Our Staff

Interested in joining the Bioneers staff? Check out our Job Board for postings of current availabilities.

Kenny Ausubel Founder and Co-President	Kenny Ausubel is an award-winning social entrepreneur, author, journalist and filmmaker. He is the founder and co-president of Bioneers, a nationally recognized nonprofit dedicated to disseminating practical and visionary solutions for restoring Earth’s imperiled ecosystems and healing our human communities. He launched the annual Bioneers Conference in 1990 with his producing partner and wife Nina Simons, Bioneers co-president. The Conference attracts over 3,000 people each year to the national conference in San Rafael, California, and in 2007, it was beamed by satellite simulcast to 18 localized Bioneers conferences across the US to another 10,000 attendees. Kenny serves as executive producer and co-writer of the award-winning annual radio series Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature, which airs on over 200 US public radio stations and several internationally. He authored the book The Bioneers: Declarations of Interdependence, and edited the Bioneers anthology books Nature’s Operating Instructions: The True Biotechnologies and Ecological Medicine: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves. He is executive producer of the Bioneers plenary series airing on Free Speech TV and Link TV. He acted as a central advisor to Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature documentary The 11th Hour, and appears in the film.
Nina Simons Co-Founder and Co-President	Nina Simons is a social entrepreneur and co-founder and co-president of Bioneers. Previously, she served as president of Seeds of Change and as director of strategic marketing for Odwalla. In addition to advancing practical social and environmental strategies, Nina has an enduring interest in the leadership of women and girls, which has long been reflected in Bioneers’ conference programming and media. She co-teaches Cultivating Women’s Leadership, a five-day intensive forum for women entrepreneurs, donor activists and other nonprofit practitioners. In 2002, Nina produced a retreat for diverse women leaders called UnReasonable Women for the Earth, to envision a broad progressive women’s movement with environmental restoration at its heart. The gathering served as an incubator, resulting in the formation of CodePink: Women for Peace. Together with her husband and partner Kenny Ausubel, Nina was named an Utne Reader “Visionary” in 1996. They received the Robert Rodale Award in 2003 for their work in bringing the emergent field of Ecological Medicine to public awareness. Kenny and Nina received the Green Cross Millennium Award for Community Environmental Leadership in 2006. Nina serves on the board of the David Brower Center.
Jill Van Nortwick - Executive Director	Jill van Nortwick, Executive Director, has overseen operational management and strategic development initiatives for many years. Her work over the last 15 years in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. has spanned the nonprofit, corporate and governmental sectors. In New Zealand, Jill served as a principal advisor to the Minister of Science, Research and Technology on strategic issues affecting the nation’s infrastructure and education sector. She wrote the business case for installing terabit-speed Internet in New Zealand to connect scientists and researchers around the world. Jill has worked to advance progress on issues ranging from information technology to sustainable business. She worked with the regional economic development agency in Wellington, NZ, to bring together smaller IT firms to begin collaborating on exporting their software. She also served as Chair of the Sustainable Business Network for the lower North Island of New Zealand, helping companies integrate sustainability into their business practices. Jill and her husband also ran a sustainable business on their organic blueberry farm. In the corporate sector, Jill has managed international teams with multi-million dollar budgets. She worked as an intrapreneur within a large transnational telecommunications firm for 14 years. In this firm in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, Jill created new lines of business, grew the telecoms services business, established cross-boundary relationships and structures, championed a vision for strategic business growth, and guided the development and completion of high risk business projects. Jill’s current interests range from sudoku to learning the banjo. She happily admits, however, that she devotes most of her time outside of work to her children, ages 11 and 14.
Peter Mattair - Vice President	Peter Mattair, Vice President, joined Bioneers in 2003. His work involves finance, fundraising and strategic planning, among other things. Previously, he was executive director of the Fund for Folk Culture, a national public foundation. Earlier, he was director of development and director of the Music of the Americas program at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Before settling in New Mexico, Peter was a publicist with Paramount Pictures, where he was privileged to work with the studio historian. He was an early volunteer with Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City. He has served on the Santa Fe Arts Commission and as a board member of New Mexico Association of Grantmakers, which he helped to found. He currently serves as president of the board of Many Mothers, an organization in Santa Fe providing support to any family with a newborn child.
Jeffrey Vasterling - Comptroller	Jeffrey Vasterling, Comptroller, spent his youth in the Midwest and has an education in Anthropology and Psychology. He has previously worked as a professional in the healing arts and as an office manager in a small doctor’s office.
Kim Schiffbauer - Director of Marketing and Communications	Kim Schiffbauer, Director of Marketing and Communications, has nearly thirty years of marketing experience. She has worked both in-house and as a consultant for companies from start-ups to large corporations in Boston, New York, San Francisco and London. Kim has expertise in strategic planning and market research, public relations and publicity, media research and planning and marketing/brand plan development and supervision. Kim is an excitable earth citizen and loves life and Santa Fe. She is married with two sons, and speaks both French and Spanish.
Maia Cortissoz - Membership and Development Assistant	Maia Cortissoz, Membership and Development Assistant, joined Bioneers in May of 2007. Maia’s previous non-profit experience includes working with The Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPirg), Girls Inc. of Metro Denver, and City in Motion Dance Theater in Kansas City, Missouri. She also had a brief stint working with the US EPA Region 8 Superfund Record Center in Denver. Maia holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder, speaks Spanish and enjoys hiking, mountain biking and camping in her spare time. Maia is also a classically trained dancer who has been taking dance lessons and performing since the age of four and teaching Modern Dance and Ballet to students of all ages and technique levels since the age of 15. She currently teaches at the Las Vegas Creative Dance Center in Las Vegas, NM.
Liz Cunningham - Youth Program Coordinator	Liz Cunningham, Youth Program Coordinator, holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Green Mountain College. She came to us from Burlington, Vermont where she was previously working on improving energy efficiency and renewable energy on college campuses through a grant from the DOE. In 2005 she coordinated the Northeast Climate Conference, which brought over 300 students from the Region to participate in over 30 workshops ed on climate change education and action. When she is not organizing youth, you can find her telemark skiing in Tahoe, tossing a frisbee in Golden Gate park, riding her bike through the city, or boogying on down to some live tunes!
Felicia Marohn - Executive Assistant to Nina Simons	Felicia Marohn, Executive Assistant to Nina Simons, grew up in Germany, speaks three languages and joined Bioneers late summer of 2006. Before coming on board with Bioneers Felice lived, worked and practiced for four years at the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe. Serving Upaya as a Zen Priest included organizational development of a non-profit as well as spiritual leadership and guidance for residents of a Buddhist community. Currently, she is enrolled in the evening and weekend program of the College of Santa Fe to complete her BA in Psychology. Felice brings to her life and work a deep curiosity about human behavior. Inspired and guided by her ongoing deep encounter with Buddhist practice and Non Violent Communication (NVC), she is motivated to develop the skillful means necessary for transforming human suffering into liberation. On evenings and weekends, Felice volunteers for several prison projects as a meditation and Tai Chi Quan teacher working with incarcerated youth, women, and men in Northern New Mexico.
Arty Mangan – Food & Farming Director	Arty Mangan, Food and Farming Program Director for Bioneers, has worked with farmers and agriculture since 1978 as a partner in Live Juice, a fresh, local, organic apple juice company in Santa Cruz. In 1986 he joined Odwalla and was in charge of fruit sourcing, working with farmers in the US, Mexico and Costa Rica. He joined Bioneers in 1998 as the Project Manager for the Restorative Development Initiative, which produced “Wisdom at the End of Hoe” ecological agricultural workshops, collaborated with John Mohawk and the Iroquois White Corn Project and worked with The Federation of Southern Cooperatives and African American farmers in Mississippi and Alabama. He is a board member of the Ecological Farming Association, and was a member of the Santa Cruz GE Subcommittee that led to a Precautionary Moratorium on growing genetically engineered crops in Santa Cruz County.
Sue Talkington -- Administration Manager	Sue Talkington, Administration Manager, born and raised in Texas, Sue has a BS in Computer Information Systems and an MA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College. She brings twelve years of professional experience in computer applications development and complex systems management for the banking and finance industry to Bioneers, and is proficient in multiple computer languages, databases, operating systems and applications software. Sue currently manages Bioneers’ administrative team, the online Store, volunteers and the office. She lives in Santa Fe with her daughter and enjoys singing, hiking and cooking in her spare time.
Aaron Leventman -- Producer, Moving Image Festival-Marketing & Communications Coordinator	Aaron Leventman, Producer, Moving Image Festival and Marketing & Communications Coordinator, moved to Santa Fe from Provincetown, Massachusetts where he worked in Town promotion. Previously, he worked as an assistant publicist on an independent feature film in New York City. In Santa Fe he has worked for their Film Center as a film curator and events planner. He was also Assistant Program and Outreach Coordinator for the NM Alliance for Children with Traumatic Stress and has been a volunteer fo GMHC in New York and the Human Rights Alliance in Santa Fe. He recently worked for the Sundance Film Festival and is also a published playwright and actor, appearing in many theatrical productions.
Ginger Ridder- Sponsorship Manager	Ginger Ridder came to Santa Fe a little over a year ago, ready for change. She previously lived in New York, Massachusetts and Australia before venturing to New Mexico. Her spirit moves her to help other people, formerly working for the Olympics, then in the health and fitness industry, bringing joy to others through play and sport. As a rock climber, she prefers to be among the mountains, and now strives to help protect and preserve the outdoors that challenge her to climb beyond her limitations.
J.P. Harpiginies - Bioneers Conference Associate Producer	JP Harpignies, Bioneers Conference associate producer, a former program director at the New York Open Center and contributing editor to its journal Lapis, is the co-producer of the Eco-Metropolis conference in NYC, a freelance program consultant, conference producer, copy-editor and writer. He is the author of two books: Political Ecosystems and Double Helix Hubris; and the associate editor of the Bioneers books: Ecological Medicine and Nature's Operating Instructions,and Visionary Plant Consciousness and has been an instructor of Taijiquuan in Brooklyn, NY, for over 20 years.
Teo Grossman - Community Outreach Assistant	Teo Grossman, Satellite Program Manager, is responsible for strategic and day-to-day management of the network of satellite locations as well as coordinating Bioneers’ efforts to engage and support educators in introducing Bioneers into their schools and classrooms. A member of the Bioneers Faculty (Teo was a speaker in the first year of the Bioneers Youth Initiative) and current advisor to the Youth Program, he is a cum laude graduate of Pitzer College, a former teacher and has traveled extensively internationally.





