Spirit In Action

The Road to Zero Wealth: How the Racial Wealth Divide is Hollowing Out Americas Middle Class, a report co-authored by ProsperityNow.org and The Institute for Policy Studies (see also Inequality.org). Dedrick Asante-Muhammad is Senior Fellow, Racial Wealth Divide at ProsperityNow.org, formerly with the NAACP & Al Sharpton's National Action Team. Related resources include Bridging the Racial Wealth Divide on FB and The Race & Wealth Podcast. Featured Music: Plunder - by Polar Levine Original Air Date: 11/04/2017

Lucy Duncan does work that touches on all of the important issues of the day, like Palestine, Racism, and Immigration, in her role as Friends Relations Director for the AFSC. Check out the AFSC's program, Sanctuary Everywhere, and Lucy's Friends Journal articles, Stumbling Forward Toward Racial Justice and The Courageous Many: Quakers and AFSC Work Together for Peace and Justice. Featured Music: Immigrant - by John McCutcheon

Geoffrey Gates, MD, in addition to a life of professional healing work, book-ended his career with some off-the-beaten path world service. Though registered as a CO during the Vietnam War, he served as a member of IVS (International Voluntary Services) in a Vietnam war zone, 1970-71, and after his retirement served with the Peace Corps, Tanzania.

Timmon B. Wallis has spent his life building the tools of peace & getting rid of the weapons of war. In Disarming the Nuclear Argument: The Truth about Nuclear Weapons, Tim dispells the myths, clears the fog, & inspires for a better, safer, world. Opportunely timed with the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to ICAN - International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, with whom Tim partnered, the book provides background to understanding the momentous step forward of the Treaty on the Ban of Nuclear Weapons. Tim's Ph.D. is in Peace Studies, and he's worked with Peace Brigades Intl, Peaceworkers UK, Nonviolent Peaceforce, and, most recently, with Peace & Disarmament for Quaker Peace & Social Witness in the UK. COMING SOON - NuclearBan.us website - but not yet. Featured Music: Bombs Into Bread - from Bold Songs of Peace, Justice, & Spirit

David LaMotte is author of Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness and White Flour, co-founder of PEG Partners, Abraham Jam, and Let's Be Neighbors, and recently led the Quaker Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Task Group. And he makes great music. Featured Music: You Can Do That - by David LaMotte

Stressful, challenging, daunting times call for special medicine. Al Gini, author of The Importance of Being Funny: Why We Need More Jokes in Our Lives, believes that humor is a vital ingredient in good emotional/mental health. Al is Professor of Business Ethics at the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University, and for decades was the "resident philosopher" on NPR's affiliate WBEZ in Chicago. He's written oodles of books, humor-tinted and very serious, including God Can Quote Me on That: Quotations on the Meaning of Life, The Seven Deadly Sins Sampler: An Anthology, among others. Original Air Date: 09/30/2017

Brian Eastman is a hub for Alt-Med info - resources of non-mainstream US healing modalities, which he researches and shares in the Cincinnatti area, but he also has evolved his own technique to help folks produce amazing changes in themselves in a very short time. He calls it LIIFT (Life Improving Internal Focus Technique), and he demonstrates it today with an audience. You can call him at 513-724-4325.

Pamela Boyce Simms refers to herself as a Buddhist-Quaker Evolutionary Culture designer. She has worked as convenor of the Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH), and currently represents Quaker Earthcare Witness at the United Nations. New Jersey born-and-raised, Pamela's journey has included decades living in West Africa and living in a Buddhist monastery.

Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio explores climate apocalypse, fear, & how to deliver the message effectively, in the first part of today's program, and in part two he'll talk about pets & climate change. Peterson speaks with Halldor Bjrnsson, the Head of the Atmospheric Research Group at Veurstofa Iceland also known as the Icelandic Met Office, Dr. Kristian Bjrkdahl who has earned a PhD in rhetoric and continues his studies at the Centre for Development and the Environment, at the University of Oslo, and Dr. Steva Stowell-Hardcastle.

