Dream of a Nation

Alice Walker sums up that “Dream of a Nation offers hundreds of ideas and examples of how smart, committed, and daring we can be.” The book explores problems and solutions from the perspective of leaders in our environmental, economic and societal challenges of today. I had the pleasure of interviewing Editor Tyson Miller to talk more about the project behind it.

There’s a lot we can’t seem to agree on these days—whether it’s foreign policies or where to find the best brunch. But if there’s one thing we are likely to share a general sentiment toward, it’s that we’re facing growing challenges as a nation. Sure, how we choose to approach these challenges may differ, but there is seemingly no debate over our most critical areas: unaccountable government, lack of a green economy, educational inequities, over-saturated media, inaccessible healthcare, widening poverty gap.

With over 60 contributing influencers and organizations sharing their discoveries, solutions, and visions, Dream of a Nation aims to increase societal awareness in a wide array of topics. Figures like Alice Walker, Al Gore, and Frances Moore Lappe are among the leading change agents behind this movement. Organizations like Veterans for Peace, Free Press, and the Rainforest Alliance are a few groups that contributed to the project’s book.

“Dream of a Nation’s main hope for readers is that they have a deeper level of knowledge of critical issues and solutions and feel inspired to work in new or expanded ways to be a part of driving much needed progress,” explains Editor Tyson Miller. Miller is also the current Director of SEE Innovation, the supporting organization behind Dream of a Nation.

Accompanying the 400-page book, multimedia educational resources have been developed to supplement the content. In our technocentric times, more is always better than less. Online playlists, albums, and spoken word poetry are all a part of the project underway to help engage the web and music communities. For those of us who are more visual, a video short and documentary will present the core concepts for audiences.

Another goal of the project is to extend the reach in our educational sectors. As part of the initiative, the book itself and lesson plans are free to download for teachers, who also have access to an online educators’ portal.

We asked Tyson Miller if there were any personal favorites he particularly enjoyed editing. Although it was a tough question, he did his best in sharing more about a few chapters especially interesting for him.

“The Waging Peace and Media chapters were particularly interesting for me. In fact, our research in the Media chapter led to the development of a new program for our organization—the Project for Improved Environmental Coverage. For the Peace chapter, it was so fulfilling to envision a future where our society truly prioritizes peace and diplomacy. It was also a true honor to have worked with Greg Speeter (founder of the National Priorities Project) who recently passed away,” he tells us.

“Our goal is to get the materials in use by over 5,000 secondary schools and 200 colleges and universities. We’re also launching collegiate level competitions for communications students in the next few weeks and are excited to see what gets submitted.”

We want to deeply thank you Tyson for taking the time to respond to our interview questions. To support the project and buy this book, visit this link.

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