Valerie Rael - Office Administrator	Valerie Rael, office administrator, previously worked, as an office manager for a computer training company where she developed proficient skills in computer software/hardware. She was born and raised Santa Fe, NM with deep family roots in the community. She loves spending time raising her three beautiful children, Taylor, Angelo and Brittany.
Amy Theobald - Design & Publications Manager	Amy Theobald, design + publications manager, joined the staff of Bioneers in February of 2003. Educated at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she has many years of experience in arts administration for commercial and nonprofit venues, directing a non-commercial exhibition space, working on the team producing an annual international modern and contemporary art exposition, and coordinating projects for a graphic design studio with an emphasis on creative clients. She has also worked at a Montessori preschool, teaching art, cooking and yoga to three to six year olds.
Kelli Webster - Bioneers Project Manager	Kelli Webster, project manager, previously worked at EcoWorks Multimedia (a nonprofit project of the Tides Center) as assistant to the director, where she was responsible for office management, managing an organizational outreach program, supervising staff and intern schedules and editing of manuscripts. Kelli is a certified dog trainer, and lives in Portland, Oregon with her dog, Figment.
Julie Weinstein - Membership and Development Manager	Julie Weinstein, Membership and Development Manager, came to Bioneers in the spring of 2006 with 10 years of membership program development and fundraising experience for both arts and environmental organizations. Prior to joining Bioneers, she directed the annual fund for the Los Angeles based, urban forestry non-profit, TreePeople. Before that, she directed fundraising and education programming for the Decorative Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her interest in developing and directing membership programs stems from her belief in the power of social movements creating positive change and in the concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world). Julie lives in the mountains outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico with her partner, baby daughter and a very large stash of hand-dyed yarn.

Our Mission

Founded in 1990, Bioneers is a nonprofit organization that promotes practical environmental solutions and innovative social strategies for restoring the Earth and communities.

"It's All Alive, It's All Intelligent, It's All Connected."

Bioneers offers pragmatic solutions that honor the living web of the natural world as the most fertile source of inspiration and models. It's all alive.

One of the beauties of biology is that its facts can become our metaphors, and these underlying codes serve as inspiring parables for how we can organize a more just, humane and authentically sustainable society. It's all intelligent.

Interdependence also teaches us that there are no single issues because it's one whole that can be addressed only by bringing together all the parts. Bioneers gathers people at the crossroads of ecological restoration, human health and social justice. It's all connected.

The bioneers span all fields, cultures, ages and walks of life. The work ranges from science to spirit - local to global - academia to the grass roots - farm to city - business to public service - art to engineering. We celebrate the gift of life in all its diversity and mystery, conjuring a change of heart to renew our empathic connection with the web of life and the Earth, our home. It's all relatives.

What We Do

Since 1990, Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons have been assembling Bioneers for an annual conference, a gathering of scientific and social innovators who have demonstrated visionary and practical models for restoring the Earth and communities.

Other programs include:

Beaming Bioneers broadcasts live portions of the Bioneers Conference to partner sites, serving as a focal point for community organization around local issues.

