The Co-Directors of Gender Reconciliation International illuminate gender imbalances.
Learn more about the work of Gender Reconciliation International.
This speech was given at the 2013 Bioneers National Conference.
Andy Lipkis – Navigating Adaptation and Resilience
As founder and President of L.A.’s legendary TreePeople, Andy Lipkis has brought visionary solutions to the once-poster child of municipal environmental dysfunction. Inventing the citizen forestry movement and engaging hundreds of thousands of Angelenos, over decades he has systematically demonstrated how to repair and restore an urban watershed by integrating ecology, economy and justice. As L.A.’s eco-governance model starts to spread globally, he will report from the frontlines of the City of Angels and Australia, which has engaged the entire citizenry as watershed managers.
Introduction by TreePeople Board Member Laurie Benenson.
This speech was given at the 2015 National Bioneers Conference.
Read an edited transcript of this talk here.
Mary Gonzalez – Keynote 2010: “Environment and Its Relationship to Equity and the Economy”
Mary Gonzales is the western territory director for the Gamaliel Foundation, an institute that seeks to build faith-based organizations in the U.S., Great Britain and South Africa. With nearly 30 years’ organizing experience, she has helped create many regional faith and value based community organizations in California and Hawaii. Mary also conducts leadership training events within the Gamaliel network and for several national religious and educational institutions.
For more about Mary Gonzales’ work visit The Gamaliel Foundation website.
Don’t Mourn, Organize: Power and Passion for Environmental Justice and Democracy
Somewhere in a typical American city, a woman wakes up to the noxious odors of a nearby sewage treatment plant. Her daughter carries a rescue inhaler to school. Like hundreds of her neighbors, this woman is sick and tired of being sick and tired. Women and men from vulnerable communities everywhere are rising up to gain equal access to clean water and air, equal environmental enforcement and protection, and equitable land use and planning. Impassioned community organizers Mary Gonzales and Peggy Shepard show us all how successful environmental justice campaigns across the U.S. are raising the voices of people of color and low-income communities and creating a better world for everyone.
To learn more about Mary Gonzales’ work, please visit The Gamaliel Foundation website. For more on Peggy Shepard’s work, visit the We Act for Environmental Justice website.
Busting the Drug War: The Dawn of Drug Policy Reform | Ethan Nadelmann
Ethan Nadelmann, founder/director of the Drug Policy Alliance, the nation’s leading drug policy reform organization, traces the hidden history of drugs laws, which are intimately connected with racism and the political exploitation of people’s fears. He offers a set of practical and effective policy reforms that are now being advocated by a rising tide of former drug warriors.
To find more about Ethan Nadelmann’s work, please visit the Drug Policy Alliance website.
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Going Locavore: Urban Food Innovation and Community Transformation | Michael Pollan and Oran Hesterman
Our misbegotten industrial food system is one of our greatest vulnerabilities. Its dangerously fossil-fueled, toxic, monocultural and centralized. The real cost of cheap food is very high to both people and planet. Urban food innovators are designing vibrant new local food economies built on environmental and ecological integrity, sustainability, diversity and equity. Join author Michael Pollan, Fair Food Foundation CEO Oran Hesterman, faith-based change-maker James Ella James and student leader Victoria Carter for a smorgasbord of nourishing morsels from the emerging locavore movement.
Find out more about Michael Pollan at his website, and the work Oran Hesterman is doing at the Fair Food Network website.
Becoming a Habitat: Motherhood, Faith and the Environmental Human Rights Movement
We live in a society dependent on toxic chemicals. Today about 287 such chemicals trespass inside the blood of newborns and inside all of us – without our consent. Despite the odds, ecologist, author and mother Sandra Steingraber is an optimist. She’s betting that the burgeoning global environmental human rights movement will free us from our deadly dependency. She believes our grandchildren will look back on us and marvel that our economy was once dependent on toxic chemicals – and they will think of it as unthinkable.
To find out more about the work of Sandra Steingraber, please visit her website.
See more from our Everywoman’s Leadership Program >>
Why the World Doesn’t End: Recreation Myths of Nature and Culture | Michael Meade
When a culture is disintegrating and the stories everybody believed in no longer fit, its time to rekindle our connection to ancient wisdom and universal truths. Mythologist, author and storyteller Michael Meade, founder of the Mosaic Multicultural Foundation, reminds us that the word apocalypse – which has come to mean the end of the world, actually means an unveiling. Once we penetrate that veil, its not the end – but the beginning of a new story.
To find out more about Michael Meade’s work, visit the Mosaic Voices website.
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Sisters in Spirit: Women Transforming the World | Jensine Larsen and Sally Roesch Wagner
History is a tale told by the winners. How then can we reclaim the voices of those who have been historically written out – silenced through the ages? Perhaps as women write herstory into history, well see clearly the eternal power, brilliance and unique value of women’s contributions. Join media innovator Jensine Larsen and feminist historian Sally Roesch Wagner as they share the emerging landscape of an inclusive, sustainable and just society at whose heart is the leadership of women.
To learn more about the work of Jensine Larsen, visit the World Pulse website. To find out what Sally Roesch Wagner is doing, check out her Facebook page.
See more from our Everywoman’s Leadership Program >>
Earth Justice: Corporate Rights vs. The Rights of Nature
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have long been held as the inalienable rights of the American people. Then why is it that corporate personhood consistently overrides the legal rights of citizens? And what about the rights of nature? Do rivers, mountains, whales or ecosystems – have inalienable rights that guarantee their interests? Join innovative environmental attorneys Thomas Linzey and Mari Margil for breakthroughs on the ground that are redefining democracy. In the 21st century, is it time to move from a Declaration of Independence to a Declaration of Interdependence?
To find out more about Mari Margil and Thomas Linzey’s work, visit the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.
Explore our Rights of Nature media collection >>
Reinhabit, Rehydrate, Regenerate: Permaculture Designs for an Enduring Planet | Darren Doherty…
Half of Americans cannot name one component of the water cycle upon which all life depends. Yet water is at the root of every human endeavor – from manufacturing to agriculture, energy production and waste management. No water, no life. Join master permaculture designers Darren J. Doherty and Brock Dolman for both practical and poetic ways to re-educate earthlings in soil and water literacy. Their practical vision for regenerating ecological integrity and social resiliency prepares us for the challenges of climate change and environmental stress. But above all, they illuminate inspired pathways for restoring nature and people in the re-enchantment of Earth.
Find out more about the work of Darren Doherty at Regrarians and Brock Dolman at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center.
Planting Buildings: The Living Building Challenge | Jason McLennan
A living building is like a flower, planted and rooted to its place. It collects its energy from the sun. It harvests its water from the rain. This building does not pollute. It engages actively with the environmental around it. And it’s beautiful and inspiring. This is nature’s blueprint for building a better world, says visionary architect Jason McLennan. He designed the Living Building Challenge 2.0 to raise the bar on green building: meet or exceed what nature provides. While the standards seem impossibly high, it may be simpler than we imagined.
To learn more about Jason McLennan and the Living Building Challenge, please visit the website.