Thursday, October 20th, 2016 from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm PT
Location: McNears Beach Park
$195 includes shuttle To/From from Embassy Suites (leaves at 8:15 a.m.) and Lunch Provided by Wahpepah Kitchens
This one-day intensive will fully immerse participants in discussions and activities that center on indigenous solutions to climate change. How is Indian country moving forward? We will look at how native peoples are going back to our original instructions to focus on issues such as “just transition” from fossil fuels, increasing mobilization, current place-based issues, and ramped-up cultural resource management.
This intensive is designed to be a blend of shared song, prayer, traditional foods, traditional arts and intense discussions about our shared mandate from the elders to protect mother Earth. We will explore how we can support our youth and upcoming leaders on the frontlines.
With Tom Goldtooth (Mdewakanton Dakota/Diné), Eriel Deranger (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation), Clayton Thomas-Muller (Mathias Colomb Cree Nation), Dallas Goldtooth (Mdewakanton Dakota/Diné), Kandi Mossett (Mandan Hidatsa Arikara), Melina Laboucan Massimo (Lubicon Cree First Nation), Tara Houska (Anishinaabe-Couchiching First Nation), Tiffany Adams(Chemehuevi/Maidu), Sage LaPena (Nompitom Wintu), Pennie Opal Plant (Yaqui/Choctaw/Cherokee), Edward Willie (Pomo/Wailaki/Wintu), Jade Begay (Diné/Tesuque Pueblo) and Judy DaSilva from the Women’s Drum Group of Grassy Narrows. Native Foods lunch by Crystal Wahpepah (Kickapoo) of Wahpepah Kitchens.
Media Center with Synergia Learning Ventures and Marin Community Media Center. Youth produce video and audio interviews on site. Open all day.
Drumming by Deb Lane and Afia Walking Tree
Opening Talks by Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons, Bioneers founders
Opening Ceremony by Tiffany Adams (Chemehuevi/Maidu) and dancers
Introduction by Laurie Benenson, film producer, environmental changemaker
Mark Plotkin, groundbreaking ethnobotanist and author of seminal books including Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, works closely with Indigenous peoples and local conservationists to protect isolated and uncontacted tribes in the northwest Amazon. As co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) in 1995, he’ll depict ACT's work partnering with over 30 South American tribes, including the Kogi, to map, manage and protect over 70 million acres of ancestral forests. He’ll describe collaborations with elder healers to develop and implement successful "Shamans and Apprentices" programs to transmit sacred healing information down through generations within the tribes themselves.
Introduction by Fania Davis, Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth
The renowned former Black Panther, political prisoner, humanrights activist — and educator, poet, and professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Merritt College in Oakland — has for 35 years advocated for “restorative justice” and the role of spiritual practice in sustaining activism and promoting social change. Grounded in her belief in the greatness of the human heart, Ericka says each one of us has the ability to look there for the answers to questions about the future of our world. Personal transformation is necessary to achieve social transformation.
Introduction by Nina Simons, Bioneers co-founder
Legendary Mohawk midwife and environmental health researcher and advocate Katsi Cook will illuminate her dynamic new work strengthening Indigenous communities and addressing the cultural and physical safety and thriving lives of Indigenous girls and women. As Program Director of NoVo Foundation's Indigenous Communities Leadership Program for Indigenous Girls and Women, she’s building bridges across communities and existing networks to increase synergy in the protection of Indigenous girls and women from multiple forms of violence and oppression. She’ll share preliminary results from a network-mapping analysis using a net-centered approach based in the understanding that "leadership is an emergent property of a network in balance."
This Brower Youth Award winner, arts activist and community organizer discusses his work helping build diverse coalitions in the spirit of "intersectional" justice to protect the highly threatened and crucially important Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecosystem.
Introduction by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers CEO and co-founder
As species collapse around the world while governments still authorize fossil fuel extraction and other destructive, unsustainable activities, communities across the U.S. are rising in resistance to “occupy the law.” They’re enacting “community bills of rights” that recognize a community’s legally enforceable right to sustainability and the rights of nature. Two of its most effective path-finding national and global leaders, Tom Linzey and Mari Margil of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, will show how this movement challenges our constitutional framework in which corporate rights and the preemptive authority of state and federal governments block sustainability, environmental protection and democracy.
Introduction by Nina Simons, Bioneers co-founder
Globally renowned playwright and activist Eve Ensler will perform one act from her new "Fruit Trilogy." Coconut is mesmerizing and provocative edge-walking that explores a woman’s mystical journey into her body. Eve is the creator of The Vagina Monologues, perhaps the most performed play in history, as well as founder of the immensely impactful V-Day movement, which seeks to end violence against women and girls globally. As an author-artist-activist, she has fearlessly explored women's oppression, empowerment and emancipation with unparalleled intensity and influence.
Austin’s music is soulful and raucous, tender and comic. He has toured internationally for 20 years with the House Jacks, the “Rock Band without Instruments,” and has multiple solo albums (here’s Austin’s solo work). He is the mentor for Youth in Arts’ ‘Til Dawn, a youth a capella group that empowers youth to find their voices in so many ways. With complete activist cred as a leader in YES and the Rainforest Action Network plus a side career in soundalike singing VoiceOvers, including Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution, Austin is a renaissance man. But, who cares about all that? Because what matter is what Bonnie Raitt told him — “You can really F*ckin sing.”
Title of Piece: agua viva
agua viva is a contemporary performance exploration of the bodymindspirit relationship to water in reflection of #NoDAPL and the continued struggle to protect indigenous lands and all that is sacred; “living water flow through us.”
