Bioneers

Last updated

Bioneers, under its parent foundation, Collective Heritage Institute, is a nonprofit organization based in New Mexico and California that promotes practical and innovative solutions to global environmental and bio-cultural challenges. [1] Founded in 1990 [2] their philosophy recognizes and cultivates the value and wisdom of the natural world, emphasizing that responses to problems must be in harmony with the design of natural systems. [3] Official Programs include Moonrise Women's Leadership, [4] Restorative Food Systems, [5] Indigeneity (Indigenous Forums,) [6] [7] Education for Action, [8] and the award-winning Dreaming New Mexico community resilience program. [9]

Contents

Bioneers produces innovative media covering subjects such as environmentalism, rights of nature, social justice, sustainability and permaculture. Bioneers Radio is broadcast on local radio stations across the U.S., as well as having segments featured on national NPR stations. [10] [11]

The organization also organizes the annual National Bioneers Conference, which is credited with inspiring a generation of leaders in sustainability. [12] Conference presenters have included Michael Pollan, Andrew Weil, Gloria Steinem, Jane Goodall, Philippe Cousteau, Eve Ensler, Bill McKibben, Paul Hawken, and more. [7] Plenary (Keynote) sessions from the national conference are also webcast to Beaming Bioneers satellite conferences held simultaneously in various locations throughout the United States and Canada. [13]

Origin of name

Bioneer (root: "biological pioneer") is a neologism coined by founder Kenny Ausubel. [14] It describes individuals and groups working in diverse disciplines who have crafted creative solutions to various environmental and socio-cultural problems rooted in shared core values, including whole systems, (anticipatory) thinking, a view of all life as interdependent, and sustainable mutual aid. [15]

Annual conference

The first National Bioneers Conference, organized by Co-Founders Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons, took place in 1990. [2] For many years the conference took place annually in the fall in San Rafael, California. [12] In 2023, the Bioneers conference will move to Berkeley, California and be held from April 6-8, 2023. [16]

The national conference brings together a wide array of scientific and social innovators. [17] [18] [19] Conference speakers come from interdisciplinary fields: environmental and socio-political activism; "green" biology, chemistry, design, architecture and urban planning; organic and "beyond organic" farming and gardening; indigenous perspectives; biodiversity, bioremediation, and wildland preservation; alternative energy; engaged spirituality, literature and the arts; holistic and "ecological" medicine; ethnobotany; socially responsible entrepreneurship, business and philanthropy; the environmental justice, women's and youth movements; independent media; etc.

In many cases the technological or social solutions to problems showcased are founded on emulation of natural self-organizing systems. [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental movement in the United States</span> Organized environmental movement in the US

The organized environmental movement is represented by a wide range of non-governmental organizations or NGOs that seek to address environmental issues in the United States. They operate on local, national, and international scales. Environmental NGOs vary widely in political views and in the ways they seek to influence the environmental policy of the United States and other governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecovillage</span> Community with the goal of becoming more sustainable

An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural environment through intentional physical design and resident behavior choices. It is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes to regenerate and restore its social and natural environments. Most range from a population of 50 to 250 individuals, although some are smaller, and traditional ecovillages are often much larger. Larger ecovillages often exist as networks of smaller sub-communities. Some ecovillages have grown through like-minded individuals, families, or other small groups—who are not members, at least at the outset—settling on the ecovillage's periphery and participating de facto in the community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecotourism</span> Tourism visiting natural environments

Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, or to foster respect for different cultures and for human rights. Since the 1980s, ecotourism has been considered a critical endeavor by environmentalists, so that future generations may experience destinations relatively untouched by human intervention. Ecotourism may focus on educating travelers on local environments and natural surroundings with an eye to ecological conservation. Some include in the definition of ecotourism the effort to produce economic opportunities that make conservation of natural resources financially possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Union for Conservation of Nature</span> International organization

The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education. IUCN's mission is to "influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Land Institute</span> American nonprofit organization

The Land Institute is an American nonprofit research, education, and policy organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture, based in Salina, Kansas. Their goal is to develop an agricultural system based on perennial crops that "has the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual crops".

