The Paths To Understanding Podcast

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org   The Pacific Island culture is an important element of the Pacific Northwest identity. But the story behind the migration is often one of pain-the result of colonial domination, the loss of supportive family and friends, the need to adapt to an unfamiliar cultur...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org Youth sports are a bigger business than professional baseball. Yet the number of boys and girls participating in team sports is declining, and that doesn’t reflect the impact of the COVID pandemic. It reflects the rising cost of participating in youth sports, the...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org In last week’s episode of Challenge 2.0, we began a conversation with a leader of the Ukrainian Association of Washington; she has made repeated trips to her homeland since the Russians invaded last year. This week, we continue our exploration of what you don’t h...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org In four days, Ukrainians will observe the twenty second anniversary of their nation’s declaration of Independence. The holiday will be a bittersweet one, coming during the continuing Russian invasion and occupation of the Ukraine; an invasion that has cost thousa...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org Last week, we spoke with two scientists who have explored how changes in the way our food is produced have harmed our health. This week, we look at how those changes are damaging the health of our planet...and explore some solutions that proven to improve our phy...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org Americans spend twice as much on health care than people living in other developed countries. But we land near the bottom of the heap in terms of our health. One aspect is our ability to access and afford health care, but another aspect is what we eat...and what...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org In last week’s episode of Challenge 2.0, we spoke with a member of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility about the growing health impact of air pollution. This week, we hear the groups’ recommendations for change. Part two of “When Air Pollution Won’t L...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org In last week’s episode of Challenge 2.0, we spoke with a member of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility about the growing health impact of air pollution. This week, we hear the groups’ recommendations for change. Part two of “When Air Pollution Won’t L...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org The World Health Organization is calling air pollution the new tobacco. It believes the health impact of air pollutants on our health is that serious and widespread. That assertion is supported by a Harvard study showing one in five deaths is caused by exposure t...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org Shootings are now the biggest cause of death for children and teenagers...passing the longtime threat of automobile accidents. Washington is one of the few states to have taken steps to reduce that threat; the state legislature passed a series of gun responsibili...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org More American women are dying in childbirth than in any other developed nation. Infant survival here ranks 33rd out of the 36 major western countries. And the World Health Organization ranks the United States in the bottom 10 of 180 countries in terms of providin...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org They’re called ‘Ag Gag rules’-passed by state legislators to punish people who reveal unsafe, unhealthy or unethical food production methods. Such rules are only one example of strategies to reduce or eliminate public knowledge and regulation of corporate agricul...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org Any parent knows how it can be a struggle to persuade their children to eat healthy foods. But for some parents, the struggle is simply affording healthy foods-for that matter, any food. We’ve examined the issue of food insecurity among indigenous communities, an...

Discussions of the faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam tend to focus more on conflict than connection. That’s often based more on biases than actual experience. As the major holidays  of each faith-Easter, Passover and Ramadan overlap this year, some faith leaders believe that also raises the possibility of connection together with individual celebration, and reducing costly alienation and d...

Bring people of different faiths together, and you’re likely to hear vastly different views expressed about who or what God is or isn’t. In this episode of Challenge 2.0, we decided to do just that-to bring together faith leaders from Christianity, Judaism and Islam...to explore the question of what they believe we get wrong about God/Allah...and why it matters. 

The former US Surgeon General believes our country is suffering from an epidemic of loneliness. Dr. Vivek Murthy said the evidence pointed to such an epidemic long before the isolation created by the COVID pandemic, and that such loneliness not only causes emotional problems, but also physical ones. A Brigham Young University study says the health impact of chronic loneliness is equivalent to smok...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org The earliest European settlers in this country would not have survived without the knowledge, assistance and charity of the indigenous peoples they encountered. The irony is that was repaid by forcing those native Americans onto reservations, limiting their acces...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org In last week’s edition of Challenge 2.0, we began an examination of what have been called food deserts or food wastelands...and its’ impact on the health and wealth of communities...particular those of color. We continue that conversation this week with a man cal...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org Forty percent of the food produced in the United States is thrown away. That’s more than in any other country. Food waste takes up more room in landfills than any other source. Yet hunger, malnutrition and related health problems are increasing. More than thirtee...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org Faith communities seem to be subject to the same polarization seen throughout the United States. Yet an organization called the Faith Action Network coordinates the voices of more than 150 such groups in this state. FAN...as it’s called...asserts that translating...

Often, we examine difficult issues on this program. The implications are challenging, often painful for all of us and the responses they demand are at the least uncomfortable. But there are also issues that can be inspiring-that’s true of the topic of this edition of Challenge 2.0. We’ll focus on children with great needs but little ability to express them, ones that have often resisted traditiona...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org Although money spent on gifts during the holiday season increases yearly, one in five Americans now seeks to spend less. The founder of what is called The Church of Stop Shopping is hoping to expand that trend...and not just during the holiday season. This week o...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org Shopping malls have been called cathedrals of consumption...advertisers acolytes of excess. At no time is that more evident than during the Christmas season. Holiday spending drives 41% of Americans into debt. That behavior has many critics, but one man has made...

Learn more about Paths to Understanding at https://www. PathsToUnderstanding.org Join the Paths Network at https://www. PathsNetwork.org In last week’s program, we examined the damage wrought by Colonialism…the exploitation of one people by another for profit. Some historians point to colonialism…and the exploitation that was part of it… as the springboard of capitalism. Yet some faith and politic...

More than two thousand local newspapers have ceased operating since 2005. That has left half of all counties in the United States without any source of local news coverage. Even where local newspapers survive, the ability of journalists to cover key issues such as public safety, education and government suffers. What impact does that have on accountability…and stopping abuse of power. That’s the s...