The Radio Series, Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature, features interviews and dynamic presentations from the Bioneers Conference archives. Each year, Bioneers provides thirteen half-hour programs free to public radio stations across the country and around the world. In 2003, the series won the prestigious Silver WorldMedal for Excellence in Environmental Programming from the New York's International Radio Programming Competition. In 2002, the series received a Bronze WorldMedal and was a finalist for the United Nations Department of Public Information Award. Each series is available for purchase on compact disk from Bioneers.

The Bioneers E Newsletter is our monthly correspondence featuring updates from the Bioneers network.

The Bioneeers Youth Initiative integrates young people into the Bioneers network, building year-round connectivity among young activists.

Press / News Media

PRESS AND MEDIA AT THE BIONEERS CONFERENCE 2008

Don’t miss out on covering the 2008 Bioneers Conference. Please see attachment at the bottom of this page for a press application.

Photo by Karen Apricot

Award-winning journalist and thinker Naomi Klein is just one of this year's exciting speakers at the 2008 Bioneers Conference. In 2007, with over 3,000 in attendance onsite and 7,500 more at our satellite locations around the country, members of the press from all over the world, including India and Japan, came to follow stories and report from this leading edge event at the Marin Conference Center. These included print and web publications, radio stations, and feature/television film crews. In attendance were the likes of PBS' BGTV, the Discovery Channel's new Planet Green station, along with Democracy Now!, L.A. Weekly, Utne, and Common Ground to name just a few. Dozens of articles were written about the conference in San Rafael from The Nation, Treehugger.com, Outside Magazine Online, and Mother Earth News.

For more press and media information, contact:

Aaron Leventman: aleventman AT bioneers.org
1-877-BIONEER or (505) 986-0366 ext 140
Fax: (505) 986-1644

SATELLITE CONFERENCES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY

Photo by Doug Mason

In 2008, Bioneers has partnered with eighteen communities to produce Beaming Bioneers Satellite Conferences. An estimated 8,000 people will attend conferences in cities across the country - from Anchorage, Alaska to Portland, Maine. The majority of these events will take place the same weekend as Bioneers, featuring a live-via-satellite presentation of the national plenary addresses from California coupled. By linking these renowned speakers with local sessions, topics and experts on the ground, Beaming Bioneers Satellite Conferences inspire a potent 'global-local' approach towards solving local and regional problems. Over 80 print publcations, radio stations, and websites from all over the country covered the various satellite events in 2007.

See http://beaming.bioneers.org for a list of sites and descriptions of their events.

WHAT IS THE BIONEERS CONFERENCE?

For nineteen years, the annual Bioneers Conference has helped to galvanize many writers, biologists, educators, architects, farmers, economists, public servants, scientists, business people, artists, gardeners, chefs, and activists whose work spans many fields and cultures. Together, they offer a dynamic vision for restoring the Earth, combining ecological approaches with social, spiritual and political strategies.

WHO PRODUCES BIONEERS?

Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons produce the conference with strong participation from a gifted team. Among these are J.P. Harpignies, former program director of the New York Open Center.

For more information on the Bioneers' founders, go to:

Kenny Ausubel

Nina Simons

CONTACT

For more press and media information, contact:

Aaron Leventman: aleventman AT bioneers.org
1-877-BIONEER or (505) 986-0366 ext 140
Fax: (505) 986-1644

PRESS MATERIALS

Comments on the Bioneers Conference

"No conference on Earth celebrates more fully the possibilities of creating a world that is conducive to life. Bioneers is central to the re-imagination of what it means to be human." - Paul Hawken, 2004 Bioneers presenter & Author, Natural Capitalism

"Bioneers articulates a new vision for the environmental movement -- one that lifts our spirits, is socially aware and action oriented; is grounded in practical solutions, and integrates public interest and innovative science along with a commitment to the health of our spirit, our bodies, diversity in our culture and the arts, and accomplishes all this simply by bringing together the people who are living these values and providing us all with an opportunity to connect. - Claire Hope Cummings, 2005 Bioneers presenter & Journalist

"The Bioneers Conference is one of the most important educational, networking and motivating experiences available today." -Tom Hayden, 2005 Bioneers presenter & former CA State Senator

"When I arrived at Bioneers in 2001 I felt the country begin to come alive again after the agonizing and bewildering paralysis after 9/11. I knew then that our movement was alive and well and more relevant than ever." -Nancy Jack Todd, 2005 Bioneers presenter & Vice President, Ocean Arks International

"Bioneers is my Mecca. I go there to be renewed and watch the magic happen afterwards." -Diane Wilson, 2005 Bioneers presenter & 4th generation fisherman

"A gathering of inspiration and innovation...Bioneers is creating a community of social change." -Terry Tempest Williams, 2004 Bioneers presenter & Author, Refuge & Leap

"Wow, what a collection of people! I came away feeling revved up with enthusiasm and a sense of a growing movement." -David Suzuki, Scientist, Environmentalist and Broadcaster

"The people I met at Bioneers inspired me to continue to share my voice in words and song with biological pioneers who are committed to learn about a shared struggle for undoing environmental and economic racism and biotechnological injustice of Indigenous peoples and our traditional knowledge." -Tom Goldtooth, National Coordinator of the Indigenous Environmental Network

"The Bioneers were instrumental in helping me frame issues and find sources for the piece. Especially for the 'Beyond Organic' angle, you guys were indispensable." -Michael Pollan, New York Times Magazine contributing writer and author of The Botany of Desire

"It is rare that environmental conferences consider the economics of low-income people. A vision of a sustainable environment where low-income communities have income and assets to take care of themselves as well as the environment is a vision that emerged for me from the Bioneers Conference." -Connie Evans, The Women's Self-Employment Project

Producers' Biographies

bios Since 1990, Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons have been assembling Bioneers for an annual conference, a gathering of scientific and social innovators who have demonstrated visionary and practical models for restoring the Earth and communities.

Kenny Ausubel

Kenny Ausubel is an award-winning social entrepreneur, author, journalist and filmmaker. He is the founder and co-executive directions of Bioneers, a nationally recognized nonprofit dedicated to disseminating practical and visionary solutions for restoring Earth’s imperiled ecosystems and healing our human communities. He launched the annual Bioneers Conference in 1990 with his producing partner and wife Nina Simons, Bioneers co-executive director. The Conference attracts over 3,000 people each year to the national conference in San Rafael, California, and in 2007 it will be beamed by satellite simulcast to 22 localized Bioneers conferences across the US and Canada to another 10,000 attendees.

Kenny serves as executive producer of the Bioneers plenary series airing on Free Speech TV and Link TV. He acted as a central advisor to Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature documentary the 11th Hour, and appears in the film.

