Paul Hawken – The End of Sustainability

Social entrepreneur and author Paul Hawken challenges the conflicting duality between the profit-driven world of business and media and a world that ensures the commons to support all life for future generations. “The sustainability movement, without forsaking its understanding of living systems, resources, conservation, and biology, must move from a resource flow model of saving the Earth to a model based on human rights, the rights to food, the rights to livelihood, the rights to culture and community, and the right of self-sufficiency.”

This speech was given at the 2002 Bioneers National Conference.

 

Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. – Becoming a Blessing

Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen draws on ancient Jewish traditional wisdom to propose that the future is determined by the potential of the present. A doctor and storyteller from a long line of Jewish physicians, she explores healing as an exercise in resetting how we view our lives. She shares poignant stories of her upbringing in a Jewish household with a grandfather who taught her the values of generosity and caring.

This speech was given at the 2006 Bioneers National Conference.

Paul Hawken – The Other Superpower

In this gripping presentation, author and social entrepreneur Paul Hawken illuminates the premise of his subsequent bestselling book Blessed Unrest that the biggest movement in world history is developing under the radar screen largely through civil society. Reviewing the rich roots of today’s U.S. environmental movement, he observes that this new global movement is far more diverse. It is non-violent, grassroots, and has no central ideology. Its origins are in indigenous culture and the environmental and social justice movements. “Intertwining, morphing, enlarging, this movement does not seek power, but seeks to dismantle power.” Hawken closes to a standing ovation, acknowledging with deep emotion the many people who compose this movement.

This speech was given at the 2004 Bioneers National Conference.

 

Amy Goodman – Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders and the People Who Fight Back

“All governments lie,” I.F. Stone instructed us. To counter the lies that take lives, we need an independent media. Investigative journalist and co-host of radio’s Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman compellingly calls out the liars and their media cheerleaders with inspiring stories of people who have resisted war and social and environmental injustice to create a better world.

This speech was given at the 2006 Bioneers National Conference.

 

Tom Hayden – Democracy Against Empire

Political icon Tom Hayden delivers a rousing call to action based on a profound historical overview of the arc of justice and social movements. Among the most important progressive political figures of our era, he co-authored the historic SDS-founding Port Huron Statements in the early 1960’s, was a defendant in the trial of the legendary Chicago Seven, and went on to serve as a California State Senator. In this deeply moving, visionary talk, he considers how a grassroots movement might overcome the most powerful empire in world history.

This speech was given at the 2003 Bioneers National Conference.

 

Sandra Steingraber – The Whole Fracking Enchilada

This award-winning author, biologist and environmental health researcher explores the threats to climate and public health from extreme energy extraction including hydraulic fracturing (fracking). From strip-mining of frack sand in Wisconsin that releases carcinogenic silica dust to the deep-well injection of fracking waste in Ohio, which has been linked to earthquakes – these new methods of extracting hydrocarbons are shock-and-awe operations. Of particular interest are the living organisms that inhabit Earth’s deep geological strata. Far from being inert, our nation’s bedrock is an underground “coral reef” of microbes, another invisible ecosystem that’s linked to life in ways not yet fully understood here on the sunlit surface of our planet.

 

Clayton Thomas-Muller – Stopping the Energy Colonization of Sacred Native Lands

A brilliant young activist from the exemplary Indigenous Environmental Network depicts how relentless organizing and alliances on the frontlines of resistance are stemming industrial society’s juggernaut to exploit unsustainable energy extraction from Native homelands and sacred lands of Turtle Island. He went on to become a globally respected leader and helps direct Canada’s Idle No More movement to honor indigenous sovereignty and land and water.

 

Anim Steel – The Real Food Challenge

Food organizer Anim Steel asks us to imagine a dark holding cell in Ghana and the iron gate through which millions of slaves passed before being forced into the hold of a waiting ship. The gate represents an entry point on a centuries-long agricultural path, which began with plantation labor abuse and has brought us to the current unhealthy, centralized industrial model largely controlled by a handful monopolistic corporations. His Real Food Challenge represents a doorway for a food movement that leverages university food budgets in service of a fair and healthy food system. It has resulted in tens of millions of dollars in commitments to provide fair and fortifying food, and it is student-driven.

This speech was given at the 2011 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Food Justice Vol. 1 Collection.

Nikki Henderson – Flavors of a Whole Community

Nikki Henderson begins her deeply personal story by sharing the inspiration of her forefathers and foremothers, captivating the audience with her uninhibited warmth and radiance. She recalls her childhood aspiration to become an environmental activist, and reveals her genuine hope to be as effective personally as professionally in using food as a catalyst for environmental and social justice.

This speech was given at the 2012 Bioneers National Conference and is featured on the Food Justice Vol. 1 and Nature, Culture and Spirit Vol. 1 Collections.

Annie Leonard – The Story of Stuff

The American Dream has come to mean accumulating more and more stuff – and it has been exported worldwide. Yet all the stuff in our lives is taking an enormous toll on the environment, public health, equity, personal happiness and even our sense of citizenship and democracy. Filmmaker-activist Annie Leonard exposes the often hidden costs and provides a hopeful vision for moving beyond the age of stuff. She reframes consumerism and hyper-materialism by encouraging people to jettison their shopping bags without regret, and instead embrace the creation of a livable, joyous, equitable and life-centered world.

This speech was given at the 2009 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Environmental Justice Vol. 1 Collection.

Jerome Ringo – Color of Green: The Next Inconvenient Truth

Green economy African-American leader Jerome Ringo stands witness to the gravity of the current global environmental crisis and domestic economic decline, and illuminates the path to forge a coalition to deliver policies that will help build a prosperous green economy. It’s an economy that grows on a trellis of social justice and equity, matching the people who most need work with the work that most needs doing. Ringo suggests we build the economy by repairing our damaged world and restoring equity, jobs and justice for all.

This speech was given at the the 2009 Bioneers National Conference.

Maria Elena Durazo – Building Alliances: Labor, Immigration and the Environment

The President of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union’s Local 11 and the first Latina woman to lead a major union in Southern California portrays her work as National Director of the Immigrant Workers’ Freedom Ride. Immigrant workers want nothing less than our immigrant forebears: safe working conditions, basic human rights, and a chance at a better life.

This speech was given at the 2006 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Re-Imagining Labor in a Green Economy Vol. 1 Collection.