Mother is calling and she has been waiting; agua viva is a reminder of the beauty our living water beholds – others betray. In light of corporate greed and murky politics continuing to rub against our sacred shores, it is pertinent that we as humans reflect on what is at stake and what our role is as protectors of the sacred and keepers of the land. As a human who is merely occupying this land we stand on but holds dear reverence for all that it has had to succumb to and break through from – I ask you: what is water to you? And if you can answer with something that comes from a place much deeper than that which produces our statistics and plain facts, you can learn to reciprocate all that water offers you each and every day of this lifetime.
agua viva is a contemporary performance exploration of the bodymindspirit relationship to water in reflection of #NoDAPL and the continued struggle to protect indigenous lands and all that is sacred; “living water flow through us.”
Joey Chang aka CelloJoe is an anomaly in the world of cellists.
By combining cello with beatboxing, he has created a unique genre: Classical Hip Hop.
CelloJoe records live on stage with a loop pedal and produces intricate tapestries of harmony, melody, and rhythm. His beatboxing (vocal percussion) and funky cello grooves form a rich soundscape for intelligent lyrics and his music spreads love, joy, laughter and conscious vibrations.
By beatboxing, throatsinging, singing, plucking and bowing the cello, CelloJoe can mimic many styles of music from dubstep to folk to rock to classical to hip hop.
CelloJoe is the world’s first long distance musical bike touring cellist.
He has ridden his bike over 10,000 miles in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. CelloJoe.BandCamp.com
Check out CelloJoe online at:
Join us for a celebratory, productive and engaging start to the weekend. In Open Space all are welcome to post and join topics, as we co-create a learning environment that fosters shared vision and enables collective intelligence to emerge. Come connect with other Bioneers who share your passion and forge alliances for future wise action. There will be multiple sessions: stay the whole time, or come and go as you please. With: David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture & UCSC Common Ground Center; Dana Pearlman, The Lotus: Authentic Leadership Development & Mycelium School; Amy Lenzo, weDialogue & The World Cafe Community Foundation.
Note: This is a double session.
How do we begin the process of looking to nature to solve big challenges? This hands-on workshop with Gretchen Hooker and Megan Schuknecht of the Biomimicry Institute will introduce us to the fundamentals of biomimicry and encourage us, as well as our peers and/or students, to apply our new skills by participating in the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. The Challenge works locally to address the major core global problems we face related to energy, water, food and agriculture, and our built environment.
"Engaged Art" has a long history of important, inspiring artists for whom socio-political activism and creative production have been inextricably, symbiotically linked. Join leading contemporary artists who exemplify and embody this noble tradition. Hosted by Dorka Keehn, artist and San Francisco Arts Commissioner. With: Louis Masai, renowned British muralist and eco/social activist; Mayumi Oda, the "Matisse of Japan" and passionate peace activist.
In this interactive workshop, we'll explore the history and culture of Hip Hop and its importance to Black and Latino communities and make our own art and music while learning the basics of Graffiti Art and the spoken word art of Rapping. Led by Malik Diamond, Education Director, HipHopForChange.
Visionary frontline Indigenous leaders will survey Indigenous solutions to climate change. They’ll highlight the need for broader understanding of the benefits of protecting Indigenous rights within our collective human rights as they apply to resource extraction, and the protection of aboriginal rights and Mother Earth. Hosted by Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Program Director, Indigenous Knowledge, Bioneers. With: Eriel Deranger (Chipweyan First Nations); Tom Goldtooth (Dakota/Diné); Dallas Goldooth (Dakota/Diné); Clayton Thomas-Muller (Colomb Cree First Nation); Melina Laboucan-Massimo (Lubicon Cree First Nation); Tara Houska (Anishinaabe-Couchiching First Nation) and Kandi Mossett (Mandan Hidatsa Arikara).
The world's social justice movements are at a stark crossroads: We celebrate marches in New York and non-binding deals in Paris, but we have failed to shift the root drivers of the climate crisis. Every dollar of wealth created heats up our planet and creates inequality in its wake, as the vast majority of that dollar will end up in the hands of a tiny elite. How can we embrace a broader, more holistic vision of social justice and climate stability, generate appealing alternatives to late-stage capitalism, and achieve the global metamorphosis we need to pull our biosphere and societies back from the abyss? With: Alnoor Ladha, Executive Director of The Rules; Jess Rimington, Managing Director of The Rules, visiting scholar at Stanford 's Global Projects Center; Annie Leonard, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA.
Latina women are a growing force in the movement for climate justice. They are working on local, national and international levels, from the Mission District of San Francisco to the halls of the legislature in Sacramento to Congress in DC to the Amazon rainforest, taking action and promoting positive solutions for their communities, children, and Mother Earth. Hosted by Valeria Brabata, Program Director for Latin America and Caribbean for the Global Fund for Women. With: Leila Salazar-López, Executive Director of Amazon Watch; Lisa Hoyos, Director and Co-Founder of Climate Parents; Tere Almaguer, Youth Organizing Coordinator of PODER.
As the pace of life accelerates and technology mediates more and more “connection,” there is a growing hunger for conversations that matter and methods of meaningful engagement. How are dialogic and relational practices part of social change, and what can they contribute to personal and planetary healing? With: Ilarion Merculieff, Aleut traditional messenger; Sharon Shay Sloan, council trainer and community steward. (Interactive/Experiential)
Come experience (or remember) the power women have to liberate each other’s bold and purposeful leadership. Get a taste of what our CWL 6-day immersion retreats offer, and meet and connect with other alumnae. Bring your whole self, and you’ll be warmly welcomed. With: Nina Simons, Bioneers and CWL co-founder; Toby Herzlich, Biomimicry for Social Innovation founder and CWL co-founder.
Join us for a celebratory, productive and engaging start to the weekend. In Open Space all are welcome to post and join topics, as we co-create a learning environment that fosters shared vision and enables collective intelligence to emerge. Come connect with other Bioneers who share your passion and forge alliances for future wise action. There will be multiple sessions: stay the whole time, or come and go as you please. With: David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture & UCSC Common Ground Center; Dana Pearlman, The Lotus: Authentic Leadership Development & Mycelium School; Amy Lenzo, weDialogue & The World Cafe Community Foundation.
