Brad Laird is a Wobbly Quaker, official member of the Michiana IWW and a Quaker in good standing. That’s not all he is, by any means - he’s a Girl Scout Troop Leader, passionate husband, father, and grandfather, Chair of the board of directors of South Bend, Indiana’s Community for Peace & Nonviolence. And one more item that makes him particularly interesting to us, he was once destined to be a Lutheran Minister, he considers himself to be a post-theist, post-atheist, deeply committed to his work for the nurture and healing of the world, both in practical and spiritual ways.

Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Lutheran, Quaker, Unitarian Universalist 

Featured Music:
Joe Hill - performed by Joe Jencks on Links in the Chain

Racism is deeply rooted in the USA, and entwined with religion. Katharine Gerbner, author of Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World, helps uproot the attitudes and untwine the prejudices in the hope of finding a clear way forward. Katharine is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.

Lisa Ann Wright (or on Facebook) makes compassionate, thoughtful, creative music, even as she performs as one of the Snarky Sisterz with Diana Quinn. Her song, My Daily Bread, was included in the Songs For Social Change top 10 by RAWA.

Government of, by, & for the People is built by the kind of Spirit that Christine Ashley & Katie Breslin draw on to make flourish the work of FCNL, as Quaker Field Secretary & Young Adult Program Manager, respectively. They make advocacy rewarding & lively from their offices facing the Hart Senate Office Building in D.C. with the banner proclaiming Love Thy Neighbor - No Exceptions.

Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Catholic, Quaker

Accompanied by the amazing violin & talent of Katie O'Neill, Idris Phillips weaves heart-enlivening music, both his own & that of others, live at the 2018 FGC gathering in Toledo. Inspired by music greats like James Taylor, Paul Simon, and his friend, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, Idris writes, sings, & plays music of the deep.

Sara Peach, the senior editor at Yale Climate Connectionshas ohly 90 seconds to tell a compelling and inspiring climate change related story. She sits down with show host, Peterson Toscano, to discuss the kind of stories that move people closer to climate advocacy.

Sara Peach, the senior editor at Yale Climate Connections has only 90 seconds to tell a compelling and inspiring climate change related story. She sits down with show host, Peterson Toscano, to discuss the kind of stories that move people closer to climate advocacy. Based on extensive research from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, Sara and her team have produced hundreds of short radio pieces. She brought two of these stories with her to share on this episode. Sara also talks about where she is finding hope these and what she does when she hears discouraging climate news.

Hayley Hathaway is passionate about the relationships between ecology, economy, and faith. She is publications director for Quaker Earthcare Witness and lives as part of the South of Monadnock Community, after having spent 6 years with Casa de los Amigos in Mexico City. She wrote about her search for intentional community in a Friends Journal article about the Twin Oaks community.

Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio visits with 5 guests, on topics including climate comedy with Brian Ettling, climate-coping lessons from the Netherlands with Edgar Westerhof of Arcadis North America, environmental racism with Brentin Mock, and poetry from River Hymns by Tyree Daye.

Jan Krist and Jim Bizer make music that is fun, profound, quirky, insightful, and moving. As a duo their creative name is Jan Krist & Jim Bizer, but they also perform in a number of other groups & configurations, with Diamonds in the Rust, The Yellow Room Gang, Floyd King & The Bushwackers, and more.