Humankind

What do two women of very divergent backgrounds have to teach each other? How can training in parenthood help a family to heal? "I'm a good person. I just made bad choices and I think there's a lot of good women that made bad choices and this program can help them make good choices. " -- Tina Cruz, shared family care mentee This is the fascinating story of two people from sharply different backgrounds who came together for a powerful purpose. In a living arrangement known as "shared family care," a woman with a troubled past moved in for six months with her young child to the Antioch, California home of a mentor and her children, for what amounted to a round-the-clock course in parenting. They sought to break the tenacious cycle of addiction, abuse and dysfunction that can enslave families for generations. In this case, both mentor and mentee were the same age and learned much from each other. Children who complete the program are only half as likely to re-renter the child welfare system as kids who've been through traditional foster care. For the mother, shared family care offered a second chance at life. Complete program length: 29 minutes

"We have a sickness in our society. If you say that somebody is a 'success', isn't it that usually what you mean is that they've made a lot of money, or have a lot of money?...Whereas I would define a successful human being -- if you think twice about it, and question that assumption, you know, wouldn't that actually be somebody who brings out the best in other people? Someone who gives -- adds beauty to the lives of others, in some way?" -- John Robbins, author of "The New Good Life" As a bright young man, John Robbins was the heir apparent to the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire. But in his early twenties, he and his wife Deo struck out on their own, turning away from the family wealth and choosing instead a subsistence lifestyle of deliberately simple living that included growing their own food. John eventually began writing books about his journey, his advocacy for the environment, and his commitment to a healthier and more sustainable food system. His books sold in the millions (including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated 'Diet for a New America'), accruing a small fortune, this one earned on his own. But in 2008, he suddenly learned that he had lost almost everything to the scam-artist Bernard Madoff. It set off an unexpected family crisis, which nearly cost the Robbins their home and the secure future they tried to build for their special-needs grandchildren. This led to a fresh appraisal- discussed in this program- of what true wealth really means, and how in hard times it is still possible to achieve "an overflowing life, a generous life, and a joyful life." Complete program length: 29 Minutes

"I guess the key then is what enables us to see the world through new eyes, and not just react out of fear and in our old patterns. What are the patterns of thinking that keep us in despair and fear, which then block our action for a lot of people?...So part of the answer is helping people see that they do have power moment to moment to contribute to either solutions or worsening of the problem." -- Frances Moore Lappe, author of 'EcoMind' and co-Founder, Small Planet Institute "There are over 300 mayors in this country who have [committed climate change policies] -- and they're in every state, including, you know, from Maine to Florida, and Texas to Oregon. And when you think about it, cities are responsible for about 80% of [greenhouse gas] emissions. And cities control land use planning, building codes, transportation planning. They control a huge fraction of the things we have to do. So we don't have to wait for Washington to get their act together, if we can get the cities to do it." -- William Moomaw, long-time Lead Author of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, pictured with his wife Margot Moomaw, a consultant on home energy use Although the consequences of climate change may turn out to be sweeping and dire, experts say there is still time to counteract the worst effects -- provided positive steps are taken promptly. Thus pessimism in the face of daunting predictions is self-defeating, because it may sap people of the enthusiasm needed to undertake doable changes. This Humankind special cuts through misinformation and examines the consensus scientists have reached about the causes of the climate crisis and its possible ramifications. Then, a future that is both sustainable and attainable is described. And we hear the fascinating story of how one of the world's top climate scientists and his wife designed and built an elegant home that has become a national model of how to enjoy a comfortable life with minimal impact on the environment. Complete program length: 29 Minutes More information can be found at the sites below:See this interactive Extreme Weather Map, reflecting trends that are consistent with climate changeHome Energy Checklist for Action (ways to reduce your own greenhouse gas emissions) See photos and learn details of Bill and Margot Moomaw's climate-friendly home in this PDF

"In the solitude of my spirit, I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity, on the way to the slave-markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the highest bidder. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. My soul sickens at the sight." -- Frederick Douglass, Abolitionist "I think by the end of his life Lincoln had certainly accepted the idea of black citizenship. In fact, in 1862 his Attorney General, Edward Bates, issues a ruling basically saying: The Supreme Court was wrong. Free black people -- not slaves -- are citizens. Absolutely, we're going to recognize all free black people as citizens of the United States. And the Supreme Court just made a big mistake there, and we don't have to listen to it." -- Eric Foner,Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Columbia University historian It's often described as the worst decision ever handed down by the U-S Supreme Court. It was the only time in American history when a justice resigned from the Court in apparent disgust at a ruling by his colleagues. It prompted numerous proposals that the Supreme Court be abolished. And it greatly inflamed America in the tense period leading up to the Civil War. How could a nation founded on a Declaration that "all men are created equal" permit slavery? Nowhere was this contradiction more stark than in federal courts before the nation erupted into Civil War. In this documentary, we consider several historical flashpoints.
In one case, historians, legal scholars and actors re-create the fugitive slave trial of Anthony Burns, a teenager born as a slave in Virginia. After escaping on a boat to Boston, he was apprehended and forced into federal court where under the Fugitive Slave Act he could be ordered back to slavery. The federal court proceedings that followed his arrest provoked the largest abolitionist protest the nation had ever seen. In the end, Burns, then 20 years old, was marched through the city in chains and deposited on a boat, which would take him back to cruel punishment as a slave. The judge, Edward Loring, later faced strong ostracism and was eventually removed from his other post as a state judge. In the second segment, we look in-depth at the most controversial ruling in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court -- the Dred Scott case. In that decision, the Chief Justice ruled that black people have "no rights which the white man was bound to respect." Shortly afterward, a fellow justice resigned in disgust from the Supreme Court. We hear the whole amazing saga in a lengthy dialogue with Eric Foner, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and professor of history at Columbia University. We examine how these cases aggravated national tensions before the Civil War, stirred up abolitionist sentiment and harmed the legitimacy of the courts. Complete program length: 1 hour

"If we don't do something about the tens of millions of families who are just getting by, or not getting by at all, we will continue to have a society that becomes more and more uneven, more and more unequal, and in a sense, more and more unstable." --Prof. Barry BluestoneNortheastern University In a country as wealthy as the United States, "working poor" should be a contradiction in terms. But tens of millions of Americans fall into that category -- affecting a growing population of children. Despite their toil, many of the working poor are broke. Frequently they lack health insurance. If a child gets sick, if they lose their job, if a spouse leaves, it can swiftly spell a financial emergency. They sometimes choose between food and rent or between medicine and heat. What's it like for people in low-paying fulltime jobs, with no savings, falling behind on their bills, sometimes lining up at food pantries, even shelters? And how does this affect the rest of society? In this documentary, we listen to a former police officer, a hospital worker, a nursing home assistant and others who are barely getting by. And we hear the insights of David K. Shipler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Working Poor," Dr. Nancy Cauthen, of Columbia University's National Center for Children in Poverty, Beth Shulman, author of "The Betrayal of Work," policy researcher Gordon Berlin of MDRC, Northeastern University labor analyst Barry Bluestone and others. More information can be found at the sites below:Hunger In AmericaIncome Inequality