Note: This is a double session.
As climate change destabilizes our already stressed ecosystems, droughts and wildfires have become far more challenging. We need to rethink and reshape our relationship to the land by combining time-tested Indigenous approaches, aka TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge), with the most sophisticated, holistic modern scientific methods. Hosted by Jason Mark, Editor in Chief of Sierra Magazine, former Editor of Earth Island Journal. With: Frank Kanawha Lake, Ph.D. (of Karuk, Seneca, Cherokee, and Mexican ancestry), Research Ecologist, USDA Forest Service, fire management specialist and expert in bridging TEK practices and modern scientific techniques; Brock Dolman, Co-Director of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center's WATER Institute and its Permaculture Design and Wildlands programs; Chad Hanson, Director and Principal Ecologist, John Muir Project.
Join an array of innovative funders and practitioners as we surface a truly authentic exploration regarding how the gap might be bridged between the HUGE scope, scale and urgency of the Earth (and other, related) challenges we face, and how little philanthropy is currently doing to effectively address it systemically. Hosted by Jessica Sweidan, co-founder of the London-based international environmental and social philanthropic foundation, Synchronicity Earth. With: Alnoor Ladha, Executive Director of The Rules; Terry Odendahl, Ph.D., CEO, Global Greengrants Fund; Chivy Sok, Program Officer for the Tikva Grassroots Empowerment Fund; David Gordon, Principal, Terramar Consulting Group.
Trauma without intervention affects our physical, neurological and emotional lives, perpetuating cycles of violence, addiction and pain. Explore recent breakthroughs in our knowledge of healing and how we as a community can forever break the chain. Hosted by Emily Cummins Polk, a project leader with JUNTOS/Community Partners. With: Cathy Salser, award-winning art activist, founder of A Window Between Worlds; Ruth Beaglehole, founder of Echo Parenting and Education, author of Mama, Listen! Raising a Child Without Violence; Naama Haviv, Executive Director of Panzi Foundation, USA.
Alicia Tsosie (Navajo), Deon Ben (Navajo) and Tony Skrelunas (Navajo) of Grand Canyon Trust describe their breakthrough programs in the Colorado Plateau region that can become national models: the Farmer to Farmer mentoring program, Cultural Learning Center, Native Gatherings, and Garden to School initiatives. With special guest Tara Houska (Anishinaabe-Couchiching First Nation), the new National Campaigns Director of Honor the Earth.
Youth bring their stories, songs, poems, issues, jokes and ideas to share. This is a shining chance for any and all youth to take the stage and be heard.
As economic inequality in America reaches historic highs, people are organizing mass mobilizations not seen in many decades. Low-wage workers nationwide are demanding and winning $15/hour minimum wages in cities and states across the country, including restaurant workers demanding an end to sub-minimum wages and Walmart workers fighting for change in the world's largest employer. Come hear from some of the leaders of these movements about how we can build on this momentum to demand the greatest change possible. Hosted by Annette Bernhardt, UC Berkeley Labor Center.
With: Saru Jayaraman, ROC United; Andrea Dehlendorf, OUR Walmart; Laphonza Butler, the Fight for $15.
Join an intimate, far-ranging, impassioned conversation to explore the broad range of systemic oppressions that still bedevil our social order and how they translate into perpetuating gender violence. How do overlapping/intersecting identities relate to structures of domination and discrimination? What are the most effective interventions? With: Eve Ensler, world-renowned feminist activist and playwright; Kimberlé Crenshaw, leading scholar and influential founder of intersectional theory, co-founder/Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum.
As social, family and cultural structures change and mingle, tradition bearers are carrying responsibility for multiple lineages. Simultaneously more and more people have access to ceremonies and profound spiritual teachings and experiences with little or no understanding of their full meaning or cultural or socio-political context. As we experience, adopt or inherit spiritual beliefs and practices, when do we assume political or social responsibility for the people(s) who have gifted them? Do we know what lineages we carry? When are we culturally appropriating? When are we not? What is the relationship between spirituality and social justice? With: Ilarion Merculieff, Aleut traditional messenger; Sharon Shay Sloan, council trainer and community steward. (Interactive/Experiential)
Leadership is a practice that must begin with insight before it can become impact. Participants will explore their own leadership capacity, engaging in the question: What insight do I need to have in order to create the impact I desire? By examining the personal and social forces that most commonly create obstacles, such as gender, group dynamics, authenticity, and organizational culture, we can begin to raise our leadership capacity for greater impact. With: Lorri Sulpizio, Ph.D., Director of the Leadership Institute at the University of San Diego/founder, USD’s Center for Women’s Leadership.
Aina elegantly highlights how non-Native locals and Native Hawaiians are using ancient-modern innovative approaches to agriculture and food systems to address environmental and health crises facing the island of Kauai. The inspiring lessons from their work have big implications for the rest of island Earth. Filmmaker Josh Thome will introduce the film. (23 minutes)
SEED, from the creators of The Real Dirt on Farmer John and Queen of the Sun, produced by Marisa Tomei's Seneca Falls Picture House, Marc Turtletaub (Little Miss Sunshine), and Phil Fairclough (Grizzly Man, Cave of Forgotten Dreams), examines issues surrounding the loss of seed diversity, climate change, pesticides, GMO labeling, and the patenting and corporate takeover of seeds and food. The film's award-winning directors, Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz, will introduce the film. (58 minutes)
This is Now. We follow the London-based muralist Louis Masai as he painted a series of mind-blowing eco-themed murals across London, drawing powerful responses and raising consciousness of biodiversity loss. Produced by Synchronicity Earth’s Jo Crow and Laura Miller, directed by Toby Madden, music by Cosmo Sheldrake. (7 minutes)
A film about coral reefs. Set against the backdrop of city life, this short explores the loss of reefs via Masai’s extraordinarily evocative and provocative work across hyper-urban London. Narrated by renowned soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause, with a score featuring a choir of coral creatures. (7 minutes).
