New Dimensions

Whether you are a Christian, a Jew, belong to any other denomination, or have no religious affiliation, you may be surprised to know that the Bible represents generations who have resisted tyranny in impossible circumstances when the future looked bleak. She also highlights the many women in the Bible who were first to resist the tyranny of unjust rulers. Jennifer Butler is an ordained Presbyterian minister with her Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. She is the founding Executive Director of Faith in Public Life and former chair of the White House Council of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Butler is a staunch advocate for women’s rights and human rights and is passionate about the need to counter religious extremism. She served in the Peace Corps from 1989 to 1991 in a Mayan village in Belize, Central America, where she discovered she had a talent as a community organizer. She is the author of Who Stole My Bible: Reclaiming Scripture as a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny (Faith in Public Life 2020).

Interview Date: 11/30/2020    Tags: Jennifer Butler, Bible, sexism, Muslim women protest, Sinai covenant, Moses, Ten Commandments, Sabbath, hyper capitalism, John of Patmos, pandemic, George Floyd, Cherokee nation, Trail of Tears, Ibram Kendi, racism, Exodus book in Bible, Shiprah, Puah, Pharaoh, Charlotte Gordon, Hagar, Dolores Williams, Creation Museum, evolution, Jim Henderson, Jim Hancock, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Pontius Pilate, Jesus, Good Samaritan, King Solomon, Religion, Social Change/Politics

How can fundraising be fun? Wiersma’s enthusiasm for gathering together while contributing to the larger community is infectious. She’s a mighty force for positive good. Tune in and discover how to come up with ideas and creative ways to raise money so that you too can be a catalyst for good and be energized to create awe-inspiring events in your community. Betsy is a consummate organizer and has been at it since she was a teenager. Missing the camaraderie of her biological sisters when she moved from the Midwest to Colorado she gathered a “chosen” sisterhood of friends who’s motto is to “Do good and have fun.” In 2005 she, with her friends, began the CampExperience   Network which is a three day retreat for women consisting of brief presentations by some awesome and accomplished women, delightful activities, and raising money for charities in unique and entertaining ways. Wiersma was honored as one of the top 25 women in Colorado by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and is recipient of the Francis Wisebart Jacobs award (known as Colorado’s” Mother of Charities”) for philanthropy. In 2019 Betsy was a Speaker at TEDx Colorado, Cherry Creek Women on the topic “Choose Your Family, Change Your Life.” She is the author of Exceptional Events: Concept To Completion (Second Edition) (Kari Strolberg) (Chip Books 2003) and The STEW: Smart Talk Exceptional Women: Art & Insights by Women For the World (Vervante, Inc. 2020) 

Interview Date: 11/16/2020   Tags: Betsy Wiersma, fundraising, craftlete, aspen trees, mentoring, sisterhood, CampExperience Network, sisterhood, giving to charity, fundraising events, summer camp for women Art & Creativity, Women’s Studies, Community

Meade, once more, shares with us a cornucopia of myths, including Jason and the Argonauts, as we explore this dangerous and narrow passage we are entering in our collective history. He points out that, even with opposing viewpoints, we are all traveling together in one ship and that mythic imagination will carry us successfully forward during these threshold times. Meade describes the landscape leading up to the Presidential election of 2020, “We are worn down, worn out. Burned out and exhausted—COVID crisis, political crisis, climate crisis… economic crisis, and equal opportunity and justice for all. We are divided and socially distanced We have to look for underlying unities and that requires, more than anything, imagination -- the kind of imagination that suggests that we are all connected somehow -- All connected to the soul of the world. And where [we are] secretly connected to the deep self.”  Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller, author, scholar of mythology, and student of ritual in traditional cultures. He is the author of many books including: Why the World Doesn't End: Tales of Renewal in Times of Loss (GreenfirePress 2012) and The Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of the Soul (GreenFire Press 2019) 

Interview Date: 11/6/2020    Tags: Michael Meade, soul, mythic imagination, sacrifice, wisdom, 2020 Presidential Election, Jason and the Argonauts, uncertainty, vertical imagination, interconnectedness, oceans, collective anxiety, Golden Fleece, communitas, soul, rite of passage, the heroic, vitality, core imagination, the world tree, the tree of forgetfulness, collective awakening, vaccine, Mythology, Social Change/Politics, Philosophy, media, community, Art & Creativity

Sim Van der Ryn has been leading the way for a more regenerative, resilient, and sustainable future as a pioneer of the green building movement. This movement emphasizes the value to our health and well-being of a direct connection to nature. Designing in collaboration with nature is a major tool toward creating a vital new architecture for an empathic world. Van der Ryn has been a leading proponent of the green building movement (even before it was known as that), and for more than a half a century has been leading the way to a more regenerative, resilient, and sustainable future. His books include The Integral Urban House: Self-Reliant Living in the City (Random House 1982) and Design for an Empathic World: Reconnecting to People, Nature, and Self (Island Press 2013)

Interview Date: 1/22/2014   Tags: Sim Van der Ryn, nature deficit disorder, regenerative architecture, Christos’ fence, People’s Park, Occupy movement, resilience, green building, closed environments, toxic environments, watercolors, water coloring, five principles of eco-design, biomimicry, Bill McDonough, Jason McLennan, Bucky Fuller, Buckminster Fuller, mimic nature’s process, incidental contact, natural light, Monterey hospital, Real Goods Trading Company, water conservation, ecological architecture, Community, Environment/Nature/Ecology, Social Change/Politics

