Andrew Kimbrell – Organic & Beyond: Paradigm for a New Food Future

One of the most penetrating critics of technological abuses, this leading lawyer-activist for local and sustainable food takes on the destructive and toxic system of industrial agriculture. Author of the classic book Fatal Harvest, he shows how reconnecting with the land, farmers and our food can heal the distortions born from our separation from the Earth and psychological distance from each other. He warns us to be alert to the manipulations of corporate food giants who seek to take over the organics movement and debase organic standards with genetically modified foods and other poorly conceived technologies.

This speech was given at the 2002 Bioneers National Conference.

Wil Bullock – You Are Where You Eat: Growing Urban Food

Access to healthy food reduces the risk of disease. White neighborhoods have, on average, five times as many supermarkets as Black neighborhoods. The Food Project in Boston engages inner-city youth in personal and social change through meaningful work in sustainable agriculture. Wil Bullock joined the organization as part of a new generation of leaders. He blends his passion for food justice with his talent as a singer/songwriter, leveraging his music to engage listeners – especially youth – to address access to nutritious food.

This speech was given at the 2005 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Food Justice Vol. 1 Collection.

Diane Wilson – An Unreasonable Woman: Unreasonableness and Where It Gets You

The legendary shrimper and fearless activist Diane Wilson celebrated the release of her action-packed autobiography An Unreasonable Woman, by discussing her civil disobedience against Union Carbide in solidarity with the people of Bhopal seeking redress for the death of thousands in the infamous toxic gas mass poisoning incident. She describes in vivid detail how she chained herself to a high tower in one of their facilities (for which she subsequently served many months in jail), and how hard it was to get her down.

This speech was given at the 2005 Bioneers Annual Conference.

 

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.