Louis Masai will introduce the two films.
Featuring Thomas Linzey and Mari Margil, this incredibly timely and powerful film chronicles the radical and highly practical strategies to “occupy the law” to resist corporations that sludge, mine, frack and ravage communities. Try revoking corporate rights and instituting rights for nature, for starters, building from the grassroots to eventually change the US Constitution. Narrated by Walton Goggins, produced by Mathew Schmid, directed by Leila Conners. Thomas Linzey and Mari Margil will introduce the film. (93 minutes)
Media Center with Synergia Learning Ventures and Marin Community Media Center. Youth produce video and audio interviews on site. Open all day.
Drumming by Deb Lane and Afia Walking Tree
Welcome by Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons, Bioneers founders
Introduction by Paul Hawken, author, activist, entrepreneur
Our species is finally turning toward other species for their embodied wisdom, borrowing these insights to solve challenges such as delivering nutrition in a way that nourishes both planet and people. Biomimicry author and visionary Janine Benyus will show how nature-inspired breakthroughs in agriculture are evolving from plant-focused “silver bullets” to system-savvy healing. She’ll give us a sneak preview of the amazing entries in the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge in food systems. She’ll explore how the “democratization of invention” is growing more biomimetic—as teams turn to nature together, in massive parallel, to discover a multitude of wild ideas that work together as a system. Cooperation, naturally enough, is the best way to learn from Life’s genius!
The 2016 National Bioneers Conference will host the first-ever awards ceremony for the world’s premiere biomimicry design prize, the $100,000 Ray C. Anderson Foundation “Ray of Hope” Prize. The prize will be awarded to one of seven finalist teams in the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge, a worldwide design competition that crowdsources nature-inspired solutions to climate change issues, like food systems, water management, and alternative energy.
“Ray Anderson believed wholeheartedly in nature as a model and a mentor, so it is incredibly fitting that this prize, which is intended to accelerate marketable solutions, be given in his honor,” said John A. Lanier, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation.
The National Bioneers Conference, to be held this year from October 21-23, 2016, is a yearly gathering of dynamic changemakers dedicated to solving our world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges. This year, in addition to the Ray of Hope Prize award event, the conference will feature biomimicry pioneer and visionary Janine Benyus as a keynote speaker. There will also be biomimicry workshops and panels throughout the 3-day conference that will explore how nature-inspired design approaches can profoundly shift how we restore and rebuild our world.
"With climate disruption upon us, and a swelling population, transforming our food and water systems is paramount,” said Kenny Ausubel, co-founder and CEO of Bioneers. “But success will require more than just technical solutions. It necessitates a shift in our worldview, and a change of heart. We are so deeply honored to host this landmark event, and to continue our long partnership to make biomimicry the default position for design, industry, economy, and culture by 2020.”
"Bioneers is one of the only conferences where an 18-year-old activist will be sitting next to a 67-year-old one, both wanting exactly the same thing,” said Biomimicry Institute Executive Director Beth Rattner. “Attendees completely resonate with biomimicry, and their cheers will give the Design Challenge teams the encouragement they need to take their inventions to the next level.”
For the 2015-16 cycle, the Biomimicry Institute’s Biomimicry Global Design Challenge asked participants to tackle any aspect of the food system that could be improved by looking to nature for design guidance. Submissions cover a wide range of related issues, like waste, packaging, agricultural pest management, food distribution, energy use, and other solutions.
The finalist teams vying for the Ray of Hope Prize were chosen to enter the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge Accelerator program in October 2015. They are spending this year testing and prototyping their design concepts with the help of biomimicry experts and business mentors in order to create viable, market-ready solutions. The winner must have not only a functioning prototype, but a tested business model and in-the-field proof points. A full list of the finalists’ submissions can be found here.
A new round of the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge is currently open, which is another opportunity for teams to join and compete for the $100,000 “Ray of Hope” Prize. Individuals and teams can learn more about the Challenge at challenge.biomimicry.org.
Introduction by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Associate Producer
Bren Smith, founder of GreenWave and winner of the 2015 Buckminster Fuller Challenge award, tells his personal story of ecological redemption. He dropped out of high school and became a commercial fisherman at age 14, but witnessed the destruction of the ocean firsthand. In a quest for a better way, he pioneered a revolutionary new model of harvesting bounty from the seas. He will describe his innovative, practical design and future vision for “restorative 3-D ocean farming.” It restores ecosystems, mitigates climate change, creates jobs in a blue-green economy, and ensures healthy, secure local food for communities.
What is the role of youth of color in the environmental movement? Explore the connection between social justice and the environmental crisis. Facilitated by Brandi Mack. Saturday at 10:30am. Location: Youth Unity Center
Climbing PoeTree will perform two selections from their newly released record INTRINSIC
Introduction by Kenny Ausubel
“Revolution is on the horizon, and youth are rising with the oceans to lead the movements that will shape our future,” says Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, a 16-year old Indigenous rapper and environmental activist (since age 6). He’s the award-winning youth director of Earth Guardians, a rapidly growing international organization of young activists, artists and musicians committed to protecting water, air, land and atmosphere. He has organized many rallies, actions, demonstrations and events. He travels globally to speak about environmental and Indigenous issues, including at the United Nations with Robert Redford. He’ll bring alive the unparalleled intergenerational movement emerging to save our planet, as youth globally join hearts and hands against some of the world’s most powerful industries to take a stand for the future and build resilient communities.
Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) Fellow, Kian Martin, an Iranian-American non-binary trans femme from San José, sees climate activism as one piece of a much larger need for the liberation from and abolition of all oppressive systems.
