A World of Possibilities

When residents of an isolated island off the coast of Maine found their utility bills rising to three times what mainlanders paid, their local energy cooperative turned to wind as a clean and affordable energy alternative. It seemed like the perfect solution, but residents now find themselves bitterly divided over noise. Wind advocates are asking what needs to be done to deal with the downsides of what has long been viewed as a benign source of renewable energy.

Around the world, languages, cultures and ecosystems are disappearing at an alarming rate, erasing richness vital to our survival. Based on interviews conducted at a major international conference on biocultural diversity held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York in April 2008, this program examines how diversity is also re-emerging even as the old ways are dying.

In its breakneck pursuit of modernization, China has given nature a back seat to its turbo-charged industrial development. Now, with drought, desertification, and extreme pollution, China's leaders are beginning to realize that better treatment of its natural capital is vital to the country's survival. Today we'll speak with a leading Chinese landscape architect who is redefining the relationship between humans and nature with an ingenuity that sets a new standard for innovation itself and...

These days we think of electric vehicles as futuristic inventions, coming our way just a little before commercial flights to the moon. But actually, they preceded the infernal combustion engine by more than half a century. Now, as we choke on the exhaust, we turn once more to electricity. Only this time, the momentum is building not in Detroit but in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and California.

Like "Made in Japan" a generation ago, the "Made in China" label has long been viewed by Americans as a low-cost, low quality knock-off of a costly original designed and manufactured in more advanced nations. But these days China is transforming itself from the world's factory into the world's laboratory. That's creating vast new opportunities for green innovation. Two leading Chinese entrepreneurial innovators in renewable energy ask why the nation that pioneered many such technologies is...

Host Mark Sommer continues his journey across the communities lying above the Marcellus Shale Play, a gigantic natural gas deposit stretching under the Northeast United States. In this program we hear the conflicting ideas and conflicted emotions of those living and working in the Southern Tier of New York State, where gas "fracking" is proposed but not yet underway.

Each day, billions of shares flash through stock markets worldwide. Fortunes are made and lost at the flick of a keystroke, wreaking havoc on millions of people far from the trading floor. Meanwhile, both value and values are wantonly destroyed. Today we'll hear from two pioneering economists, one of them a Nobel Prize winner, who seek to slow the pace of business in order to reclaim value and values.

It's clear now that the economic collapse of 2008, the second "September shock" after 2001, will have a more enduring impact than most of us once supposed. Today we'll meet two individuals who've pursued and long advocated ways of life based not on lifestyles of the rich and famous but on our enduring capacities for creativity, imagination and love. And, they've traced how what we choose to do as individuals can reshape the nature of the larger world.

Thirty-five years ago the war in Vietnam came to an abrupt end, yet for millions of Vietnamese soldiers and citizens and for thousands of American veterans and their descendants, a legacy of diseases, disabilities, and unexplained symptoms echo down the decades. During the war, some 4.5 million Vietnamese were exposed to highly toxic dioxins sprayed by the American military. Today we'll hear from a range of individuals from varied sectors and backgrounds who've gathered together in support...

Species of both plants and animals are dying out at unprecedented rates. Overpopulation, industrialization, and mono-cropping are stressing the world's food supply. Now radical shifts in climate change could conceivably trigger ecological and economic collapse. Today we'll hear from specialists worldwide in the new science of agro-biodiversity who are combining the best of both ancient and organic agriculture and using cacao's charismatic attraction to inspire the replanting of tropical...

In a global culture dominated by the impatience of youth, counted in nanoseconds and fueled by "just-in-time" supply chains, everything needs to be done "yesterday" since today is no longer soon enough. Today we'll hear from two individuals who've slowed their pace even as they've quickened their creativity and deepened their appreciation for those things that speeding causes us to miss.

Organic agriculture has grown up. A once-marginal movement of plucky and slightly eccentric home gardeners has bloomed into mega-farms that ship around the world selling at premium prices. In this program we'll examine both ends of the organic industry food chain -- a mid-size organic farming family and the world's largest organic food retailer. We'll see what growing mainstream has done for - and to -- organic farmers, and what remains to be done to give farmers and consumers the...

Our failure to protect and respect innately sacred natural places is a direct reflection of our loss of connection to the land and water that sustain us - and a harbinger of self-destruction. These sacred places are sometimes known only to their ancestral guardians and the peoples that have long revered them. Others are those special places in our own neighborhoods where we go for solace, reflection and refreshment. Today we'll travel to remote regions of the planet where indigenous peoples...

Today we explore the remarkable power of soulful music to transform sorrow into solace and sadness into joy, not just for the singer but for the listener as well. We'll hear from two remarkable musician/songwriters who grew up in challenging circumstances and found music to be the life raft in stormy weather and the vessel to calmer waters. Whether you play an instrument, dance, or simply listen, explore with us the healing power of music.

Most of us take life for granted. But what happens when we're forced to think hard about whether we want to live? Suicide and the impulse to attempt it are a great unacknowledged epidemic in public health today. It not only scars those who try it, but all those who care about them, often for life. This is the story of Steve Fugate, a self-described ordinary guy who found himself thrust into the crucible of suicide at close hand and chose to express his grief and redemption in a most unusual...

When Barack Obama was elected president in November 2008, both supporters and critics saw it as a watershed in political and social transformation. But a year later, a seemingly unstoppable tide appears to have reversed and surged in the opposite direction. Many progressives feel frustrated, even betrayed by policies that seem only marginally different from those that came before while conservatives have found new energy in strategic obstruction and militant resistance. Over the years, in...

Why is it that while many of us are discouraged and some devastated by life's losses, a rare few not only survive but thrive in their wake - transcending tragedy, growing not despite but through it. We've all known such people -- a cancer survivor, someone who's lost loved ones, maybe someone who experienced war, incarceration or abuse and somehow came out of it finding life all the sweeter for being so fragile and fleeting. Such individuals don't simply endure; they transform. And through...

In this special edition of A World of Possibilities, we present a documentary by Portland independent radio producer Barbara Bernstein. Heavy Weather explores the connections between increasing extreme weather and our changing climate and landscapes. For a hundred years people have transformed the landscape to suit their needs. At the same time we've pumped enough greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere to transform the climate, forcing us now to rethink the shape and placement of our built...

For years, lieutenants in the U.S. armed forces have been leading tasks with strategic influence in some of the most challenging environments imaginable. Assisted by a multitude of organizations and countries, junior officers are expected to help resettle displaced populations, restart economies, form local governing councils, lead town hall meetings, rebuild schools, train local security forces, and rebuild the basic physical and societal infrastructure. While the U.S. armed forces are...

Civil wars in Africa, Asia, and Southern Europe have left long-festering wounds in communities where victims and perpetrators continue to live side by side with little acknowledgment of crimes committed and no means of achieving reconciliation. But in some places, innovative programs have been created to achieve closure. They blend traditional rituals with 21st century conflict resolution techniques and have achieved remarkable results. This program profiles reconciliation initiatives in...