The Idealist.org Podcasts

This episode features Shane Endicott, Founder and C.E.O. of Our United Villages, the organization that runs Portland's environmentally sound The Rebuilding Center. The Rebuilding Center recycles used building and remodeling materials (everything from a door knob to the kitchen sink to church pews to siding) by re-selling them to builders for up to 90 percent less than market value.

The show is guest-hosted by intern Alicia "Lish" Ng, who is leaving the Portland Idealist office for graduate school at the the London School of Oriental and African Studies.  Lish and Shane talk about the value of having such a innovative resource in the community, his early years, what it means to be a community leader, and how The Rebuilding Center will benefit the community as greening becomes ever more mainstream.

Lish, we thank you so much for your sound editing on this year's

After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, some people began thinking about how two cultures could misunderstand each other so much.  How could one group hate another enough to attack them?  Though we live in a time of ever-increasing communication and modern technologies that connect us across continents, we still don't seem to understand each other very well.

In the latest Idealist.org Community Podcast, our guest contributor, Eric Hanser, tells the story of a group called Cultures in Harmony.  This NYC-based nonprofit organization is bringing back an old means of cultural understanding—long ago abandoned by the United States government—by performing music in venues around the world. Set to the backdrop of beautiful global melodies, Eric explores how Cultures in Harmony fosters dialogue, friendship and diplomacy.