Introduction by Clayton Thomas-Muller, 350.org
The most influential climate activist of our era, Bill McKibben, a founder of the extraordinarily effective 350.org grassroots campaign, will describe the immense groundswell of global citizen engagement rising to challenge the “dirty” energy industry. Find out where we are scientifically and politically in the transformation to end our reliance on fossil fuels, while lighting the pathways toward a clean-energy future.
Join the Coastal Redwood Biomimicry Network on a nature walk around the South Fork Gallinas Creek and wetlands area and the Civic Center Lagoon. Explore the amazing flora and fauna during a smartphone-powered iNaturalist bioblitz to catalogue every living species we can find. Bring your camera and/or smartphone and tons of enthusiasm. Learn how nature inspires design to meet our human challenges and how we can mimic nature's perfect elegance using "Life's Principles.” With: A.J. Wacaser, ecologist, entrepreneur, founder, PlanDone.com; Colleen Mahoney, architect, biomimicry specialist.
For our walk, please note that we highly recommend downloading the app iNaturalist and testing it ahead of time on a smart phone! We will use this for our BioBlitz.
(Meet at Family Fair)
We are increasingly discovering how crucial our oceans and their creatures are in making life possible. Oceans generate much of the world's oxygen and rainfall, sequester a lot of its excess carbon, regulate global climate, and provide food for billions. Fortunately there are visionary leaders who are helping us rethink and reshape our dangerously broken relationship to the seas. Time to get with the program, and here’s how. Hosted by Teo Grossman, Bioneers Director of Strategic Initiatives. With: Bren Smith, of Greenwave, a pioneer of “restorative 3D ocean farming;" Steve Gaines, Dean, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara; Madhavi Colton, Coral Reef Alliance.
Carbon farming, regenerative agriculture, permaculture – these are practices that follow nature's design strategies for keeping nutrients in the soil. With food systems responsible for one-third of humanity's global carbon and emissions footprint, redesigning the way we eat is crucial. We'll examine existing practices and solutions that can support our growing population without damaging our planet, and what we need to do to replicate and scale up their successes. Hosted by Beth Rattner, Executive Director of the Biomimicry Institute. With: Tim Crews Director of Research at the Land Institute; Jeff Creque, co-founder of the Marin Carbon Project and a Director at the Carbon Cycle Institute; Miguel Altieri, professor at U.C. Berkeley, one of the world’s leading experts in agroecology.
Some of America's and the world's most influential activists brainstorm about the best strategies going forward to build our movements and press political leaders here at home and globally to address climate change with urgency and resolve. Hosted by Annie Leonard, Greenpeace USA. With: Bill McKibben, 350.org; Clayton Thomas-Muller, 350.org; Vien Truong, Green for All; Michael Brune, Sierra Club.
How can journalism, especially investigative journalism, continue to educate and inform the public given the tectonic shifts upending media in general and the news business specifically? These highly seasoned, multi-generational, entrepreneurial journalists will explore how to practice effective activist journalism in the 21st Century and how to get critically needed information to current audiences in ways relevant to them. Hosted by Joshua Fouts, Bioneers Executive Director. With: Anthony Lappé, Co-Executive Producer, VICE; Francesca Fiorentini, Host/Producer, AJ+.
We face the extreme loss of species, cultures, and languages, an increased gap between social classes, and continue to push Mother Earth’s life-support systems to the brink. We experience unprecedented grief and loss in our everyday lives. Simultaneously, we are being called to act now. What is the relationship between grief and action? How do we grieve, alone and together? What is lost when we do not? What is gained when we do? When is enough enough? With: Ilarion Merculieff, Aleut traditional messenger; Sharon Shay Sloan, council trainer and community steward.
The very diverse contributors to the new anthology, Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices, explore how being situated between ecological and social justice movements has opened them up to new understandings and new ways of teaching and leading. Using an alternative, contemplative format, they will share “re-storying” narratives that cross boundaries of place, history, trauma and worldview to trigger compassion and healing. With: Jeanine Canty, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Naropa University; Nina Simons, Bioneers co-founder, founding Director of Everywoman's Leadership program; Belvie Rooks, co-founder, Growing a Global Heart; Anita Sanchez, Transformational Leadership Council; Melissa K. Nelson, Executive Director, The Cultural Conservancy; Nícola Wagenberg, Vice President, Cultural Conservancy; Susan Griffin, renowned feminist author.
Women in the Permaculture movement are in the forefront of developing “Social Permaculture”—the application of ecological principles and systems thinking to social dynamics—to structure healthy groups, create meaningful diversity, resolve conflicts and design empowering environments. This interactive session will use exercises and discussions to give us a taste of how these visionary women are highlighting “people care” in regenerative design. With: Starhawk, Earth Activist Training; Pandora Thomas, Earthseed Consulting, Black Permaculture Network; Wanda Stewart, Program Director for the Victory Garden Foundation; Delia Carroll, founding member of the 13 Moon CoLab.
Engineering, the "E" in "STEM" education, is becoming a part of public school education for the first time, and teachers are scrambling to find appropriate, engaging ways to teach this important discipline. And what can better convey the complexity of principles such as aerodynamics, suspension, or fuel efficiency than, say, a dragonfly crossing the Gulf of Mexico on "one tank" of fuel? Biomimicry is increasingly being looked to as an important model for STEM. In this session, some leading educators from K-12 and higher education environments explore how biomimicry can inspire creativity, engage a high percentage of girls in STEM, and foster greater respect for the natural world. With: Tiffany Roberts, highly experienced multi-disciplinary teacher and biomimicry educator, currently at Rohnert Park’s groundbreaking Credo High School; Sayuri Yamanaka, co-founder of the sustainability consultancy, Punto Verde; Timothy Bingham & Emily Liebenberg, teachers in San Diego’s Kearny High’s School of Engineering, Innovation and Design; Hosted by Megan Schuknecht, Director of Design Challenges, Biomimicry Institute.
