Today is a hard day. As citizens, as parents, as children, as human beings, as a community, we are all trying to understand and grapple with how to respond and react and deal with the prospects facing us. For 27 years, Bioneers has served as a hub for hope, inspiration and solutions. We intend to stay the course moving forward and redouble our efforts to bridge movements, issues and approaches as we all work to heal our relationships with people and planet.

In these poignant initial days, many of the brilliant speakers and leaders from our conferences over the years are speaking out, sharing their responses and strategies for moving forward. We’re collecting many of these responses here and will continue to highlight and share important and relevant messages from our community.

Sister Simone Campbell

My faith tells me that now, more than ever, we need to mend the gaps and bridge the divides among us. We know that Democracy is hard work. If anger fueled the election, we need to listen deeply to this reality, not dismiss it. The temptation is to immediately think about how we will fight back, but fighting back will only reinforce this mess we’re in. Instead, we have to fight for a vision that eases people’s fears, brings us together, and solves problems. I pray that President Trump will come to this realization and not be the same as candidate Trump.

john a. powell

We must find a way to extend our circles. Even if some reluctantly accept, even if some outright reject, still we must offer

Ai-jen Poo

Our country is diversifying racially and generationally. At the same time, we have grown more segregated from one another, by income, race, and geography. We need more courageous thinking about how to bridge those differences. Creating proximity and well-planned conversations that build trust across difference is essential to a democracy where everyone feels represented and connected. Each of us must cultivate a willingness to be vulnerable and step outside our comfort zones. Our future as a nation depends on it.

Naomi Klein

The Democratic party needs to be either decisively wrested from pro-corporate neoliberals, or it needs to be abandoned. From Elizabeth Warren to Nina Turner, to the Occupy alumni who took the Bernie campaign supernova, there is a stronger field of coalition-inspiring progressive leaders out there than at any point in my lifetime. We are “leaderful”, as many in the Movement for Black Lives say.

Rachel Bagby 

Wondering what you can do to take action beyond the ballot box? I just took the #our100 pledge! Join me! https://our100.org

Clayton Thomas Muller 

If you’re in the USA on November 15 please plug in & join us in targeting the US Army Core of Engineers in our nations day of action. #noDAPL

Alisa Gravitz

This is a time to take action. Together, you and I have put the foundations in place for a green economy and made enormous progress over the past three decades. Together, we can continue our progress in the economy for clean energy & climate, sustainable food & agriculture, responsible finance and fair labor, even in the face of gridlock or worse in the national political system.

Favianna Rodriguez 

Pledge to resist Trump, defend those who will be targeted by his hate, and please ask your friends and family to do the same because no one should go it alone.

Terry Tempest Williams 

I am a writer without words who continues to believe in the vitality of the struggle. Let us hold each other close and be kind. Let us gather together and break bread. Let us trust that what is required of us next will become clear in time. What has been hidden is now exposed.

Wallace J. Nichols 

Protecting access to healthy oceans + waterways is more important than ever, our best source of resilience + empathy

Michael Brune

As we reflect on what this means for our country and our planet, it’s most important that we stand in solidarity with all those who have been targeted by Trump during his campaign. People of color, Muslims, immigrants, women, the disabled — millions of Americans have been singled out and attacked by Donald Trump before he has even taken office…We are clear-eyed about the fact that those attacks could continue once he is inaugurated. That is why, as the saying goes, we will not mourn (for too long, anyway) — we will organize.