Hassouri goes through the reactions of shock, resistance, grief, acceptance, and finally pride when her 13-year old child tells her that she is transgender. What would happen if society weren't so strict with gender roles and thought more in terms of a gender spectrum? What would we look like as a society if we didn't assign binary roles to the different genders? Paria Hassouri, M.D. is a pediatrician, mother of three, and a transgender rights advocate. She’s a proud Iranian-American and has written articles that have appeared in multiple media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Huffington Post. is She is the author of a memoir: Found in Transition: A Mother’s Evolution During Her Child’s Gender Change (New World Library 2020) 

Interview Date: 10/26/2020  Tags: Paria Hassouri, transgender, trans, bisexual, gay, LGBTQIA, gender spectrum, autism spectrum, binary world, cisgender, Social Change/Politics, Parenting, Relationship/Partnership/Sexuality

This program explores a pervasive ailment of our age which is Nature Deficit Disorder. “The more high-tech our lives become, the more nature we need.” Louv also adds, “Conservation is no longer enough. For everything we receive from nature, we need to give back, we need to nurture nature, as much as it nurtures us.” Richard Louv’s writings and books have helped launch an international movement to connect children, families, and communities to nature. He is cofounder and chair emeritus of the nonprofit Children & Nature Network. In 2008 he was awarded the Audubon Medal which he shares with such notables as Rachel Carson, E.O. Wilson, and Sir David Attenborough. Richard Louv is the author of many books including:Last Child in the Woods (Algonquin Books 2008), The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age (Algonquin Books 2012) and Our Wild Calling: How Connecting with Animals Can Transform Our Lives—and Save Theirs (Algonquin Books 2019)

Interview Date: 10/8/2020    Tags: Richard Louv, generation amnesia, Nature Deficit Disorder, Glenn Albrecht, Symbiocene Era, Ecozoic Era, Anthropocene Era, E.O. Wilson, Thomas Berry, Rouge River Ford Motor Plant, William McDonough, Singapore, Douglas Tallamy, Homegrown National Park, native plants, wildlife corridors, social capital, Jon Young, 8 Shields, Sit Spots, Children & Nature Network, octopus, Paul Dayton, reciprocity, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Social Change/Politics, Science

This program explores a pervasive ailment of our age which is Nature Deficit Disorder. “The more high-tech our lives become, the more nature we need.” Louv also adds, “Conservation is no longer enough. For everything we receive from nature, we need to give back, we need to nurture nature, as much as it nurtures us.” Richard Louv’s writings and books have helped launch an international movement to connect children, families, and communities to nature. He is cofounder and chair emeritus of the nonprofit Children & Nature Network. In 2008 he was awarded the Audubon Medal which he shares with such notables as Rachel Carson, E.O. Wilson, and Sir David Attenborough. Richard Louv is the author of many books including:Last Child in the Woods (Algonquin Books 2008), The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age (Algonquin Books 2012) and Our Wild Calling: How Connecting with Animals Can Transform Our Lives—and Save Theirs (Algonquin Books 2019)

 Interview Date: 10/8/2020    Tags: Richard Louv, generation amnesia, Nature Deficit Disorder, Glenn Albrecht, Symbiocene Era, Ecozoic Era, Anthropocene Era, E.O. Wilson, Thomas Berry, Rouge River Ford Motor Plant, William McDonough, Singapore, Douglas Tallamy, Homegrown National Park, native plants, wildlife corridors, social capital, Jon Young, 8 Shields, Sit Spots, Children & Nature Network, octopus, Paul Dayton, reciprocity, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Social Change/Politics, Science

When a realization flashes into our consciousness that we are aging, we tend to tighten up with fear. Negative images of our parents, grandparents, and friends loom before us. Anderson counsels us to move from that gripping fear into curiosity. She shares poignant stories about elders and luminaries such as Marion Woodman. This is a deeply personal and moving conversation. Sherry Ruth Anderson writes and teaches about spiritual development, with a special interest in women's experience and aging as awakening. Her documentary film "A Woman's Descent to the Sacred “ was an official entry in the Mill Valley Film Festival in 2011. She’s the author of The Feminine Face of God (coauthor Patricia Hopkins) (Bantam 1991), The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (coauthor Paul Ray) (Crown 2001) and Ripening Time: Inside Stories for Aging with Grace (Changemakers Books 2013)

Interview Date: 10/3/2013    Tags: Sherry Ruth Anderson, aging, diminishment, death, ripening, lifespan, fear, forgetting, fearful, curiosity, growing older, Marion Woodman, elders, presence, deep listening, circles, nursing homes, vulnerable, vulnerability, voluntarism, laughter, Dustin Hoffman, Maurice Sendak, generosity, authenticity, Personal Transformation, Spirituality, Women’s Studies, Death & Dying, Community

Since the 1960s Paul Winter has been in the vanguard of musicians who express special appreciation for the natural music of our world, including wolves, whales, birds, wind and water. His inclusivity combines everything from Bach to Bossa Nova, and his albums, Common Ground and Callings, are cultural landmarks, as is his album Missa Gaia/Earth Mass. Our New Dimensions theme music, "Icarus," is performed by the Paul Winter Consort. Paul Winter’s albums include: Common Ground (1989), Wolf Eyes: Retrospective (1989), Callings (1989), Canyon Lullaby (1998), Prayer for the Wild Things (1994), Missa Gaia/Earth Mass (1994), Miho: Journey to the Mountain (2010), Light of the Sun (2020)

Interview Date: 10/9/2020   Tags: Paul Winter, improv, jazz, music ensemble, Jackie Kennedy, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Roger Payne, Humpback whale, wolves, orcas, I.M. Pei, Miho Museum, Paul Spong, Mickey Hoolahan, Ralph Towner, David Darling, Grand Canyon, Soviet Space Bridge, Art & Creativity, History