi Kronenberg, PhD Herbal Therapies and Integrative Approaches to Women's Health Join host Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Fredi Kronenberg, founding director of the The Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Columbia University. Dr. Kronenberg has done research on herbal treatment of menopause and other women’s health issues using ethnobotany,...

Ram Dass and Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Healing, Aging, and Dying Now living on Maui, Ram Dass talked with Rachel Naomi Remen and host Michael Lerner about what his 1997 stroke taught him, and how he now works with others around issues of healing, aging, and dying. From our podcast: Compassion is when you’re one with the person… then their suffering becomes our suffering and my suffering becomes our s...

Ted Schettler, MD Implications of Ecological Health This conversation with host Michael Lerner and Ted Schettler explores how Ted’s exploration of the effects of chemical contaminants on environmental health have led him into a comprehensive perspective on the interaction of genes, gene expression, nutrition, stress, income disparities, chemicals, and many other factors in human health. From our p...