Kenny Ausubel – Building Resilience from the Ground Up

Kenny Ausubel, Co-Founder and CEO of Bioneers, discusses the keys to resilience.

“The first principle of resilience thinking is systems thinking. It’s all connected, from the web of life to human systems, and in essence it’s very simple, taking care of nature means taking care of people and taking care of people means taking care of nature. It means also watching for the seeds of new solutions that arise spontaneously as conditions change.

Resilience thinking also means moving to a much greater decentralization to provide backup against the inevitable failure of top-down command and control, too-big-not-to-fail systems. Think decentralized power grids, more localized food and water systems, economies. And the heart of resilience is really diversity, ecosystems that have sufficient diversity can rebound in the face of crisis and challenge.“

This speech was given at the 2012 Catalyzing a Resilient Communities Network Intensive, a part of the annual Bioneers Conference.

See related media in our Green New Deal Media Collection.

Rebecca Moore – Google Earth-Eye View

Rebecca Moore is the Director of Engineering for Google Earth and the founder of Google Earth Outreach, which gives non-profits and public benefit organizations the knowledge and resources to visualize their cause and tell their story to hundreds of millions of people. As a Google software engineer, she leads Google Earth Engine, a huge collection of the world’s satellite imagery made available online with tools for scientists, independent researchers and individual countries who are developing applications for detecting deforestation and mapping land use trends. Rebecca shares her global vision in action, and how seeing the world from a Google Earth-eye view has changed her.

Introduction by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers CEO and Co-Founder.

This speech took place at the 2011 Bioneers National Conference.

Alec Loorz – iMatter | Bioneers

High schooler Alec Loorz discusses the power of youth to stop global warming. Introduction by scientist Dr. James Hansen. “I’ve spoken to thousands of young people…and I can tell you first hand that we get it…we have this inherent since of calling about climate change.”

This speech was given at the 2010 Bioneers National Conference. To learn more about Alec and his work, visit iMatter.

Antwi Akom – What Is Eco-Apartheid?

Through schools and businesses, Akom, Associate Professor of Africana Studies at San Francisco State University, works to engage low-income youth and communities to address the health-wealth gap. In the “toxic triangle” – from Berkeley to Oakland and across to Bayview-Hunters Point – life expectancy is 10-15 years shorter for African Americans, Latinos and Indigenous Peoples than for wealthier residents in the Bay Area. It’s not an achievement gap but an opportunity gap, and it stems from institutional privilege for whites.

It’s not an achievement gap but an opportunity gap, and it stems from institutional privilege for whites. - Antwi Akom on Eco-Apartheid Share on X

This speech was given at the 2013 Indigenous Forum, co-produced with the Cultural Conservatory, at the National Bioneers Conference.

Naomi Klein on Marveling at the Earth (short clip)

The award-winning Canadian journalist, international activist and best-selling author (The Shock Doctrine, No Logo) depicts climate change as more than an “issue.”

It’s a civilizational wake-up call delivered in the language of fires, floods, storms and droughts. It demands that we challenge the dominant economic policies of deregulated capitalism and endless resource extraction. Climate change is also the most powerful weapon in the fight for equality and social justice, and real solutions are emerging from the rubble of our failing systems.

This clip is from a speech that was given at the 2014 Bioneers National Conference. View the full talk here.

Joshua Sheridan Fouts – It’s All Connected

In an excerpt from his 2017 Bioneers Opening Address, Joshua Fouts describes some of the ethical decisions he and his primatologist parents were forced to make as they worked with chimpanzees to research animal intelligence and cognition.

Joshua Sheridan Fouts, Bioneers Executive Director, is a globally recognized media innovator and social entrepreneur known for his visionary work facilitating meaningful understanding between cultures. With a background in anthropology, Joshua has worked with peoples of Malaysia, Africa, and the Amazon, governments and universities in over 20 countries, and innovators and engaged citizens worldwide.

Chemist John Warner on the Power of Thinking

It’s time to create the green molecular building blocks that make green technology truly clean, from raw materials and production to social justice. World-renowned green chemist John Warner illustrates how we can create a new generation of biomimetic and green molecular building blocks to help us reach the “world we want.” A founder of Green Chemistry, he has published over 200 patents, papers and books. He’s founder, President and Chief Technology Officer of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, and co-founder of Beyond Benign, a nonprofit for sustainability and green chemistry education.

This clip is from a speech that was given at the 2014 Bioneers National Conference. View the full talk here.

Annie Leonard – Hope is the Ultimate Form of Resistance

Annie Leonard, Executive Director of Greenpeace US and creator of the Story of Stuff, explains how Bioneers provides a ‘deep, rich kind of hope that permeates every cell in your body’, and that Bioneers ‘is the hope replenishment pit stop on our journey to a better world.’

This speech was given at the 2015 Bioneers Annual Conference.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges.

 

Nina Simons – Shifting Guidance from Head to Heart

Nina Simons, the President and Co-Founder of Bioneers, discusses reclaiming the feminine in order to realign our personal and societal values and practices.

“When I listen with my heart, I am pierced with an empathic awareness that calls me into action beyond what any amount of learning, reading or mental understanding can prompt.”

This speech was given at the 2015 National Bioneers Conference. Read the full transcript of the talk here.

Rinku Sen – Both/And/All: Environmentalism and Racial Justice

Rinku Sen is one of the most dynamic and influential social, racial and gender justice activists of our time, among the nation’s most effective voices for inclusion and human rights. She’s also a cutting-edge journalist, author and researcher. She will share her vision of how we must urgently learn to face and address our completely intertwined ecological and social justice crises, while we learn how to do it without losing our minds, our friends…or our fights.

Introduction by Nina Simons, Co-Founder and President of Bioneers.

This speech was given at the 2015 National Bioneers Conference.