

Exploring Nature, Culture and Inner Life
The New School at Commonweal
The New School presents conversations, book signings, art, and lectures with thought and action leaders of our time. We are a learning community of 4,000 people in the Bay Area and around the world dedicated to learning what matters.
TNS focuses on the emergent, seeking out the thought and action leaders who are bringing discussion, beauty, and change to the world. We present events and podcast them in many areas: arts and sciences, health and the environment, and inner life. We follow streams of inquiry, including our End-of-Life Conversations, and series on Resilience, Archetypal Psychology, and Healing Circles.
TNS focuses on the emergent, seeking out the thought and action leaders who are bringing discussion, beauty, and change to the world. We present events and podcast them in many areas: arts and sciences, health and the environment, and inner life. We follow streams of inquiry, including our End-of-Life Conversations, and series on Resilience, Archetypal Psychology, and Healing Circles.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 20, 2007 • 53min
2007.12.31: Ursula Goodenough, PhD with Michael Lerner - The Sacred Depths of Nature
Ursula Goodenough, PhD
The Sacred Depths of Nature
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with professor and author Ursula Goodenough about her work and book, The Sacred Depths of Nature.
As well as her biology courses, Ursula co-teaches The Epic of Evolution, with a physicist and a geologist, for non-science students. Her research has focused on the cell biology and (molecular) genetics of the sexual phase of the life cycle of the unicellular eukaryotic green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and, more recently, on the evolution of the genes governing mating-related traits.
Ursula Goodenough
Ursula is professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the author of The Sacred Depths of Nature (Oxford University Press, 1998), which offers religious perspectives on our scientific understandings of nature, particularly biology at a molecular level.
Ursula was educated at Radcliffe and Barnard Colleges, Columbia University, and Harvard University. She did two years of postdoctoral work at Harvard, and was assistant and associate professor of biology at Harvard from 1971-1978 before moving to Washington University.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Dec 20, 2007 • 58min
2007.12.21: Dr Martha Herbert with Michael Lerner - Can Autistic Children Recover?
Dr Martha Herbert
Can Autistic Children Recover?
A pediatric neurologist and a brain development researcher, Dr. Martha Herbert’s main focus is autism. She received the first Cure Autism Now Innovator Award and directed the Cure Autism Now Foundation’s Brain Development Initiative. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Herbert about the new paradigm of autism research and treatments.
Martha Herbert, MD
Martha is the co-chair of the Environmental Health Advisory Board of the Autism Society of America and directs their Treatment Guided Research Initiative (TGRI). Her research program includes studying what makes some autistic brains unusually large and how the parts of the brain are connected and coordinated with each other. She is director of the TRANSCEND Research Program, Treatment Research and Neuroscience Evaluation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Martha earned her medical degree at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Prior to her medical training she obtained a doctoral degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Martha trained in pediatrics at Cornell University Medical Center and in neurology and child neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where she has remained. Find out more about Martha on her website.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Dec 13, 2007 • 58min
2007.12.14: Gary Cohen - Green Chemistry, Green Materials, Green Energy: A Toxic-Free Future
Gary Cohen
Green Chemistry, Green Materials, Green Energy: A Toxic-Free Future
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Gary Cohen, executive director of the Environmental Health Fund in Boston and co-director of Health Care Without Harm—a global partnership for environmentally responsible healthcare.
Gary Cohen
Gary is one of the foremost strategists and activists in the international community of those seeking to move us toward a world free of toxic chemicals. Gary is a founder and co-executive director of Health Care Without Harm, the international campaign for environmentally responsible healthcare.
Gary is also the Executive Director of the Boston-based Environmental Health Fund, which works on domestic and global chemical safety issues. Gary is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Sambhavna Clinic and Documentation Center in Bhopal, India, which provides free medical care to the survivors of the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal. He has been working on environmental health issues for twenty years and has published numerous articles on environmental health issues in the United States and India. Gary is an advisor to the John Merck Fund on issues of environmental health and a co-founder of Green Harvest Technologies, a bio-based materials start up. He was awarded the Skoll Global Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006 and the Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service Award in 2007.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Dec 13, 2007 • 59min
2007.12.14: Paul J. Growald with Michael Lerner - The Way of the Bees (and Other Pollinators)
Paul J. Growald
The Way of the Bees (and Other Pollinators)
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with investor, venture philanthropist, and beekeeper Paul J. Growald.
While a long-time resident of San Francisco, Paul served on and chaired the board of directors of the California League of Conservation Voters for more than 20 years. He currently lives on a farm in Vermont, is married, the father of two college-aged sons and the keeper of tens of thousands of honeybees.
Paul J Growald
Paul is chairman and founder of the Coevolution Institute and its Pollinator Partnership including the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. He is also a trustee of the Rockefeller Family Fund and donor/advisor to the Growald Family Fund. His main philanthropic interests are in the conservation of ecosystem services as exemplified by pollinators, in the minimization, mitigation, and management of climate change, and in policies and politics that impact conservation.