Come discover how Marin County ranchers and entrepreneurs are building vital local agricultural economies while regenerating ecosystems and sequestering carbon. Rebecca Burgess is developing a groundbreaking model of regional fiber production, the Fibershed Project, which incubates a community of farmers and artisans, uses cutting-edge solar, grey-water and recycling systems, and incorporates a Climate Beneficial Certification for her suppliers. Ariel Greenwood, part of the Holistic Ag team, an ecosystem services company that regenerates landscapes and restores water cycles by increasing biodiversity, holistically manages a herd of cattle on a 4,000-acre ecological preserve. Guido Frosini of True Grass Farms is a highly innovative land steward who balances soil and grass cycles with the natural movement of farm animals to develop a truly sustainable food production system. Hosted by John Roulac, founder/CEO of Nutiva.
In this outdoor experiential session, we'll blend qigong, somatic exercises, and "dynamic walking" to achieve mindfulness in motion and learn how to harness our life energy for healing and to boost our creativity and vitality. Led by Russell and Suki Munsell, creators of the Dynamic Vitality Method who each have 40+ years' experience teaching a wide range of mind/body disciplines. (Meet at Sun Stage)
Because traditional healing practices survived centuries of attack but went underground, we inherited a costly divide between spirituality and healing. This is the moment to reintroduce our modern world to the nine sacred healing practices of ritual, initiation, alchemy, soul restoration, shadow and dream work, creativity, embodiment, regular personal practice and connection to the living earth web around us.
Come explore and experience essential practices to bring medicine and healing back into wholeness with acupuncturist/activist Gerri Ravyn Stanfield, LAc.
Hosted by globally acclaimed eco-hip-hop artist/activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez. Young poets are invited to come share their original work.
As Traditional Messenger for the Unungan (Aleut) People, Ilarion Merculieff is tasked to share messages from Indigenous elders with the wider world, and to be a bridge from ancient into modern times. This session will focus on timely messages about what needs to be done now, as Mother Earth's life support systems are being pushed to the edge. Elders all over the world are calling us to act and to act now. This means everything we do is relevant, inside and out. How do we reconcile this with everyday life? What is relevant action, now? With: Ilarion Merculieff; Sharon Shay Sloan, council trainer and community steward. Note: This is not a standard council-style session.
To transform our culture from its focus on dominance and hierarchy to one of connection, empathy and collaboration, it’s vital that we re-envision the essential (or archetypal) masculine, which changes everything. Don't miss a lively discussion of this rarely tackled topic. Hosted by Eve Ensler. With: Tony Porter, co-founder, A Call To Men, author of Breaking Out of the Man Box, Ending Violence Against Women; Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous activist, member of the 1491’s Native American comedy troupe; Luke Harris, professor of American Politics and Constitutional Law at Vassar College and co-founder of the African American Policy Forum; George Lipsitz, Professor of Black Studies and Sociology, UC Santa Barbara, board president, African American Policy Forum.
The Climate Justice Alliance seeks to address the root causes of climate disruption and eco-social devastation through creative solutions that both address the failure of the economy to care for people and planet and build a new kind of power rooted in deep democracy, cooperation, and clean energy. Led by front-line communities from Black Mesa, Arizona to Richmond, California, from Chile to the Arctic, this movement is leading Just Transition strategies and scaling up to radically transform the global economy. With: Miya Yoshitani, Executive Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network; Angela Adrar, Executive Director, Our Power Campaign and the Climate Justice Alliance; Jihan Gearon, Black Mesa Water Coalition; Antonio Diaz, PODER, San Francisco.
How is it that the ERA never passed? Why are under 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs women? How do we get more women into office? Is it time for all of this to change? Join us for a discussion of policy and legal initiatives that can elevate all women, improve our political and financial institutions, and increase human happiness. Let’s make a plan for how we become the world we aspire to be. Hosted by Joan Blades, co-founder of Move On, Moms Rising and Living Room Conversations. With: Jessica Neuwirth, founder and Director of the ERA Coalition and Donor Direct Action; Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-founder and Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum; Betsy McKinney, founder and CEO of It’s Time Network.
Hosted by Eve Ensler and Afia Walking Tree
Let’s interrupt racial and gender violence and activate our solidarity in a high energy ritual! Join playwright Eve Ensler, founder of V Day and One Billion Rising, the global movement to end violence against women everywhere, and maestra percussionist Afia Walking Tree and her community ensemble, Spirit Drumz. All welcome!
Step into your pollinator potential!
Acquire open-pollinated seed varieties for your garden, swap your seeds, and learn from master seed savers. Hosted by Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, the Living Seed Company, Tesuque Tribal Farm, Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library, and the Sustainable Seed Company.
Catching the Sun follows the stories of workers and entrepreneurs in the U.S. and China as they lead the race to a clean energy future. Their successes and failures speak to one of the biggest questions of our time: Will we actually be able to build a clean energy economy that works for everyone? Danny Kennedy, CEO of Sungevity, is one of the experts featured. Director/Producer Shalini Kantayya will introduce the film. (73 minutes)
This “real-life science-fiction story” about slime molds and the people who work with them is a deep and improbable dive into nature’s awe-inspiring intelligence. This wildly original and artful ode to nature’s exuberant creativity is simply not to be missed for true bioneers. Directed (masterfully) by UK film scholars Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp. (81 minutes)
Register early if you want to raise the roof at the super-popular Bioneers Awards Dinner! Join Kenny Ausubel, Nina Simons, Joshua Fouts and the Bioneers community of leadership for a mythic meal and rowdy celebration to honor several true Bioneers heroes and sheroes. The meal will be prepared by culinary nutritionist Adina Niemerow and Chef Scott Lacrosse, with all ingredients locally and sustainably sourced. Separate admission: $75.