Spiritual ecology is an emerging field in religion, conservation, and academia recognizing that there is a spiritual facet to all issues related to conservation, environmentalism, and earth stewardship. Proponents of Spiritual Ecology assert a need for contemporary conservation work to include spiritual elements and for contemporary religion and spirituality to include awareness of and engagement in ecological issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmentalism</span> Philosophy about Earth protection

Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the impact of changes to the environment on humans, animals, plants and non-living matter. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologism combines the ideology of social ecology and environmentalism. Ecologism is more commonly used in continental European languages, while environmentalism is more commonly used in English but the words have slightly different connotations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Pollan</span> American author and journalist

Michael Kevin Pollan is an American author and journalist, who is currently the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable city</span> City designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact

The sustainable city, eco-city, or green city is a city designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact, and resilient habitat for existing populations, without compromising the ability of future generations to experience the same. The UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 defines sustainable cities as those that are dedicated to achieving green sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. They are committed to doing so by enabling opportunities for all through a design focused on inclusivity as well as maintaining a sustainable economic growth. The focus also includes minimizing required inputs of energy, water, and food, and drastically reducing waste, output of heat, air pollution – CO2, methane, and water pollution. Richard Register first coined the term ecocity in his 1987 book Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future, where he offers innovative city planning solutions that would work anywhere. Other leading figures who envisioned sustainable cities are architect Paul F Downton, who later founded the company Ecopolis Pty Ltd, as well as authors Timothy Beatley and Steffen Lehmann, who have written extensively on the subject. The field of industrial ecology is sometimes used in planning these cities.

Bioneer is a neologism coined by filmmaker, author and eco-activist Kenny Ausubel. According to Utne Reader, a bioneer is "a biological pioneer, an ecological inventor who's got an elegant and often simple set of solutions for environmental conundrums." As coined by Ausubel, the term describes individuals and groups working in diverse disciplines who have crafted creative solutions to various environmental and socio-cultural problems rooted in shared core values, including whole systems, (anticipatory) thinking, a view of all life as interdependent, and sustainable mutual aid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David W. Orr</span>

David W. Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics Emeritus at Oberlin College, and presently Professor of Practice at Arizona State University.

Ecological design or ecodesign is an approach to designing products and services that gives special consideration to the environmental impacts of a product over its entire lifecycle. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan define it as "any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes." Ecological design can also be defined as the process of integrating environmental considerations into design and development with the aim of reducing environmental impacts of products through their life cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainability</span> Capacity to endure in a relatively ongoing way

Sustainability is a societal goal that broadly aims for humans to safely co-exist on planet Earth over a long time. Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and therefore vary in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national and individual level. Sustainability is commonly described along the lines of three dimensions : environmental, economic and social. Many publications state that the environmental dimension should be regarded as the most important one. Accordingly, in everyday usage of the term, sustainability is often focused on the environmental aspects. The most dominant environmental issues since around 2000 have been climate change, loss of biodiversity, loss of ecosystem services, land degradation, and air and water pollution. Humanity is now exceeding several "planetary boundaries".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep ecology</span> Ecological and environmental philosophy

Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that promotes the inherent worth of all living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and the restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas.

The term "Harmony with Nature" refers to a principle of amicable and holistic co-existence between humanity and nature. It is used in several contexts, most prominently in relation to sustainable development and the rights of nature, both aimed at addressing anthropogenic environmental crises. In 2009, the United Nations created a program of the same name. Following support from the Bolivian Government, the UN General Assembly approved further resolutions on the topic. Events like the United Nations Earth Summit 2012 have provided a platform for exchange between different stakeholders. Below is the text of the proposal.

Kenny Ausubel is a social entrepreneur, investigative journalist, and award-winning filmmaker. He launched the annual National Bioneers Conference in 1990 with Nina Simons. He has received the Buckminster Fuller Institute’s Challenge Award as well as awards from the Rainforest Action Network and Global Green, among others. He emphasizes the interdependence of all things, and the need to use nature's own diversity, kinship, community, cooperation and reciprocity in finding the urgently needed solutions to environmental and human crises.

