Charlie Starbuck, an affable tax attorney, single-handedly has increased the “canopy” of San Francisco by planting more than 7,500 trees, as part of the movement known as Friends of the Urban Forest. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in asso…

How does the widespread low level of literacy among American adults affect the functioning of our democracy? Are voters in this group vulnerable to political manipulation? To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.…

About half of American adults read at or below a 6th-grade level. What challenges do they face – at work, in health care, when helping children with schoolwork? And how does the profusion of low-information voters affect our democracy? To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on …

This episode explores the very human level at which some nurses interact with patients at their most vulnerable moments. What spiritual questions about life and death arise in such encounters? We do nurses turn for their own support? And we look at the concept of “compassion fatigue” and ways nurses can maintain open-hearted care. To see additional…

In a health care setting, where serious illness may be on the line, what does it mean for a provider to listen attentively? We examine this core nursing practice in several venues. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Bo…

Demanding and sometimes nerve-racking circumstances are a natural part of life and inevitably occur in the health care environment, where patients often arrive when they are in trouble. While it would be easy to get overwhelmed, skilled health care professionals have developed techniques for handling both everyday stresses and situations of unusual…

A no-holds-barred look at the stressful conditions in which many nurses work: the long hours, the emotional toll, the rapid pace, and the way that technology and institutional practices can make it hard to form a caring bond with patients. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard…

We remember the late Anthony DeMello with the help of University of London Theologian Michael Barnes as well as recordings of the colorful DeMello during one of his many popular retreats. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with…

Rather than merely write checks to charities they don’t really know well, a group of concerned women formed a “giving circle” which identifies social needs and then seeks out worthy recipients. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in associatio…

A Kansas therapist and author, John Heider, describes how his life has been profoundly affected by studying a renowned 2,500 year old wisdom text from China that teaches the art of inner balance. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in associat…

Ida Wells published the first major study of lynching. A close associate of Frederick Douglass, she helped to found the NAACP and advocated the right to vote for women and black Americans. Her amazing life story is finally gaining recognition, nearly 90 years after her death. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmed…

Born to enslaved parents, Ida B. Wells emerged as a powerful investigative journalist. She overcame death threats and published widely in her quest to document domestic terrorism against African Americans. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, i…

After John Wood trekked through Nepal and saw under-educated children, he quit his job as a Microsoft executive and founded Room to Read, a nonprofit that went on to establish over 16,000 libraries aimed at spreading literacy in poorer nations. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are …

As environmental visionaries see it, the future of energy is not in greenhouse gas-emitting fuels like oil and coal—whose supply is running out—but in sustainable, non-global warming sources like wind and sun and waves from the ocean and in the enormous storehouse of heat that naturally occurs deep underground. To see additional resources and our o…

Nearly half of criminals released from prison are arrested again within three years. Through that revolving door, they return to a correctional system that is often overcrowded and ridden with violence. Robin Casarjian, a counselor working in prisons, helps to transform houses of correction into houses of healing. She encourages inmates to identify…

It’s been said that we’ve learned how to speak but not necessarily how to communicate. Rarely are we taught the art of deep listening or how to respond to someone without accusation or blame or the ability to articulate our own needs without putting others on the defensive. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia…

In this documentary we explore how federal courts enforced fugitive slave laws. Historians, actors and legal scholars re-create the famous case of a young escaped slave who was sent back by a Boston judge, provoking America’s largest abolitionist protest. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind sp…

In the second half of our documentary on the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, we examine the AA recovery principles that have promoted sobriety for millions of recovering alcoholics and have created a template to help people worldwide who struggle with many forms of addiction. To view additional resources for this episode please visit our website a…

Herbal remedies: Do they work? Are they safe? In The Medicine Garden, a special series drawn from our archives, you’ll take a fascinating tour of this relatively low-cost form of health care. It’s an approach to healing that has become enormously popular among Americans dissatisfied with conventional medicine.…

In this episode, we hear from physician Ralph Snyderman, MD, a proponent of preventive medicine, who believes that our health care system should place greater emphasis on preventive practices (such as healthy diet and stress management), because it is more humane to avoid disease than to cope with it, and because it is a far cheaper mode of health …

Have we entered an age of unrelenting chaos? As we grope for a “new normal”, has humanity reached a kind of turning point? In this timely audio documentary, you’ll hear inspiring stories of survivors. We also listen to health care providers, clergy and others who offer specific guidance to help people navigate these choppy waters. They conclude tha…

Take a trip to a pristine spot in Maine for an afternoon spent with Palestinian and Israeli youth as they come together to play, connect, and discuss the imperiled region they struggle in eleven months out of the year. Despite the hardened conditions in which they were raised, the teenagers here reveal an innocence and delightful hopefulness that m…

As we grope for a “new normal”, has humanity reached a kind of turning point? It feels that way — in the wake of the Covid pandemic, intensifying impacts of climate change, the war in Ukraine, mounting threats to our democracy, repeated mass shootings and so much more. In this second part of our documentary, we learn about the simple self-care tech…

After war, our veterans face a new battle: emotional and spiritual conflict that is normal to human beings who’ve experienced intense brutality. In this documentary, we examine the effects of military violence and how people begin the journey of healing from it. We hear deeply moving stories of veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam. …

The Prisoners Literature Project, an all-volunteer service based in Berkeley, California, packages and ships books to people who are incarcerated, as a humanitarian gesture and one that helps inmates prepare for re-entry into society.By David Freudberg