Exploring Nature, Culture and Inner Life The New School at Commonweal

Each year, the gas and oil industry produces billions of tons of waste — much of it toxic and radioactive. The fracking boom has only worsened the problem. Where does this waste go? In this webinar, co-presented with the Collaborative for Health and Environment and the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN), Host Kristin Schafer will explore the topic with author Justin Nobel, Dr. Larysa Dyrszka, and James Brugh, a tribal member of Fort Berthold in western North Dakota.

To follow along with Dr. Dyrszka’s presentation you can download the slide deck here: https://www.healthandenvironment.org/assets/images/Larysa%20Dyrszka%20slides.pdf

Justin Nobel writes on science and environment for United States magazines, literary journals, and investigative sites. His investigation into the radioactivity brought to the surface in oil and gas production was published in 2020 with Rolling Stone Magazine, “America’s Radioactive Secret,” and awarded best long-form narrative by the National Association of Science Writers. Justin’s reports on this in his latest book, Petroleum-238: Big Oil’s Dangerous Secret and the Grassroots Fight to Stop It (Simon & Schuster 2024).

Larysa Dyrszka, MD, is a pediatrician and has been a United Nations representative to ECOSOC with the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations, where her work was focused on children’s rights, particularly health.

James Brugh is a writer, husband and father, and tribal member of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota. He lives in the community of Four Bears and has advocated tirelessly for the protection of his family, the environment, and his community against rampant and relentless oil and gas development.

#commonweal #environmentalhealth #newschoolcommonweal #dirtyoil #radioactiveoilfields #toxicoilfield

~Co-presented with Commonweal’s Collaborative for Health and the Environment~

We’re now in the dangerous, uncharted territory climate scientists have been warning about for decades. Meanwhile, biologists and toxicologists are sounding the alarm about surpassing the “planetary boundary” for chemical pollution, beyond which both ecosystems and our health are endangered. We know climate change and chemical pollution are related in ways that can accelerate both crises, but does their interlinked nature also offer opportunities? Join Host Kristin Schafer with biologist and systems thinker Dr. Elizabeth Sawin and chemicals expert and clean production advocate Beverley Thorpe as they explore opportunities to prioritize solutions that concurrently address climate change and the global crisis of chemical contamination — while also improving public health, equity and economic vitality.

Multisolving Institute a think-do tank that helps people implement solutions that protect the climate while improving, equity, health, biodiversity, economic vitality, and well-being. Beth writes and speaks about multisolving, climate change, and leadership in complex systems for both national and international audiences. Her work has been published widely, including in Non-Profit Quarterly, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, U.S. News, The Daily Climate, and System Dynamics Review. In 2010, Beth co-founded Climate Interactive, which she co-directed until 2021. Since 2014, Beth has participated in the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, a continuing dialogue on issues of climate change and sustainability. She is a biologist with a PhD from MIT who has been analyzing complex systems related to climate change for 25 years. Beth trained in system dynamics and sustainability with Donella Meadows and worked at Sustainability Institute, the research institute founded by Meadows, for 13 years. Beth has two adult daughters and lives in rural Vermont where she and her husband grow as much of their own food as they can manage.

Beverley Thorpe
Beverley is Co-Founder of Clean Production Action, and has researched and promoted clean production strategies to advance a non-toxic economy internationally since 1986. She was the first clean production technical expert for Greenpeace International on chemical and waste issues. Bev’s work on alternatives to PVC, organohalogens and hazardous waste incineration helped drive momentum for safer substitution practices in company practices. As the NGO representative in the first United Nations Environment Programme for Cleaner Production, she promoted the value of public participation in industrial policies. Bev received her degree in Geography from Leicester University, UK and is an annual lecturer at Lund University in Sweden on chemicals policy and corporate practices. She is a past Director of Greenpeace International and a founding board member of the Story of Stuff in the US. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Host Kristin Shafer
Kristin is director of Commonweal’s Collaborative for Health and the Environment, and three decades of experience in the field of environmental health and justice. After working as a Communications Specialist at EPA and with World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, she moved back to Northern California where she held various roles—including executive director—over her 25-year tenure at Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North America. Kristin holds a Masters in Social Change and Development from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She lives with her husband in downtown San Jose where she loves to bike ride and garden, and currently serves as board co-chair for the community-building urban farm, Veggielution.

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books and the Mesa Refuge~

Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in person or via webinar for a reading and conversation with writer, educator, conservationist, and activist Terry Tempest Williams. Terry has been with us at The New School twice before, and you can listen to the podcast of those events on our website or on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Soundcloud, or Amazon music.

Terry Tempest Williams
Terry is a writer and educator who focuses on our relationship with the natural world, both ecologically, politically, and spiritually. She is the author of more than 20 books, including the environmental literature classic, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. Her most recent books include Erosion: Essays of Undoing; and The Moon Is Behind Us with Fazal Sheikh. She is currently writer-in-residence at the Harvard Divinity School and the 2023 recipient of the Thoreau Prize in Literature. She is also a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters and divides her time between Utah and Massachusetts with her husband, Brooke Williams.

Host Michael Lerner
Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies(MIT Press).

