It's been 20 years since I attended the first Bioneers, back in the day when I was the first environmental columnist in the county, writing about worm composting and recycling and interviewing David Brower aboard a small yet sturdy yacht docked along the Sausalito waterfront. I remember that day, the crises we discussed and his stern admonition that what we needed to do, as we had reached the abyss, the point where there was no forward movement possible, was to turn back.
It all seemed so possible twenty years ago. Bioneers, which began as Seeds of Change in Santa Fe, New Mexico, moved its venue to San Rafael, CA in 1993.
Back then, I recall writing stories full of hope and inspiration. People were sure that we had everything we needed in place to make the changes we needed to 'save the world,' to turn things around
Now, 20 years later, and I am finally returning back to cover Bioneers. Some of the same folks are there: Kenny and Nina. But one look at the schedule says a lot about the opportunity we missed. Because we kept moving forward.
Anybody else planning on attending? I'll be there. I'll be reporting. A special space has been set aside for live blogging. Maybe we could meet?
Where We Are Now
In 2006, the world began to experience a "global ecological Enlightenment," in David Orr’s words. We’re finding a vastly greater receptivity to the kind of ideas, solutions and practices Bioneers has been highlighting for 20 years. In particular, government and the business community are now searching for solutions and showing a new openness. Change has finally come.
We are grateful Bioneers exists to meet this historic moment of crisis and opportunity.
We look forward to celebrating our 20th anniversary with you in 2009. Please join us in this ongoing co-creation story. The world is at stake. The Bioneers Creation Story
Bioneers Schedule 2009
Conference Highlights
THE MOVING IMAGE FESTIVAL
How visionaries are creating the healthy, diverse, and more equitable world we want to live in—our legacy for future generations. The films being shown this year include Dirt, The Movie; The Yes Men Fix the World; and A Sense of Wonder.
FOOD AND FARMING
The Bioneers Food & Farming program is devoted to seeding sustainable, local food systems. Here are the highlights related to food and farming for the 2009 Bioneers Conference.
INDIGENOUS PROGRAM
an Indigenous Tent featuring native workshops, workshops in other conference venues, a special multimedia exhibit on Indigenous responses to climate change, and other cultural activities.
Bioneers 2008 Flashback Moment
2008 Naomi Klein at Bioneers
Imagine, she said, that after all the struggles of trying to fund whatever project you are working on, you wake up one day to discover that you own the banks.
In this audience I understood the joke about taking all the toxic debts—the weapons of mass financial destruction—to Washington to blow it up. To blow up what's left of our social services government. Everyone under 40, she said, has been told that the government is the problem not the solution.
We are now witnessing a mass intervention on the part of the government. There was never a free market, of course, it was just a cover story for transferring wealth from the state to the private sector with all those no-bid contracts of crony capitalism and this bailout was meant to transfer the debt of the private sector to the public. This is the final gift of this administration. Paulson's plan A failed; the market gave it a vote of no confidence, so they had to go to the Brown plan of partial nationalization same as Britain.
Her message which has now become a mission, is that this market catastrophe has given us the demobilizing argument of our time to all those times the state said they could do nothing. What we have to watch out for is the fine print and we have to say no to turning the government into a hedge fund by outsourcing the treasury to companies.
Things are happening so fast, we are living dog years here, she said, quoting a Polish woman she spoke to during their meltdown.
We must demand control of these banks in return (with the right to vote like stockholders). We must demand a People's IMF and demand structural adjustments on the banks.
The Republicans have already gotten past their ideology of no intervention in the market so we must mobilize and make sure we have ideas lying around to take advantage of this and put privatization on trial. The argument has been made for us by reality. So let's close the tax havens, remove structural adjustments on loans to developing countries.
99% of the people who called their congressman about the bailout said no to it.
So basically what Naomi is saying is that the Emperor Has No Clothes and we have to keep pointing that out until the politicians are forced to put on the clothes that we want them to put on, by having firm in our minds the plans that we want implemented.
Naomi charmed the pants off us and got us on the road to thinking along these lines of taking back the government for the people. Then she waved goodbye and ran off to catch a plane to continue her book tour which is now a handy vehicle for her message. "
Schedule
Bioneers 2009Oct. 16-18, San Rafael CA
Friday
Traditional Welcome to his people’s ancestral lands by Chairman Greg Sarris of Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, Coast Miwok/Southern Pomo Nations
Opening remarks from Co-founder:
Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons
BROCK DOLMAN
Basins of Relations: A Reverential Rehydration Revolution
KARI FULTON
Youth Redefining Environmentalism, Reclaiming our Futures
JACK HIDARY
From Small Steps to the Energy Revolution
SARAH JAMES
Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change: Report from the Arctic
SALLY ROESCH WAGNER
Performance
MICHAEL POLLAN
In Defense of Food: The Omnivore’s Solution
Plenaries I am attending
Changing the Story: Using Media for Social Transformation
Land is life: Indigenous Peoples Respond to Climate Change:
Building a Green Agenda
For Racial and Economic Justice Movements in the Bay Area....
Saturday
Morning Schedule
KAI ECKHARDT
Musical Performance
Opening Remarks by Jim Garrison, President of State of the World Forum
Clip from Hidden Beauty introduced by filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg
JASON MCLENNAN
Living Buildings: The Future of Architecture
LILY YEH
The Rwanda Healing Project: Bringing Hope through Art and Creative Action
JENSINE LARSEN
The Electric Pulse of Women Transforming Our World
SHAILJA PATEL
Performance by award-winning Kenyan activist-artist
MARIN COUNTY AWARD
Presented by Charles McGlashan & Jim Farley
ARTURO SANDOVAL
Changing the Axis: Drawing from Mexican and Latin American Cultures to Create a Sustainable Future
DR. ANDREW WEIL
Environmental Health, Environmental Medicine
A man jumps into a polluted coastal bay in Paranaque city, south of metro Manila April 10, 2008. The 4th global conference on oceans, coasts and islands which began on Tuesday is a forum for developing and poor countries, many of which would be worst affected by climate change and nations will discuss how to preserve fisheries, protect coastlines and limit pollution.
My Plenaries
Mother Jones Presents
Morph or Die— The Transformation of Journalism and Media
Sunday
KAI ECKHARDT
Musical Performance
Joanna Macy
The Hidden Promise of Our Dark Age: Discovering Our Wisdom, Strength and Beauty in the Midst of Crisis
MARI MARGIL
Who speaks for the Trees? Driving Nature’s Rights into Law
CHIEF ALMIR NARAYAMOGA SURUI
Biocultural Conservation in the Amazon: How an Amazon Tribe Has Combined Traditional Knowledge with Science and Technology to Save its Rainforests and its People
JEROME RINGO
The Color Of Green: The Next Inconvenient Truth
DESTINY ARTS YOUTH PERFORMANCE COMPANY
performance
ANNIE LEONARD
The Story of Stuff
My Plenaries
Educasting
Education for Innovation
Collective Healing
Transforming Trauma and Despair
The seriousness of our ecological and social crises often fill us with fear and despair. Yet facing and working with difficult emotions is precisely what can heal us, increase our resilience and help us navigate through the massive transformations underway. Four highly diverse pioneers of community-based healing modalities describe powerful processes for transforming grief and trauma into a profound connection to the Earth.
Inner Transformation and Engagement
For Environmental and Social Justice:
Beaming Bioneers
Locations of this year's beaming conferences
Photo Credits
~~ Tribute to Philippe Ramette / Hommage a Philippe Ramette Blueju38
Naomi Klein 2008 Bioneers by Earthworm
Over the mountains and the sea by Katarina 2353
Climate Change by John Javellana