Kenny co-founded the national company Seeds of Change in 1989 and served as CEO until 1994 to restore “backyard biodiversity” into the food web through marketing organic, biodiverse heirloom seeds to gardeners.

Previously he produced several documentary films about alternative medicine including the award-winning feature documentary film Hoxsey: How Healing Becomes a Crime about the medical politics surrounding the suppression of promising unconventional cancer therapies. Kenny founded and operates Inner Tan Productions, a feature film development company, and has written two screenplays. He attended Yale and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 1972. He lives in the mountains outside Santa Fe, New Mexico with Nina and their two dogs.

BOOKS

Kenny has written three books and edited two volumes of the Bioneers book series. His acclaimed book When Healing Becomes a Crime: The Amazing Story of the Hoxsey Cancer Clinics and the Return of Alternative Therapies (2000), is an almost novelistic recounting of the saga of ex-coal miner Harry Hoxsey’s incredible thirty-five-year battle with organized medicine for a fair scientific investigation of his herbal treatment for cancer. Often called “the wildest story in medical history,” the astounding Hoxsey story reveals a deeply disturbing pattern of “condemnation without investigation” by organized medicine that has resulted in the obstruction or outright suppression of numerous promising unconventional cancer therapies. Considered the definitive book on Hoxsey and a foundational contribution on the politics of medicine, the book is a tour-de-force of storytelling and reportage.

Kenny wrote The Bioneers: Declarations of Interdependence (1995) about the “bioneers,” biological pioneers who look to nature’s solutions as the model for our technologies and social systems. The book grew out of the Bioneers conference, which Kenny founded in 1990 to highlight leading-edge scientific and social solutions modeled on nature’s operating instructions. He served as editor of the first two volumes of the Bioneers book series: Ecological Medicine: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves (2004, foreword by Dr. Andrew Weil), and Nature’s Operating Instructions: The True Biotechnologies (2005, foreword by Paul Hawken). He has served as executive editor of subsequent Bioneers book series editions including Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World (2005, edited by Michael K. Stone and Zenobia Barlow of the Center for Ecoliteracy); Visionary Plant Consciousness: The Shamanic Teachings of the Plant World (2007, edited by J.P. Harpignies) and The Original Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom and the Fate of the Earth (spring 2008 release, edited by Melissa K. Nelson).

Kenny also authored Seeds of Change: The Living Treasure (1994) about the mission of the national company he co-founded to bring “backyard biodiversity” into the food web as a hedge against the extinction of the traditional and native seed stocks essential to the biodiversity of farming and survival of our food systems.

RADIO

For the past four years Kenny has served as executive producer and principal writer of the award-winning radio series The Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature, now in its seventh year of broadcast. The popular Bioneers series and shows have won twelve awards in international competitions, including the New York festivals and the Crystal Communicator Awards. It is heard in over 200 communities across the U.S. and Canada, and more globally, reaching total market coverage of 70 million listeners.

The Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature features the dynamic voices of scientific and social visionaries with practical solutions and breakthrough social innovations for restoring the Earth and our human communities. These bioneers span diverse fields, cultures and viewpoints within a broad progressive framework. They come from all walks of life, many cultures and countless fields of endeavor: scientists, social entrepreneurs, educators, indigenous leaders, social-justice advocates, journalists, artists, farmers, public servants, youth and more. The series draws on charismatic presentations and interviews from the annual Bioneers conferences to highlight compelling voices and original viewpoints seldom heard in the corporate mainstream media. The series’ focus on solutions illuminates deeply inspiring pathways toward a positive future that’s within our grasp today. It celebrates the marriage of the wisdom of the natural world with the brilliance of human ingenuity.

FILM

Kenny is an award-winning filmmaker whose birth was announced in Variety, the show business journalistic icon, where his mother worked. He produced, wrote and directed three non-fiction films in the 1980s. He is the founder and president of Inner Tan Productions, Ltd. Co., a feature film development company devoted to visionary and social-issue dramatic films. The company has three projects in development.

Kenny’s feature documentary Hoxsey: When Healing Becomes A Crime (1987) won the prestigious Best Censored Stories Award for journalism, played in theaters in a dozen US cities, and aired on HBO and Bravo to exceptional ratings. It also played and aired internationally on television and at numerous film festivals. It had the rare honor of a special screening for members of Congress at the Kennedy Center, reported on National Public Radio, and helped influence the creation of the federal Office of Alternative Medicine (now the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine). Often called “the wildest story in medical history,” Hoxsey is currently in development by Inner Tan as a dramatic feature film with producer Diane Nabatoff (Take the Lead) attached.

Kenny wrote original screenplays for two other Inner Tan projects: Star Rover and The Robber Barons. Star Rover is based on the true story of the late-nineteenth century outlaw Ed Morrell, whose remarkable life inspired Jack London’s last novel “The Star Rover.” Morrell’s imprisonment for life as a political prisoner and subsequent torture led him to a spiritual redemption that resulted in his release from San Quentin and in his becoming the nation’s leading prison reformer. Morrell was responsible for the Honor System and abolition of corporal punishment in U.S. prisons. The Robber Barons (script revisions by David Ward, The Sting) is based on the astounding true story of the “California Outlaws” in the late nineteenth century who challenged the notorious Southern Pacific Railroad robber barons with remarkable success. The backdrop of the story reveals the genesis of modern corporate monopoly and the vast populist movement that opposed it. innertan@nets.com.

ARTICLES

Since the 1970s, Kenny has published articles on topics ranging from alternative medicine and environmental health to social justice and politics. His writings have been published most recently in online media including the Huffington Post, Orion and Alternet and in magazines such as Utne, Explore, Alternative Therapies and Tikkun.

Remembering the Future (Explore, March/April 2007)

Mighty Corporate (Huffington Post, 11/4/05)

Heeding the Law of the Land (Alternet, 10/4/05)

The Real Yoda (Huffington Post, 6/5/05)

The Long Way Home (Alternet, 10/15/04)

This is Your Brain on Public Relations (Orion Online, Sept, 2004)

The Empire Strikes Out (Orion Online, March 2004)

The 21^st Century Blues (Alternet, 1/9/03)

This Rare Historical Moment (Alternet, 10/21/02)

Ecological Medicine (Alternative Therapies, Sept/Oct, 2002)

Ecological Medicine: First, Do No Harm (Yoga International, Mar, 2002)

The Coming Age of Ecological Medicine (May/June, 2001)

When Healing Becomes a Crime (Tikkun, May/June 2001)

Theft of the Ark (Seeds of Change catalogue, 1994)

AWARDS

Global Green Green Cross Millennium Award for Community Environmental Leadership, 2006 with Nina Simons

Man and Woman of Peace Award, 3HO, 2006, with Nina Simons

Robert Rodale Award from the Campaign for Better Health, 2003, with Nina Simons

Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature Radio Series

WorldMedal, New York Festivals International Radio Programming Competition

2^nd place, 2003; Finalist, New York Festivals Radio Award, 2004; United Nations Department of Information Award, 2003; Communicator Awards Crystal Award of Excellence and Crystal Award of Distinction, 2004 and 2006

Utne Visionary Award, 1996, with Nina Simons

Hoxsey: When Healing Becomes a Crime (documentary film) and “Cancer Cures: An Outbreak of Controversy” (print)

Best Censored Stories Award for investigative journalism, 1989

Seeds of Change

Design Oscar, Metropolitan Home Magazine

Ozzie Award

Columbia University, Phi Beta Kappa, 1972, B.A. Psychology and Urban Studies

Themes Addressed by the Bioneers

Bioneers 2007 Afternoon Sessions Categorized by Areas of Interest*

*Please note: Many sessions have strong connections to more than one, or even several, of the domains listed below. In some instances, we have listed them in more than one place. There are really no boundaries to the work of these bioneers. We're all connected.

