KEYNOTES
TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS
A Love That Is Wild: Why Wilderness Matters in the 21st Century
Introduction by Nina Simons
What might a different kind of power look and feel like, and can power be redistributed equitably, even beyond our own species? Conservationist, activist, and one of the nation’s most beloved and acclaimed authors, Terry Tempest Williams has been called "a citizen writer" who speaks eloquently for an ethical stance toward life. She has consistently shown us how environmental issues are social issues that ultimately become matters of justice. A scholar at the University of Utah and at Dartmouth, she has been equally at home camping in the wilderness and being arrested for civil disobedience.
PAUL STAMETS
How Mushrooms Can Help Us Survive “Extinction 6x”
Introduction by Kenny Ausubel
In this 6th Age of Extinctions the biosphere’s life-support systems that have allowed humans to ascend are collapsing. We’re the primary cause and will be one of the casualties. Visionary mycological researcher-inventor Paul Stamets illuminates how fungi, particularly mushrooms, offer our species uniquely powerful, practical solutions we can implement now to boost the biosphere’s immune system and equip us with benign breakthrough mycotechnologies to make the transition to a restored world.
WALLACE “J.” NICHOLS
I Wish You Water
Introduction by Kenny Ausubel
The cognitive and emotional benefits of healthy oceans and waterways have been celebrated through art, song, romance and poetry throughout human history. Marine biologist, activist, community organizer, and author Wallace J. Nichols will dive deeper and explore our blue minds through the dual lenses of evolutionary biology and cognitive science, reminding us that we are water.
CLAYTON THOMAS-MULLER
The Rise of the Canadian Native Rights-Based Movement to Protect Our Commons
Introduction by Nina Simons
Clayton Thomas-Muller, a leading organizer for Idle No More and Defenders of the Land, and a Co-Director of Polaris Institute’s Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign, portrays Canada's rising Native-led rights-based movement, supported by labor, civil society, students and other grassroots groups. This powerful movement is challenging the neo-liberal free market agenda that has turned Canada into a petro-state. It may be our last best effort save our lands and the health of our people from the extractive industries and the banks that finance them.
ROBIN KIMMERER
Mishkos Kenomagwen: The teachings of grass
Introduction by Melissa Nelson, The Cultural Conservancy
Indigenous peoples all over the earth honor plants, not only as our sustainers, but as our oldest teachers who share teachings of generosity, creativity, sustainability, and joy. By their living examples, through the ways of their being, plants spur our imaginations of how we might live. By braiding traditional ecological knowledge and the tools of botanical science, Robin Kimmerer, a professor of Environmental Science and Forestry of Potawatomi ancestry, explores the question: “ If plants are our teachers, what are their lessons and how might we become better students?”
MESSAGE FROM THE AMAZON: PATRICIA GUALINGA. The courageous Kichwa leader from the Ecuadorian Amazon joins Amazon Watch and Pachamama Alliance with an urgent report from the front lines of protecting the lungs of the planet where women’s leadership is rising.
PANELS, WORKSHOPS AND OTHER EVENTS
Solutions from the Underground: Mushrooms as Planetary Healers. Visionary mycologist Paul Stamets, Founder of Fungi Perfecti and author of books including Mycelium Running, explores the leading edges of his research and current applications using fungi for restoring the biosphere and human health.
Your Brain On Water. Hosted by marine biologist Wallace "J." Nichols, research associate, California Academy of Sciences; co-founder, OceanRevolution.org; author of Blue Mind. New ways of understanding our relationship with the world's oceans and the ability of healthy waters to provide health, happiness and creativity will be considered by a panel of athletes, scientists, artists, and adventurers. Participants to be announced.
Movement Building I: Convergence. Can the global convergence of disparate movements gain the traction necessary to overcome the concentration of wealth and power driving the destruction of civilization and nature? How? With: Naomi Klein author, filmmaker, activist; Clayton Thomas-Müller, indigenous rights leader and movement builder; Joel Solomon, President, Renewal Partners and Chairman, Renewal Funds, founding member of Social Venture Network and Tides Foundation of Canada.
Intelligence in Nature: The Vegetable Mind. Contemporary science is validating traditional knowledge about the vast pervasive intelligence in nature, and in plants in particular. What is intelligence? How do we learn nature’s languages? Hosted by Melissa K. Nelson, President & Executive Director of The Cultural Conservancy. With: Robin Kimmerer, Director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at SUNY-ESF; Monica Gagliano, renowned Australian marine biologist and evolutionary ecologist.
