The New Dimensions Café

Margaret Wheatley is an internationally acclaimed writer, speaker, and teacher. She is co-founder and President Emerita of The Berkana Institute, a charitable foundation that works with people around the world who strengthen their communities using the wisdom and wealth already present in their people, traditions, and environment. Wheatley's books include Leadership and the New Science  (Berrett-Kohler 1998), Perseverance  (Berrett-Kohler 2010) and So Far from Home: Lost and Found In Our Brave New World (Berrett-Kohler 2012)Interview Date: 12/11/2012   Tags: Persevere, relationship, community, General Sherman, Civil War, supporting one another, buddies, Social Change/Politics, Philosophy

Sy Montgomery is a naturalist, documentary scriptwriter and author of many books which often include stories of her encounters with animals. To research her books, films and articles, Sy Montgomery has been chased by an angry silver back gorilla in Zaire and bitten by a vampire bat in Costa Rica, worked in a pit of 18,000 snakes in Manitoba, and handled a wild tarantula in French Guiana. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University System of New Hampshire. Her many books have garnered numerous awards, and include: Search for the Golden Moon Bear: Science and Adventure in Pursuit of a New Species (Chelsea Green Publishing 2009), The Good, Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood (Ballantine Books 2007), Birdology: Adventures with a Pack of Hens, a Peck of Pigeons, Cantankerous Crows, Fierce Falcons, Hip Hop Parrots, Baby Hummingbirds, and One Murderously Big Living Dinosaur (Atria Books 2011), The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness. (Atria Books 2015)Tags: Sy Montgomery, octopus, suckers of an octopus, evolution, octopus enrichment manual, octopus venom, octopus arms, Nancy King’s octopus Ollie, Octopuses like TV, Animals, Ecology, Nature, Environment, Science

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 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, justice, Jesus, freedom, oppression, nuclear weapons, racism, feminist hermeneutics, Bible, Mary Magdalene, Mariam in Hebrew scripture, book of Exodus, Moses, Valarie Kaur, Sikh, darkness of the womb, dignity, Ayn Rand, Metamorphosis of a caterpillar, imaginal cells, giving birth, John Lewis, Black Lives Matter, voting rights, activism, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rebecca Solnit, hope, cloud of witnesses, Václav Havel, lamentation, lamenting, power of the lament, Royal Reality, Religion, Social Change/Politics

Betsy Wiersma is the founder of the CampExperience<tm> Network. It was started in 2005 and has raised over $1 million dollars and in-kind support for charities in Colorado and around the world. She's the owner of Wiersma Experience Marketing, offering creative strategic solutions for organizations and businesses and is host of Boost Power Podcast. 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, do good have fun, sisterhood, Camp Experience Network, love as a business plan, power of the purse, women who rocks, mentoring, networking, women’s network, catalyst for good, choosing joy, lights on energy, Cathy Hawk, Clarity International, fashion as artistic expression, Paralympics, Sock-It-To-Me project, podcasting, Arts & Creativity, Community, Women’s Studies

Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller, author, scholar of mythology, and student of ritual in traditional cultures. He has scoured the world to bring to us meaningful folk tales that tap into ancestral sources of wisdom, and acts as a guide to connect them to the stories we are living today. Meade is the founder of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation. He also offers regular Living Myths Podcasts, and is author of many books including Why the World Doesn't End: Tales of Renewal in Times of Loss (GreenfirePress 2012) and Awakening the Soul: A Deep Response to a Troubled World (GreenFire Press 2018)Interview Date: 11/6/2020   Tags: Michael Meade, mythic imagination, pull of opposites, maturity, polarization, rites of passage, life is not binary, tribe, wisdom, soul, winners and losers, dire straits, Jason and the Argonauts, comunita, community, vertical imagination, Carl Jung, 2020 election, inclusive humanity, interconnected, Coronavirus, breath, Mythology, Social Change/Politics, Philosophy, community

Sim Van der Ryn is an architect, author, and educator. He is President of The Ecological Design Collaborative and has, for over forty years, been at the forefront of integrating ecological principles into the built environment, creating multi-scale solutions driven by nature’s intelligence. He served as California’s first energy conscious state architect and is emeritus professor of architecture and environmental design at the University of California, Berkeley. He was founder of the Farallones Institute, now known as the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center.His books include The Integral Urban House: Self-Reliant Living in the City (Random House 1982), Sustainable Communities (co-author Peter Calthorpe) (Sierra Club Books 1991), Ecological Design: Tenth Anniversary Edition (co-author Stuart Cowan) (Island Press 2007), The Toilet Papers: Recycling Waste and Conserving Water (Chelsea Green Publishing1999) 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, empathic design, architecture, homes in Samoa, community based architecture, Real Goods Solar Living Center, housing, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Social Change/Politics, Arts & Creativity

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 Huffington Post. 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, denial, regret, anger, grief, transgender, trans, bisexual, gay, LGBTQIA, pediatric training regarding gender issues, Iranian-American, transition in gender, Social Change/Politics, Parenting, Relationship/Partnership/Sexuality

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. He 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, Nature Deficit Disorder, species loneliness, noticing life outside your window, crows, nature is the oldest language, Louv’s dog Banner, dogs, wolves, wolves domesticated humans, anthill, embedded in nature, reciprocity principle, conservation is no longer enough, reimaging our cities, zoonotic diseases, biodiversity collapse, climate disruption, climate change, Glenn Albrecht, feminism, gay rights, civil rights, imaginative hope, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Social Change/Politics, Science

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 (co-author Patricia Hopkins) (Bantam 1991), The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (co-author 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, Ph.D., aging, story of Sophie the baker, asking questions, storytelling, ripening time, Hameed Almass, A.H. Almass, Diamond Approach, not knowing, staying in the question, Philosophy

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