Inner Revolutionary Radio

As Inner Revolutionary Radio comes to a close, we’re taking stock of what we have and haven’t accomplished over these past four years. We’ve interviewed some amazing guests. We’ve addressed important issues — the personal, the political, the shocking and the hopeful. But we have also missed opportunities: topics we didn’t cover, guests we didn’t get to interview, listeners we didn’t reach. Now time has run out, and we feel regret. Many of us feel the same way about our lives. Some of us meant to call in to this radio show and didn’t. Some of us have remained silent about injustice in our world, or we told ourselves we were too busy to call to a suffering friend, or we didn’t protect a child who we suspected was being abused or neglected. What opportunities have we missed? What has that taught us? How can we live differently now? Here’s an opportunity you don’t have to miss! Tune in, call in and let us all gain greater wisdom. You can also tune into all the great archives of our show.

Most of the work being done toward changing how people relate to the environment and social justice is well-intentioned, but ends up being ineffective, or worse, counterproductive. Achieving true, lasting changes in behavior, it turns out, requires changing our worldviews so the new action becomes part of who we are. But if you've ever tried to change a worldview or pattern of behavior in yourself or another person, you know it's quite an effort! Cassandra Vieten, President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, along with her colleagues, has been studying the science of behavior change for years. She’ll join us to discuss the research and how it is being applied in working with people all around the world. If you are someone committed to bringing about sustainability and justice in your life and for the planet, if you want to be able to communicate more effectively and be a more powerful change agent in the world, you will want to hear this conversation!

Beth Green claims that our society is waging war against us. The White House proposed tax cuts are supposed to help the majority of Americans, yet more than 2/3 of the benefits would go to the top 1%. Income keeps floating to the top. In 1965 CEOs earned 20 times the amount earned by typical workers in their industries. Now they earn nearly 300 times more. The minimum wage isn’t keeping up. From 1973 to 2013, productivity rose 74%, but earnings rose only 9%. Collective bargaining has been gutted. Economic and trade policies have allowed business to exploit the less powerful. Our air, water and soil are being raped. We’re stressed and insecure. The question isn’t whether or not our well-being is being eroded. The question is why we put up with it. Our guest says it’s because we are distracted by fighting for our gender, race, religion, party, culture or geographic region instead of fighting for a future that brings economic, physical and social well being to us all. Can we change that?

What is it like to grow up in a nation dominated by chain stores, multinational corporations, scarce well-paid manufacturing jobs, a culture of money and economic anxiety? What’s it like to live in a society where about 80% of the population lives in urban clusters? What’s it like to grow up inside 21st century American capitalism? What do we tend to value? How do we see ourselves and our world? What are our fears? How does capitalism shape our psyches and our lives? You are invited to share your story, but first, we will be interviewing Economist Prof. Richard Wolff about how capitalism has been changing for more than fifty years. For Blacks, women, gays, workers and others, there may have been no “good old days,” but there were jobs and there was more security. Today, capitalism is a different bird. So let’s hold the spotlight on capitalism as it is now, and let’s talk about what it feels like to live inside its belly. Tune in and call in as well! This is OUR story. Let’s tell it.

In a world where 62 individuals own as much as half the world’s population, where 1 percent of people own MORE than the other 99 percent combined, where for decades DuPont knowingly poisoned us by using a toxic.

In a world where 62 individuals own as much as half the world’s population, where 1% of people own MORE than the other 99% combined, where for decades DuPont knowingly poisoned us by using a toxic, cancer-causing chemical, where since the 1990s Big Oil has been denying climate change while secretly preparing for it, where workers are told that a $15/hour minimum wage is too much, where real wages are going down and money controls much of the media and the political system, don’t you think it’s time to ask if capitalism is working for US? We’ve been told that capitalism and democracy are the same. Are they? Dr. Richard Wolff, former Economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, has long had the guts to question the system. He says there is a better way – a form of socialism that is more democratic. What is it? Could it work? How does it relate to the Inner Revolution? Tune in. Big business and billionaires may control the government and the economy. But they can’t control us!

The InnerRevolution supports an evolution in our economy to move away from the disproportionate distribution of wealth toward an economy and society where individuals' needs are met.