This inspiring movie explores biomimicry, the practice of looking deeply into nature for solutions to engineering, design and other challenges to create a life-affirming, sustainable world. It features Janine Benyus, who put the concept and field of Biomimicry on the map. Presented by Leonardo DiCaprio and Oliver Stanton, directed by Leila Conners, produced by Mathew Schmid and Bryony Schwan, created by Tree Media with Roee Sharon Peled and George DiCaprio. (25 minutes)
Don't miss the legendary, high-energy Bioneers Saturday night dance! (Line-up TBA soon.)
Media Center with Synergia Learning Ventures and Marin Community Media Center. Youth produce video and audio interviews on site. Open all day.
Drumming by Deb Lane and Afia Walking Tree
Introduction by Kenny Ausubel
The Gender Equity and Reconciliation process (GRI) seeks to heal the profound wounds around gender, sexuality, and relational intimacy. It brings together people of all sexual orientations and genders to jointly confront gender disharmony to reach healing and reconciliation. Will and Cynthia have developed the method over 24 years, introducing the practices in nine countries. Gender reconciliation’s startling successes in South Africa have played a role in transforming that country’s AIDS and HIV policies, and exciting new academic research on the program is underway at two South African universities.
Introduction by David Hochschild, Commissioner, California Energy Commission
The great energy transition is underway. Renewable electricity build-out is outpacing dirty projects. Global greenhouse gas emissions have flatlined, but the transition isn’t happening fast enough to significantly arrest climate change. Danny Kennedy, founder of Sungevity and Managing Director of the California Clean Energy Fund, will draw from lessons learned over decades as an activist and entrepreneur on the frontlines of the global energy transition. He’ll illustrate his vision of how to achieve clean energy accessible to people of all classes, cultures and countries in a distributed, decentralized and democratized system.
This extraordinary 16-year-old Chiricahua Apache activist from San Carlos, AZ, co-leads The Apache Stronghold group to defend her people's sacred sites, tribal sovereignty, culture and language.
The beloved Oakland youth dance troupe rocks the house every year.
Introduction by Steve Phillips, Bestselling author of Brown is the New White, Chairman, PowerPac+ and Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Vien Truong, director of Green For All, has worked tirelessly to bring equity, social justice and climate justice to the frontlines of the environmental movement and public policy. She has been a central force in putting environmental justice at the center of California’s groundbreaking climate policy, legislation and cap-and-trade funding. Vien will share her wise perspectives on how to build a new clean-energy economy that brings prosperity and justice to low-income communities and communities of color.
Introduction by Joshua Fouts, Bioneers Executive Director
James Nestor, an author and journalist with a passion for extreme adventure who has written for Scientific American, National Public Radio and The New York Times, draws from his mind-boggling, multiple award-winning new book, DEEP: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves. He’ll describe how groups of athletes and scientists plumbed ocean depths, and researchers collaborating with engineers from Apple, Google and elsewhere worked to "crack" the cetacean language code and send back messages to these giant marine mammals – to make contact. Their weird and wondrous new discoveries might just redefine our understanding of the ocean, and of ourselves.
Introduction by Nina Simons
Extraordinary award-winning poets, performance activists and cultural architects Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman of Climbing PoeTree explore the network of mutuality that binds our existence through the ricochet of oppression and the reciprocity of liberation. Their art is a tool for catalyzing action, cross-pollinating solutions, getting at the root of our most pressing social and ecological issues, and reminding us that we all belong to each other.
Closing Performance Jam with Climbing PoeTree, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Itzcuauhtli Roske-Martinez, Deb Lane and Afia Walking Tree
Learn more at: www.crescentmoontheaterproductions.com
Title of Piece: “Seeds of Our Ancestors”
As we stand in solidarity with indigenous, black lives matter, and migration movements- we gather, bringing a prayerformance moving from beauty, grief, pain, sorrow, healing to strength, upliftment for the wellness and thriving life of our communities. It is a time of prophecy that nations would come together and bring healing back to human-kind. Blooming with our connection with Mother Earth- We Stand In Love. We are the “Seeds of Our Ancestors.”
Through the devastating genocides, enslavement, forced loss of homelands and cultures, forced migrations and deportations, destruction and exploitation of Mother Earth, indigenous peoples stand together in the strength and grace of our ancestors. It is a time of prophecy that nations would come together and bring healing back to human-kind. To remember the sacred wisdom and instructions of being caretakers of Mother Earth and her children.
This piece weaves together song, drum, spoken word, contemporary and indigenous dance. We deeply appreciate this opportunity to share from our hearts, stories of our communities through this performance.
Lydia Violet is a Ramani-heritage violinist and passionate singer/songwriter, creating music inspired by folk, blues, and protest traditions. She also plays with singer/songwriter Ayla Nereo, gospel blues group Reverend Sekou and the Holy Ghost. She uses her stunning violin sounds and soulful voice to bring her listeners into deep communion with the beauty of our world. Lydia’s musical inspiration arises from her experience with ecological and social justice activism, participating in the great work of restoring peace and dignity to our world.
Lydia has also pioneered the workshop “Music As Medicine in our Time.” These multi-day immersions stem from her eight-year study with the scholar of deep ecology and Buddhism Joanna Macy, who explores how to foster greater internal resiliency and strength in the face of a world in crisis. Lydia’s workshops combine Macy’s “Work That Reconnects” with the power of music to bring healing and strength to the individual and to our larger communities.
https://soundcloud.com/lydia-violet-831692724
www.lydiafiddle.com
Learn how to sustainably gather and use California poppy, cattail, grindelia and many other local plants, as we explore the landscape around the Marin Center. We are surrounded by medicines and wild foods if we know what to look for. (Meet at Sun Stage)
"Art is Our Weapon, Our Medicine, Our Voice, and Our Vision” is the motto of the luminous and wildly original poets, performers, educators, and human rights and eco-activists extraordinaire Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman, aka Climbing PoeTree. They will share the tactics and strategies that have sustained them as cultural workers, illuminating how poetry, media-making, creative interventions, and collaborative public art can be used to strengthen our movements for social and environmental justice. Be prepared to get creative, imaginative and inspired!
