Listen Now:

 Podcast Interview with Irena Salina and Maude Barlow on the Global Water Crisis: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The world is facing a potentially catastrophic water crisis. More than a billion people currently lack access to clean, safe drinking water. Multinational corporations including Nestlé, Vivendi, and Coca Cola are buying up the world’s fresh water supply and selling it back to people at a profit. A movement is growing, however, opposing the tide of privatization, wrestling control away from the corporations, and working to bring water to everyone.

The documentary FLOW: For Love of Water explores this fight over who owns the world’s water. For this episode of the UtneCast, I spoke with Irena Salina, director of the film, and Maude Barlow, one of the world’s most prominent activist against the privatization of water.

You can listen to the interview above, or to subscribe to the UtneCast for free through iTunes, click here.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This Sunday, HBO is airing the first episode of Generation Kill, a darkly funny miniseries about American soldiers on the eve of the Iraq invasion. The show was produced by David Simon and Ed Burns, the acclaimed creators of the police drama The Wire. For the latest UtneCast, I spoke with Susannah White, who directed four of the seven episodes of Generation Kill. We talked about what she hopes to accomplish with the series and what it was like as a British woman directing a series about testosterone-filled American soldiers.

To subscribe to the UtneCast through iTunes, click here, or just listen to the interview at the top of this post.

And to watch a preview from Generation Kill, click on the YouTube video below.

Listen Now:

 UtneCast 38: Riane Eisler on The Real Wealth of Nations / Film: Garbage: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode Leif interviews Riane Eisler, author of The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics, in which she argues that to build a sustainable and socially just economy, we have to start putting a value on caring and caregiving. And the book lays out a possible framework for doing just that. Eisler is best known for her bestseller The Chalice and the Blade, which argues for a shift in human relationships from domination to partnership. The ideas from that book have even inspired a PhD program in “partnership studies” at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

And this week, Utne Reader assistant editor Bennett Gordon reviews the entertaining new documentary Garbage, which follows a Toronto family for three months as they save every scrap of waste. Check out the trailer at GarbageRevolution.com. The film has it’s world premier November 19 in Toronto, and at screenings in people’s homes in over a dozen cities around the world.

Episode sponsor: Mother Earth Coffee & Tea

Listen Now:

 UtneCast 37: Walljasper on Great Neighborhoods / Film: Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode, you’ll hear Leif’s recent interview with Jay Walljasper, formerly editor of Utne Reader. Jay’s passion for creative ideas to make cities more sustainable led him to write The Great Neighborhood Book, together with his colleagues at the Project for Public Spaces. The book is full of stories about people who have revolutionized their own neighborhoods, plus tons of ideas and resources to help you do the same in your neck of the woods.

And this week, Utne Reader assistant editor Bennett Gordon reviews the new film Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?, an entertaining documentary about an idealistic college professor’s quixotic run for Congress.

Episode sponsor: Mother Earth Coffee & Tea

Listen Now:

 UtneCast 35: Chinese Punk Rock / Toronto’s City Idol / Rio’s Inspiring Sounds : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This episode takes us around the world. First, an interview with Amy Adoyzie, author of an article in the current Utne Reader about China’s punk rock scene, including samples from Chinese punk bands Subs and Brain Failure.

Next, Leif Utne talks to the organizer of City Idol, a fun and creative project that used an American Idol-style process to choose and run candidates for Toronto’s city council. A documentary about City Idol is slated for release this fall.

Finally, assistant editor Bennett Gordon reviews the amazing Brazilian hip-hop album Inspiring New Sounds of Rio de Janeiro.

Episode sponsor: Mother Earth Coffee & Tea

Listen Now:

 UtneCast 32: The New Elders: Eric Utne & Richard Leider / DiCaprio's 11th Hour: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode, UtneCast host Leif Utne looks at the changing role of elders in America, with guests Richard Leider and Eric Utne. Leider is a consultant, speaker, and author of many books, including Claiming Your Place at the Fire: Living the Second Half of Your Life on Purpose. Utne is the founder of Utne Reader and executive director of the Earth Corps for Global Service, a new initiative that aims to become a sort of Peace Corps for the whole earth. In the September/October Utne Reader, editor David Schimke interviews the two of them about mentoring, wisdom, and their generation’s remaining potential. Last week, Leif followed up by phone to give them a chance to elaborate even further, and to get the skinny on an exciting new intergenerational initiative they’re cooking up.

And this week, assistant editor Bennett Gordon reviews Leonardo DiCaprio’s new global warming documentary The 11th Hour (watch the film’s trailer and video extras here on the UtneCast blog).

Leonardo DiCaprio’s much talked-about new global warming doc The 11th Hour premiered in New York and LA last Friday. Over the next several weeks it will roll out across the US and Canada. The video player below gives you a peek at the film’s trailer and some juicy little video extras.

Our friends at the Bioneers conference were intimately involved in the making of the film. And at least two past UtneCast guests were interviewed in the film, Bioneers cofounder Kenny Ausubel and Paul Hawken.

Tune in Wednesday, 8/22, to hear Bennett Gordon’s review of The 11th Hour in this week’s UtneCast.