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~

¿Qué significaría "volverse nativos" al lugar en el que estamos ahora? ¿Cómo viviríamos si lo fuéramos? Nuestras comunidades y líderes indígenas tienen una sabiduría antigua que ofrece una visión profunda sobre los desafíos a los que nos enfrentamos hoy en día. A medida que navegamos los cambios culturales, climáticos y de ecosistemas que están ocurriendo en nuestro planeta en la actualidad, necesitamos oír la sabiduría y las ideas que descienden de estas tradiciones. Para poder escuchar y verdaderamente valorar estas ideas, necesitamos continuar cicatrizando las heridas de la división racial y dentro de nuestras culturas y comunidades.

En la tercera parte de esta serie, únete a la anfitriona Brenda Salgado en su charla con Pat McCabe, figura líder Diné y cabeza de ceremonial. Está enfocada en la cicatrización social profunda. Hablarán sobre la labor ceremonial que realizaron juntas en los recientes eventos de Three Black Men (Tres Hombres Negros) ofrecidos a través del Centro de Sanación y Liberación de Commonweal. También y ampliarán el entendimiento de la conexión entre la cicatrización racial y la curación de la tierra. Presentada en inglés con interpretación simultánea.

Pat McCabe, o Woman Stands Shining (Mujer que Resplandece), es respetada líder nativa americana cuyo trabajo explora el punto de encuentro entre el ceremonial y la sanación social profunda. Pat nació en la nación Diné (Navajo), y también recibió preparación espiritual en la tradición Lakota. Viaja y enseña sobre la ciencia indígena de la Vida Floreciente (Thriving Life). Su labor procura renovar el conocimiento humano y la creación de significado mediante la restauración de las prácticas conocidas por los pueblos indígenas sobre la comprensión integral. "Ser intelecto y observador incorpóreos en lugar de participante apasionado y co-Creador armonioso, nos ha llevado a un gran malentendido sobre quiénes somos, dónde estamos y cómo son las cosas”.

Brenda Salgado es la directora del programa Iniciativa para la Cicatrización Racial en el Centro de Colaboración para Retiros de Commonweal. Ella es autora espiritual y de concientización, oradora, guardiana de la sabiduría, sanadora, cabeza de ceremonial y Consultora sobre Organizaciones. Tiene 25 años de experiencia en desarrollo de Liderazgo Transformador, Gestión sin Fines de Lucro, Curación y Ceremonial Tradicionales, Capacitación en Liderazgo Consciente, Salud de la Mujer y Justicia Social. Brenda está en proceso de establecer el Nepantla Land Trust (El Fideicomiso de Tierra Nepantla) y el Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal (El Centro Nepantla para la Sanación y Renovación). Es autora de Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time (La Concientización en el Mundo Real para Principiantes: Cómo se Practica Paso a Paso). Recibió instrucción de sabios ancianos sobre medicina tradicional y ceremonial de curación en el linaje Purépecha, Xochimilco, Tolteca y otros linajes indígenas. Tiene títulos universitarios en Biología, Psicología del Desarrollo y Comportamiento Animal.

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter

~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~

Our indigenous communities and leaders hold ancient wisdom that offers profound insights into the challenges facing us today. As we navigate the cultural, climate, and ecosystem shifts happening on our planet now, we need the wisdom of many voices. To truly hear and value these diverse voices, we need to continue to heal the racial divisions and wounds in our cultures and communities. In part 3 of this series, join Host Brenda Salgado as she speaks with Pat McCabe, a Dine elder and ceremonialist focused on deep social healing. Presented in English with a live Spanish-language translator.

Photo: Stefano Girardelli, Unsplash

Pat McCabe (Dine)
Pat McCabe, or Woman Stands Shining, is a Native American elder whose work explores the meeting point between ceremony and deep social healing. Pat was born into the Dine (Navajo) nation, and has also received a spiritual training with the Lakota tradition. She travels and teaches widely on the indigenous science of Thriving Life. Her work seeks to revivify human knowledge and meaning-making, by restoring the holistic knowledge practices known to indigenous people. “To be the disembodied intellect and observer rather than passionate participant, and harmonious co-Creator, has led to a great mis-understanding of who we are, where we are, and how it is.”

Host Brenda Salgado
Brenda Salgado is the program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a program of the Retreat Center Collaboration at Commonweal. She is a spiritual and mindfulness author, speaker, wisdom keeper, healer, ceremonialist, and organizational consultant. She has 25 years of experience in transformative leadership development, nonprofit management, traditional healing and ceremony, mindful leadership training, women’s health, and social justice. Brenda is in the process of establishing the Nepantla Land Trust, and the Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time and has received training from elders in traditional medicine and healing ceremony in Purepecha, Xochimilco, Toltec and other indigenous lineages. She holds degrees in biology, developmental psychology, and animal behavior.

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter #racialhealinginsitute

Enjoy another healing hour of stories and music with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. This month, they offer stories and songs for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our on our website, listen on Soundcloud, watch on YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.

Photo by Alisa Anton_ on _Unsplash

Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
Rachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.

Karen Drucker
Karen’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.com

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.