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For 25 years my conversations have sought A World That Just Might Work. I also produced & hosted the podcast series Disruptive for Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
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Saturday 5/10 7pPT & Sunday 5/11 8pPTListen any time to Podcast
PAUL HAWKEN
CARBON: The Tree of Life
The more we know,
the more we know
we don’t know.
Listen any time to Podcast
ERICA CHENOWETH (2019)
WHY CIVIL RESISTANCE WORKS
Regimes fall when protests
involve 3.5% of populationFeatured Podcasts:
BRENDAN BALLOU, Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America
MICHELLE WILDE ANDERSON, Saving Towns and Reviving Discarded America
PAUL HAWKEN, Regeneration – Life at the Center of All We Do
TERRENCE McNALLY, 60s.2.0 meets OK Boomer _______________________________________________________Yuval Noah Harari (2018)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century_________________________________________
Michael Lewis, The Undoing Project (2017)
Tversky, Kahneman and the ways our minds fool us.Link to video
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- PAUL HAWKEN-Step back, reframe, connect-CARBON: The Tree of Life
I don’t say I’m concerned about “the environment.” Rather I see our goal as a healthy relationship with the rest of nature. PAUL HAWKEN’s new book CARBON: The Tree of Life takes a step back from the problem-solving approach of most of his work. He calls us to a deeper understanding of our place in the scheme of things as absolutely essential not just to deal effectively with the climate crisis, but with most of the other ways we fall short of what’s possible in our individual lives as well as the larger world. His two previous books: DRAWDOWN: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming and REGENERATION: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation. You can learn more at paulhawken.com
- THE SQUARE (2013)-Director & Producer of Oscar-nominated doc on Egyptian protests that overthrew Mubarak
When we the people are called to show up in the streets over and over in growing numbers till the powers that enable Trump withdraw support and authoritarian dominoes fall, here’s my 2013 conversation about Egypt’s Arab spring. The documentary THE SQUARE puts you in Tahrir Square as revolution swirls around you. The film follows a handful of activists risking their lives to build a new society. Though the Muslim Brotherhood ultimately replaces one authoritarian rule with another, the protests ended Mubarak’s 30 years of dictatorship. I speak with JEHANE NOUJAIM, Director, KARIM AMER, Producer, and KHALID ABDALLA, participant. Watch: youtube.com/watch?v=2a6SLuVtiVU
- JAMES THORNTON-ClientEarth-Crushing polluters in court around the globe
Wrapping up Earth Month, I speak with JAMES THORNTON, founder of ClientEarth, the preeminent environmental law group, with 300 lawyers holding governments and companies accountable across the globe. He steps down as the group’s president this month after 18 years. Their work training the Chinese – including their Supreme Court – in environmental law is remarkable. What I’ve learned about their successes has given me hope – something that can feel all too endangered these days. Listen in, if you could use a bit of the same. You can learn more at Clientearth.org
Thornton-04-14-2025-transcript
- PAUL HAWKEN (2021)-REGENERATION: Placing Life at the Center of All We Do
Trump sows cruel, careless, criminal, incompetent chaos – even in Earth Month. Here’s my 2021 conversation with PAUL HAWKEN about his book, REGENERATION: ENDING THE CLIMATE CRISIS IN ONE GENERATION, and the organization dedicated to making that a reality. Here’s a chance to step back or sink deeper into the promise and the challenge of making a regenerative society. As an approach, regeneration expands the scope of our response to the challenge of climate change by linking and weaving it with other critical challenges we face – economic inequality, social injustice, and endangered democracy – and placing love of life at the center of all we do.
- Fox’s Lone Liberal-JUAN WILLIAMS-The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement
In 1987, 33-year-old JUAN WILLIAMS wrote the bestselling history Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954–1965, which accompanied the PBS series of the same name. Now 71, after 10 years at NPR and 28 at Fox News, he’s written New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement. He sees this movement rooted in Obama’s 2008 election and highlighted by 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests. We compare the two movements and respond to the current cruel and criminal chaos of Trump 2.0. You can find Juan’s latest commentaries at thehill.com/opinion/columnists/juan-williams/ This episode was recorded as a LiveTalksLA event March 17th, 2025 in LA.
- WHY CIVIL RESISTANCE WORKS-ERICA CHENOWETH (2019) – When nonviolent mass protests involve 3.5%, regimes fall.
HANDS OFF – national mobilization opposing Trump & Musk SATURDAY APRIL 5. Sponsors include Indivisible, MoveOn, Third Act, Our Revolution, Common Cause, People for American Way, Planned Parenthood, UAW, SEIU, many more. Need motivation? Here’s my 2019 conversation with ERICA CHENOWETH, Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School and author of WHY CIVIL RESISTANCE WORKS: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. She’s done the research and run the numbers. When nonviolent mass protests involve 3.5% of the population, regimes are nearly always overthrown.
- What About Climate? ALEXANDER KAUFMAN – natural & political disasters – supply & demand
The destructive pace and scale of Trump2.0 makes it hard to know what deserves and demands our attention. This week we step back from daily news to focus on climate with award-winning journalist ALEXANDER KAUFMAN. We look at the toll of climate related disasters and migration; the latest on the science, what have we learned over the last year or so: the actions of the Trump administration to take us backwards; and the global picture of energy and technology. What’s working? What do we need more of? You can learn more and subscribe to his personal newsletter at kaufman.substack.com.
- How Poor Immigrant Children Succeed in Inner City Philly-SISTERS CONSTANCE TOUEY & JEANNETTE LUCEY
The headlines are full of the cruel, unjust, illegal, unconstitutional, and costly treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration. Here’s my 2019 conversation with SISTERS CONSTANCE TOUEY and JEANNETTE LUCEY. They met in 1984 when both were assigned to a parish K-8 school in inner city Philadelphia. Their book, DO IT BETTER: How the Kids of St. Francis de Sales Exceeded Everyone’s Expectations tells the stories of their 30+ years as principal and 8th grade teacher as they educate and transform the lives of wave after wave of poor immigrant children. I’m proud to have written the book with them.
- Can we the people join forces? DIANA McLAIN SMITH-REMAKING THE SPACE BETWEEN US
It’s up to us. Political parties, political players, and the media promote and profit from our division. We the people have ultimate responsibility for healing our politics and our society. In her book, REMAKING THE SPACE BETWEEN US: How Citizens Can Work Together to Build a Better Future for All, DIANA McLAIN SMITH has good news. The media doesn’t report it, but hundreds of organizations and millions of people are already actively engaged in developing relationships and alliances that can work together in the service of our better angels.Learn more at remakingthespace.org
Diana McLain Smith, 2025 – Transcript
- JULIE BATTILANA-POWER FOR ALL-How do we get it and use it to change the world?
Feeling pissed, panicked, powerless? That’s what they want. How do we turn things around? Here’s my refreshing 2021 conversation with JULIE BATTILANA, Harvard professor and founder of its Social Innovation and Change Initiative about her book POWER FOR ALL. It’s a call not only to understand and assert power in our own lives, but also to collectively use this power to remake society by rebalancing existing power relationships – including racial, gender, financial and political. To learn more, go to Powerforallbook.com