Q&A: Howard Bloom, Author – THE GOD PROBLEM: How a Godless Cosmos Creates
Written on January 22nd, 2013 |
Aired: 01/20/13
HOWARD BLOOM has been called “next in a lineage of seminal thinkers that includes Newton, Darwin, Einstein,[and] Freud,” by Britain’s Channel4 TV , and “the next Stephen Hawking” by Gear Magazine. His books include The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History; Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century; The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; and his latest, THE GOD PROBLEM: How a Godless Cosmos Creates.
Heavy stuff, sure, but his biography is a lot quirkier than that list might suggest. From 1968 to 1988, Bloom made his mark in the music business, founding and running its biggest PR firm, working with Michael Jackson, Prince, Bob Marley, Bette Midler, Queen, Simon & Garfunkel, Peter Gabriel, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, among many others. He helped launch Farm Aid and Amnesty International’s American presence, and put together the first public service radio campaign for solar power.
Bloom launched a successful kickstarter campaign to raise money for PR for THE GOD PROBLEM because changing a paradigm doesn’t just happen. A lot of people have given glowing blurbs to this book, but let me quote one by Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, “If Howard Bloom is only 10 percent right, we’ll have to drastically revise our notions of the universe. There’s no mysticism in The God Problem—no God, no religion, no incommunicable spiritual insights – just the contagious joy of a great mind set loose on the biggest intellectual puzzles humans have ever faced. Whether you’re a scientist or a hyper-curious layperson, Bloom’s argument will rock your world.”
www.howardbloom.net
Q&A: Frances Moore Lappé, Author – ECOMIND: CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK, TO CREATE THE WORLD WE WANT
Written on January 20th, 2013 |
Aired: 12/30/12
In her 18th book, ECOMIND: CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK, TO CREATE THE WORLD WE WANT, Frances Moore Lappé argues that much of what is wrong with the world, from eroding soil to eroding democracies, results from ways of thinking that are out of sync with human nature and nature’s rhythms. Humans are doers, she says. But our capacity for doing is undermined by seven “thought traps” that leave us mired in fear, guilt, and despair — none of which are motivators to action.
Drawing on the latest research in climate studies, anthropology, and neuroscience, she weaves her analysis together with stories of real people the world over, who, having shifted some basic thought patterns, now shift the balance of power in our world. Chapter-by-chapter, Lappé takes us from “thought trap” to “thought leap,” and with each shift, challenges become opportunities.
www.smallplanet.org
Q&A: JONAH SACHS, author – WINNING THE STORY WARS: Why Those Who Tell and Live the Best Stories Will Rule the Future
Written on January 14th, 2013  |
Aired: 01/13/13
My guest this week is JONAH SACHS, author of WINNING THE STORY WARS: Why Those Who Tell and Live the Best Stories Will Rule the Future. He is also Creative Director at Free Range Studios, who are responsible for many wonderful campaigns, two of which – The Meatrix and The Story of Stuff – are among the most successful videos ever in terms of viral circulation to millions. On their home page, you’ll see this quote: “Great stories make great change possible. Your world-changing message deserves to be heard – really heard. But that only happens when you learn to tell a great story.”
Q&A: Osha Gray Davidson – Germany
Written on January 11th, 2013 |
Aired 01/06/12
In the year 2000, Germany got 6% of its energy from renewables. That’s about what we get in the US today. But today Germany gets 25% of its electricity from solar, wind and biomass. And Germany is not exactly the American Southwest. Perhaps just as impressive and important, 65% of the country’s renewable power capacity is owned by individuals, cooperatives and communities. Clean and decentralized. I’ll be talking with Osha Gray Davidson about how they did it and what we can learn from their story.
Osha is new to me, but I contacted him immediately as soon as I saw his new book CLEAN BREAK: The Story of Germany’s Energy Transformation and What Americans Can Learn from It. As anyone who listens to this show knows, I feel one of the crucial elements in America’s sluggish response to many of our biggest challenges is our ignorance about what other countries do well.
www.oshadavidson.com
Q&A: HARVEY WASSERMAN – Restart San Onofre or Shut It Down?
Written on January 11th, 2013 |
|
Aired 01/06/13
I’ll be talking with longtime anti-nuke activist Harvey Wasserman about where things stand today in terms of nuclear power. What’s going on in the US — are new plants being built, are old ones shutting down? We’ll get an update on Fukushima. And finally, we’ll address the temporary shutdown at San Onofre near San Diego, and the opportunity to shut it down permanently.
Wasserman is a teacher, author, and activist, focusing primarily on election protection and nuclear power. With Bob Fitrakis, he helped break many of the major stories surrounding the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. In 1973 Harvey helped pioneer the global grassroots movement against atomic reactors, helping to organize mass demonstrations at Seabrook, N.H., as well as 1979’s “No Nukes” concerts and rallies, featuring Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, CSN, James Taylor. He edits the NukeFree.org web site, and is senior editor of www.freepress.org. and author or co-author of a dozen books including What Happened in Ohio?, co-authored with Bob Fitrakis and Steve Rosenfeld, Harvey Wasserman’s History of the U.S.and SOLARTOPIA! Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030.
www.harveywasserman.com
