On the Recovery Zone, June 7th, Stephanie Potter featured Ole & Maitri Ersson who use humanure compost on their garden plants--including their fruits and vegetables. All they need is a bucket, wood chips and a compost bin. They have safely been doing this for 15 years.

Stephanie Ludlow, with Northwest Service Academy, describes a unique volunteer opportunity to have fun, eat great food, hike, and help maintain the Pacific Crest Trail.

On the July 5 Recovery Zone, producer Stephanie Potter featured the co-founder of Food Not Bombs, Keith McHenry and FNB activists here in Portland.  Food Not Bombs is a world-wide, all-volunteer movement dedicated to social change.  One of their programs is to offer free healthy meals made from salvaged food.  To find out more visit: http://www.foodnotbombs.net/

On the Sept 6 Recovery Zone, host Stephanie Potter featured mycologist Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World.  Stamets has done extensive research in mycorestoration: using mushrooms/mycelium to clean and filter water, restore soil and habitat,  and clean up toxic wastes.  He argues that our survival depends on reconnecting with nature and protecting its diversity.

On the October 4th Recovery Zone, host Stephanie Potter featured Michael Marx, Executive Director of Corporate Ethics International.  Based here in Portland, CEI is building a global citizens' movement to bring corporations back under control. Find out more at http://corporateethics.org/

On the Recovery Zone this month, host Stephanie Potter visits Harmony Hill on Washington's Hood River canal, where cancer patients and their loved ones are offered retreats that include facilitated discussion, stress reduction, labyrinth walks, organic gourmet food,  views of the Olympic mountains, and more.  Harmony Hill participates in the holiday spirit year round by offering these one-day and three-day retreats at no cost!!

On the Jan. 3rd, Recovery Zone host Stephanie Potter speaks with Regna Merritt from Oregon Wild and Floy Jones from Friends of the Reservoirs who are working to protect Bull Run and Portland's water system. Recent federal rulings mandate hundreds of millions of dollars to be paid to corporations to "purify" our water.  The activists counter that our present system is already so effective and "sweetly low-tech" that it could be coming from some very green future. 

On Wednesday, January 9, Stephanie Potter spoke with Sean Stevens of Oregon Wild about Bush's "compromise" with the timber industry:  The Western Oregon Plan Revision or "Whopper."  Stevens describes how this plan would decimate old growth forests and salmon habitat on BLM lands, and offers common sense solutions.  (More info at www.oregonwild.org )

On the February 7 Recovery Zone, host Stephanie Potter asks PSU Professor Toby Hemenway what's wrong with Agriculture?  What's the fix?  Hemenway is author of Gaia's Garden:  A Guide to Homescale Permaculture.  Hemenway describes how agriculture destroys our ecosystem and facilitates domination with the concentration of power.  He recommends that we learn from the patterns in nature.  Visit his website at Patternliteracy.com.  Other sites he suggests  for deepening the connection to a sense of place:  Trackers NW  and City Repair.   For more writing

The 03/06 airing of the Recovery Zone with host Stephanie Potter featured interviews with members of the Oregon Community for War Tax Resistance.  They describe the issues and struggles they face and the satisfactions they experience in refusing to pay for military invasion and occupation.  For more info visit  War Tax Boycott  and the War Resistors League .   You can also visit the 18th Avenue Peace House .    The Oregon Community for War Tax Resistance holds workshops on the 3rd Monday of every month at 7 pm in Portland at Laughing Horse Books.  To find out more leave a message at (503) 238 0605.&nbsp

The May 1st Recovery Zone features a visit with an environmentally innovative intentional community:  Maitreya Ecovillage.   Founder Rob Bolman discusses his philosophy in working to create an oasis of cooperation and sustainability in an urban setting.  Produced by Stephanie Potter, with music by David Simon on fiddle and Dale Jones on guitar.

For the June 5th Recovery Zone, host Stephanie Potter visited with people helping refugees to resettle in Portland.  Interviews with Abdul Fofanah and  Arika Makena Bunyoli of the African Women's Coalition Youth Programs; and Megan Schaefer at Lutheran Community Services Northwest, who is helping to  coordinate the Footsteps to Freedom World Refugee Day Walk taking place on  Saturday,  June 21st, in downtown Portland. This event will honor the resiliance and courage of refugees.  Proceeds will benefit services to refugees.

