The New School at Commonweal

Join Dr. Lael Duncan and TNS host Steve Heilig for a wide-ranging discussion of innovations and controversies in end-of-life care. Lael is the medical director of consulting services for the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, a Sacramento-based non-profit organization and interdisciplinary partnership of thought-leaders dedicated to promoting high-quality, compassionate care for everyone who is seriously ill or nearing the end of life. She is an expert educator on Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST), end-of-life communication between patients and providers, advance care planning, and legislation that impacts end-of-life care in California. Dr. Duncan consults with health care organizations, medical providers, and communities to improve access to care that honors patient values.

Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in conversation with one of the most renowned voices of our time, ecophilosopher Joanna Macy. Joanna is a scholar of Buddhism, living systems theory, and deep ecology. Respected in the movements for peace, global justice, and ecological sanity, she interweaves her scholarship with six decades of activism. As the root teacher of the Work that Reconnects Network, her ground-breaking theoretical framework and interactive practices combine spiritual breakthrough with social transformation. Joanna Macy, PhD Joanna’s wide-ranging work addresses psychological issues of the nuclear age, the cultivation of an ecological identity, and the clarifying resonance between Buddhist teachings and contemporary science. Her work is used around the world to help people turn despair and apathy in the face of social and ecological crises into constructive, collaborative action. It brings a new way of seeing the world—as our larger living body—freeing us from the assumptions and attitudes that now threaten all life on Earth. Macy graduated from Wellesley College and received her Ph.D in Religious Studies from Syracuse University. She is the author of twelve books, including Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects; World as Lover, World as Self; Active Hope: How to face the mess we’re in without Going Crazy; and three volumes of translations of Rilke’s poetry.

2018:04.16 - Rachel Naomi Remen - Out of the Fire: A Time of Discovery by The New School at Commonweal

We are being called to a new mode of being human in the age of the Anthropocene. We are discovering our role within a vast evolving universe that gave birth to us and that orients and grounds us. We are seeking ways to nurture ourselves and the life community in an age of disruption and diminishment. Journey of the Universe narrates the epic story of the unfolding of the Universe, Earth, and humans over billions of years. Our discussion will explore this Emmy Award winning film, book, and conversation series that can inspire transformative and healing change for a flourishing future. Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Yale Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker about the significance of our universe story in the environmental and social challenges of our times.

Noted actor, narrator, author and activist Peter Coyote discusses the current state of money and falsehood in politics and the news.

In the second of our TNS-Sonoma Living in the Ashes series events exploring issues related to the 2017 North Bay fires, join TNS Host Irwin Keller in conversation with Sharyle Patton, director of the Health and Environment Program and the Biomonitoring Resource Center at Commonweal. Much of Sharyle’s work involves understanding and testing the effects of toxic chemicals on our bodies. Particularly, she has been working with firefighters, researching the effects of both smoke inhalation from fires and the chemicals used to fight them. We’ll explore what that research might mean for county residents in the aftermath of the fires. Sharyle Patton Sharyle founded and has been directing the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Centerfor 20 years. Her program, working with such entities as Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, the Environmental Working Group, California Department of Public Environmental Health Investigations Branch, International Association of Fire Fighters, and the NGO network, Coming Clean Collaborative, has pioneered the implementation of biomonitoring projects initiated by community-based organizations and the communication of the data from such projects to project participants. Sharyle is also special projects director for Commonweal’s Collaborative on Health and Environment, a network of more than 3,000 health professionals, scientists, and representatives from health-affected groups interested in exploring linkages between environment and health outcomes. From 1998 to 2001, Sharyle was northern co-chair for the International POPs Elimination Network, which worked closely with governments to formulate the Stockholm Convention, a legally binding treaty that eliminates or severely restricts 12 of POPs chemicals.

Noted author, editor and futurist Stephan A. Schwartz in conversation with Michael Lerner.

Join TNS Host Michael Lerner and Commonweal Integrative Law Institute’s Pauline Tesler for a conversation with Dr. Fred Luskin about his work on the powers of forgiveness. The conversation will explore the intersection of Fred’s work with Commonweal’s many healing programs and with the Integrative Law Institute’s work on conflict resolution in legal disputes involving important human relationships. Dr. Luskin’s forgiveness work has been applied in veteran’s hospitals and churches to help in resolving legal disputes, with cancer patients as psycho education, and in psychotherapy. Dr. Luskin’s work has been made into a PBS pledge drive video called Forgive for Good. He has been interviewed many hundreds of times in world-wide media, including the New York Times, O Magazine, Today Show, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Huffington Post, and CBS Morning News.

Hanmin Liu and Jennifer Mei of Wildflowers Institute in conversation with Commonweal president and TNS host, Michael Lerner.

Historian and author Adam Hochschild wrote King Leopold's Ghost, To End All Wars, and Bury the Chains. He was a civil rights worker in Mississippi in 1964, a co-founder of Mother Jones, and a writer and editor for Ramparts. This conversation had a slide presentation given during the first approximately 45 minutes. A PDF of that presentation is available at the following link so that listeners may generally follow along: http://tns.commonweal.org/new-school/audiofiles/podcast/Adam_Hochschild_Spain_slides.pdf