Ecological Design
Gimme Shelter: Green Building in an Age of Mega-Cities and Meta-Collapse (B1) Fri. 4:30 pm
Clean Tech Comes of Age (A7) Fri. 2:45pm
The Biomimicry Revolution: Imitating How Nature Does It (A11) Sat. 2:45 pm
From Bangalore to the Bay Area: Mapping for the Sustainable City and Countryside of the Future (B10) Sat. 4:30 pm
Alternative Futures: Scenario Planning for a Precarious World (A25) Sun. 2:45 pm

Restoring Our Ecosystem
No Nukes or Green Nukes? The Debate over Global Warming and Nuclear Power (A8) Fri. 2:45pm
Saving People and Place: Collaborative Conservation Strategies (A12) Sat. 2:45 pm
The Ocean Revolution (A22) Sun. 2:45 pm
The Lives and Fates of Earth’s Animals (B18) Sun. 4:30 pm
Food Activism: Food Fights from Frankenfoods to Organic Sub-Standards (B22) Sun. 4:30 pm

Food & Farming
Building Local Living Economies and Successful Social Ventures (A2) Fri. 2:45pm
Cultivating the Land and the Narrative (A5) Fri. 2:45pm
Food, Labor, and Justice: Fair Wage Farming (A13) Sat. 2:45 pm
Seed Exchange (C1) Sat. 6:30
Farmers and Chefs Reception (C2) Sat. 6:30 pm
Community Food Sovereignty (A23) Sun. 2:45 pm
Food Activism: Food Fights from Frankenfoods to Organic Sub-Standards (B22) Sun. 4:30 pm

Environmental Education
From Ecovillages to Ecocities (A1) Fri. 2:45pm
Education for a Sustainable World (B12) Sat. 4:30 pm

Ecological Medicine
Herb Walk with Kami McBride (A9) Fri. 2:45pm
Creating Health, Jobs and Justice (A15) Sat. 2:45 pm
Parkinson’s,Asthma,Infertility,Learning Disabilities & Autism:What’s the Environment Got to Do with It? (A16)Sat 2:45 pm
Herb Walk with Kami McBride (A19) Sat. 2:45pm
Staying Healthy in an Unhealthy World (A27) Sun. 2:45 pm

Independent/Alternative Media
Hotfrog Presents: Writing the Revolution (A6) Fri. 2:45pm
Mother Jones Presents: Investigate This! (B5) Fri. 4:30 pm
Alternet Presents: Social Media Activism/Web 2.0 Networking for Change (A24) Sun. 2:45 pm

Social & Environmental Activism
Building Local Living Economies and Successful Social Ventures (A2) Fri. 2:45pm
Race, Class and Power: Structural Analysis and Fairness – Parts 1+2 (A3 + B5) Fri. 2:45pm + 4:30 pm
Becoming Guardians for Future Generations (A4) Fri 2:45 pm
Hotfrog Presents: Writing the Revolution (A6) Fri. 2:45pm
Building & Bridging Youth Movements (Y1) Fri. 2:45pm
Girls Gone Mild? Reclaiming Feminism’s Radical Edge (B7) Fri. 4:30 pm

Social & Environmental Activism (cont’d)
Eco-Art Strategies: Towards a Culture of Sustainability (B8) Fri. 4:30 pm
Theatre of the Oppressed Training – Theater for Change-Makers (Y2) Fri. 4:30 pm
Saving People and Place: Collaborative Conservation Strategies (A12) Sat. 2:45 pm
Food, Labor, and Justice: Fair Wage Farming (A13) Sat. 2:45 pm
Wounds to Warriors: Healing the Trauma of Social Violence and War (A14) Sat. 2:45 pm
Creating Health, Jobs and Justice (A15) Sat. 2:45 pm
Parkinson’s, Asthma, Infertility,Learning Disabilities & Autism:What’s the Environment Got to Do with It? (A16) Sat. 2:45 pm
Mainstreaming Hope through Popular Media (A17) Sat. 2:45 pm
Moving in the Movement: Using Dance & Theater for Social Change (Y3) Sat. 2:45 pm
Women Re-Imagining the World (B9) Sat. 4:30 pm
Art and Social Change (B11) Sat. 4:30 pm
A Conversation at the Crossroads: Race, Power and Restorative Justice (B13) Sat. 4:30 pm
Social and Environmental Justice through Donor Activism (B15) Sat. 4:30 pm
Elections as Metaphors: Broad Organizing Opportunities and Stories of Culture (Y4) Sat. 4:30 pm
Caroline Casey Presents: In Trickster We Trust (C3) Sat. 8 pm
Voices from the Global South (A20) Sun. 2:45 pm
Social Entrepreneurs: The Angels Made Me Do It (A21) Sun. 2:45 pm
Community Food Sovereignty (A23) Sun. 2:45 pm
Alternet Presents: Social Media Activism/Web 2.0 Networking for Change (A24) Sun. 2:45 pm
Building Successful Campaigns: Interactive Problem-Solving (A26) Sun. 2:45 pm
Fierce Grace: Six Women Organizers Talk about Gender and Social Change (B17) Sun. 4:30 pm
Rainforest Action Network Presents: Deposing King Coal, Drilling Down on Fossil Fools (B21) Sun. 4:30 pm
Food Activism: Food Fights from Frankenfoods to Organic Sub-Standards (B22) Sun. 4:30 pm
Story-Based Strategy: Interventions and Actions to Change the Culture (B23) Sun. 4:30 pm

Eco-nomics/Social Entrepreneurship + Green Business
Building Local Living Economies and Successful Social Ventures (A2) Fri. 2:45pm
Clean Tech Comes of Age (A7) Fri. 2:45pm
The Biomimicry Revolution: Imitating How Nature Does It (A11) Sat. 2:45 pm
Social and Environmental Justice through Donor Activism (B15) Sat. 4:30 pm
Voices from the Global South (A20) Sun. 2:45 pm
Social Entrepreneurs: The Angels Made Me Do It (A21) Sun. 2:45 pm
Inside/Outside: The Social Ecology of Corporate Accountability (B19) Sun. 4:30 pm