On the Thursday, July 3, Recovey Zone,  host Stephanie Potter and KBOO listeners spoke with Les Knight about a radical solution to the problems of planet Earth.   Knight is a Portland resident who serves as an international  spokesperson for VHEMT --  the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.  He uses logic and humor to argue for the end of the human race.   (Music by Kevin McLeod.)

On the July 30 News and Public Affairs Special on the Climate Crisis, Stephanie Potter looked at how our numbers are affecting the climate crisis, and learned that providing women with the means to determine the size of their families could lead to population stabilzation.  She spoke with Bob Doppelt, Director of the Climate Leadership Initiative at the Univesity of Oregon's Institute for a Sustainable Environment;   Marian Starkey, Communications Director at the Population Connection;  Ramona Rex, Population Issues Coordinator for the Sierra Club's  13:17 minutes (12.16 MB)

On the Recovery Zone for Thursday, Aug 7,   Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor talks about how a stroke to her left brain opened her up to our human potential for joy and compassion: "Peace is just a thought away."  Hosted by Stephanie Potter.  Music: David Simon, violin & Dale Jones, guitar

On the September 4 Recovery Zone, host Stephanie Potter speaks with Ned Rosch of  the  Portland chapter of No More Victims, an organization that helps to connect American communities to the children who have been maimed by military actions in Iraq, and provide them with medical care, friendship and hope.  The group here is sponsoring 5-year-old Mustafa Abed who lost his leg in a U.S. bombing raid.

On the Thursday Radioazine for September 18, Stephanie Potter spoke with Thor Hanson, author of  The Impenetrable Forest, My Gorilla Years in Uganda.    Hanson lived in a remote village at the Edge of Bwindi Impenetrable forest , working with local trackers to create an eco-tourist program  and save some of the world's last remaining mountain gorillas and their ancient forest home.  With humor and affection he has written not only about the gorillas, but also the people of Uganda and the rich hospitality of their culture. 

On the Oct 2 Recovery Zone, the focus is on trees and the host of reasons they are so critical to our lives.  Host Stephanie Potter speaks with pioneering forest canopy researcher Nalini Nadkarni abour her recent book Between Earth & Sky: our intimate connections to trees.  Also, Scott Fogarty, excecutive director of Friends of Trees who shares her passion for trees and is working to promote our urban forest canopy.  Music by Kevin McLeod.

On the Nov 6 Recovery Zone, "the morning after the morning after" the historic 2008 election, Virginia Ross and Nancy Matela from the Oregon Voter Rights Coalition spoke with host Stephanie Potter and answered questions from listeners about the pressing need for transparency in our election process.

Host Stephanie Potter speaks with filmmaker Josh Tickell about  FUEL, the winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. His film explores our nation’s dependence on foreign oil and looks at alternative solutions.  "Fuel" has been garnering standing ovations, and premieres today (Friday/11/14), in downtown Portland at the Fox Tower Stadium.  Josh will be available at the 7:30 showings tonight and tomorrow to speak with the audience.

       Can community trump economic hard times?    Founders Joe & Pam Lietch, and Marilee Dea discuss NE Portland's newly forming Columbia Ecovillage.  Community members plan to care for their 3+ acre "food forest," while cultivating supportive relationships with each other, the larger community and the Earth.

In November 2006, Stephanie Potter visited with the Portland Chapter of the Oregon Electic Vehicle Association,  a non-profit association of electric vehicle enthusiasts who promote electric vehicle education and encourage their safe construction and use.  This show aired during the premiere of Who Killed the Electric Car?

   Randy White, founder of     Portland.BrightNeighbor.com ,  discusses how this new website encourages people to share their skills and their stuff with their neighbors. The idea is to encourage community, nonconsumerism and sustainability, and to help each other in  economic hard times.

 On the Feb 5 Recovery Zone, Stephanie Potter hosts a discussion on the pros and cons of eradicating invasive species .  Guests include Jean Fike, Executive Director of the East Multnomah Soil and Conservation District, and Jeff Haugh, Trails and Restoration Manager of the Forest Park Conservancy here in Portland; and artist/activist Mary Bertuccio with her mother, Lucille Bertuccio, a naturalist and president of the Center for Sustainable Living in Bloomington, Indiana.  Are  our eradication efforts fundamentally necessary if we are to heal our world, or are they a form of overkill? 