The InnerRevolution supports an evolution in our economy to move away from the disproportionate distribution of wealth toward an economy and society where individuals' needs are met. How can we do this? Esteban Kelly has some answers. As an important leader and creative force in a solidarity economy and co-op movements, Esteban will share the reality of what it takes for the economic model to transform. Lets challenge ourselves to move beyond our ego's view of life where only MY needs matter and be inspired by the cooperative movement. With Oneness, Accountability and Mutual Support, we can co-create a different world!

Everyone knows that there is a lot of fighting and rage in our country and our world right now! So much hatred, so much blaming! Why IS that? It’s because people are not getting our needs met and we are blaming each other. What can we do about it? Just think: What would happen if we had a world where everyone’s needs were met? What if we had a world where every person felt important, safe and cared for? Would we still be fighting against each other? Would we still be behaving the same way? Not so, says our guest, Beth Green, AKA Granny Rocks. She says that when you listen to our opinions, we are divided, but when we can listen beneath the surface, we hear a different song. Can we do it? Can we change the way we think, feel and treat ourselves and one another so that we can co-create a world that works. Can we envision a world where that meets the needs of people and the earth? What could that look like and how do we get there? Join us for this creative and powerful conversation.

The economic and political system that reigns supreme does not care about the health or welfare of anyone. It's a machine that chews up executives, secretaries and fast food workers alike. But what if this wasn't the case? What if our economic system was based on a wholly different model – based on the notion that quality of life should be measured by more than national income? U.C. Berkeley Economics professor Clair Brown will join us to answer these questions and more. She'll share her approach to organizing the economy that embraces questions of values, sustainability, and equity. In her new book, Buddhist Economics, Brown incorporates the Buddhist emphasis on interdependence, shared prosperity, and happiness into her vision for a sustainable and compassionate world. We cannot thrive in a world where we sacrifice ourselves to an economy and societal norms which put short-term self-interest before our health and the health of the earth. Join us for this important conversation!

Many people are angry about the policies of the new U.S. government, and the word “resistance” is on many people’s tongues. But is resistance enough?

Many people are angry about the policies of the new U.S. government, and the word “resistance” is on many people’s tongues. But is resistance enough? How would this resistance be different from the right-wing resistance to President Obama, when the “other” side felt excluded and disenfranchised, which in turn, helped swing the pendulum to Trump? How can we move past divisive politics, where the pendulum keeps swinging back and forth, problems don’t get resolved and a lot of folks get hurt? Is it possible to free ourselves from the tyranny of the pendulum, go beyond resistance and achieve a revolutionary shift in the foundation of society? Tune in to this show, where co-hosts Beth Green and James Maynard talk with Helen Hillix, Co-Director of Outreach of TheInnerRevolution.org, and learn more about what some people are doing to overcome the tyranny of the pendulum swing and to bring about the historic changes we need for a better world. Call in if you can.

Do men and women, working in the same job, with the same level of education and experience, make the same amount of money? All too often the answer is no. Co-hosts Todd Benton and Helen Hillix will speak with Natasha Lamb, a woman who is working to change that, as well as a host of other issues. She is a managing partner in Arjuna Capital, whose engagements with Apple, Intel, Amazon, Expedia, and eBay have led all of them to commit to Gender Pay Equity today. Her 2014 landmark negotiation with Exxon Mobil led to the company’s first public report on global warming and carbon asset risk. What led Natasha to this line of work? How does she and her partners get these companies to make these kinds of changes? What's next? And what can we learn from her and her organization’s approach? Join us!

While we’ve been living in a business-as-usual world, the world has not been business as usual. Historic floods and fires; frightening levels of addiction and death; high levels of polarization and anxiety; and more. What are we doing about it? Beth Green, aka Granny Rocks, says that, generally speaking, we’re not addressing the source of our problems. Democrats often offer tepid incremental responses that don’t match the needs. Republicans are trying to go backward on environmental protection, drugs, inclusivity and the social safety net. Interest groups express outrage but little unity FOR anything. Polarization, racism, scapegoating and hate are on the rise. And we’re not addressing the essential problem: Most of us don’t feel safe in our world, and there are economic, social, spiritual and emotional roots for that feeling of unsafety. We must and can do better, says Granny Rocks. Tune in. Hear her thoughts about the roots of our problems and a direction for their solution.

