Aired 01/09/11

ANTONIO DAMASIO, M.D. Ph.D is the David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience and Director, Brain and Creativity Institute, at the University of Southern California. Damasio,the recipient of numerous honors worldwide and author of bestselling books, was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1999.

In his newest book, Self Comes to Mind, Antonio Damasio presents compelling new scientific evidence that consciousness-what we think of as a mind with a self-is a biological process created by a living organism. Damasio takes an evolutionary perspective and links the millions of single cells in the human body and brain with single celled organisms. Organisms use whatever tools they have to regulate and manage their biological systems, in order to maintain the balance or homeostasis essential to survive. As consciousness evolves to what he terms the autobiographical self in humans, life management aims not only for survival, but for well-being.

Damasio suggests that the brain's development of a human self opens the way for the appearance of culture -- a radical break in the course of evolution that offers a new level of life regulation - what he calls sociocultural homeostasis.

How are we doing? Is society -- as an organism -- managing itself to achieve balance? It doesn't look good to me right now - in terms of equity, energy, consumption, climate change, etc.

http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/bci/

Aired 12/26/10

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a physicist, ecologist, activist, editor, and author of many books. In India she has established Navdanya, a movement for biodiversity conservation and farmers` rights. She directs the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy. Her books include Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply, and her newest, Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis. Shiva has been awarded several awards for her efforts including the Right Livelihood Award and the United Nations Environment Program [UNEP] Global 500 Award in 1993, and most recently the 2010 City of Sydney Peace Prize.

http://www.vandanashiva.org/

Aired 12/05/10

ROBERT SCHEER, editor-in-chief of Truthdig, was Vietnam correspondent and an editor of Ramparts magazine from 1964-69. He worked with the Los Angeles Times for nearly 30 years, as a national correspondent from 1976-1993 and as a weekly syndicated columnist until 2005. In 2005 he co-founded Truthdig. Scheer is heard weekly on Left, Right and Center on NPR's KCRW. A clinical professor of communications at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, he is a contributing editor for The Nation as well as a Nation Fellow. Scheer has written nine books, including With Enough Shovels: Reagan, Bush and Nuclear War; The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us about Iraq; The Pornography of Power and his newest, THE GREAT AMERICAN STICKUP.

http://www.truthdig.com/

Aired 11/28/10

JEREMY RIFKIN is the bestselling author of The End of Work, The Biotech Century, The Hydrogen Economy and The European Dream. A fellow at the Wharton School's Executive Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania, he is the president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C. His newest book is THE EMPATHIC CIVILIZATION.

http://www.foet.org/

Aired 11/21/10

JOHN WARNER and Paul Anastas are the founders of green chemistry and co-authors of Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, in which, they establish 12 guiding principles for chemists. In 1996 Warner left a lucrative job at Polaroid to found the nation's first doctoral program in green chemistry, and in 2007 he founded Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, an innovation incubator, in Wilmington, Mass.

Green Chemistry is a revolutionary approach to the way that products are made; it is a science that aims to reduce or eliminate the use and/or generation of hazardous substances in the design phase of materials development. It requires an inventive and interdisciplinary view of material and product design. Green Chemistry follows the principle that it is better to consider waste prevention options during the design and development phase than to dispose or treat waste after a process or material has been developed.

http://www.warnerbabcock.com/

http://www.epa.gov/gcc/

Aired 11/14/10

Spiritual, but Not Religious PHIL GOLDBERG
author, AMERICAN VEDA: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation -- How Indian Spirituality Changed the West

GREG EPSTEIN
Humanist Chaplain, Harvard University
author, GOOD WITHOUT GOD:
What a Billion Nonreligious Do Believe

Learn more at philipgoldberg.com and AmericanVeda.com
Learn more at harvardhumanist.org

Aired 10/03/10

THOMAS GEOGHEGAN, a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, is a labor lawyer with Despres, Schwartz and Geoghagen in Chicago. He has been a staff writer and contributing writer to The New Republic, and his work has appeared in many other journals. Geoghagen ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary to succeed Rahm Emanuel in Congress a candidate, and is the author of six books including WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?, THE SECRET LIVES OF CITIZENS, and, most recently, WERE YOU BORN ON THE WRONG CONTINENT?

In his new book, WERE YOU BORN ON THE WRONG CONTINENT?, today's guest makes a strong case that European social democracies - particularly Germany - have some lessons and models that might make life a lot more livable. Not only that, they could help us keep our jobs.

In comparison to the U.S., the Germans have six weeks of federally mandated vacation, free university tuition, nursing care, and childcare. But you've heard the arguments for years about how those wussy Europeans can't compete in a global economy. You've heard that so many times, you might believe it. But like so many things, the media repeats endlessly, it's just not true.

According to Geoghagen, "Since 2003, it's not China but Germany, that colossus of European socialism, that has either led the world in export sales or at least been tied for first. Even as we in the United States fall more deeply into the clutches of our foreign creditors-China foremost among them-Germany has somehow managed to create a high-wage, unionized economy without shipping all its jobs abroad or creating a massive trade deficit, or any trade deficit at all. And even as the Germans outsell the United States, they manage to take six weeks of vacation every year. They're beating us with one hand tied behind their back."

http://tomgeoghegan.com/

Aired 09/26/10

KEN AUSUBEL
Founder/Director,
BIONEERS
Annual Conference,
Oct 15-17, 2010, San Rafael CA

TOM LINZEY
Founder/Executive Director
Community Environmental
Legal Defense Fund / CELDF

Aired 09/19/10

JON KABAT-ZINN, Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he was founder of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, and founding Director of its world-renowned Stress Reduction Clinic. In 1993, his work in the Stress Reduction Clinic was featured in Bill Moyer's PBS Special, Healing and the Mind. He's the author of Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness; Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life; Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness.

Dr. Kabat-Zinn's work has contributed to a growing movement of mindfulness within mainstream institutions in medicine, law, education, business, corrections, and sports. Over 200 medical centers and clinics nationwide and abroad now use his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Jon was a guest a couple of times before on this show. On one of those occasions, he was joined by his wife Myla Kabat Zinn, and we talked about mindful parenting and the book they wrote together, Everyday Blessings, which I highly recommend. By the way, the Zinn in both their names is her maiden name. Myla's father is the late historian and activist, Howard Zinn.

TRUCY GOODMAN, Ph.D., has trained and practiced in two fields for over 25 years: meditation and psychotherapy. She studied developmental psychology with Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Carol Gilligan, and trained with psychiatrist/psychoanalyst Richard Chasin, MD. For 20 years, Trudy worked with children, teenagers, couples and individuals in a full psychotherapy practice. Since 1974, Trudy devoted much of her life to practicing Buddhist meditation. She taught mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn in the early days of the MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) clinic at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

Aired 09/12/10

DIANE RAVITCH
author,
DEATH AND LIFE OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM
How Testing and Choice Are
Undermining Education

VICKI ABELES
producer-director,
RACE TO NOWHERE

ENRIQUE GONZALEZ
Principal, BIG PICTURE Schools

http://www.dianeravitch.com/
http://www.racetonowhere.com/
http://www.bigpicture.org/
http://www.fkhs.org/