On the March 5th, Recovery Zone, Stephanie Potter hosted Tess Beistel, founder of Cracked Pots, where waste is kept out of landfills and turned into garden art:  "Reuse is at the heart of all we do."  Biestel discussed  the introduction of the Cracked Pots UnGarden Show, which took place on March 7, featuring "indoor" work by more than 20 artists.  Cracked Pots also hosts a Garden Show every summer and is taking applications from artists until April 22nd.  All art is made from at least 75% reused and recycled materials.  

This month's featured guests are John Sorenson & Seth Truby, co-founders of  Sunnyside Neighborhood Energy(SunNE) .  Their aim is to build a local renewable energy system based at the Sunnyside Environmental school that would provide space heat and hot water for hundreds of nearby homes and small businesses.  Thermal energy districts have been created in towns and villages in Canada and Europe; if SunNE succee

During the Bush administration the Envronmental Protection Agency mandated that Portland install a costly filtration system to "protect" us from Cryptosporidium which has never been a problem with our Bull Run water.   The City argued in court against the EPA in 2007, and lost.

 Stephanie Potter hosts a special interview with Dr.

Paul Cienfuegos teaches that corporate rights and privileges are at the core of almost every environmental and social justice problem that we face.

Portland's Bull Run Watershed is a natural, low cost and very effective water treatment system. So why are there there plans for a costly chemical filtration plant? How did the corporation Montgomery, Watson, Harza Global influence the decision process? How will it affect local breweries? What happens to Bull Run protections?

This month on the Recovery Zone, Street Roots Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl  and Vendor Coordinator Art Garcia  discuss how this nonprofit grassroots newspaper operates as a catalyst for social change, while providing dignity, cash and a sense of community to people who are experiencing homelessness. 

 Charles Eisenstein talks about the fundamental failure of our interest-bearing money system and the transition we must go through with what he sees as the impending collapse of our currency.  "Usury-money is the money of growth, and it was  perfect for humanity's growth stage on earth, and for the story of ascent, of dominance and mastery. The next stage is one of cocreative partnership with earth. The Story of the People for this new stage is coming together right now. .

Stephanie Potter speaks with Walt Brown and his wife Beverly about their findings related to  the background leading to petition to recall Mayor Sam Adams.  Walt Brown is a former state senator, former Navy defense council and judge, and former law school professor at Lewis and Clark.  His wife Beverly has been an activist for over 30 years.  Both have looked deeply into the information about what Sam Adams did and didn't do and they urge people to base their judgments on facts, not rumors.

Stephanie Potter speaks with filmmaker Rober Bates who with Brian Kimmel created the documentary "Ingredients: The Local Food Movement Takes Root."  With Robert is Kat West, a manager with the Multnomah County Sustainability Program (MCSP).   There will be a Portland premier of this documentary celebrating our local food system as part of the Sustainability Film Series sponsored by MCSP,  and followed

Scott Baumberger and Maggie Gardener discuss how and why Depave volunteers here in Portland are tearing out unnecessary pavement to create more urban green space.   Hosted by Stephanie Potter.  Music: Kevin McLeod (Includes clips from short film by Elizabeth Press at Streetfilms with music by Reptet and Dreamtime Stilters.)

Richard Bach, author of Jonathon Livingston Seagull, Illusions, One, The Bridge Across Forever, and numerous other books talks about his most recent book Hypnotizing Maria.  Publisher's Weekly:  "The hero of Bach's new book, pilot and flight instructor Jamie Forbes, is on a routine run when Maria, the panicked spouse of another pilot, radios that her husband has collapsed at the controls. Forbes talks her through the steps to land safely.

Host Stephanie Potter talks with Paul Osterlund  about his concept of "The 5th Space:" social enterprises doing good in the world.

Stephanie Potter interviews community economist Thomas H. Greco, Jr. about his most recent book The End of Money and the Future of Civilization.  Greco will also speak in Portland, Monday, Nov 2 at 7 pm at the First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th.

Stephanie Potter interviews naturalist Richard Albertson, whose book The Sky is the Limit--A Brief and Easy Explanation of Climate Change for Present and Future Voters, speaks directly to citizens--he tells how climate change works and goes on to the "inescapable conclusion that we're well past the point where simply reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses we generate can solve our problem." He also addresses how our economic and political systems have creat

The manufacture of unmanned drones for the military is a growing industry in the Columbia Gorge, with Boeing/Insitu now employing nearly 700 people.

 Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Christopher Messer who built his first flotation tank over 30 years ago and now operates the Deep Haven in Southeast Portland.  Flotation tanks were developed by John Lily in the 1950's to study the effects of sensory deprivation, and they have been shown to facilitate healing and profound relaxation.

 With the world-wide use of cell phones at 3.5 billion, and an ever-growing number of cellular antennas, do we need to re-examine the costs and benefits of this new technology? In his one-hour documentary "Full Signal,"  Talal Jabari  explores the health effects and efforts to regulate cellular technology.

Under the guise of enforcing the free speech rights of the First Amendment,  the Supreme Court has reversed decades of campaign finance reform.  In a clearly partisan move, a majority of five justices has allowed corporations to spend unlimited cash on political advertising.  What can the 80% of Americans at odds with this decision do about it?  Jon Bartholomew of the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) outlines some of the actions that could restore power to we the people! 

Stephanie Potter speaks with Carole Hart, director and producer of "For the Next 7 Generations," and Linda Neale, founder and board member of the Earth and Spirit Council. "For The Next 7 Generations," a documentary film chronicling the efforts of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers from the four directions to heal the earth & her inhabitants, will show at 4 pm on 3/14 at the Clinton Street Theater, 2522 Southeast Clinton Street, Portland 97202.

In June, 2006, Stephanie Potter spoke with Morgan Brent about developing a way of life devoted to the cultivation of our humanness in conscious, respectful, and free flowing dialogue with the natural world. According to Brent, one so integrated into the sylvan cosmos, the society of Nature, is known as a sylvapolitan. Brent teaches that the sylvapolitan is educated via self-transformation (knowing something by becoming it), accultured into a spiritual ecology and its manifestations in natural ecosystems, and pro-active in the Program of spiritual evolution.  Morgan Brent is founder of Tribes of Creation and leads workshops throughout the Northwest.

Host Stephanie Potter talks with Portland resident Elizabeth Stinson about her work as a military trauma therapist. Stinson uses her expertise with military regulations and her counseling and diplomacy skills to advise soldiers and their families on their options for obtaining administrative discharges from the military. So far Elizabeth has succeeded in helping some 1700 soldiers to leave the military.

Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Peter Lumsdaine who will be speaking in Portland tonight, Monday, April 19. Veterans for Peace Chapter 72 is bringing in Peter to the Friends Meeting House at 43rd and SE Stark, 7-9PM. $5-10 donation. No one turned away for lack of funds.

 Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Peter Lumsdaine who has worked for over 20 years with nonprofit programs addressing peace and international security, as well as global economic, ecological and cultural issues. 

Peter Lumsdaine has conducted unauthorized investigations into advanced weapons and surveillance programs within the security zones of US Strategic Command facilities, and has also gathered information from inside the US prison system.

Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Rob Klavins, roadless advocate for Oregon Wild, about the situation with the return of wolves to Oregon. For the first time in five years, Oregon's wolf management plan is under review. (Comments must be received at ODFW.Comments@state.or.us by June 30, 2010.) Wolves were exterminated in Oregon over 60 years ago, but some have moved back into the state from Idaho, where packs were re-introduced in the 1990's.

Stephanie Potter hosts a discussion of the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers weaving a world that works. Her guests are Grandmother Agnes Baker-Pilgrim and Linda Neale of the Earth and Spirit Council.   Carol Hart's documentary on the 13 indigenous grandmothers "For the Next 7 Generations" is airing on Wednesday May 26th at the Hollywood Theater at 4122 NE Sandy Blvd.

Even as oil gushes into the Gulf of Mexico from a  deep water drilling accident, new drilling is being planned off Alaska's arctic coast this July. But neither ecological disasters, oil wars, nor tens of thousands of annual auto fatalities  have so far dampened our enthusiasm for the car.   Sociologist and author Michael Dawson explores the how this enthusiasm is rooted in a capitalist business model that's "intractably addicted to selling us cars in crazy-huge numbers, forever, no matter the ecological and social consequences," thus "the homicidal perpetuation of cars-first transportation." Speaking with host Stephanie Potter, Dawson discusses the need to take a clear-eyed look at the addiction to the U.S.