The Arts
Hotfrog Presents: Writing the Revolution (A6) Fri. 2:45pm
Eco-Art Strategies: Towards a Culture of Sustainability (B8) Fri. 4:30 pm
Theatre of the Oppressed Training – Theater for Change-Makers (Y2) Fri. 4:30 pm
Mainstreaming Hope through Popular Media (A17) Sat. 2:45 pm
Moving in the Movement: Using Dance & Theater for Social Change (Y3) Sat. 2:45 pm
Women Re-Imagining the World (B9) Sat. 4:30 pm
Art and Social Change (B11) Sat. 4:30 pm
Caroline Casey Presents: In Trickster We Trust (C3) Sat. 8 pm
Crossing the Threshold: Indigenous Artists Bridging Divides (B20) Sun. 4:30 pm
Story-Based Strategy: Interventions and Actions to Change the Culture (B23) Sun. 4:30 pm

Indigenous Knowledge
Becoming Guardians for Future Generations (A4) Fri. 2:45 pm
Grandmothers Council (A10) Fri. 2:45 pm
Saving People and Place: Collaborative Conservation Strategies (A12) Sat. 2:45 pm
Cycles of Continuous Creation: 13 Indigenous Grandmothers (A18) Sat. 2:45 pm
Original Instructions: Perspectives from First Peoples (B14) Sat. 4:30 pm
Grandmothers Council (B16) Sat. 4:30 pm
Crossing the Threshold: Indigenous Artists Bridging Divides (B20) Sun. 4:30 pm

Women’s Leadership
Indigenous Visionary Plant Traditions (B6) Fri. 4:30 pm
Girls Gone Mild? Reclaiming Feminism’s Radical Edge (B7) Fri. 4:30 pm
Creating Health, Jobs and Justice (A15) Sat. 2:45 pm
Parkinson’s, Asthma,Infertility,Learning Disabilities & Autism: What’s the Environment Got to Do with It? (A16) Sat. 2:45 pm
Cycles of Continuous Creation: 13 Indigenous Grandmothers (A18) Sat. 2:45 pm
Women Re-Imagining the World (B9) Sat. 4:30 pm
Social and Environmental Justice through Donor Activism (B15) Sat. 4:30 pm
Staying Healthy in an Unhealthy World (A27) Sun. 2:45 pm
Grandmothers Council with Bioneers Youth (A28) Sun. 2:45 pm
Turning Inspiration into Action: An Open Space Workshop for Youth – Parts 1 + 2 (Y5 + Y6) Sun. 2:45 and 4:30 pm
Fierce Grace: Six Women Organizers Talk about Gender and Social Change (B17) Sun. 4:30 pm
Inside/Outside: The Social Ecology of Corporate Accountability (B19) Sun. 4:30 pm

Nature, Culture & Spirit
Race, Class and Power: Structural Analysis and Fairness – Parts 1+2 (A3 + B5) Fri. 2:45 pm + 4:30 pm
Becoming Guardians for Future Generations (A4) Fri 2:45 pm
Grandmothers Council (A10) Fri. 2:45 pm
Indigenous Visionary Plant Traditions (B6) Fri. 4:30 pm
Wounds to Warriors: Healing the Trauma of Social Violence and War (A14) Sat. 2:45 pm
Cycles of Continuous Creation: 13 Indigenous Grandmothers (A18) Sat. 2:45 pm
A Conversation at the Crossroads: Race, Power and Restorative Justice (B13) Sat. 4:30 pm
Original Instructions: Perspectives from First Peoples (B14) Sat. 4:30 pm
Grandmothers Council (B16) Sat. 4:30 pm
Farmers and Chefs Reception (C2) Sat. 6:30 pm
Caroline Casey Presents: In Trickster We Trust (C3) Sat. 8 pm
The Ocean Revolution (A22) Sun. 2:45 pm
Grandmothers Council with Bioneers Youth (A28) Sun. 2:45 pm
The Lives and Fates of Earth’s Animals (B18) Sun. 4:30 pm

Youth Leadership
Building & Bridging Youth Movements (Y1) Fri. 2:45pm
Theatre of the Oppressed Training – Theater for Change-Makers (Y2) Fri. 4:30 pm
Moving in the Movement: Using Dance & Theater for Social Change (Y3) Sat. 2:45 pm
Elections as Metaphors: Broad Organizing Opportunities and Stories of Culture (Y4) Sat. 4:30 pm
Grandmothers Council with Bioneers Youth (A28) Sun. 2:45 pm
Turning Inspiration into Action: An Open Space Workshop for Youth – Parts 1 + 2 (Y5 + Y6) Sun. 2:45 and 4:30 pm

www.bioneers.org 877.BIONEER

Voices of the Bioneers

For more than a decade, Collective Heritage Institute (CHI) has been bringing the model solutions and strategies of leading social and scientific visionaries to both national and global prominence through the annual Bioneers Conference, which identifies, gathers, and cultivates a culture of solutions and the dedicated people who created them.

Through the Voices of the Bioneers Public Education Project, CHI is bringing this solutions-oriented culture into the mainstream. Formally initiated in 1998, the Voices project conducts public education about the solutions and strategies of the Bioneers through a variety of effective outreach approaches and communications. They include: mathai

Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature: A radio series produced in conjunction with New Dimensions Radio, this thirteen-part, half-hour radio series is heard on more than 200 stations in the US and across the globe. The series was a finalist for a United Nations Department of Information Award, and the New York Festivals Award in 2004. It has also won the New York Festivals 2002 International Radio WorldMedal Award and the 2001 Communicator Crystal Award of Distinction.

Bioneers Book Series: The Bioneers Book Series highlights speakers from the best of the annual Bioneers Conference and is published by Sierra Club Books, a division of University of California Press.

The first in the series, Ecological Medicine - Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves (2004) is edited by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers founder, with J. P. Harpignies and has a foreword by Dr. Andrew Weil. This pathfinding book focuses on pragmatic solutions emerging at the fertile edges between environmental restoration and holistic healing.

The Book Series' second book, Nature's Operating Instructions - The True Biotechnologies (2004) is edited by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers Founder, with J. P. Harpignies and has a foreword by Paul Hawken. Within the pages of Nature's Operating Instructions lie nature's solutions and alternatives to the persistent toxic technologies and destructive social orders that have defined our era.

The third book in the Series, Eco-Literacy, guest-edited by The Center for Eco-Literacy, focuses on reorienting the way human beings live on the Earth as well as educating children to their highest capacities in our efforts to build sustainable communities for the future.