Kevin Basl served served 2 tours of duty in Iraq and was profoundly changed by the experience. He is among the vets who use the arts for healing. Kevin's work is with Warrior Writers, Combat Paper NJ, and through his music, some of which he recorded in Iraq during his 2nd tour. All songs in this program are performed by Kevin Basl, and they are written by those noted: Sleepwalking - written by Kevin Basl The Bonus Blues - written by Elsie Janis & Her Gang Soldier's Heart - written by Jacob George

Pamela Haines calls us to a right relationship with finance. With a BA in Social Ecology, MA in Labor & Women's History, and as a self-taught economist, she looks to the future & seeks to foster integrity. She was lead author of Toward a Right Relationship with Finance. She is part of the Eco-Justice Collaborative of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and a member of their Friends Economic Integrity Project.

There has been a dramatic evolution of peace & justice activism over the past century, often pioneered by a Quaker organization called the AFSC. Author Gregory Barnes chronicles the ins-and-outs of that growth & change in his book, A Centennial History of the American Friends Service Committee (see a review in Friends Journal here). blazing the path in terms of conscientious objection, non-proselytizing aid, affirmative action, loving the "enemy", and much more.

There are many ways to participate in world healing, among them by inspiring us to come together - even folks from the other side, and what better way to do that with song, humor, compassion, and Billy Jonas. Billy is a creative genius and musical pied piper, leading us where we need to go, and doing it by example, not lecture. All Featured Music is by Billy Jonas: To Be One - from Happy Accidents More Love (Karleigh's Song) - unreleased - available on Youtube This We Know - from Get Real Build It Back Again - from Build It Back Again I Mean - from Build It Back Again

Bobby Kennedy started out aligned with conservative commie-chasing Joe McCarthy, but ended up an inspirational, hard-fighting liberal. Larry Tye scrutinizes the history and make a case that we need just such a transformed bridge-builder today. That and much more in Larry's book, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon

Robert Wolf, author of Building the Agricultural City: A Handbook for Rural Renewal advocates a move away from globalization and toward regionalism. Robert is co-host today, completely in charge of the 2nd half of this program. Robert is also author of American Mosaic, and has a vision of government small enough to be responsive, but large enough to accommodate the diverse needs of a community.

One of the most informative & persuasive writers ever, Gordon Lafer is author of The One Percent Solution: How Corporations are Remaking America One State At A Time. Both empowering & maddening, the piercing expos of the destruction of labor & the middle class by moneyed interests is essential to mounting an effective reply. Gordon Lafer is a political economist and Associate Professor at the Labor Education and Research Center of the University of Oregon in Eugene. Original Air Date: 05/21/2017

All ages, all personalities, all disciplines have their roles in world-healing. Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio is host today, speaking with all kinds of folks, including an environmental engineer in the Caribbean, Dr. Hugh Sealy, 14-year old climate change advocate Adia Samba-Quee, social change activist & teacher Eileen Flanagan, college-age volunteer lobbyist Amani Thurman, & master story-teller Aaron Thier.

Some things just beg to be called evil, and when we see them we cry out "Why?" Charlene Embrey Burns traces 1000's of years of answers to that question in Christian Understandings of Evil: The Historical Trajectory, and talks of her grappling with evil in both personal and wider religious experience.

North Carolina in 2017 is surely not the most welcoming place for a trans guy, yet it's where Liam Hooper is doing the work he's called to do. As Minister of Welcome & Beyond at Parkway UCC, Winston Salem, NC, Liam delivers a message of inclusion and strength to government, institutions, and individuals all around the state, rabble-rousing, preaching, and lecturing to make a difference. Original Air Date: 04/30/2017

Joe Luginbill is a prodigy and unstoppable dynamo. As Eau Claire's youngest ever elected official, he joined the school board at 20, powerfully influencing policies on transgender, homeless, sustainability issues, and much more. Strong, young, local, progressive officials are crucial in healing our nation, and Joe stands high among them. With a special leading to create a safety net or launching pad for young people with few or no other good options, he has established the Luginbill's Children Foundation, including a transitional home for youth called Smile House. Joe has also created a book, Chip the Cat Goes to Bat and has many other projects on the burner, promising to protect and enrich the most vulnerable youth of our society.