'She lets us see the often chaotic and nature-starved modern world through the eyes of our foremost conservation president ...a view that is at once uplifting and provocative, but always fascinating.' Tony Flemming, Geologist and co-author, Geologic Map of the Washington West Quadrangle, Oct 24, 2020 Washington D.C. naturalist Melanie Choukas-Bradley dives into the natural history and beauty of Theodore Roosevelt Island, an island wilderness less than two miles from the White House and a memorial to the United States' foremost conservationist president. In 2016, as the presidential election dealt a body-blow to progressive thinkers in the US, Melanie sought the solace of Theodore Roosevelt Island. In this book she reflects on the inspiring environmental legacy of Roosevelt, and how immersing oneself in nature can help to heal, restore and encourage a person, even in the midst of the strange new reality of a divisive occupant in the White House. Melanie leads the reader along walks and kayak trips around the island, as together with other Washingtonian nature lovers, birders, conservationists, and even descendants of Roosevelt, they find solace in the island's natural wonders, and ponder their nation's future. Includes a foreword by Tom Lovejoy, Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation.

Nature is one of the best medicines for difficult times. An intimate awareness of the natural world, even within the city, can calm anxieties and help create healthy perspectives. This book will inspire and guide you as you deal with the current crisis, or any personal or worldly distress. Melanie Choukas-Bradley is a naturalist and certified forest therapy guide who leads nature and forest bathing walks for many organizations in Washington, D.C. and the American West. Learn from her the Japanese art of "forest bathing": how to tune in to the beauty and wonder around you with all your senses, even if your current sphere is a tree outside the window or a wild backyard. Discover how you can become a backyard naturalist, learning about the trees, wildflowers, birds and animals near your home. Nature immersion during stressful times can bring comfort and joy as well as opportunities for personal growth, expanded vision and transformation. The "Resilience Series" is the result of an intensive, collaborative effort of our authors in response to the 2020 coronavirus epidemic. Each volume offers expert advice for developing the practical, emotional and spiritual skills that you can master to become more resilient in a time of crisis.

'A much welcomed and needed book that not only addresses the severe emotional impact of COVID-19 but more importantly, offers a unique method for living a fruitful life once again.' Andrew J. D'Amico, PhD, Psychologist Overwhelmed, frustrated, and suffering from long haul COVID symptoms and the fallout of the pandemic? This practical guide will help you transform your struggles to lead a fulfilling, vital life right now. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), the scientifically based therapeutic approach presented by Joseph J. Trunzo and Julie Luongo, offers a way out - not when you’re feeling better, but right now.

'In the Small Places reminds us just how much teachers matter in our lives and in the world. This touching tribute shows their dedication and the big role they play in creating a better future for everyone.'Agustin Porres, Regional Director, LATAM Varkey Foundation: Sponsor of the Global Teacher Prize As the largest professionally trained group in the world, teachers know who is sick, missing, orphaned by disasters, and at risk for human trafficking. They are the glue that holds society together, and a development army in everyone's backyard. Teachers are not the problem. They are the solution. Their voices must be heard. In the Small Places is a testament to teacher changemakers for our world's intractable challenges: education in emergencies, corruption, racism, war, human rights, and girls' education. Eleanor Roosevelt once asked, "Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” In the Small Places is about teacher agency in those small places - writ large.

An ACE National Strategic Planning Framework for the United States is a game changer for climate action. After decades of inspired but fragmented efforts, 150 highly diverse Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) leaders joined forces in 2020 to build a strategic roadmap for encouraging, informing, and empowering the public to tackle the climate crisis. Their goal: push the United States and other nations to meet - and exceed - the targets of the Paris Agreement in the fastest and most equitable way possible, namely, by empowering the people.

'Alan is a visionary who believes that theatre changes lives for the better, and who creates teams who make sure that it does.' Russell Willis Taylor, Former CEO, National Arts Strategies Nonprofit arts organizations have to place nonprofit ahead of arts in order to thrive in these pre-post-pandemic days. Most currently don’t. Scene change is a phrase tied to the arts when discussing a literal change from one scene in a play to another, eliciting a new time, place, and situation. Here, however, it refers to actions made at this pivotal moment within the entire sector, where the rules that went into play over half a century ago can no longer apply for the arts to serve their nonprofit purpose. That charitable purpose – to help those who need the help – cannot exist in an environment of privilege, exclusivity, and the subjective concept of excellence. Excellence does not put food on a hungry person’s table, if they even have a table. In his brilliantly unpretentious, snarky, and hilarious style, Alan Harrison pulls no punches. He identifies and addresses elitism, defines and defuses toxicity, and provides outlines for success, including a hopeful prediction for the future. This book also provides context for the pinball journeys of a 30-year adventure, leading nonprofit arts organizations in America – warts and all.

How do you keep your conversations light and playful yet profound? How do you ask the right questions, with the right words, at the right moment? The Philosophical Conversation teaches you the basics of philosophical skills and instructs how to get started. A philosophical score, which provides you with the right attitude, technique and execution, determines the rhythm. Inside these pages there are all kinds of exercises to help you think more accurately and show you how to share that with others. Discover the joy of making music with words.

Has the COVID-19 pandemic derailed the global community’s commitment to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030? Are we heading for environmental collapse? Can we avert a climate catastrophe and enable peace, justice, and shared futures for humanity? These questions call for transformational change. This book explores the root causes of today’s failures and lays out a plan for real-world innovation labs using a SMART future design paradigm to achieve the UN’s 17 sustainability goals and 169 targets. SMART futures is a ‘systems literacy’ approach to problem solving that allows us to address challenges of our VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world as an integrated whole. This new paradigm shifts us from silo thinking to systems thinking. With lively storytelling and thought-provoking analysis, Dr. Claire Nelson opens a doorway to the future, and a vision of what success might look like. Her stories from the future present worldviews of the feminine and from the global South, which are often absent from contemporary global futures discourse.

Think you’ve waited too long to do something about climate change? Think again. Am I Too Old to Save the Planet?: A Boomer’s Guide to Climate Action explains how America’s most promising generation allowed climate change to become a planetary emergency - and what to do about it now. A former foreign correspondent and vice president of the World Resources Institute, Lawrence MacDonald shares his journey to becoming a passionate climate activist. Packed with practical advice, his book invites fellow boomers to join the growing global movement to save the planet.

Is it actually possible? …that we might emerge from this pandemic with a peaceful global power switch from those who have too much to those who don't have enough? With billionaires able to decide the fate of nations, private corporations more powerful and less accountable than ever, and political autocrats around the world shaking our confidence in democratic institutions, power resides in all the wrong places. And so our world is in crisis. In such moments, activists find opportunities. Not to restore the pre-crises order, but to transform it. Paul O’Brien argues that progressive activists may never have a better opportunity to rewrite economic rules, systems and outcomes in favor of those who don't have enough. His book offers practical action steps for activists who want to drive a power switch that overcomes extreme inequalities in our world.