Nina Simons is a co-founder & co-CEO of Bioneers, and an organizer of women's leadership retreats and trainings. Her book Nature, Culture & the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership (2018) received the 2018 Nautilus Gold Award in the "Women" category and Silver Award in the "Social Change & Social Justice: category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holistic management (agriculture)</span> Agricultural technique

Holistic Management in agriculture is an approach to managing resources that was originally developed by Allan Savory. Holistic Management is a registered trademark of Holistic Management International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rights of nature</span> Legal theory

Rights of nature or Earth rights is a legal and jurisprudential theory that describes inherent rights as associated with ecosystems and species, similar to the concept of fundamental human rights. The rights of nature concept challenges twentieth-century laws as generally grounded in a flawed frame of nature as "resource" to be owned, used, and degraded. Proponents argue that laws grounded in rights of nature direct humanity to act appropriately and in a way consistent with modern, system-based science, which demonstrates that humans and the natural world are fundamentally interconnected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature-based solutions</span> Sustainable management and use of nature for tackling socio-environmental challenges

The term Nature-based solutions (NBS) refers to the sustainable management and use of natural features and processes to tackle socio-environmental challenges. These challenges include issues such as climate change, water security, water pollution, food security, human health, biodiversity loss, and disaster risk management.

References

  1. ↑ "Bioneers". InfluenceWatch. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 Nelson, Amy (2019). "Bioneers / Expert Q&A: Bioneers Co-Founders Kenny Ausubel & Nina Simons". Bioneers. No. XVII. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  3. ↑ "Bioneers Come to Chicago to Build a Future Guided by Nature | Natural MKE". Natural Awakenings. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  4. ↑ Murray, Elizabeth (25 March 2014). Living Life in Full Bloom: 120 Daily Practices to Deepen Your Passion, Creativity & Relationships. Rodale. ISBN   978-1-62336-120-4.
  5. ↑ Crossland, Felicity (2 December 2020). "Bioneers - A Revolution from the Heart of Nature". Sierra Club Angeles Chapter. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  6. ↑ Nelson, Melissa K. (16 January 2008). Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   978-1-59143-931-8.
  7. 1 2 Hunter, Kate (September 9, 2013). "Bioneers Hosts Leading Voices Addressing Nature-Inspired Solutions For Social, Cultural, and Environmental Change". PRWeb. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  8. ↑ Ausubel, Kenny (7 January 2011). "Bioneers Launches Formal Education Program Focused on Town-Gown Collaboration for Systemic Change". Second Nature. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  9. ↑ Ermacora, Thomas; Bullivant, Lucy (1 July 2016). Recoded City: Co-Creating Urban Futures. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-59142-9.
  10. ↑ Patten, Terry (6 March 2018). A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries--A Guide to Inner Work for Holistic Change. North Atlantic Books. ISBN   978-1-62317-047-9.
  11. ↑ "Bioneers". National Public Radio. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  12. 1 2 Schein, Steve (8 September 2017). A New Psychology for Sustainability Leadership: The Hidden Power of Ecological Worldviews. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-351-28602-2.
  13. ↑ ""Eco-nomics" Programs Shine at the 2011 Bioneers Conference". 3BL CSR Wire. June 30, 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  14. ↑ Utne Reader. (1999 Mar-Apr). "15 Ideas That Could Shake the World". Utne Reader . Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  15. ↑ Ausubel, Kenny (October 1998). "Where the sidewalk ends". Yoga Journal. Active Interest Media, Inc. (142): 90–98. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  16. ↑ "Save the Date". Bioneers. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  17. ↑ Mosser, Michelle (19 September 2015). "GreenMoney Interview Series". GreenMoney Journal. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  18. ↑ Birnbaum, Elisa (29 May 2018). In the Business of Change: How Social Entrepreneurs are Disrupting Business as Usual. New Society Publishers. ISBN   978-1-77142-259-8.
  19. ↑ Ross, Chelsea (December 5, 2006). "Bioneers Bridge the Color Gap". In These Times. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  20. ↑ O'Reilly, Katie (November 6, 2017). "Innovators Compete for $100,000 to Revolutionize Global Food Systems". Sierra: The Magazine of the Sierra Club. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.