Paul has been an amateur entomologist and naturalist since childhood. Following graduate school Paul worked as a special correspondent for The Washington Post, and then founded what became the Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose, California. He was appointed by the Governor as the first public member of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Dec 12, 2007 • 33min
2007.12.13: Carl Anthony with Michael Lerner - Community Forum: Environmental Justice
Carl Anthony
Community Forum: Environmental Justice
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Carl Anthony, one of the preeminent thought leaders in environmental justice in the United States.
Carl is the author of many publications including Eco-Psychology and the Deconstruction of Whiteness and a ground breaking chapter in Theodore Roszak’s book, Eco-Psychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind.
Carl Anthony
Carl is the founder and was for 12 years the executive director of the Urban Habitat Program, one of the oldest environmental justice organizations in the country. With a colleague, Luke Cole at the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, he published and edited the Race, Poverty and Environment Journal, the only environmental justice periodical in the country.
From 1991 through 1997, Anthony served as president of Earth Island Institute, an international environmental organization to protect and conserve the global biosphere. He taught at Columbia University and has been an advisor to the Stanford University Law School on issues of environmental justice. Anthony has a professional degree in architecture from Columbia University.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Nov 1, 2007 • 58min
2007.11.02: Virginia Veach, PhD with Michael Lerner - A Life Exploring Healing
Virginia Veach, PhD
A Life Exploring Healing
Virginia was a psycho-oncologist, psychotherapist, and educator who worked extensively with people with cancer and many other life-threatening diseases. From family therapy to war zones, from pain management to death and dying, her efforts to ease the effects of war, illness, and environmental degradation took her throughout the world.
In this conversation with Michael Lerner, she describes how she does her work and some of the major influences on the development of her unique approach to healing.
Virginia Veach, PhD
Virginia was a psycho-oncologist, psychotherapist, and educator with a private practice in Marin County, California, who worked extensively with people with cancer and many other life-threatening diseases. The Charlotte Selver Oral History and Book Project has a wonderful interview with Virginia, where she speaks about the relevance of sensory awareness for her work, how it helped her living through severe illness, and how it informed her engagement in a Cambodian refugee camp.
Virginia died in October 2012 in Point Reyes Station, CA.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Nov 1, 2007 • 58min
2007.11.02: Nancy E Adler, PhD with Michael Lerner -How Increasing Income Disparities Affect Health
Nancy E Adler, PhD
How Increasing Income Disparities Affect Health
Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Nancy Adler, professor of psychology at the University of California, vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and director of the Center for Health and Community.
Nancy Adler
Nancy Adler is professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and director of the Center for Health and Community. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and is currently the chair of an IOM committee on psychosocial services for cancer survivors.
Nancy’s earlier research examined the utility of decision models for understanding health behaviors with particular focus on reproductive health. As director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health, she coordinates research spanning social, psychological, and biological mechanisms by which socioeconomic status influences health.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Oct 10, 2007 • 58min
2007.10.11: Krista Tippett with Michael Lerner - Speaking of Faith
Krista Tippett
Speaking of Faith
A journalist and former diplomat, Krista Tippett came up with the idea for her book and radio show Speaking of Faith while consulting for the internationally renowned Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. She has hosted and produced the program since the Speaking of Faith project began as an occasional feature in 2000, before taking on its current form as a national weekly program in 2003.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Krista about her work and her conversations about faith, meaning, and religion.
Krista Tippett
Krista is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and a former Fulbright Scholar. She has reported and written for The New York Times, Newsweek, the BBC, and other international news organizations. Tippett also served as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to West Germany. In 2007, Viking published her first book, Speaking of Faith—Why Religion Matters, and How to Talk About It. Of that book and her program, journalist and author Yossi Klein Halevi has written, “there is no more trustworthy guide to the challenges of faith in a dangerous world than Krista Tippett.”
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Oct 5, 2007 • 58min
07.10.05: Paul Gorman - The National Religious Partnership for the Environment Part 2
Paul Gorman
The National Religious Partnership for the Environment
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Paul Gorman, founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993.
Paul Gorman
Paul is founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993, received the Heinz Award for the Environment in 1999. A graduate of Yale and Oxford University, Paul worked in the U.S. Congress and served as press secretary and speechwriter to Senator Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential campaign. He taught at the City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College and Adelphi University, hosted a public radio program for 29 years and co-authoredHow Can I Help? From 1985-91, Paul served as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine’s vice president for program, overseeing community-based initiatives and helping organize international conferences on religious and environment in Assisi, Oxford, and Moscow.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Oct 4, 2007 • 58min
2007.10.05: Paul Gorman - The National Religious Partnership for the Environment Part 1
Paul Gorman
The National Religious Partnership for the Environment
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Paul Gorman, founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993.
Paul Gorman
Paul is founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993, received the Heinz Award for the Environment in 1999. A graduate of Yale and Oxford University, Paul worked in the U.S. Congress and served as press secretary and speechwriter to Senator Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential campaign. He taught at the City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College and Adelphi University, hosted a public radio program for 29 years and co-authoredHow Can I Help? From 1985-91, Paul served as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine’s vice president for program, overseeing community-based initiatives and helping organize international conferences on religious and environment in Assisi, Oxford, and Moscow.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.