What We Can Learn from Our Primate Kin: A Conversation with Roger and Debbi Fouts

Groundbreaking primate researchers Roger and Debbi Fouts founded Project Washoe as the first successful initiative in which a non- human being acquired a human language (American Sign Language). They conducted 40 years of research with a family of sign language-speaking chimpanzees, studying their conversations and cultural transmission (a story documented in their extraordinary 1996 bestseller Next of Kin).

Their son Joshua Fouts, Executive Director of Bioneers, will explore with them the insights they’ve derived from this astonishing interspecies journey, including surprising perspectives on female leadership, the rights of all species, and more.

Recorded Friday, October 16, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.

The Carbon Economy Disruption: Turning the Ship

All bets are off as climate shocks create a “new abnormal” of a world. Can our fossil fuel-based economy change course in time? These climate leaders are suggesting how.

With: Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club; Atossa Soltani, founder/Board President of Amazon Watch, Board Chair of The Christensen Fund; Mark Schapiro, award-winning environmental journalist, author of Carbon Shock: A Tale of Risk and Calculus on the Front Lines of the Disrupted Global Economy.

Recorded Friday, October 16, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.

Scaling Up Climate Education

As public opinion regarding climate change finally begins to tip, we need to scale up climate education rapidly. Join leading diverse voices for a strategic conversation about the shape and trajectory of climate change education in the U.S. – what’s working, where the bright spots are, what major challenges lie ahead.

With: Brant Olson, Campaign Director for ClimateTruth.org; Lisa Hoyos, founder of Climate Parents; Vernard Williams, Associate Program Director, Alliance for Climate Education (ACE). Moderated by Teo Grossman, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Bioneers.

Recorded Friday, October 16, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.

Ecological Design: On the Ground and in the Water | John Todd & David Orr

John Todd, an ecological designer in the field of biomimicry, imitates nature’s evolutionary genius to serve human ends harmlessly, using nature’s processes as the design for buildings, technologies and practical solutions to environmental devastation. Educator David Orr suggests that true ecological design can take place only in a society willing to ask, “How would nature do it?”

Ecological Medicine: Healing Health Care | Andrew Weil, M.D. & Charlotte Brody

Did medicine’s separation from nature propel our health care system into its current crisis? Join Dr. Andrew Weil and nurse and health activist Charlotte Brody as they describe how Ecological Medicine reunites the interdependence of medicine and nature, and restores the feminine principle in healing.

Native Land Trusts: Returning to a Land They Never Left | Indigenous Forum

Across California, First Peoples are reclaiming their roles as expert stewards of land, water and resources through cooperative Native land trust partnerships. These mechanisms can help re-integrate traditional lifeways and empower marginalized Native Californians. Working with foundations, state parks and conservationists seeking connection with Traditional Knowledge holders and land-based stewardship ethics, they’re blending traditional and modern ecological and botanical sciences for optimal management strategies.

With: Beth Rose Middleton (Afro-Caribbean/Eastern European), Associate Professor of Native American Studies at UC Davis; Valentin Lopez (Amah Mutsun Tribal Band), Director of the Mutsun Land Trust; Ken Holbrook (Maidu), Maidu Summit Consortium Chairman; Matthew Leivas, Sr. (Chemehuevi), Native American Land Conservancy board member.

Recorded Friday, October 16, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.

Lifting Women’s Voices in the Media: Tools, Models and Practices

Join a diverse circle of women media-makers to hear how each learned to trust her own voice. They share stories and discuss effective strategies that can be applied to lift the voices of women of every age and perspective. Hosted by Jodie Evans, women’s media champion.

With: Jensine Larsen, founder of World Pulse; Neema Namadamu, internationally renowned Congolese civil society leader, founder of Hero Women Rising; Nicole Middleton, GlobalGirl Media activist.

Recorded Friday, October 16, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.

The Healing Potential of Psychedelics: Breakthroughs in Research

After decades of the repression and demonization of these substances, research trials around the country have been achieving remarkable results that validate the profound healing potential of psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA. Mounting evidence suggests they positively address such varied conditions as end-of-life anxiety, PTSD, and cluster headaches. Hosted by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Conference Associate Producer. With: Robert Barnhart, filmmaker of A New Understanding: The Science of Psilocybin; Philip Wolfson, M.D., leading MDMA researcher; Mitch Schultz, director of the film DMT: The Spirit Molecule.

Recorded Saturday, October 17, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.

Explore our Visionary Plant Consciousness & Psychedelics media collection >>

Racing Up Your Movement

Three national leaders reveal how their organizations and allies asserted a race frame on movements that were predominantly white. From stories about shifting the movements for good food, reproductive rights and media reform, we’ll learn principles and gather ideas for research, leadership development and communications to blast through resistance to a race frame. Hosted by Rinku Sen. With: Malkia Cyril, Executive Director of the Center for Media Justice; Saru Jayaraman, Co-Director/founder, ROC United; Mateo Nube, co-founder of the Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project.

Recorded Saturday, October 17, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.

Project Drawdown | Paul Hawken, Amanda Raven-Hill, and John Wick

How can we achieve a year-to-year drawdown in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere? Learn about the first truly systematic attempt to weigh the most effective existing solutions and technologies, and what we can do for them to be scaled up over the next 30 years. With: Paul Hawken; Amanda Raven-Hill, Executive Director, Project Drawdown; rancher John Wick, co-founder of the exem- plary Marin Carbon Project.

Recorded Saturday, October 17, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.

Indigenous Forum – Native Appropriations: Why Representations Matter | Jared Yazzie, Tailinh Agoyo, and Jessica Metcalfe

How do we challenge and transform racist stereotypes and stop the appropriation of Indigenous cultures? With: Jared Yazzie (Diné), Owner of OxDx Native Clothing Co.; Tailinh Agoyo (Naragansett/Blackfeet), founder of The Warrior Project; Jessica Metcalfe, Ph.D., (Turtle Mountain Anishinaabe), founder and CEO of “Beyond Buckskin,” an expert forum for the discussion of representations of Native peoples, including stereotypes, cultural appropriation, news and activism.

Recorded Saturday, October 17, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.

Indigenous Forum – Idle No More – Bay Area to Tar Sands: A History of the Movement | Clayton Thomas-Müller, Eriel Deranger, and Pennie Opal Plant

The fastest growing Indigenous resistance ever to industrial exploitation, Canada’s Idle No More movement has gone global. These leading Indigenous campaigners share its successful strategies and show how you can participate. With: Clayton Thomas-Müller (Mathias Colomb Cree), 350.org, Idle No More, Indigenous rights activist, Bioneers Board; Eriel Deranger, Communications Manager of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation; Pennie Opal Plant (Yaqui, Mexican, English, Choc- taw, Cherokee), Bay Area Idle No More.

Recorded Saturday, October 17, 2015 at the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.