For more than a decade, Collective Heritage Institute (CHI) has been bringing the model solutions and strategies of leading social and scientific visionaries to both national and global prominence through the annual Bioneers Conference, which identifies, gathers, and cultivates a culture of solutions and the dedicated people who created them.
Through the Voices of the Bioneers Public Education Project, CHI is bringing this solutions-oriented culture into the mainstream. Formally initiated in 1998, the Voices project conducts public education about the solutions and strategies of the Bioneers through a variety of effective outreach approaches and communications. They include:
Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature: A radio series produced in conjunction with New Dimensions Radio, this thirteen-part, half-hour radio series is heard on more than 200 stations in the US and across the globe. The series was a finalist for a United Nations Department of Information Award, and the New York Festivals Award in 2004. It has also won the New York Festivals 2002 International Radio WorldMedal Award and the 2001 Communicator Crystal Award of Distinction.
Bioneers Book Series: The Bioneers Book Series highlights speakers from the best of the annual Bioneers Conference and is published by Sierra Club Books, a division of University of California Press.
The first in the series, Ecological Medicine - Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves (2004) is edited by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers founder, with J. P. Harpignies and has a foreword by Dr. Andrew Weil. This pathfinding book focuses on pragmatic solutions emerging at the fertile edges between environmental restoration and holistic healing.
The Book Series' second book, Nature's Operating Instructions - The True Biotechnologies (2004) is edited by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers Founder, with J. P. Harpignies and has a foreword by Paul Hawken. Within the pages of Nature's Operating Instructions lie nature's solutions and alternatives to the persistent toxic technologies and destructive social orders that have defined our era.
The third book in the Series, Eco-Literacy, guest-edited by The Center for Eco-Literacy, focuses on reorienting the way human beings live on the Earth as well as educating children to their highest capacities in our efforts to build sustainable communities for the future.
Media Outreach: CHI works with both the mainstream and alternative media to distribute print and audio excerpts from the conference, and to generate original feature stories on key people and projects within the Bioneers network. The Voices project has reached more than nine million readers through feature articles published in media outlets, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Utne Reader and Natural Home magazine. Increasingly, journalists and media makers are turning to Bioneers as a resource for cutting-edge information and contacts for stories and films.
Beaming Bioneers: This project extends conference access and participation to a wider audience by providing satellite broadcasts of three half days of conference plenary sessions to colleges and community centers across the nation. The host sites are encouraged to organize their own live interactive events, following the broadcasts, to feature issues of local and regional relevance.
Bioneers Web site: An excellent source for accessing information on restorative solutions, the site posts timely articles, regular updates on pressing initiatives, conference information, and other network-related events.
Weaving the World - the Bioneers Sampler CD: Each year, CHI produces a CD for use as a benefit of membership and to introduce people to the Bioneers' work. The CDs feature ten to fourteen excerpts from the past year's conference, which are edited and presented in an inspiring sequence. They provide a strong communications tool for introducing journalists and other key allies to this remarkable body of work.
Bioneers Food and Farming Initiative: Funded in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this initiative increases linkages by promoting the work of food and farming organizations through our publications and website, and offers multi-media communication tools, such as the "Wisdom at the End of a Hoe" Food and Farming Sampler CD. This CD will serve as a valuable tool for other NGOs working on these issues to increase public awareness about effective restorative farming practices and the impacts of our food choices.
