Aired 01/30/11

KIRK BOYD teaches international human rights, civil rights, free speech and constitutional law at UC Berkeley and is Executive Director of the 2048 Project. He is the author of a new book, 2048: Humanity's Agreement to Live Together -- The International Movement for Enforceable Human Rights.

http://www.2048.berkeley.edu/

 

Aired 01/23/11

MARK HERTSGAARD, a fellow of The Open Society Institute, The Nation's environment correspondent, covers climate change for Vanity Fair, Time and Die Zeit and has written for many of the world's leading newspapers and magazines. He is the author of the highly acclaimed study of the media during the Reagan years, On Bended Knee, as well as Earth Odyssey; A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles; The Eagle's Shadow, and his newest, HOT: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth.

http://www.markhertsgaard.com/

 

Aired 01/16/11

PARAG KHANNA is a Senior Research Fellow in the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. In 2008, he was named one of Esquire's "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century," a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, and one of fifteen people on WIRED magazine's "Smart List." Khanna holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, and Bachelors and Masters degrees from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is author of the international best-seller The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order and his newest, How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance.

http://www.paragkhanna.com/

 

 

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/