Plant Sacraments and the Mind of Nature. Can entheogenic plants help people access the intelligence in nature—the “mind of nature”—that we must learn to understand in order to supersede our ecologically destructive habits? Hosted by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Associate Producer. With: Jeffrey Bronfman, U.S. Founder, União do Vegetal church; Paul Stamets, master mycologist; Katsi Cook, renowned Mohawk midwife and environmental activist.
Resilient Landscapes, Climate-Smart Conservation: The Art and Science of Restoring the World We Want. Learn how insights from avian, aquatic, and terrestrial science can help us recreate resilient land and seascapes. Hosted by Mary Ellen Hannibal, award-winning author of The Spine of the Continent: The Race to Save America’s Last, Best Wilderness. With: Ellie Cohen, President/CEO of Point Blue Conservation Science, focused on nature-based, climate-smart conservation solutions; Robin Grossinger, a historical ecologist who directs the “Resilient Landscapes” project at the San Francisco Estuary Institute, guiding adaptive landscape-level restoration strategies in California.
Citizen Science: DIY Knowledge To and From the People. Activists, scientists and grassroots groups are leveraging new technology and collaborative networks to accurately monitor the quality of the environment, expose governmental and corporate abuses, and enable large-scale ecological research to understand the web of life in the age of climate disruption. Hosted by Teo Grossman, Bioneers Director of Strategic Network Initiatives. With: Severine v T Fleming, Farm Hack; Shannon Dosemagen, founder/President, New Orleans-based Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science; Brian Haggerty, co-designer, USA National Phenology Network, a multisectoral climate change research program using citizen scientists to monitor seasonal behavior of U.S. flora and fauna.
Citizen science ecology walk. Participate in national climate change research by observing the seasons and tracking nature's pulse, with Brian Haggerty of the California Phenology Project and USA National Phenology Network.
Eco-Governance. Human-made political borders determine how we relate to ecosystems. What does governance look like when it aligns with the ground truths of nature? How does culture change? What models exist? Hosted by Kristen Schwind, co-founder/Director of Bay Localize. With: Jessie Lerner, Executive Director of Sustain Dane in Madison, Wisconsin, a state with eco-municipalities based on Sweden’s model; Trathen Heckman, Board President of Transition U.S. and founder of Daily Acts in Sonoma, CA.
Watering Down: Water Management Strategies for Climate Change. Proven climate change mitigation strategies sequester CO2 in soils and plants, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and produce co-benefits that build ecological and economic resilience in local landscapes. From rangeland to metropolis, these brilliant innovators are watering down. With: Andy Lipkis, founder/President, TreePeople, a leader in urban watershed management; Courtney White, co-founder of Quivira Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to building bridges between ranchers, conservationists, public land managers, scientists and others to create economic and ecological resilience on working landscapes; Sarah Newkirk, Coastal Project Director, Nature Conservancy.
Council. Cultivating 21st Century Earth Stewardship in a Power Imbalanced World: Global Citizens, First Peoples & Spaceship Earth. Rooted in the wisdom traditions and best practices of First Peoples and the planetary perspective of global citizens, we will explore models and practices of living reciprocally as if our lives depended on it. With: Ilarion Merculieff, Aleut traditional messenger; Sharon Shay Sloan, council trainer and community steward. (Interactive/Experiential)
Leadership Lessons from the Living Earth. Join this experiential session to meet mentors from the natural world and discover Biomimicry-based leadership practices grown from life's operating principles. With: Toby Herzlich, founder of Biomimicry for Social Innovation. (Interactive, experiential)
FILMS
The Hadza: Last of the First, directed by Bill Benenson, narrated by Alfre Woodard, with Jane Goodall, takes a lively look at human origins in Africa's Rift Valley, where one of the world's last remaining hunter-gatherer groups, the Hadza, have lived sustainably for over 50,000 years, but are now gravely threatened. (70mins)
Amazon Gold. This disturbing account of a clandestine journey bears witness to the apocalyptic destruction of the rainforest in pursuit of illegally mined gold and its impact on indigenous peoples in the Amazon. Narrated by Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek and Herbie Hancock. Directed by Reuben Aaronson, Produced by Sarah Dupont and James Cavello, with Executive Producer Nicolas Ibarguen. (53 mins)