The Oregon Progressive Party has a platform that includes support for single payer health care, same sex marriage, cuts to military spending and withdrawal from Aghanistan and Iraq, campaign finance reform, no job outsourcing, no Wall Street bailouts, and no offshore drilling; and the party needs 1,000 more signatures before August 1st, in order to have candidates on the November ballot.  Oregon Progressive Party spokespersons Philip Kauffman, Dan Meek, and Alaina Melville discuss the role of their 'third party' and it's potential for having an impact on the on the Oregon election process.  For more info, visit http://progparty.org/.

 This month's show is an hour long production on the Pacific Hermitage, established this summer in the hills above White Salmon and Bingen on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge; and which is residence to three Theravada Buddhist monks grounded in the Thai Forest Tradition.  Stephanie Potter interviews the senior monastic there, Ajahn Sudanto, and various other monks and lay people who share why they value having such place of refuge.

This month on the Recovery Zone, the focus is on Palestine. Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Alaina Melville and Joe Walsh on what is happening on the ground in both the West Bank and Gaza, how the US got involved and what's happening here in Oregon.  Alaina shares her experiences from a work camp she attended this summer  in the West Bank with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD).

Stephanie Potter interviews Dianne Aigaki who is a botanical artist and consultant for nonprofit organizations worldwide, who lives between India, Tibet and Mexico. Aigaki moved to Dharamsala, India at the foot of the Himalayas in 1996, and began working as a volunteer consultant for the Tibetan Exile Government.

 Stephanie Potter hosts Michele Fiasca, co-founder of Seniors Homing Together, a web-based agency designed to help  independent seniors who are seeking a home-like setting.   The site helps seniors find roommates by giving them the support necessary to match the person who owns a home with the person who needs a home, or by matching people who want to rent a home together.  

Stephanie Potter hosts ecologist, environmental philosopher and director of Alliance for Wild Ethics (AWE), David Abram who is one of Utne Reader's 100 visionaries transforming our world. Abram’s first book, The Spell of the Sensuous—hailed as “revolutionary” by the Los Angeles Times, as “daring and truly original” by Science—has become a classic of environmental literature.

With little regard for animal suffering, the environment, or fair labor practices, our conventional food system has been based on the premise that food is a commodity that should be cheap and plentiful--the costs, even to our health, are downplayed.  Scott Exo, executive director of the Food Alliance tells how his organization is working to create an alliance around trust in our relationship to food.  Food Alliance Certification supports fair working conditions, humane treatment of animals, and good environmental stewardship.  Based in Portland, the Food Alliance is a nonprofit organization that certifies farms, ranches and food handlers throughout North America for sustainable agricultural and f

We've all heard of peak oil, but what about peak hafnium, or peak terbium? Hafnium, which is important in computer chips, could be depleted by 2017, and terbium, used in florescent light bulbs, by 2012. Most other ores are also in decline.  One solution is to recycle these materials, but how? Janet Unruh is a Portlander who believes that everything can be recycled 100% – provided we learn how to design things properly and set up the right systems for materials recovery.

Paul Pierson, co-author of Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class, was in Portland at the end of November and spoke with host Stephanie Potter.

Political Perspectives presents a talk by Sister Helen Prejean who spoke in Portland on October 21st of this year at the First United Methodist Church in support of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty ( www.oadp.org ). She is introduced by Nasseem Raka, author of The Crying Tree.

  A father and son have just been sentenced to death by a Salem jury for killing two police officers with a bomb planted in a failed bank robbery.  This month's guests on the Recovery Zone are three people who want us to re-examine our relationship to the death penalty and to the idea that violence is an appropriate solution to social problems.

The Center for Earth Leadership offers a free six-week Agent of Change Course -- for anyone who would like to introduce sustainable practices and raise ecological awareness within their school, workplace, church, neighborhood or other such circle of influence. Participants are guided in the design and implementation of their vision, and receive ongoing support after they graduate.

  Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Sanu Kaji Shrestha of FoST-- Foundation for Sustainable Technologies  which trains people in the use of sustainable technologies that save money, save energy and save the environment.  His recent honor was the Science and Technology Promotion Award for 2010 from Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), for his development of low cost cooking fuel made of recycled materials.

When last month's 9.0 earthquake and tsunami breached six Japanese nuclear reactors in Fukushima, releasing radiation into the atmosphere, Marcelino Alvarez of Uncorked Studios was not soothed by the official reports that there was "nothing to worry about." He hit upon the idea of crowd-sourcing "citizen scientists" to map radiation data.