Media Outreach: CHI works with both the mainstream and alternative media to distribute print and audio excerpts from the conference, and to generate original feature stories on key people and projects within the Bioneers network. The Voices project has reached more than nine million readers through feature articles published in media outlets, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Utne Reader and Natural Home magazine. Increasingly, journalists and media makers are turning to Bioneers as a resource for cutting-edge information and contacts for stories and films.

Beaming Bioneers: This project extends conference access and participation to a wider audience by providing satellite broadcasts of three half days of conference plenary sessions to colleges and community centers across the nation. The host sites are encouraged to organize their own live interactive events, following the broadcasts, to feature issues of local and regional relevance.

Bioneers Web site: An excellent source for accessing information on restorative solutions, the site posts timely articles, regular updates on pressing initiatives, conference information, and other network-related events.

Weaving the World - the Bioneers Sampler CD: Each year, CHI produces a CD for use as a benefit of membership and to introduce people to the Bioneers' work. The CDs feature ten to fourteen excerpts from the past year's conference, which are edited and presented in an inspiring sequence. They provide a strong communications tool for introducing journalists and other key allies to this remarkable body of work.

Bioneers Food and Farming Initiative: Funded in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this initiative increases linkages by promoting the work of food and farming organizations through our publications and website, and offers multi-media communication tools, such as the "Wisdom at the End of a Hoe" Food and Farming Sampler CD. This CD will serve as a valuable tool for other NGOs working on these issues to increase public awareness about effective restorative farming practices and the impacts of our food choices.

Board of Directors

Clayton Thomas-Muller (Chair), of the Mathais Colomb Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba, Canada, is an activist for Indigenous self-determination and environmental justice. He is the Oil Campaign Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network. He works across Alaska, Canada, and the lower 48 states of the U.S. with grassroots indigenous communities to defend the sacredness of mother earth against transnational oil corporations. Clayton finds many ways to contribute to the movement of his peoples. For his efforts, Clayton has been recognized by the prestigious Utne magazine as one of the “Top 30 Under 30” activists in the United States.

Tom Van Dyck (Treasurer) has been a leader in the field of socially-responsible investing since starting at Dean Witter in 1983. Joining Piper Jaffray in 1997, he leads the SRI Wealth Management Team called Philanthropic & Social Investment Consulting. Tom has been widely quoted on socially responsible investing in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg Financial News Services, Washington Post and others. In February 1999, The New York Times confirmed Tom's long standing opinion about the ability of socially responsible companies to outperform the S&P 500 in an article titled "Investing by Conscience is Paying Off These Days." Tom has authored numerous articles and studies on the economics of socially responsible investing including "Do the Math," which demonstrates that socially responsible investing provides competitive returns to various investment portfolios in the May 1998 issue of Foundation News & Commentary. Tom is the founder of As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy foundation and is active with environmental groups, including Rainforest Action Network and Baykeeper. For his commitment and work in the community, Tom received the firm's coveted Bobby Piper Community Service Award in 2000. He is most proud, however, of his role of active parent to his two children. Tom graduated from Duke University in 1980 with a B.A. in Political Science. He is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) and is Series 7 and Series 66.

Kenny Ausubel is the founder and co-president of Bioneers, a nonprofit educational organization that promotes practical environmental solutions and innovative social strategies for restoring the Earth and communities. He is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker and social entrepreneur whose books include The Bioneers: Declarations of Interdependence; and When Healing Becomes a Crime: The Amazing Story of the Hoxsey Cancer Clinics and the Return of Alternative Therapies. He co-founded Seeds of Change, a national biodiversity organic seed company, and founded Inner Tan Productions, a feature film development company. Kenny is also executive producer and co-writer of the award-winning radio series: Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature. He acted as a central advisor to Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature documentary The 11th Hour, and appears in the film.

Nina Simons is a social entrepreneur who is co-president of Bioneers. She has co-produced Bioneers’ annual conference since 1990. She previously served as president of Seeds of Change and as director of strategic marketing for Odwalla. With each of those prior positions, she helped a mission-driven for-profit company achieve national prominence in record time, through community-based and innovative approaches to marketing. In addition to social enterprise and healing our relationship with the natural world, Nina has an enduring interest in the leadership of women and girls, which is reflected in Bioneers’ diverse programming. This year, she began co-teaching a workshop called Cultivating Women’s Leadership, intended to strengthen the inner resources and tools required to help women of all ages and backgrounds step more fully into progressive change-making. In 2002 Nina produced a retreat for diverse women leaders called UnReasonable Women for the Earth, to brainstorm about envisioning a broad progressive women’s movement with environment at its heart. The gathering served as an incubator, resulting in the formation of CodePink: Women for Peace. Nina speaks and teaches nationally about women’s leadership, cultivating relational intelligence, and organizations as living systems. Nina was named an Utne Reader “Visionary” in 1996 for her cutting-edge work in communication, community building, and ethical commerce. In 2006, she and her husband/partner Kenny Ausubel, (also Bioneers founder), were awarded the Green Cross Millennium Award for Community Environmental Leadership.

Charlotte Brody (Secretary) is the executive director of Commonweal, a Bolinas, California based organization that works on health and environmental issues. She was a founder and executive director of the Health Care Without Harm Campaign, the organizing director for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, the executive director of a Planned Parenthood affiliate in North Carolina and coordinator of the Carolina Brown Lung Association, an occupational safety and health organization focused on cotton textile workers. A registered nurse and mother of two, she has been an activist and an organizer since 1964. www.commonweal.org

Oren Lyons, Onondaga Council of Chiefs, Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee, Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan. Oren is a leading advocate for American Indian and indigenous causes, led the first indigenous delegation to the UN, helped establish The Working Group for Indigenous Populations and other international bodies, co-founded The Traditional Circle of Indian Elders and Youth, the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force, and many other groups. Oren is also a widely exhibited artist, the author/illustrator of Dog Story and co-author/editor of Exiled in the Land of the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations and the U.S. Constitution, and a major figure in world lacrosse (an Iroquois invention).

David Orr, (www.oberlin.edu/envs), the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College, is an award-winning scholar and leader in the sustainability movement, renowned for his pioneering work on environmental literacy in higher education and ecological design. He is the author of Design on the Edge; The Nature of Design, Earth In Mind; Ecological Literacy; and The Last Refuge, is a contributing editor of Conservation Biology, and serves on many boards including those of the Center for Ecoliteracy, the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Second Nature.

