Exploring Nature, Culture and Inner Life

Paul Hawken Life Lessons in Sustainability and Resilience ~Co-presented with Mainstreet Moms and Point Reyes Books~ Join Michael Lerner in conversation with author, speaker, and activist Paul Hawken about the resilience needed for a sustainable response to our ecological crisis. Paul Hawken Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author. Paul heads the Natural Capital Institute, which has created a hub for global civil society called WiserEarth, a collaboratively written, free content, open source networking platform that links NGOs, funders, business, government, social entrepreneurs, students, organizers, academics, activists, scientists, and citizens. Find out more about Paul on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Mark Finser Social Finance Join Michael Lerner in this conversation with socially responsible financier Mark Finser about his work with RSF Social Finance. Mark A. Finser Mark is chair of the board of RSF Social Finance. RSF Social Finance provides innovative investing, lending, and philanthropic services to catalyze the growth of organizations creating a more sustainable future. Mark grew RSF’s assets from $6,000 in 1984 to $120M today. Since 1984, RSF has made a total of $130M in mission-related loans to social enterprises. Mark brings communities of philanthropists and socially responsible investors together to further RSF’s mission: to transform the way we work with money. Mark is an advisor to the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and Sophia House, a shelter for homeless mothers and children. He leads TBL Capital, a sustainable venture fund he founded in 2007. Mark has a lifelong interest in biodynamic agriculture, integrative medicine, and meditation. He lives with his family in Mill Valley, California. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Charles Halpern Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~ Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Charles Halpern—a pioneer in the public interest law movement, a successful public interest entrepreneur, an innovator in legal education, and a long-time meditation practitioner and advocate—about his book, Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom. The book illustrates the life-enhancing benefits of integrating a commitment to social justice with the cultivation of wisdom. Charles Halpern Charles is social entrepreneur and a pioneer in legal education, public interest advocacy, and philanthropy. The founder of the nation’s first public interest law firm, and a major public interest law school, he ran the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and was the founder of Demos, a New York-based think tank. During his years of activism, he began to see ways to develop his inner resources to complement his cognitive and adversarial skill, a journey described in his book, Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom (Berrett-Koehler). Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Jed Emerson Investing for the Earth and the Common Good Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Jed Emerson—international leader in the field of strategic philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. In 2000, Jed began focusing upon his interest in the Blended Value Proposition (BVP), which states that instead of operating in terms of non-profit and for-profit constructs or a double bottom-line, there is a single, blended value proposition for both for-profit and nonprofit firms, as well as philanthropy and capital investments, with multiple value components and generated returns. Jed Emerson Jed is senior fellow with Generation Foundation, fellow with Said Business School at Oxford University, and past founder and executive director of Roberts Enterprise Development Fund. Find out more about Jed on his website. He is recognized as an international leader in the field of strategic philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and blended value investing. His career has spanned work in management, academia, investing and human services. He has launched nonprofit ventures, lead foundation initiatives and engaged in research assessing global innovations in sustainable investing and finance. His work on alternative investing, nonprofit capital markets, foundation strategy, Social Return on Investment frameworks, social purpose business development and other areas of practice has been viewed as significant in terms of its broad contribution to the field and efforts to support others engaged in the community application of business skills and practice. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Jerry Mander Will Globalization Soon Be Over? Will globalization soon be over? What do climate change and resource depletion mean for the dominant paradigm? Join Michael Lerner in conversation with social critic, activist, and author Jerry Mander. Jerry wrote such iconic books as Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (1977), In the Absence of the Sacred (1991), and Paradigm Wars (2006). Jerry Mander Jerry is the founder and director of the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) a “think tank” and activist community with board and associate members on every continent. IFG has focused since 1994 on exposing the negative impacts of economic globalization on nature, human communities, equity, and democracy. IFG publishes reports, positions papers, and books, and also produces private and public education events, from private strategic seminars to large teach-ins. Best known among these were the huge events in Seattle in 1999 in opposition to the World Trade Organization. IFG has been generally credited with being among the leading international organizations that have defined, articulated and acted on a comprehensive critique of economic globalization. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Community Forum Mapping Local Resilience in Bolinas ~Co-presented with the Mainstreet Moms~ Participants came for images and stories from the pioneering Bolinas Community Plan “old guard” days. Bolinas architect Steve Matson showed his beautiful and evolving maps, and explained how he and the Regenerative Design Institute students at the Commonweal Garden have started to visualize more local economy, diverse and creative food production, wild paths for wildlife, community-building, and more—on paper. One of our event attendees, Bill Braasch, posted a blog with the presentation. Many thanks to Bill for the slideshow. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Michael Samuels, MD Demeter, Buddha, and the Bears: Ancient Roots of Contemporary Spiritual Healing The Eleusian Mysteries, the story of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, was the most important art and healing ritual for consciousness transformation in history. The mysteries were enacted in ancient Greece for 2000 years. The Tibetan Buddha realms provide the technology of guided imagery and were the high point of body, mind, and spirit technology for thousands of years. The Bear Dance conducted currently in southern California has healed the Chumash people for thousands of years. These three rituals help us understand how we can heal patients with spiritual tools in present day medicine. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Michael Samuels about his current work with all three forms to develop a contemporary spiritual technology to aid in healing patients today. Michael Samuels, MD Michael is the founder and director of Art As a Healing Force, a project started in 1990 devoted to healing oneself, others, the community and the earth with creativity and art making. Michael teaches art and healing at San Francisco State University, Institute of Holistic Studies. He is a bear dancer with the Chumash People. He has used creativity, art, and guided imagery with patients with life threatening illness and life crises for more than thirty years in private practice and in consultation. He lectures and does workshops nationwide for physicians, nurses, artists, and patients on how to use creativity and spirituality in healing. He is the author of 21 books including the best selling Well Body Book, Well Baby Book, Well Pregnancy Book, and Seeing With the Mind’s Eye, one of the first books on guided imagery. Find out more about Michael on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Annie Leonard The Story of Stuff: Movie Screening and Community Forum From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. Join Commonweal’s Charlotte Brody in a conversation with environmentalist and film maker Annie Leonard. Annie Leonard Annie is an expert in international sustainability and environmental health issues, with more than 20 years of experience investigating factories and dumps around the world. Coordinator of the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, a funder collaborative working for a sustainable and just world, Annie communicates worldwide about the impact of consumerism and materialism on global economies and international health. Annie’s efforts over the past two decades to raise awareness about international sustainability and environmental health issues has included work with Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance, Health Care without Harm, Essential Information, and Greenpeace International. She currently serves on the boards of GAIA, the International Forum for Globalization and the Environmental Health Fund. Find out more about Annie on her Story of Stuff website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Binka Le Breton Rainforests and Slavery Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Binka Le Breton, writer and lecturer on environmental and human rights. Binka Le Breton Binka lives on a Brazilian rainforest farm, runs the Iracambi Rainforest Research Center, lectures and broadcasts internationally on rainforest and slavery topics, is president of Amigos de Iracambi, is on the board of directors of the Keystone Center, and, in her spare time, writes books. Binka’s most recent book, The Greatest Gift: The Courageous Life and Martyrdom of Sister Dorothy Stang, is based on the 40 years Sister Dorothy Stang spent aiding in the struggle of poor farmers for land rights against logging and development companies in Brazil. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Lloyd Kahn What Really Happened in the Sixties? A longtime Bolinas resident, Lloyd was living in San Francisco in the 1960s and has a powerful narrative about what he believes really happened between 1963 and 1967. He has some wonderful visual images that capture that iconic moment in time. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with author, publisher, and Bolinas resident Lloyd Kahn about the decade and shared some slides from Home Work—evidence that the power of the 1960s lives on in the buildings visionary home builders are still creating today. Event attendees Bill Braasch has a slideshow of the event on his blog. Thanks, Bill! Lloyd Kahn Lloyd creates visually exquisite and conceptually visionary books about the buildings we live in. His most recent book is Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter. Lloyd Kahn is the editor and publisher of Shelter Publications in Bolinas, California. He was formerly the shelter editor for the Whole Earth Catalog, the editor of the 1973 book Shelter. Shelter Publications has been in business for 37 years and has also published the international bestseller Stretching, by Bob Anderson. Their latest book is The Barefoot Architect: A Manual On Green Building. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.