 Host Stephanie Potter speaks Paul Stanford and Jennifer Alexander who are working to put the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 on the November, 2012 ballot. If passed this initiative would legalize the purchase of marijuana (through state licensed stores), license Oregon farmers to grow marijuana for state-licensed stores, and permit adults to grow their own. The act would also allow unlicensed Oregon farmers to grow cannabis hemp for fuel, fiber and food.

 Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Jayne Miller, founder of the Oregon Cougar Action Team, an organization for Oregonians dedicated to the preservation of Oregon’s cougar and the ecosystem the cougar sustains. OreCat is an educational foundation working to help people make better decisions about cougars, promote open spaces for them, and create better wilderness management plans.

Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Jayne Miller, founder of the Oregon Cougar Action Team, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Oregon’s cougar and the ecosystem the cougar sustains. OreCat is an educational foundation working to help people make better decisions about cougars, promote open spaces for them, and create better wilderness management plans.

Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Stephanie Dougherty, founder of the Healing Arts Resource Project (HARP).  Also, Kelsey Peake, Joyce Campbell, and Samantha Roberts:  Kelsey is with Community Arts at HARP; Joyce, Visual Arts; and Samantha, Healing Arts.   HARP is dedicated to empowering neighbors with the tools and knowledge to reshape their view of health care, by building community and providing broad access to the visual, movement and healing art

  Rachel Zuses and Beth Lorio talk about the upcoming, first ever,  Portland Healing Arts Fair hosted by Divine Template Creations.  The Portland Healing Arts Fair will take place Sunday, June 26, from 11am – 3pm, at Euphoria Studios, 1235 SE Division St, Portland, and will feature holistic healers and intuitives who will offer readings and healing sessions.

  Yves Engler, co-author of Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social and Ecological Decay spoke at Laughing Horse Books on June 21st. He and his co-author Bianca Mugyenyi documented an anthropolicical tour of the land of Homo Automomotivis and argue for moving beyond the private automobile. Stephanie Potter attended the talk, which was given in a parking lot around the corner from Laughing Horse. She recorded and produced this program. (Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com)

In this special one hour feature, host Stephanie Potter interviews Dr. Kerry Crofton, author of Wireless Radiation Rescue: Safeguarding your Family from the Risks of Electro-Pollution. A recent  warning from the World Health Organization states that  cell phone radiation is “possibly carcinogenic to humans," and The Council of Europe Environmental Committee reported recently that there is enough published evidence that the microwave radiation emitted by cell phones and wireless networks is harmful, and our children are most at risk.

Guest host Stephanie Potter interviews Barbara Ford and Marilee Dea who are going as part of a contingent of "Gray Haired Ladies" to Washington DC to protest  the Keystone XL Pipeline,  a proposed 1,700 mile pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.

A global economist for HSBC recently warned that oil will last us less than 50 years, and called for government planning on a level not seen for 40 years. The Transition Movement has already begun planning.  It began in 2005 in Totnes in the UK with a vote by the town council to work toward energy independence and a sustainable future. The idea spread quickly. There are now over 300 communities recognized as official Transition Towns in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Italy and Chile.

The Northwest Vipassana Center - Dhamma Kunja - celebrated its 20th anniversary in August. Located in rural Washington, just 90 miles north of Portland, the center has offered dozens of 10-day meditation courses on a donation-only basis every year, and shorter courses for children and teen-agers. Vipassana, as taught by S.N. Goenka, is a non-sectarian meditation technique that aims at self-transformation and the healing of suffering through self-observation.

This month on the Recovery Zone, host Stephanie Potter speaks with climate activist and facilitator Barbara Ford, who works closely with eco-philosopher Joanna Macy in support of "The Great Turning." In her Gaia Workshops, Barbara's philosophy is that in confronting our despair, we are able to reconnect with our concern for the world; which i

 James Fadiman, Ph.D.,discusses how old and new research on psychedelics shows their potential to enhance not only our personal well-being, but also the well-being of the culture at large. Fadiman, author of The Psychedelic Explorerer's Guide - Safe, Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys, studied with Dr.

 The recovery of the gray wolf after its eradication from Yellowstone National Park, almost ninety years ago, demonstrates how crucial keystone species are to the long-term sustainability of the ecosystems they inhabit.

What would it take to get off fossil fuels entirely, and to power the planet with renewables by 2030? What strides are being made in Oregon? In Portland?