Ethan Nadelmann – Drug War, Drug Peace

The world’s leading proponent of sane drug policies asks us to imagine a world in which criminal laws and institutions play little role in drug control policy. What do we risk? What do we gain? What do we fear? And what can we do?

This talk was presented at the 2012 Bioneers Annual Conference.

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Paul Hawken – Regeneration | Bioneers

Paul Hawken is a visionary social entrepreneur, the award-winning author of multiple landmark books including Blessed Unrest, The Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism (co-author), and the Co-Founder of OneSun, a radically innovative solar energy technology company. In this speech, Hawken discusses his younger days, how and why he started a health food store in Boston in the 1970s, and our connection with nature and each other.

“We have invented an economic system – then and now – that doesn’t just kill life, it depends on killing life.”

This speech was presented at the 2012 National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, CA.

 

John Liu – Restoration Writ Large

Beijing-based filmmaker John Liu proposes that healthy ecosystem function is a superior measure of economic health, in contrast with the rate at which we produce and consume manufactured goods. Showing stunning footage, Liu chronicles the remarkable restoration of China’s denuded Loess Plateau, once the “Garden of Eden” of China. He illustrates how the act of restoring soil fertility restores the hydrological cycle, a process that was radically disrupted by thousands of years of slash-and-burn agriculture and overgrazing. These communities’ intervention not only revitalized the soil, water and air, but also spurred a thriving local economy and higher rates of education.

This speech was presented at the 2011 Bioneers Annual Conference and is part of the Ecological Design, Vol. 1 and Protecting and Restoring Nature, Vol. 1 Collections.

 

Jeremy Narby: Intelligence in Nature

In this mesmerizing talk, Jeremy Narby shares the findings from his groundbreaking book Intelligence in Nature. He describes his quest around the globe to chronicle how leading-edge scientists are studying intelligence in nature and how nature learns. He uncovers a universal thread of highly intelligent behavior within the natural world, and asks the question: What can humanity learn from nature’s economy and knowingness? Weaving together issues of animal cognition, evolutionary biology and psychology, he challenges contemporary scientific concepts and reveals a much deeper view of the nature of intelligence and of our kinship with all life.

This presentation took place at the 2005 National Bioneers Conference.

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Amory Lovins – Reinventing Fire | Bioneers

One of the world’s leading energy experts and visionaries, Amory Lovins makes a winning case for powering our future by “reinventing fire,” also the title of his 2012 book. Brimming with scientific data and a pithy and dry wit, he demonstrates the practical path away from our fossil fuel based economy. By integrating transportation, buildings, industry and electricity, and combining these with new business strategies, he believes we can simultaneously make the world safer, healthier and wealthier, for all of society. His remarkable vision for smarter and fairer energy policy has also persuaded top business leaders, the Department of Defense, and decision makers in Washington D.C.

This speech was presented at the 2011 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Ecological Design Collection, Vol. 1.

 

Ray Anderson – Sustainability in Action | Bioneers

The late Ray Anderson has been called the nation’s most inspiring “green business” visionary leader. His $1 billion global carpet manufacturing company, Interface, Inc.,  is working to achieve a zero environmental footprint by 2020. In this talk that Anderson presented at the 2008 Bioneers National Conference, he shows how sustainability and ethics are far better paths to business performance and profit.

The Ray C. Anderson Foundation was created in his honor to continue the legacy he left behind.

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Andy Lipkis – Restoring Los Angeles | Bioneers

In 1978 the city of Los Angeles was hit by a hundred-year flood. In 1980 it was hit again. The devastation that followed paralleled the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In this groundbreaking presentation, Andy Lipkis describes the unlikely partnerships that arise in emergency situations and the lessons we can learn from ecology to help overcome the fractured condition of city agencies. When we treat an entire city like an ecosystem, he explains, we can combine the integrated efforts of urban planning and resource management to effect radical change in systems of education, infrastructure and community revitalization.

This speech was presented at the 2005 Bioneers National Conference in San Rafael, CA and is part of the Ecological Design Collection, Vol. 2.

 

Paul Stamets – How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

Paul Stamets describes a series of epiphanies around how to shape our world with fungi in ways that are not just sustainable, but regenerative, resourceful and fun. He shares his patented application of mycelium as an alternative to synthetic pesticides; his regenerative Life Boxes that serve as shipping materials until you add water and soil; and his newest invention — mushroom cultivation centers that convert fungal sugars into ethanol while providing resources for enriching soil, growing food and metabolizing pollution in an environment that encourages community participation. Mushrooms will never look the same after you see this one.

This speech was presented at the 2006 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Ecological Design, Vol. 2 and Protecting and Restoring Nature, Vol. 1.

 

David Suzuki – Restoring Life’s Fabric | Bioneers

Is the economy the most important thing? Canadian geneticist, author, and television producer David Suzuki says the economy is just a subset of ecology. Drawing on native wisdom and state-of-the-art science, he vividly demonstrates that what we do to what surrounds us, we do to ourselves, and suggests how to restore the fabric of the biosphere.

This speech was presented at the 2003 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Protecting and Restoring Nature Collection, Vol. 1.

 

Fred Kirschenmann – Planting the Future: Transforming Agriculture | Bioneers

What does the future hold for organic agriculture? Fred Kirschenmann, a respected leader of the sustainable agriculture movement discusses the history of organic farming. Can organic agriculture survive in our industrial food system, or do we need to make sweeping changes to our whole approach to food production and consumption?

This speech was presented at the 2003 National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, CA.

 

Winona LaDuke – Seeds The Creator Gave Us

Winona LaDuke, the renowned indigenous rights leader and two-time Green Party U.S. Vice Presidential candidate highlights the struggles of indigenous peoples to protect their food sovereignty, restore their food systems and protect their cultures and foods from genetic modification. This speech was presented at the 2007 Bioneers National Conference in San Rafael, CA.