Fires and floods are happening all over! Can we start facing the reality together, no matter our religious or political beliefs? Love, religion and climate action aren’t often found in the same sentence, but you’ll find all three when you meet climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in 2014. First, she has the facts about climate change and our responsibility for it. AND she has religious faith and love. An evangelical Protestant and wife of an evangelical Minister, Katharine speaks to the moral imperative behind climate action. Plus she speaks caringly to all, including other evangelicals who deny human responsibility for climate change. If you want a glimpse of this remarkable woman, watch a bonus clip from the documentary Years of Living Dangerously, where you’ll see her in action with climate deniers. Don't miss our encore interview with Beth Green and Katharine Hayhoe, originally aired on September 3rd, 2015, but just as timely as ever, if not moreso! Join us!

The Rabid Right is NOT simply people expressing their opinions. It is people who are insulting, venomous and sometimes even threatening. They have been encouraged by candidates like Donald Trump who don’t care about facts or decency. So how do we respond to the anger, lies and downright meanness of the Rabid Right? Today’s show is a debate between the two sides of host Beth Green. In one corner is Beth, a woman trying to hang onto her humanity as she is being attacked, still trying to reach out compassionately to her attackers in the spirit of Oneness. In the other corner is Madam Mazurka, Beth’s alter ego, who is a hilarious Transylvanian psychic who’s been dead too long to care and is ready to duke it out with opponents. What IS the right approach for our times? Compassion or retort? You be the judge. If you feel upset by our nation’s current discourse and want a chance to think through how we should respond, tune in, and call in to ask questions or cast your vote.

Join Sky and hosts Helen Hillix and Todd Benton as they explore what it takes to live cooperatively and why it is becoming so popular all over the world. What IS cooperative housing? Are there different kinds of intentional communities? Find out whether this is a trend just for Baby Boomers or whether younger people are drawn to living cooperatively and why. What are the advantages and major challenges of living in a cooperative situation? How do they resolve the inevitable conflicts? What makes one cooperative successful and another not? How does cooperative living relate to being an Inner Revolutionary and living according to Oneness, Accountability and Mutual Support? Is it something that you might consider? Join our conversation and see if you get excited about this expanding option.

In 1950, guest Beth Green heard a popular song: “Lucky, lucky, lucky me, I’m a lucky son of a gun. I work 8 hours, I sleep 8 hours and have 8 hours of fun.” Even as a child, Beth was baffled by those words. People worked 8 hours and slept 8 hours but definitely didn’t have 8 hours for fun. Who does? This little ditty shows the lie that we live every day: the lie that work is what we get paid for. This narrow definition ignores all the unpaid work we do every day and disguises how housework and relaxation are connected to work. Aren’t we either getting ourselves ready for work, recovering from work, helping others function at work, avoiding work or raising the next generation of workers? Beth says the way we have been taught to connect work with money has led to the disempowerment of men and women, blinded us to our overwork and kept us divided and down. So what do we do? Let’s start by revolutionizing the conversation about work right now! Tune in to this show and call if you can.

Can we stay positive in a world full of turmoil and pain? Can we remain calm in such challenging times? Hell, yes! says Granny Rocks, formerly known as Beth Green. Or at least she tries. And so must we. Why? Granny Rocks will answer that question through a new Granny Rocks Experience called Bathe in Joy. She’ll be offering it in San Diego via videoconference on September 9th, 10-noon. You can attend in person in San Diego or via the net anywhere. And as always, the event will combine her original music, commentary and humor. It will also include the song, Bathe in Joy, one of her most fun tracks off her latest album Rumblings of Revolution. But first, she’ll drop by our show to talk about staying courageous and positive. And we’ll be playing some of her inspirational songs that we haven’t shared before. We’ll also be asking Granny if she really bathes in joy and, if so, how does a 72-year-old chronically ill semi-invalid do it? So tune in and let’s see if we can bathe in joy, too!

With 2 million daily active users, Grindr, the gay social network is uniquely situated to advance human rights by addressing health, justice, and other important issues among LGBT populations. Can a hook up site really change the world? Why does it matter to all of us? Co-Hosts Chris Reese and Helen Hillix will speak with Jack Harrison-Quintana, director of Grindr for Equality (G4E) and Peter Sloterdyk Vice President of Marketing for Grindr to explore these questions and more. Can we embrace social media as a partner to improve the quality of our lives and suspend judgement if we don’t engage in similar practices? Why do we even label someone as LGBT? We are all humans with the same needs for love, comfort, safety, good health and well-being. Recently, Grindr for Equality sent messages educating Grindr users about the therapy that vastly reduces HIV transmission risk. Follow-up research showed that G4E influenced 20 percent to start treatment. This is for the highest good of all!