Greg Watson (Vice-Chair), currently Senior Advisor for Clean Energy Technology for the MA Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, and is Vice President for Sustainable Development at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, leading its Offshore Wind Initiative, has considerable experience working on collaborative efforts. He has served, among other posts, as: Executive Director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative; Executive Director of The New Alchemy Institute; Director of The Nature Conservancy's Eastern Regional Office; and Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture. (www.masstech.org)

Our Partners

Website Domain Partners

Ecological Medicine Partners:

Coalition for Health, Environment and Justice

Through training, coalition-building and one-on-one technical and organizing assistance, the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) works to level the playing field so that people can have a say in the environmental policies and decisions that affect their health and well-being. By organizing one school, one neighborhood, one community at a time, CHEJ is making the world cleaner and healthier for all of us.
www.chej.org

Commonweal is a nonprofit health and environmental research institute in Bolinas, California. Founded in 1976, Commonweal conducts programs that contribute to human and ecosystem health — to a safer world for people and for all life. www.commonweal.org

Health Care Without Harm

Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition of hospitals and health care systems, medical professionals, community groups, health-affected constituencies, labor unions, environmental and environmental health organizations and religious groups.
www.noharm.org

Science and Environmental Health Network

SEHN was founded in 1994 by a consortium of North American environmental organizations (including the Environmental Defense Fund, The Environmental Research Foundation, and OMB Watch) concerned about the misuse of science in ways that failed to protect the environment and human health. Since 1998, SEHN has been the leading proponent in the United States of the Precautionary Principle as a new basis for environmental and public health policy.
www.sehn.org

Explore Logo

EXPLORE: The Journal of Science & Healing addresses the scientific principles behind, and applications of, evidence-based healing practices from a wide variety of sources, including conventional, alternative, and cross-cultural medicine. It is an interdisciplinary journal that explores the healing arts, consciousness, spirituality, eco-environmental issues, and basic science as all these fields relate to health. www.explorejournal.com

Indigenous Environmental Network

Established in 1990 within the United States, IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues (EJ). IEN's activities include building the capacity of Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect our sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, health of both our people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.
www.ienearth.org

Food and Farming Partners:

The Food Project produces healthy food for residents of the city and suburbs and provides youth leadership opportunities. The Food Project develops sustainable, local food systems that bridge race, class, and age to ensure food security for all. www.thefoodproject.org

The Center for Food Safety uses multifaceted strategies, including legal actions, submission of policy comments and public education, to accomplish its goals of curtailing industrial agricultural production methods that harm human health and the environment, and promoting sustainable alternatives.www.centerforfoodsafety.org

The Center for Ecoliteracy, dedicated to education for sustainable living, is a public foundation that supports a grant-making program for educational organizations and school communities, primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. One of its main programs is Rethinking School Lunch, which includes a curriculum for healthy school lunches, the essay series Thinking Outside The Lunchbox, and a wellness policy guide.www.ecoliteracy.org

Organic Consumers Association

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics. www.organicconsumers.org

Seed Savers Exchange

Seed Savers Exchange saves and shares heirloom and endangered seeds, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations. When people grow and save seeds, they join an ancient tradition as stewards, nurturing our diverse, fragile, genetic and cultural heritage. www.seedsavers.org

Ecological Farming Association

Eco-Farm supports a vision for our food system where strengthening soils, protecting air and water, encouraging diverse ecosystems and economies, and honoring rural life are all part of producing healthful food. Our innovative programs bring together growers, consumers, educators, activists, and industry related businesses to exchange the latest advances in sustainable food production and marketing. www.eco-farm.org

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center

OAEC is an organizing and education center and organic farm in Northern California. OAEC's programs combine research, demonstration, education, and organizing to develop collaborative, community-based strategies for positive social change and effective environmental stewardship. The Center’s bio-intensive organic gardens and orchards have been a source of inspiration and training for thousands of gardeners, farmers and landscapers over the past 30 years. www.oaec.org

Conference Sponsors

Organic Valley
Clif Bar
New Leaf Paper
RSF Social Finance
Portfolio 21

Eclectic Institute

Blackstone Ranch Institute

Christensen Fund

Marin Convention & Visitors Bureau

Microplace

Chicobag

Saybrook

Conference Media Partners

The Environmental Magazine
Mother Jones
New Dimensions
Red Jellyfish
Utne Magazine
Whole Earth

Conference Partners

Lafayette Book Store

Annual Report

Since 1990, Bioneers has gathered people at the junction of ecological restoration, human health, social justice, democracy, and spirit to highlight holistic models of systemic change. The philosophical underpinning is a “Declaration of Interdependence,” reflecting the wholeness of both the web of life and the interconnection of all the issues we face.

The work of Bioneers has now evolved far beyond our annual California conference, and we’ve distilled our approach to the Three C’s: Communicate, Connect, Catalyze. Communication and education are essential to understand the challenges weface and to create the world we want. Getting connected magnifies our learning, ourpower and our joy. The inspiration and beauty of the work and each other are what move us into action.

In that spirit, the report attached below isn’t just about the work of Bioneers. It’s also about you, and what we can do and are doing together.

Contact Us

Bioneers Main Office

Old Lamy School House
6 Cerro Circle
Lamy, NM 87540

Phone: 505-986-0366 OR 1-877-246-6337 (1-877-BIONEER)

Fax: 505-986-1644

Our business hours are 9am - 5pm, Monday thru Friday. We do close in observation of major holidays, and on Tuesdays between 10:45am and noon for weekly staff meetings.

Email Contacts:

General Information: info@bioneers.org
Membership: members@bioneers.org
Conference: conference@bioneers.org
Store: store@bioneers.org
Volunteer: volunteer@bioneers.org
Youth Information: youth@bioneers.org

Want to reuse Bioneers content? Contact contentrequest@bioneers.org

Or, use our online contact form

Bioneers Stories

Tell us how Bioneers has inspired change in your community or workplace. Send us your story.

Here are some ways Bioneers has catalyzed positive action:

“It was the conference beamed to Anchorage in 2005 that inspired me and others to apply the work of Bioneers locally by creating a practical guide book called Moving Toward Sustainability.”
—Anne Wieland, Homer, AK

“I looked at what I could do, and began teaching Urban Composting at my local co-op; I’m also planning a new class on native/drought tolerant gardenscaping.”
—Lanna Seuret, Sacramento, CA

“I started a sustainability organization here on the UC Riverside campus (Sustainable UCR).”
—Ian Balcom, Ph.D. candidate, Riverside, CA

"Incorporating many ideas from Bioneers, our team won the ‘Citation of Merit for Sustainable Design’ award for an internal, firm-wide design competition."
—John Mlade, Green Building Researcher, Perkins+Will (architects), Atlanta, GA

“I started a new company with a focus on sustainability and stewardship in the catching and cultivation of fish.”
—Timothy O’Shea, CleanFish, San Francisco, CA

About Us

Our Staff

Our Mission

What We Do

Press / News Media

Comments on the Bioneers Conference

Producers' Biographies

Kenny Ausubel

Themes Addressed by the Bioneers

Bioneers 2007 Afternoon Sessions Categorized by Areas of Interest*

Voices of the Bioneers

Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Our Partners

Annual Report

Contact Us

Bioneers Stories