From: 5min.com on AOL on Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:15 AM

Eric Saperstein learned how to work with wood from his father. He talks about what it means to him to make his own furniture.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:15 AM

Chinese knotting is almost a symbolic language, it encases hidden meanings and symbols. Jean Liu explains Gail some of her works.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:15 AM

Yakenda McGahee talks to Siddi Zubeyde Atan, who is an ebru artist. Siddi explains how she got into the ebru art.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:15 AM

Painter Marta Sanchez talks about how art and spirituality is intertwined in her work.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:15 AM

John Cheer is a ceramic artist from China. He explains how he got into working with clay and glass as an artist.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:15 AM

Hayat Gul was born in Pakistan, but raised in Canada. She is a contemporary glass calligraphy artist, who puts a modern spin on a traditional art form. She talks about how she got into glass calligraphy.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:15 AM

Find out which artist inspires Salihah Moore in her art doing sacred geometry.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:15 AM

Joe Brenman talks about his work as an artist, making murals and sculptures. He also describes what art means to him.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:15 AM

Joe Brenman talks about his work as an artist, making murals and sculptures. He also describes what art means to him.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Scilla Ellworthy defines the ‘cycle of violence’ in society, both international violence and at the grassroots level. The cycle of violence begins with an atrocity, which results in shock and anger which can cause acts of revenge. To break the cycle requires conflict resolution such as with Sout...

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Sulak Sivaraksa is a Buddhist monk. He believes that people are becoming aware that globalization, the media, multinational corporations and war are ruining the world. He gives advice as to how we can live more peacefully and mindfully.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Susan George says she has hope for the future of the world. We are slowly achieving greater social justice. We can work to solve debt. She worries about global resource depletion, especially water shortages, water privatization and water wars.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Susan George says that debt relief is an essential step in achieving social justice. Third World debt is crippling many poorer nations. Sustained debt relief activism in the global north is the only way to change the global debt crisis.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Does Third World debt affect the global north? Susan George says the global debt crisis does affect creditor nations. Structural adjustment and lack of economic opportunities is a direct cause of immigration, both economic and illegal. Debt also causes exploitive environmental policies which can...

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Susan George explains what’s wrong with Third World debt. Rich nations, the IMF and multinationals keep poor countries handicapped by structural adjustment programs and debt, which she calls a form of colonialism. Creditor nations drag out the debt crisis. Debt relief campaigns have made some he...

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Can humans live sustainably? Takashi Kiuchi is not optimistic. He commissioned a piece of research on the future of the planet, paid for by a Japanese insurance company. By 2055, insurance payouts for natural disasters will exceed the GDP of 200 countries. Some say it’s too late: sustainability ...

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Takashi Kiuchi says that nature has much to teach us about living sustainably. While in a rainforest in northern Borneo, he realized that nature is entirely sustainable. It is we humans that cause environmental breakdown. Japan’s wealth has hidden this reality from the Japanese people.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Terry Tamminen examines the true cost of oil in America. America’s oil industry should factor into its oil prices external costs such as military investment in oil security, healthcare costs and the cost of fighting pollution. Oil is a scarce and valuable resource that should be used sparingly.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Are human beings good? Thom Hartmann says that the myth that human beings are bad has led to authoritarian and hierarchical systems of government. Humanity and human nature are inherently good and democracy is hard-wired into human behavior.

From: 5min.com on AOL on Fri, Jan 07 2011 10:41 AM

Thom Hartmann charts the rise of consumerism and the consumer society. After the 9/11 attacks, the US president called on the American people to keep shopping. We are no longer citizens, we are only consumers: defined not as democratic citizens but by consumer behavior.