Facilitated by Destiny Arts, this workshop is designed to deepen dialogue and awareness of challenges youth face at school or in their communities, utilizing team-building games in conjunction with movement disciplines and discussion circles.
Restoring this balance in ourselves and in the world begins in each of us, and yet we cannot do it alone. How do we work together to restore the relationship of the masculine and feminine, the inner and outer dimensions of life? With: Ilarion Merculieff, Aleut traditional messenger; Sharon Shay Sloan, council trainer and community steward; and guest presenters TBA. (Interactive/Experiential)
As the world seems to be falling apart around us, spiritual teachings and practices can make a difference in shaping our goals and in sustaining our courage as activists. Some of the leading figures in our culture who have combined deep spiritual commitment with engaged activism share their personal experiences of the strengths they have found in their own traditions. Hosted by Jakada Imani, Executive Director of the Ignite Institute at the Pacific School of Religion. With: Joanna Macy, activist, thinker, author, Buddhist scholar; Starhawk, pioneer in Earth-based spirituality, author, activist; Patricia St. Onge (Mohawk), founder of Seven Generations Consulting;
Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, filmmaker, founder of the Global Oneness Project and Naqshbandi Sufi.
Come discover a unique breakthrough for transforming gender oppression. Gender Equity and Reconciliation is an innovative experience developed over 24 years in nine countries. In this experiential session, we create a safe forum to engage in interactive exercises to address sensitive issues related to gender, sexuality and relational intimacy. We experience how to build trust and authentic communication so that we can speak truth to our pain without blame or shame, and reclaim mutual harmony and beloved community. With: Rev. Cynthia Brix and William Keepin, Gender Reconciliation International (GRI) co-founders/Directors.
The imperative of our time is to be more adaptive, resilient, cooperative and networked – practices that the natural world has masterfully evolved over the past 3.8 billion years. Discover how biomimicry is evolving from its roots as a design discipline into a leadership pathway for cultivating a collaborative, resilient, and regenerative society. Learn “Life’s Principles” as leadership practices to apply to your own organizational and social change challenges, including case studies from North America and Europe. With: Toby Herzlich, founder, Biomimicry for Social Innovation.
Psychedelics, now being studied again by researchers for their promising healing potential, are still largely used within rapidly mutating subcultures, and they continue to have profound if hidden global socio-cultural impacts on eco-awareness, spirituality, creativity and sexuality. Hosted by Bioneers Associate Producer, J.P. Harpignies.
With: Erik Davis, Ph.D., author of TechGnosis, The Visionary State, and Nomad Codes, leading expert on spiritual subcultures, host of the Expanding Mind podcast; Yalila Espinoza, Ph.D., integrative health advisor, founder of Vancouver's O1 Center, expert in the sexual content of sacred plant experiences; Eve Bradford, writer, artist, filmmaker, Ceremonial Director for the Symbiosis gatherings, a leading figure in global festival culture; Isis Indriya, co-founder of The Village in Nevada City, a highly experienced facilitator of ceremonies, ritual theater and performances.
How are Indigenous youth preserving and maintaining their culture? We’ll look at two radical and radically different approaches: kids using digital apps; and kids going totally off the grid. With: California Indian Museum and Cultural Center’s Tribal Youth Ambassadors, whose innovations include youth-led initiatives that incorporate digital technology such as mobile apps to preserve the Pomo/Miwok language; and invited Native youth ambassadors representing breakthrough projects from the Star School’s off-the-grid all-traditional Native school in Flagstaff, AZ. Hosted by Jade Begay (Diné and Tesuque Pueblo), social impact filmmaker and multimedia artist.
The deeply embodied bond between women and Mother Earth has long been implicitly, intuitively understood, but weaving the dynamic elements of cultural preservation and transformation into this relationship is a more recent innovation. Join an emergent conversation with leaders, activists and culture workers as they explore this vital nexus women are reweaving globally. Hosted by: Melinda Kramer, co-founder, Women’s Earth Alliance. With: Melissa Nelson, President, The Cultural Conservancy; Osprey Orielle Lake, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network; Rucha Chitnis, founder/Director, Changing the Narrative: A Woman’s Lens; Afia Walking Tree, visionary percussionist, educator, earth steward, founder/Director of Spirit Drumz.
$195 includes lunch
Non-profit professionals, students and activists encouraged to apply for discounted attendance. Click here to apply
“The future of humanity will be decided not by relations between nations, but by relations between women and men.”
– DH Lawrence
For 24 years, the Gender Equity and Reconciliation process has been developed and tested on six continents, and has transformed the lives of more than 2,000 people. Gender inequality and patriarchal institutions have long plagued every society, leading to the disastrous global reality of gender injustice. To help transform these afflictions, we have introduced an unprecedented practical and innovative methodology, which creates safe forums for women and men to collaborate skillfully to reach a place of mutual resolution, healing and, often, forgiveness.
We invite people all sexual orientations and genders to join co-founders/co-directors, Will Keepin, Ph.D. and Rev Cynthia Brix, Ph.D. (hon) and other skilled certified professional facilitators to participate in a powerful day-long group process and experience the transformative power of gender reconciliation for yourself. This workshop is especially relevant for professional facilitators, NGO leaders, social justice workers, spiritual or religious leaders, mental health professionals, activists, therapists, teachers, and social change agents.
Elements of this experiential introduction to Gender Equity and Reconciliation will include:
