Daily Schedule for the 2024 Bioneers Conference
All times are in Pacific Daylight Time

Keynote Speaker Start Times Approximate.
Overall schedule subject to change.

Wednesday, March 27th all times PDT

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm PT
Pickup and Dropoff from the Residence Inn Berkeley
$169 per person

Thanks to an incredible response from our community, this event is now at full capacity. If you’re still interested in attending, we encourage you to join the waitlist as spots may become available. We appreciate your interest and please stay tuned for future opportunities! Learn more about Bay Area Green Tours on our website, where you can connect with us in a variety of ways – including signing up for our occasional newsletter.

Join Bay Area Green Tours, 501(c)3, for an inspiring and immersive pre-conference tour March 27, 2024 in the beautiful San Francisco Bay. Bay Area Green Tours has again teamed up with the 35th Annual Bioneers Conference to present the Urban Foodscape Tour: Innovators Nourishing the East Bay. Be part of this pre-conference event and discover groundbreaking solutions happening in the East Bay for urban farming, workforce development, the climate crisis, and food justice.

Enjoy a full-day experience visiting regenerative social enterprises. Tour behind-the-scenes at a working urban farm, a worker-owned restaurant  collective, a sustainable rooftop flower farm and more! See how food justice, education, and job training can help nurture the soil and living wage jobs. Tour price includes transportation, friendly guides, engaging speakers, and a delicious locally-sourced lunch. 

To register, please follow the link and select the pre-conference tour during the registration process. We encourage you to include this inspiring tour as part of your overall Bioneers Conference experience, though conference attendance is not required to join the tour!

Bioneers incurs significant expenses prior to the event. Therefore it is necessary that we maintain the following refund and cancellation policy:

  • Tickets are 100% refundable for 30 days after purchase unless tickets are purchased within 30 days of the event as noted below. We will refund 50% of your ticket for cancellations within 31-60 days after purchase. NO refunds after 60 days from purchase.
  • Cancellations or refunds requested within 30 days of the event (March 26, 2024) will not be refunded for any reason, even if bought less than 30 days prior. The last day to request a full refund is February 26, 2024. The last day to request a 50% refund is February 26, 2024.
  • No-shows will not be refunded for any reason. No exceptions.
  • Bioneers reserves the right to refuse service.

March 27th | 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Note: A separate $169 per person fee is required for this event.

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Thursday, March 28th all times PDT

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Introduction by Cara Romero, Director of Bioneers’ Indigeneity Program

Returning to open this year’s conference, one of the leading figures in the East Bay Indigenous community and a longtime activist for First People’s rights and the protection of land and waters globally, Corrina Gould, will focus on the concept and practice of “Rematriation,” which involves reclaiming traditional land and sacred sites to help rebuild traditional cultures and heal the deep wounds inflicted by colonization and genocide and also prioritizes the unique role women play in that enormous undertaking.   

March 28th | 9:24 am to 9:46 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Cara Romero
Indigeneity Program Director
Bioneers

Keynote


Corrina Gould
Co-Founder and Lead Organizer
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust

Nina Simons, co-founder of Bioneers and its Chief Relationship Strategist is also co-founder of Women Bridging Worlds and Connecting Women Leading Change. She co-edited the anthology book, Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart, and most recently wrote Nature, Culture & The Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership. An award-winning social entrepreneur, Nina teaches and speaks internationally, and previously served as President of Seeds of Change and Director of Strategic Marketing for Odwalla.

March 28th | 9:46 am to 10:05 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


Nina Simons
Co-Founder and Chief Relationship Strategist
Bioneers

Introduction by Film Producer, Writer and Director Peter Bratt

Dolores Huerta, now 93 and still going strong, is a genuine living legend, one of the most influential labor activists in U.S. history as well as a foundational leader of the Chicano civil rights movement. Huerta’s 7 decades of activism have included co-founding the world-renowned United Farm Workers’ Union with César Chávez, leading major strikes and consumer boycotts, negotiating contracts, and tirelessly advocating for safer working conditions (including the elimination of harmful pesticides) and for unemployment and healthcare benefits for agricultural workers. Today she will draw from her decades of experience to share her thoughts on the critical importance of organizing unions in all sectors of the economy to fight for a fairer society, and on how to build more unity between labor, social, racial, gender, and climate justice movements.

March 28th | 10:05 am to 10:27 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Peter Bratt
Film Producer, Writer and Director

Keynote


Dolores Huerta
President and Founder
Dolores Huerta Foundation

Introduction by Cara Pike, Founder and Executive Director, Climate Access

With climate advocates subject to surveillance and censorship and giant companies controlling the ways information and knowledge flow around the world, the fight to save our climate is now inextricably intertwined with digital rights. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has long been at the forefront of protecting those rights, has helped environmental activists protect their emails from Chevron, understand the surveillance they are under and develop “Security Self-Defense” practices to protect themselves. Cindy Cohn, EFF’s Executive Director, one of the nation’s leading civil liberties attorneys specializing in Internet law, will explain why EFF’s push for open access to scientific information, for net neutrality, for open source/patents, “creative commons” licenses, and more, is critical in the fight to prevent climatic unraveling.  

March 28th | 10:28 am to 10:50 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Cara Pike
Founder and Executive Director
Climate Access

Keynote


Cindy Cohn
Executive Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Local Honeys (Montana Hobbs and Linda Jean Stokley) is a highly acclaimed musical duo from Kentucky that was formed a decade ago. Montana and Linda Jean are solidly anchored in the Appalachian culture and music they grew up in and deeply respectful of those roots, but their innovative songwriting, storytelling and musicianship are not constrained by tradition, as their music is very much of its time, elegantly and powerfully capturing the beauty, struggles and complexities of contemporary Appalachian life. Their most recent album is the eponymous, The Local Honeys, on La Honda Records. http://www.thelocalhoneys.com/

March 28th | 11:13 am to 11:25 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


Sammy Gensaw III, a dynamic young Yurok leader, will share some of his experiences working for ecological and cultural revival along the Klamath River, central to his people’s identity and livelihood. He’ll discuss how the epic struggle to remove destructive dams required drawing deeply from ancestral wisdom, modern science, and cutting-edge activism, and how Indigenous leadership can play a central role in rekindling our connections to land and water and ushering in a restorative, resilient future for all of us.

March 28th | 11:25 am to 11:41 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


Samuel Gensaw, III – Youth Keynote
Founding Director
Ancestral Guard

Introduction by Nina Simons, Bioneers co-founder and Chief Relationship Strategist

One of the Southeast U.S.’ and Gulf South’s most renowned veterans of climate justice struggles as an activist, community organizer, coalition-builder, and award-winning litigating environmental and human rights attorney, Colette Pichon Battle, born and raised in Bayou Liberty, Louisiana, focuses on creating spaces for frontline communities to gather and advance climate strategies that help them steward their water, energy, and land responsibly. She will draw from her decades of experience fighting for equitable climate resilience to unearth historic lessons and expose the root causes of the inequities and imbalances that characterize our relationships to the natural world and to each other. Colette will argue that we must expand our understanding of what a genuine Climate Justice movement needs to encompass if we are to succeed in innovating a better future, and why such struggles as gender and migrant justice are inextricably connected to human rights for clean air, clean water, sovereign land, and community control of justly-sourced sustainable energy.

March 28th | 11:41 am to 12:04 pm | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Nina Simons
Co-Founder and Chief Relationship Strategist
Bioneers

Keynote


Colette Pichon Battle
Vision & Initiatives Partner
Taproot Earth

Taylor Brorby grew in the dynamic shortgrass prairie of western North Dakota, a youth that coincided with the brutal physical and psychic scarring of his surroundings by the coal and oil industry, a fate not made any easier by being a young gay boy enthralled by classical music, art, fishing, and poetry. From here, Taylor became a brilliant poet, writer and dedicated activist, one of the most eloquent and profound critics of the fossil fuel industry in the nation, penning, among other works, the extraordinary memoir: Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land, the powerful essays in Civil Disobedience, and co-editing: Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America. He will share some of his life story and seek to inflame us with the passion we will need to stop the carbon-burning Leviathans from destroying the biosphere.

March 28th | 12:14 pm to 12:37 pm | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


Taylor Brorby
Author & Activist
Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land

Bioneers brings together a very diverse, discerning, engaged and reflective community, and the curated conversations around crucial topics we have been hosting recently (“Conversation Cafes”) have proven highly popular and stimulating. Each session begins with a very brief presentation by one of the conference presenters as a “conversation starter” to frame the topic, followed by structured group discussion. At the end of each session, a “harvester” who has carefully witnessed and “absorbed” what has transpired, offers us a poetic synopsis/recapitulation of the highlights of our time together.

Conflict is the spirit of the relationship asking itself to deepen.”

– Sobonfu and Malidoma Somé

In these polarizing times, how can we invoke the spiritual gifts of conflict as opportunities to deepen learning and connection? What does it take to shift our mindsets, skill-sets, and structures to build generative cultures around conflict? In this session, Shilpa Jain, who has decades of experience supporting people to free themselves from soul-crushing institutions and to live in greater alignment with their hearts, their communities, and with nature, will lead us off by sharing some tools we can use to enhance our inner awareness and interpersonal connections, so we can then engage in conversations about how to harness the energy of conflict, navigate specific types of conflicts, move beyond polarization and from judgment to curiosity and witnessing, all the better to succeed in achieving systemic change. Facilitated by: David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture and UCSC Right Livelihood College. “Harvester:” Jahan Khalighi, spoken word poet, youth educator and community arts organizer.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College

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Panelists


David Shaw
Founder
Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood Center
Jahan Khalighi
Program Manager
Chapter 510

Many of us have deep and intense feelings about the war on Gaza, the October 7th attacks on Israelis — and the painful historical context in which these events exist. This session offers time to share those feelings together; it is not a time for debate or discussion, but a time to speak and listen compassionately. The facilitators will open with a ritual and hold this Circle with respect and care. Circle practice is a discipline of hope centered on the worldview that we are profoundly interconnected, that we heal and process most deeply in community. Everyone is welcome; we invite all to share from the heart and hold space for all our stories. Facilitated by: Penny Rosenwasser, Ph.D., a founding board member of Jewish Voice for Peace and author of “Hope into Practice, Jewish women choosing justice despite our fears”; Michelle Gutierrez, co-founder of Hidden Water, mediator, organizational change consultant, restorative justice trainer and practitioner.

NOTE: Given space constraints, this session will close at 60 attendees.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Ashby Room, Residence Inn

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Panelists


Penny Rosenwasser
Founding Board Member
Jewish Voice for Peace
Michelle Gutierrez
Restorative Justice Circle Trainer

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, founded in 1990, is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. EFF champions user privacy, free expression, innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development, to ensure that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all people of the world. Come join some leading figures at EFF for an interactive conversation in which we’ll share information and ideas at the juncture of the environmental, social and digital struggles for a better future. Topics will include: tools to protect environmental defenders from surveillance; legal strategies to combat governmental and corporate tracking and censoring; how researchers and activists can successfully fight for open access to information and data; and more. Let’s talk about what more we can do together. Moderated by Cindy Cohn, EFF Executive Director. With: Cooper Quintin, EFF Senior Staff Technologist; Mario Trujillo, EFF Staff Attorney; nash Sheard, EFF Managing Director, Advocacy; Beryl Lipton, EFF Investigative Researcher.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Magnes Museum

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Panelists


Cindy Cohn
Executive Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Cooper Quintin
Senior Staff Technologist
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Mario Trujillo
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
nash Sheard
Managing Director, Advocacy
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Beryl Lipton
Investigative Researcher
Electronic Frontier Foundation

After accomplished stints as a journalist, author and diplomat, and studying theology at Yale Divinity School, Krista Tippett was struck by a significant gap in the media landscape—a lack of deep, intelligent conversations to explore the spiritual, ethical and moral aspects of human life. What began as a national public radio show in 2003 evolved into the multiple award-winning podcast “On Being” (“wisdom to replenish and orient in a tender, tumultuous time to be alive.”)

Gifted with insatiable curiosity, profound relational intelligence, a poetic sensibility, and an ability to unearth revelatory ideas to live by, Krista creates spaces where wisdom can emerge. With her interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral whole systems overview, she’s hosted luminaries as disparate as Mary Oliver, Thich Nhat Hahn, Isabel Wilkerson and Desmond Tutu, among many more. Join us for a rare intimate, live interview with her friend, insightful strategist, philanthropist and activist Azita Ardakani.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Freight & Salvage

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Panelists


Krista Tippett
Featured Afternoon Session
Krista Tippett, Host of On Being
Azita Ardakani
Activist and Entrepreneur

Rematriation centers Indigenous Women’s leadership for the restoration and regeneration of land and water. By revitalizing Indigenous knowledge, honoring traditions and renewing annual cycles of life, rematriation directly addresses harms caused by patriarchal extraction and violence. In this panel, three powerful Indigenous women share “real-life” examples of rematriation, the ripple effects of these practices, and ways that we can all get involved to Indigenize the future. Moderated by Cara Romero. Featuring Corrina Gould, Caleen Sisk and Jessica Hutchings.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn

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Keynote


Corrina Gould
Co-Founder and Lead Organizer
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
Jessica Hutchings
Founding Trustee
Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust
Chief Caleen Sisk
Spiritual Leader and Tribal Chief
Winnemem Wintu Tribe
Cara Romero
Indigeneity Program Director
Bioneers

We are constantly inundated by attempts to influence our behavior, and we also often seek to persuade others on social and cultural issues, but how do we differentiate between authentic and manipulative persuasion? When do we give up in our efforts to persuade others? When do we stay engaged in persuasion even when it’s difficult? In this interactive session, facilitated by Joan Blades, entrepreneur, political activist and co-founder of Living Room Conversations, we’ll have a conversation that explores when persuasion is effective and when it isn’t, as well as what we think is worth the effort and why. This conversation is inspired in part by themes found in Anand Giriharadas’s book, The Persuaders.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College

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Panelists


Joan Blades
Co-Founder
Living Room Conversations

Come join a heartfelt, honest conversation about the future of philanthropy with three leaders of cutting-edge donor networks in the U.S. who will share stories of lessons learned from collaboration and experimentation as they work to grow their networks to become powerful spaces for donor education and organizing, wealth redistribution and lasting social impact. Unlike private foundations, donor networks aggregate the power of not only one or two families or trustees but of large numbers of individuals and institutions, so they can have greater collective impact on the multiplicity of political, ecological and social crises facing communities. The problems facing us are too big for any individual or organization to solve alone, so a collaborative spirit and disciplined and concerted efforts to practice healthy partnerships are critical in this space. Like the seemingly miraculous choreography of masses of starlings, these networks seek to move as murmurations, knowing that in unity lies power; in coordination, strength and beauty; and that the whole is always more effective than the parts. With: Yahya Alazrak, Executive Director, Resource Generation and RG Action; Leena Barakat, President and CEO, Women Donors Network and WDN Action; Rajasvini Bhansali, Executive Director, Solidaire Network and Solidaire Action.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


Rajasvini Bhansali
Executive Director
Solidaire Network
Leena Barakat
President & CEO
Women Donors Network
Yahya Alazrak
Executive Director
Resource Generation and RG Action

Join dynamic, transformative thought leaders in healthcare and planetary health as they offer us a story of the future and some systemic, on-the-ground antidotes to the devastating impacts of the Anthropocene, the age of human-centric systems and structures we are living in. They will offer vital, impactful innovations grounded in the power of spiritual and social transformation, reframing healthcare for people, planet, and all relations. With: Odessa Flores-Vasquez, Senior Associate, Devoted Health; Susan Prescott, Director, Nova Network; Heidi Honegger Rogers, FNP, advanced practice holistic nurse; and Sonali Sangeeta Balajee, founder, Spiritual Social Medicinal Apothecary (SSoMA).

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


Sonali Sangeeta Balajee
Founder
Our Bodhi Project
Odessa Flores-Vasquez
Senior Associate
Devoted Health
Susan Prescott
Professor of Pediatrics and Planetary Health
University of Western Australia
Heidi Honegger Rogers
Associate Professor
University of New Mexico College of Nursing

This intimate room will provide Bioneers attendees with a gently curated healing space for connection, contemplation and experiencing the transformative power of communal grieving. All the sessions held here will be facilitated by death midwives /community gatherers/educators Anneke CampbellBirgitta Kastenbaum and Amber Deylon

The room will be open from 2 to 3 pm, before the day’s two sessions begin at 3pm, for those who want to come and sit quietly and/or write messages for the altar, but the room will be closed once each session begins to assure privacy. The communal altar invites you to honor loved ones by bringing offerings including photos and/or responsibly foraged gifts from nature. 

Cultures worldwide practice rituals deeply intertwined with the natural world to mark transitions and losses of life. Come join us in a circle to explore how resilience and thriving in these difficult times require expanding our ability to be present with grief and getting to know it for its gift potential of regeneration and transformation. Through intimate sharing and group conversation, anchored in breath, embodied practices and offerings to our communal altar, we will connect with the strength and healing available when we honor our grief in community.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Insight Room, Dharma College

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Panelists


Amber Deylon
Creator
Grieve and Breathe
Anneke Campbell
Writer and Community Activist
Birgitta Kastenbaum
Co-Founder
Bridging Transitions

Several prominent women-of-color social movement leaders, including Aimee Allison, Saru Jayaraman, Valarie Kaur, Carmen Perez and Linda Sarsour, are co-leading an initiative with hundreds of other movement leaders to use the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence to assert our unity around shared values of interdependence and to use that effort as a springboard to move forward and win concrete changes we want to see in the United States’ next 250 years of existence. Come join Saru Jayaraman and Linda Sarsour in a highly participative session in which we will discuss how we can all play a part in changing the definition and pathway of the country in the #Next250.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Saru Jayaraman
President
One Fair Wage
Linda Sarsour
Co-Founder
MPower Change

Since 2005 nearly a third of the newspapers in the U.S. have folded up for good, many at the hands of rapacious capital firms intent on squeezing every last drop of profit out of the “Third Estate.” Local news, so vital to the practice of democracy on the ground in communities, is seriously at risk. Half of the counties in the country now qualify as “news deserts,” but against this specter of corporate domination, a booming expansion of nonprofit newsrooms, along with a renewed public interest in local news, is pointing the way towards a truly innovative media future. In this session, some leading editors and journalists will share their visions about what a future of news built on collaboration, community engagement and a commitment to exceptional journalism could look like, if enough of us get involved. Hosted by Christa Scharfenberg, Director of the California Local News Fellowship program at UC Berkeley. With: Larry Ryckman, Editor and co-founder of The Colorado Sun, previously Senior Editor at The Denver Post; Jacob Simas, Community Journalism Director at Cityside Journalism Initiative; Madeleine Bair, founder of El Tímpano.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | The Marsh Theater

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Panelists


Madeleine Bair
Founder
El Tímpano
Larry Ryckman
Co-Founder and Editor
The Colorado Sun
Jacob Simas
Community Journalism Director
Cityside Journalism Initiative
Christa Scharfenberg
Director of the California Local News Fellowship Program
UC Berkeley

Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors—people eager to learn, share, explore and create together. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters. The presenters will share their life experience in an interactive dialogue with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism. 

We are thrilled to welcome Nikola Alexandre to the Community of Mentors space this year. Nikola’s work and experience touches many areas that are of critical importance to young people today. We welcome all interested youth to come join the conversation with your thoughts, questions and curiosities. Co-hosted by David Hage of Weaving Earth.

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Upstairs in The Marsh

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Panelists


Nikola Alexandre
Co-Creator & Stewardship Lead
The Shelterwood Collective
David Hage
Co-Founder
Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Restorative Justice is a philosophy, a movement, and a body of practice that offers a radically different model of a society’s justice system, one based not on retaliation and vengeance but on healing, transformation, mending broken relationships and maintaining positive, healthy relationships. Come explore and discuss what we can do to help make this fundamental shift in the way our society views and does justice. Restorative Justice healing circles will be facilitated by RJOY (Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth).

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center

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In this hands-on art-making workshop, we will engage in the creation of a Singing Tree Mural from start to finish during the conference. No one knows what it will look like in the end, as we will practice “emergent wisdom” together. It will be the 131st Singing Tree mural of a forest of trees, joining a legacy of some 23,500 people from 52 countries. The mural is part of an invitation for the whole world to make a painting together, which had its origins in the vision of an 8-year-old girl. The workshop will also include information about the neurobiological aspects of the eco-based “Peace Building Through Art Inspired by Nature” program. Paint clothes will be provided. Hosted by Laurie Marshall, founder of Unity Through Creativity Foundation and The Singing Tree Project. With Singing Tree Mural facilitators, Leslie Rein and Fernanda Lugo

March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Singing Tree Tent on Allston Way

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Panelists


Laurie Marshall
Founder
Unity Through Creativity Foundation
Fernanda Lugo
Counselor
Concordia Language Village in Minnesota
Leslie Rein
Certified Facilitator
Singing Tree Project

Rajasvini Bhansali signing copies of Leading With Joy

Linda Sarsour signing copies of We Are Not Here to be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love & Resistance

Krista Tippett signing copies of Becoming Wise: An Inquiry Into the Art & Mystery of Living

March 28th | 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm | Pegasus Bookstore (Lobby of Magnes Museum)

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Panelists


Rajasvini Bhansali
Executive Director
Solidaire Network
Linda Sarsour
Co-Founder
MPower Change
Krista Tippett
Featured Afternoon Session
Krista Tippett, Host of On Being

This intimate room will provide Bioneers attendees with a gently curated healing space for connection, contemplation and experiencing the transformative power of communal grieving. All the sessions held here will be facilitated by death midwives /community gatherers/educators Anneke CampbellBirgitta Kastenbaum and Amber Deylon

The room will be open from 2 to 3 pm, before the day’s two sessions begin at 3pm, for those who want to come and sit quietly and/or write messages for the altar, but the room will be closed once each session begins to assure privacy. The communal altar invites you to honor loved ones by bringing offerings including photos and/or responsibly foraged gifts from nature. 

Many of us who are laboring to bring about environmental and social change find ourselves frequently confronting obstacles and setbacks, but the tremendous urgency of our struggles does not allow us the space to experience and honor the losses and grief that accompany our care, passion and commitment. Come find solace in community through guided conversation, sharing, breath and embodied practices, as we touch into the love that is the underlying source of grief, renewing our ability to continue our good work in the world. 

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Insight Room, Dharma College

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Panelists


Amber Deylon
Creator
Grieve and Breathe
Birgitta Kastenbaum
Co-Founder
Bridging Transitions
Anneke Campbell
Writer and Community Activist

This session will build off of conversations held at last year’s Bioneers Conference about the relationships between the Environmental Justice and Reproductive Justice movements. The war on Mother Earth is rooted in the war on the bodies of women and gender-non binary people’s bodily autonomy, which is accelerating as the dying patriarchal cultural system feels threatened and lashes out ever more desperately. But, as people rise up to defend abortion access, reproductive rights and justice, the deepening collaboration between the environmental justice and reproductive and birth justice communities is helping us unite to defend the rights to bodily autonomy and self-determination. Come hear from reproductive health justice leaders working to defend access to abortion and reproductive healthcare and to push back the overall attack on democracy we are facing. Hosted by: Taj James. Facilitated by Eveline Shen, former director of Forward Together and founder/President of Leading Courageously. With: Elisa Batista, Campaign Director, UltraViolet; Mariko Miki, Interim Executive Director at If/When/How.

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | The Marsh Theater

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Panelists


Elisa Batista
Campaign Director
UltraViolet
Eveline Shen
Leading Courageously
Founder and President
Mariko Miki
Interim Executive Director
If/When/How
Taj James
Full Spectrum Labs
Co-Founder and Curator

This special multi-generational conversation will be hosted by the legendary leadership trainer and facilitator Akaya Windwood, Lead Advisor for Third Act, the organization working to mobilize people over 60 (who often have the resources and time) to really get involved in saving our future, including by supporting the brave activism of young people on the front lines of Climate Justice movements around the world. What do people from different generations need from each other to be able to work in tandem effectively to birth a new, far greener and far more just world in which all of us and all of life can thrive? With: world renowned, highly influential author and essayist Rebecca Solnit;  sujatha baliga, restorative justice facilitator; Maddie Flood, of the The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights; and Charlotte Lenore Michaluk, 17, brilliant, award-winning, multi-disciplinary eco engineer and scientist.

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Magnes Museum

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Panelists


sujatha baliga
Restorative Justice Facilitator
Charlotte Michaluk – Youth Keynote
Engineer, Scientist and Linguistics Researcher
Acnestis By Wind
Akaya Windwood
Lead Advisor
Third Act
Rebecca Solnit
Author and Activist
Maddie Flood
Civil Rights Attorney and Thurgood Marshall Fellow
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights

Bioneers brings together a very diverse, discerning, engaged and reflective community, and the curated conversations around crucial topics we have been hosting recently (“Conversation Cafes”) have proven highly popular and stimulating. Each session begins with a very brief presentation by one of the conference presenters as a “conversation starter” to frame the topic, followed by structured group discussion. At the end of each session, a “harvester” who has carefully witnessed and “absorbed” what has transpired, offers us a poetic synopsis/recapitulation of the highlights of our time together.

Our conversation starter, Zuleikha, a renowned dance performer and movement awareness teacher, will discuss the practice of “Body Listening,” a technique that permits us to access our inner wisdom through a subtle attunement to what our body is communicating to us. She will share methods we can use to reclaim our embodied wholeness and revivify and heal our body/mind/spirit. The conversations will be facilitated by: David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture and UCSC Right Livelihood College. “Harvester:” Jahan Khalighi, spoken word poet, youth educator and community arts organizer.

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College

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Panelists


Zuleikha
Executive Director and CEO
The Storydancer Project
David Shaw
Founder
Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood Center
Jahan Khalighi
Program Manager
Chapter 510

Alone, our debts are a burden. Together, they can make us powerful. This is the provocation of debtors’ unions. Indeed, the power of debt is something the wealthy have long wielded. To put it in words often attributed to petroleum industrialist J. Paul Getty “If you owe the bank $100,000, the bank owns you. If you owe the bank $100 million, you own the bank.” With student, medical, credit card, and housing debts all surging (and drowning households in the process), debtors, in theory, “own the bank.” But in practice, what does it take to organize an effective debtors’ union? Join organizers from the Debt Collective as they talk about household debt, racial justice, and transformative organizing and share information on how we can become part of this potentially powerful movement to combat the obscene level of wealth inequality in our society. With: Frederick Bell, Programs and Operations Manager, Debt Collective; Maddy Clifford, Creative Media Strategist with Debt Collective; René Christian Moya, an organizer with Debt Collective.

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Frederick Bell
Programs and Operations Manager
Debt Collective
Maddy Clifford
Creative Media Strategist
Debt Collective
René Christian Moya
Organizer
Debt Collective

How does “Natural Law” teach us to take care of Mother Earth? And what is the intimate relationship between natural law and food sovereignty? The Indigenous-led food sovereignty movement has spread rapidly over the past decade. Food sovereignty is more than just returning to ancestral diets for health and wellbeing. It is also a return to natural law while honoring our responsibilities towards all life on earth. In this panel, three Indigenous women share their personal journeys to food sovereignty, what this has meant for their communities, and why food sovereignty is so much more than a movement. Moderated by Alexis Bunten.  Featuring Tabitha Robin, Rowen White and Marcus Briggs-Cloud.

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn

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Panelists


Tabitha Robin
Assistant Professor in the Applied Biology Program
University of British Columbia
Marcus Briggs-Cloud
Co-Director
Ekvn-Yefolecv
Rowen White
Director
Sierra Seeds
Alexis Bunten
Co-Director, Indigeneity Program
Bioneers

The emerging field of Climate Psychology provides an ecological understanding of our psyche and effective tools for leveraging the full range of our human capacities toward resolving the deep challenges of our times. Trauma-informed practices and perspectives offer ways to metabolize and channel our emotions, so that we can become engaged stewards of the planet. In this context, visceral feelings related to the crises facing us are understood as a healthy response to the troubled state of the world.

This experiential workshop will provide a brief overview of evolutionary psychology, cognitive biases and trauma-informed perspectives as they relate to the climate crisis, and will guide us into our innate belonging to the Earth with a range of psychospiritual practices. The exploration of our inner landscapes will include some approaches drawn from Joanna Macy’s “Work That Reconnects.” Reconnecting within ourselves, with each other, and with the larger non-human world, cultivates an inner resilience that can awaken us to the healing recognition of our belonging in the family of all beings and permit us to participate effectively in systemic, collective transformation. Facilitated by Leslie Davenport and Adrián Villasenor-Galarza.

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College

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Panelists


Leslie Davenport
Author, Professor, Climate Psychology Consultant
Adrián Villaseñor
Core Faculty, East West Psychology Department
California Institute of Integral Studies

At the 2023 Bioneers’ conference, One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman spoke about her organization’s work to raise wages across the country and mobilize millions of workers to vote. Since then, the One Fair Wage campaign has exploded, winning large minimum wage increases in Washington DC and Chicago and now advancing legislation and ballot measures in 15 states. Most importantly, in a year in which young voters and voters of color are naming ‘the rising cost of living’ and ‘jobs with living wages’ as their top issues, One Fair Wage has minimum wage increase measures on the ballots of several battleground (and other) states, including MI, OH, AZ and MA. It is Saru’s contention that we will not have the political power to win on critical climate and other sustainability policies without the engagement of 32 million Americans who currently early less than $15 an hour and are not able to focus on environmental policy until their basic needs are met. Come find out about the expansion of the One Fair Wage campaign nationally and ways you can get engaged!  With: Saru Jayaraman, President, One Fair Wage; Katherine Paseman, One Fair Wage CA Lead Organizer. 

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


Saru Jayaraman
President
One Fair Wage
Katherine Paseman
Lead Organizer
One Fair Wage CA

We simultaneously face two related existential crises—climate breakdown and radical threats to democracy worldwide. The climate emergency demands a fundamental restructuring of governance keyed to both biospheric realities and to addressing obscene inequality. Can democracy withstand climate chaos? Is a reformed and stronger democracy our best hope to make it through the long emergency ahead of us? What’s needed? Hosted by Ben Davis, Wend Collective and Civic (Re)solve.  With: Chief Oren Lyons, Indigenous Rights and climate leader, Faithkeeper, Onandaga Nation, Haudenosaune; Colette Pichon Battle, co-founder of Taproot Earth; Jennifer Riley Collins, Southeast Regional Administrator for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Freight & Salvage

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Panelists


Colette Pichon Battle
Vision & Initiatives Partner
Taproot Earth
Oren Lyons
Member Chief
Onondaga Council of Chiefs and the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy
Jennifer Riley Collins
Southeast Regional Administrator
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Ben Davis
Founder
Civic (Re)Solve

“Holomovement” is a term coined by physicist David Bohm to describe the unifying flow between the “Implicate Order” (source information and consciousness) and the “Explicate Order” (the physical reality of the universe).  Now, as our civilizational crises accelerate, the Holomovement has been proposed as a fusion of science and spirit that could ignite the evolutionary impulse in us and cohere, catalyze and synergize like-minded organizations and movements into a grand collaborative effort to address the challenges threatening our planet and society. Come and hear from some leading lights in the Holomovement how you could play a role in this movement and in the larger collective unfolding toward ever greater levels of interdependence and cooperation. Hosted by film producer and activist Téana David. With:  Emanuel Kuntzelman co-editor ofThe Holomovement:  Embracing our Collective Purpose to Unite Humanity; Mariko Pitts, formerly Director of The UPLIFT Foundation and current “Core Synergist” of the Holomovement; Will Keepin, co-founder of Gender Equity and Reconciliation International (GERI).

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


Mariko Pitts
Core Synergist
The Holomovement
Emanuel Kuntzelman
Co-Founder and President
Fundación por el Futuro
William Keepin
Co-Founder
Gender Equity and Reconciliation International (GERI)
Téana David
Executive Director
ILLUMINATE Film Festival

True to a rainbow, queerness carries a spectrum of perspectives, with many gradients of experience. Alongside the inherited magic and joy of our liberated identities, we are often also moving with our wounds, questions, thoughts, and processes that can be challenging to navigate alone. This space is dedicated to providing a sanctuary for discussions, witnessing and peer support as we seek to work through who and with whom we are. Come as you are to speak, be heard and to hear, so we can make medicine for each other in the shared journey of being queer. This space is dedicated to the LGBTQIA+ experience and those respectfully honoring that intention. Hosted by Orion Camero, former Brower Youth Award winner and Spiritual Ecology Fellow.

March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center

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Panelists


Orion Camero
Action Lead Program Manager
Narrative Initiative

Saru Jayaraman signing copies of One Fair Wage

Emanuel Kuntzelman signing copies of The Holomovement

Nina Simons signing copies of Nature, Culture and the Sacred

Rebecca Solnit signing copies of Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility

March 28th | 6:15 pm to 7:15 pm | Pegasus Bookstore (Lobby of Magnes Museum)

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Panelists


Saru Jayaraman
President
One Fair Wage
Emanuel Kuntzelman
Co-Founder and President
Fundación por el Futuro
Nina Simons
Co-Founder and Chief Relationship Strategist
Bioneers
Rebecca Solnit
Author and Activist

Come unwind from the day at Bioneers Afterglow! Join us for light refreshments, casual activities and a relaxed environment to meet up with old friends and make new ones. All conference attendees are welcome! 

March 28th | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm | The Marsh Berkeley Theater Cabaret

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Whether you are gay, bi, or lesbian, transgender or two-spirit, or adjacent allies supporting us to thrive, our shared lineage makes for a vibrant garden of beings that mutually support our growth and blooming. This gathering is designed for celebratory self-expression through performances with participation. Come take part and witness the spells cast for wellness for the queer community through food + drink, song, dance and connection in a night celebrating our unique roles in liberation. This is a space dedicated for LGBTQ2SIA+ folx, but allies are welcome. Hosted by Orion Camero, former Brower Youth Award winner and Spiritual Ecology Fellow; and Ruby Kaur, transdisciplinary artist and healer working at the intersections of ecology, community, wellness, somatic (re)connection to nature, and seva (selfless service).  

March 28th | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center

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Panelists


Orion Camero
Action Lead Program Manager
Narrative Initiative
Ruby Kaur
Transdisciplinary Artist

Biodiversity loss is a global crisis, but success is out there. The new broadcast and YouTube series WILD HOPE aims to make these conservation stories accessible and engaging for a global, young audience. The key to that success? Focus on hope. Biodiversity decline is a local problem with local solutions – and the milestones for successfully reversing the crisis are everywhere. Produced by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. Introduction and post-screening Q+A with Sarah Arnoff, Co-Executive Producer of the series; Alex Duckles, Senior Digital Media and Impact Producer, and Alexandra Pearson, Impact and Communications Producer.

Vertical Meadows (7:11): As urban expansion quickly replaces natural habitats, façade engineer Alistair Law has created a radically new way to restore native ecosystems for pollinators and create natural spaces for us all within cities—by turning the walls of buildings and construction sites into meadows.

Return of the Manatees (16:01): Today, manatees are experiencing what scientists call a UME — an unusual mortality event — some 1000 of them are dying each year, a major crisis for a population of only 7000, but citizens in the manatee stronghold of Crystal River have pioneered an approach to restore critical seagrass that now shows promise to help the gentle giants throughout their range.

March 28th | 6:40 pm to 8:10 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Sarah Arnoff
Co-Executive Producer of the Wild Hope series
Tangled Bank Studios
Alex Duckles
Digital Media Specialist
HHMI Tangled Bank Studios
Alexandra Pearson
Impact and Communications Producer
HHMI Tangled Bank Studios

Introduction before film and Q+A following, with the film’s director Owen Dubeck and Farmlink’s Director of Sustainability, Julia DeSantis.

During the Covid epidemic and the resulting largest food crisis in a century, as food bank lines grew across the country, a group of college students stepped up to try to figure out how to help those facing hunger in their community. Their very successful small local effort inspired and motivated 600+ students from around the country to drop everything and work in remarkably creative ways to mobilize a national effort to feed millions of families and combat food waste. Within months, the project scaled up far more than anyone could have imagined, and these student activists now find themselves on the front lines of finding long-term solutions to eliminating waste in the food system and fighting hunger nationally and globally. 

March 28th | 8:15 pm to 9:15 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Owen Dubeck
Documentary Filmmaker

This film, directed and produced by Sylvia Ryerson, won a prestigious award for best nonfiction film or television presentation on Appalachia or its people from the Appalachian Studies Association. It’s about a longstanding radio program that sends familial messages of love to people incarcerated in Central Appalachia, one of the most concentrated regions of rural prison and jail growth nationwide. Calls from Home follows the weekly broadcast through prison walls, portraying the many forms of distance that rural prison building creates—and the ceaseless work to end the racist system of mass incarceration and family separation.

March 28th | 9:20 pm to 10:10 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Friday, March 29th all times PDT

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Kenny Ausubel, CEO and co-founder (in 1990) of Bioneers, is an award-winning social entrepreneur, journalist, author and filmmaker. Co-founder and first CEO of the organic seed company, Seeds of Change, his film (and companion book) Hoxsey: When Healing Becomes a Crime helped influence national alternative medicine policy. He has edited several books and written four, including, most recently, Dreaming the Future: Reimagining Civilization in the Age of Nature.

March 29th | 9:24 am to 9:43 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


Kenny Ausubel
CEO and Co-Founder
Bioneers

Introduction by Rex Lyons, Haudenosaunee Nationals

We can all see the Earth is heating up, that polar ice and glaciers are melting, and that ever more fires, floods and droughts are screaming at us that our climate is unraveling. Our societies are also showing signs of unraveling. But the legendary, world-renowned Native American Rights leader, Oren R. Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation, who, among countless achievements, helped establish the UN’s Working Group on Indigenous Populations and authored or co-authored such profoundly influential texts as: Wilderness in Native American Culture and Exiled in the Land of the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations and the U.S. Constitution, is here to tell us that we can’t give up. We have profound responsibilities to coming generations, and time is of the essence, but if we want to reverse course to prevent climate catastrophe and achieve real peace, we will have to dig deep to transform contemporary society’s core values  that underlie and drive the existential crises we are facing.

March 29th | 9:43 am to 10:08 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Keynote


Oren Lyons
Member Chief
Onondaga Council of Chiefs and the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy

Introduction by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers Co-Founder and CEO

Most of us would like to live in a society accountable to people and the planet, one in which we exercise genuine agency over our lives and have a real say in the decisions that affect our communities, but the dramatic increase in corporate domination, especially the rise of giant tech companies that wield unprecedented levels of surveillance and control, is radically undermining our democracy and concentrating wealth and power in fewer and fewer hands. Stacy Mitchell, who has long been at the forefront of the national movement to rein in excessive corporate power and reinvigorate local self-reliance, is here to tell us that, as powerful as these immense companies and their political allies may seem, they’ve finally met their match. A broad grassroots alliance, together with a new generation of creative government leaders, is bringing long-dormant anti-monopoly laws and strategies back to life. This promising turn of events, Stacy will explain, offers hope for reclaiming our rights and assuring a far more equitable and greener future.

March 29th | 10:08 am to 10:30 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Kenny Ausubel
CEO and Co-Founder
Bioneers

Keynote


Stacy Mitchell
Co-Executive Director
Institute for Local Self-Reliance

We spend a lot of time talking about the ecological crisis, and not nearly enough talking about real, workable solutions. If the ultimate goal is to keep fossil fuels in the ground, how must we transform our economy to make that possible? Award-winning activist and innovative educator, Sage Lenier, one of the most impressive young leaders to emerge in recent years, takes to the stage to shed light on what a realistic and just transition looks like, and the role we can each play in leading us towards a more circular and equitable economy.

March 29th | 10:30 am to 10:41 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


Sage Lenier – Youth Keynote
Founder and Executive Director
Sustainable & Just Future

Chris Pierce, a highly acclaimed, socially-conscious singer/songwriter/musician, has been described as “one of America’s most talented, gifted, and affecting artists.” He has toured or played nationally and internationally with such luminaries as Neil Young, B.B. King, Seal, Al Green, Steve Earle, Allison Russell, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Jill Scott, Keb’Mo, Blind Boys of Alabama, Aaron Neville, Allison Russell, Sara Bareilles, and others. He has performed at many prestigious venues from The Kennedy Center to NPR’s World Café to the Newport Folk Festival. His most recent albums are 2021’s American Silence, widely viewed as one of the best folk albums of that year, and 2023’s Let All Who Will. In addition to his solo career, Chris Pierce performs/records with Sunny War as “War and Pierce,” with the Americana/roots band Leon Creek, and occasionally with the Black Opry Revue.
chrispierce.com

March 29th | 11:07 am to 11:19 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


Chris Pierce
Singer, Songwriter, Musician

Introduction by entrepreneur/activist Azita Ardakani

Like so many of our other industries, the enormous mass incarceration system has wreaked havoc on our society. Our desire for punishment, and the profits made by the incarceration of millions of human beings, consequences be damned, lead to the destruction of the social fabric of countless communities in the short term, and contribute to the ravaging of the larger global environment in the longer term. Our only path forward is to make amends with the land, water and air, one harmful industry at a time, including abolition of the prison industrial complex as we know it. 

March 29th | 11:20 am to 11:42 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Azita Ardakani
Activist and Entrepreneur

Keynote


Claudia Peña
Co-Director
For Freedoms & Center for Justice at UCLA

Introduction by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer

For decades, scientists have warned about the consequences of deforestation and fossil fuel burning that have led to today’s climate and biodiversity crises.  They have also conducted careful research that has helped inform development of nature-based solutions.  Despite the urgency of the interdependent crises and the agency we have in helping address them, there abound efforts to discredit peer-reviewed climate change science. Dr. Simard’s talk will delve into recent backlash she has experienced over her science that informs climate solutions for the forests of western North America.

March 29th | 12:02 pm to 12:24 pm | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


J. P. Harpignies
Senior Producer
Bioneers

Keynote


Suzanne Simard
Professor of Forest Ecology
University of British Columbia

Bioneers brings together a very diverse, discerning, engaged and reflective community, and the curated conversations around crucial topics we have been hosting recently (“Conversation Cafes”) have proven highly popular and stimulating. Each session begins with a very brief presentation by one of the conference presenters as a “conversation starter” to frame the topic, followed by structured group discussion. At the end of each session, a “harvester” who has carefully witnessed and “absorbed” what has transpired, offers us a poetic synopsis/recapitulation of the highlights of our time together.

Our conversation starter Aya de Leon, longtime activist, novelist and Berkeley’s current Poet Laureate, will frame our topic: How can the climate and environmental movements mobilize to maintain the democracy that allows us to keep fighting for a livable planet? As the climate crisis escalates and the window for action to save our species narrows, it can seem critical to stay focused exclusively on climate, but what about threats of authoritarianism? We count on a functional yet flawed and limited form of democracy to do our organizing. In 2024, when that foundation is threatened, can we pivot our energies toward maintaining a democratic context in which we can keep working for people and planet? How do we move to a greater vision of liberation? Are there progressive folks on the ground we can support in building climate-friendly power beyond November of this year? The conversations will be facilitated by: David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture and UCSC Right Livelihood College. “Harvester:” Jason Bayani, author, theater performer, Artistic Director, Kearny Street Workshop.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College

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Panelists


Aya de Leon
Author and Activist
David Shaw
Founder
Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood Center
Jason Bayani
Artistic Director
Kearny Street Workshop

As climate impacts are increasingly felt on the ground in communities around the world, our collective mental health is also being deeply affected. Integrating work and perspectives from the emerging field of Climate Psychology, this session will use a broad lens to look at the emotional impact of climate change on our personal and collective well-being, nested within societal, spiritual, and ecological contexts. We will come at the subject from a range of perspectives including: emotional correlates of climate distress, emotionally intelligent climate curriculum, moving through grief and eco-anxiety, climate-informed trauma therapy, supporting frontline communities, movement/activists’ well-being and more.  Moderated by Eva Jahn, co-founder of the Climate Emotional Resilience Institute.  With: Leslie Davenport, CIIS Climate Psychology Lead Faculty; Adrián Villaseñor-Galarza, Founder, Bio-alchemy Institute; Theopia Jackson, Chair, Humanistic Psychology at Saybrook University.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


Eva Jahn
Co-Founder
Climate Emotional Resilience Institute
Leslie Davenport
Author, Professor, Climate Psychology Consultant
Adrián Villaseñor
Core Faculty, East West Psychology Department
California Institute of Integral Studies
Theopia Jackson
Chair, Department of Humanistic Clinical Psychology
Saybrook University

In British Columbia and many other places, colonization removed Indigenous people from their wooded lands and made way for industrial forestry, causing incredible harm to both the people and the land. Using a variety of approaches, many First Nations are regaining governance of their ancestral forests and seeking to steward them in ways that draw on both historical Indigenous management practices and cutting-edge contemporary science to support ecosystem health, cultural values, and local livelihoods. This panel brings together the Mother Tree Network and the Awi’nakola Foundation to share how they support First Nations in British Columbia in this transformational work.  With: Mak’wala Rande Cook, Ma’amtagila hereditary chief and founding Director of the Awi’nakola Foundation; Yakawilas Coreen ChildYakawilas, Executive Director, Awi’nakola Foundation; Suzanne Simard, Ph.D., UBC Professor and Chair of the Mother Tree Network; Jana Kotaska, Ph.D., Executive Director, Mother Tree Network. Moderated by: Teo Grossman, President, Bioneers.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Freight & Salvage

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Panelists


Suzanne Simard
Professor of Forest Ecology
University of British Columbia
Coreen Child – Yakawilas
Executive Director
Awi’nakola Foundation
Rande Cook
Founding Director
Awi’nakola Foundation
Jana Kotaska
Executive Director
Mother Tree Network
Teo Grossman
President
Bioneers

Many of us have deep and intense feelings about the war on Gaza, the October 7th attacks on Israelis — and the painful historical context in which these events exist. This session offers time to share those feelings together; it is not a time for debate or discussion, but a time to speak and listen compassionately. The facilitators will open with a ritual and hold this Circle with respect and care. Circle practice is a discipline of hope centered on the worldview that we are profoundly interconnected, that we heal and process most deeply in community. Everyone is welcome; we invite all to share from the heart and hold space for all our stories. Facilitated by: Penny Rosenwasser, Ph.D., a founding board member of Jewish Voice for Peace and author of “Hope into Practice, Jewish women choosing justice despite our fears”; Michelle Gutierrez, co-founder of Hidden Water, mediator, organizational change consultant, restorative justice trainer and practitioner.

NOTE: Given space constraints, this session will close at 60 attendees.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Ashby Room, Residence Inn

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Panelists


Penny Rosenwasser
Founding Board Member
Jewish Voice for Peace
Michelle Gutierrez
Restorative Justice Circle Trainer

In this session, Cole Bush, of Shepherdess Land and Livestock Co.; Bre Owens, Director of Western Programs with the National Grazing Lands Coalition; and Sarah Wentzel-Fisher, of the renowned Quivira Coalition, will discuss the ways in which enlightened livestock management, particularly shepherding, can actually improve the land and soil, sequester carbon, and strengthen rural communities. They will share their experiences working in the American West, seeking to restore and protect its delicate landscapes through intelligent, cutting-edge grazing practices, as well as cultivating relationships between diverse peoples, cultures, and places. Questions they will explore will include: How can livestock contribute to building climate resilience? How can we think and act differently about the relationship between people, animals, and watersheds? How are unexpected allies critical in changing our food, fiber, and climate systems?

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


Cole Bush
Owner/Operator
Shepherdess Land and Livestock Co.
Sarah Wentzel-Fisher
Executive Director
Quivira Coalition
Bre Owens
Director of Western Programs
National Grazing Lands Coalition

Unlike the “Western” culture which fetishizes youth, most traditional cultures deeply honor the wisdom that comes with age and experience. Wisdom Keepers play treasured roles in our communities passing on knowledge, values and practices that keep Indigenous Nations’ citizens healthy in mind, body and spirit. This historic panel features a discussion among highly respected Indigenous leaders who have not only played a tremendous role in their own traditional communities, but are highly influential in broader public conversations about healing, democracy, human land and water rights, and much more. They are cross-cultural bridgers, whose stories have shaped the course of history and will continue for generations to come. Join us to hear from some of the most inspirational Wisdom Keepers we know. Featuring Jeanette Armstrong, Casey Camp-Horinek, Oren Lyons, and Marlowe Sam. Moderated by Alexis Bunten.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn

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Panelists


Casey Camp-Horinek
Environmental Ambassador, Elder and Hereditary Drumkeeper
Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma
Oren Lyons
Member Chief
Onondaga Council of Chiefs and the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy
Jeannette Armstrong
Co-Founder
Enowkin Centre
Marlowe Sam
Adjunct Professor in Indigenous Studies
UBC Okanagan
Alexis Bunten
Co-Director, Indigeneity Program
Bioneers

In this inspiring writing workshop, award-winning author, veteran college professor, and arts activist Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D., will lead participants in the practice of “purposeful memoir,” in which we set our individual life story against the larger backdrop of our time and place in order to understand the present moment more fully and to begin to intentionally co-create the future we desire—for ourselves, our society and our planet.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College

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Panelists


Jennifer Browdy
Professor of Writing and Media Arts
Bard College/Simon’s Rock

This intimate room will provide Bioneers attendees with a gently curated healing space for connection, contemplation and experiencing the transformative power of communal grieving. All the sessions held here will be facilitated by death midwives /community gatherers/educators Anneke CampbellBirgitta Kastenbaum and Amber Deylon

The room will be open from 2 to 3 pm, before the day’s two sessions begin at 3pm, for those who want to come and sit quietly and/or write messages for the altar, but the room will be closed once each session begins to assure privacy. The communal altar invites you to honor loved ones by bringing offerings including photos and/or responsibly foraged gifts from nature. 

Cultures worldwide practice rituals deeply intertwined with the natural world to mark transitions and losses of life. Come join us in a circle to explore how resilience and thriving in these difficult times require expanding our ability to be present with grief and getting to know it for its gift potential of regeneration and transformation. Through intimate sharing and group conversation, anchored in breath, embodied practices and offerings to our communal altar, we will connect with the strength and healing available when we honor our grief in community.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Insight Room, Dharma College

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Panelists


Anneke Campbell
Writer and Community Activist
Birgitta Kastenbaum
Co-Founder
Bridging Transitions
Amber Deylon
Creator
Grieve and Breathe

Many of our most pressing problems, including extreme inequality, the climate crisis, and the breakdown of democracy, share a common underlying driver: the outsized economic and political power of dominant corporations. Today, a remarkably broad alliance — encompassing workers, small businesses, racial justice advocates, environmentalists, and more — has come together in a bid to end corporate domination and decentralize the economy. This growing antimonopoly movement has begun to score real wins: a string of federal lawsuits aimed at breaking up the Big Tech companies, new initiatives to create public options in sectors like healthcare and broadband, and other bold democratic interventions. Hear from key leaders and organizers as they discuss the progress, the stakes, and what’s next. Hosted by Stacy Mitchell, Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  With: Solana Rice, Co-Executive Director of Liberation in a Generation; Sheheryar Kaoosji, Executive Director, Warehouse Workers Resource Center; Teri Olle, California Campaign Director, Economic Security Project Action.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Magnes Museum

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Panelists


Stacy Mitchell
Co-Executive Director
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Solana Rice
Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director
Liberation in a Generation
Sheheryar Kaoosji
Executive Director
Warehouse Workers Resource Center
Teri Olle
California Campaign Director
Economic Security Project Action

From being a blip on the screen 20 years ago, the movement to recognize the legal rights of nature has become the fastest growing environmental movement in history, with powerful leadership by First Nations and Indigenous communities. Yet in light of the climate emergency and the accelerating destruction of natural systems, it must become much bigger, much faster. How can we scale the Rights of Nature movement? In this session, Thomas Linzey and Mari Margil of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, and Menominee tribal member and Menīkānaehkem Director Guy Reiter, share new tools and movement-building strategies, including a new mapping app that facilitates the building of bioregional alliances across ecosystems, and conservation easements that can be used by landowners to recognize the rights of nature on their land.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | The Marsh Theater

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Panelists


Thomas Linzey
Senior Legal Counsel
Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights
Mari Margil
Executive Director
Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights
Guy Reiter
Executive Director
Menīkānaehkem

The urgent need for a shift to clean, sustainable technologies is the most important challenge of our time, probably the most crucial our species has ever faced. In this session some trailblazing women leaders in this domain will share their projects, their thoughts on where we stand in the race to a clean and equitable transition, and the challenges they face in what has for far too long been a male-populated sector. Hosted by Sara Fuentes, President of Smart Waste, and Chairwoman of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability. With: Emily Teitsworth, Executive Director of the Honnold Foundation; Charlotte Michaluk, 17, award-winning young scientist and engineer; Kellie Macpherson, Executive Vice President of Compliance & Risk at Radian Generation; Kirthika Padmanabhan, Co-Pilot at X, the moonshot factory.  

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Sara Fuentes
Chairwoman
Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
Emily Teitsworth
Executive Director
Honnold Foundation
Charlotte Michaluk – Youth Keynote
Engineer, Scientist and Linguistics Researcher
Acnestis By Wind
Kellie Macpherson
Executive Vice President of Compliance & Risk
Radian Generation
Kirthika Padmanabhan
Co-Pilot
X, the moonshot factory

What tools do we have around us to organize and mobilize our communities? In this workshop we will: engage in activities that highlight the work of our ancestors and elders; learn how to build up and educate our communities; and leverage our power through sustainable and equitable policy and direct actions. Two leading activists from Youth vs Apocalypse will share their approach on how to work effectively toward environmental justice along the intersections of race and class. We young people are often shut out or silenced in decision-making about our lives and futures, but equipped with these well-tested organizing tools, we can go out and create systems of support and lead the work necessary for a thriving and liberated future. Facilitated by Zara Ahsan, 17, and Aniya Butler, 16, leading Climate and Social Justice activists with Youth vs Apocalypse.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center

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Panelists


Zara Ahsan
Climate Justice Organizer
Youth Vs. Apocalypse (YVA) CalSTRS Divest Campaign
Aniya Butler
Lead Circle Member
Youth Vs. Apocalypse (YVA)

Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors—people eager to learn, share, explore and create together. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers offers youth conference participants the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters who share their life experiences in an interactive dialogue format in order to be of service to young people seeking guidance on their path to activism. After her presentation on the main stage, Sage Lenier, founder and Executive Director of Sustainable and Just Future, will bring her insights as a young leader to the Community of Mentors forum. Co-hosted by David Hage of Weaving Earth.

March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Upstairs in The Marsh

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Panelists


Sage Lenier – Youth Keynote
Founder and Executive Director
Sustainable & Just Future
David Hage
Co-Founder
Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Jennifer Browdy signing copies of Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future

Leslie Davenport signing copies of Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change and All the Feelings Under the Sun

Suzanne Simard signing copies of Finding the Mother Tree

March 29th | 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm | Pegasus Bookstore (Lobby of Magnes Museum)

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Panelists


Jennifer Browdy
Professor of Writing and Media Arts
Bard College/Simon’s Rock
Leslie Davenport
Author, Professor, Climate Psychology Consultant
Suzanne Simard
Professor of Forest Ecology
University of British Columbia

This intimate room will provide Bioneers attendees with a gently curated healing space for connection, contemplation and experiencing the transformative power of communal grieving. All the sessions held here will be facilitated by death midwives /community gatherers/educators Anneke CampbellBirgitta Kastenbaum and Amber Deylon

The room will be open from 2 to 3 pm, before the day’s two sessions begin at 3pm, for those who want to come and sit quietly and/or write messages for the altar, but the room will be closed once each session begins to assure privacy. The communal altar invites you to honor loved ones by bringing offerings including photos and/or responsibly foraged gifts from nature. 

Many of us who are laboring to bring about environmental and social change find ourselves frequently confronting obstacles and setbacks, but the tremendous urgency of our struggles does not allow us the space to experience and honor the losses and grief that accompany our care, passion and commitment. Come find solace in community through guided conversation, sharing, breath and embodied practices, as we touch into the love that is the underlying source of grief, renewing our ability to continue our good work in the world. 

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Insight Room, Dharma College

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Panelists


Amber Deylon
Creator
Grieve and Breathe
Anneke Campbell
Writer and Community Activist
Birgitta Kastenbaum
Co-Founder
Bridging Transitions

Around the world, diverse young farmers, fishers and food advocates from historically disenfranchised groups are working in a wide range of ways to foster local food sovereignty with a focus on equity, empowerment and cultural survival. In this session, two remarkable young food producers and activists from extremely different communities and regions, one rural and Arctic, the other urban in a temperate climate, will share their unique experiences seeking to develop just and healthy food systems for their long-marginalized communities. With: ab banks, a West Oakland urban farming/gardening leader and community organizer who provides food to East Bay community members using strategies drawn from urban agroecology and Black wellness and food autonomy movements; and Alaskan native, Deenaalee Chase-Hodgdon, a Deg Xit’an Dene and Sugpiaq subsistence and commercial fisher, storyteller, and activist working on sustainable fisheries and Indigenous economic and cultural revitalization. 

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


ab banks
Garden Lead
People’s Programs
Deenaalee Chase-Hodgdon
Co-Executive Director
Smokehouse Collective

Bioneers brings together a very diverse, discerning, engaged and reflective community, and the curated conversations around crucial topics we have been hosting recently (“Conversation Cafes”) have proven highly popular and stimulating. Each session begins with a very brief presentation by one of the conference presenters as a “conversation starter” to frame the topic, followed by structured group discussion. At the end of each session, a “harvester” who has carefully witnessed and “absorbed” what has transpired, offers us a poetic synopsis/recapitulation of the highlights of our time together.

 In this world, it’s a blessing to find a place where you feel you’re in your “element” and an even rarer blessing to feel in your element at your workplace. Many of us look to institutional and business strategies for guidance yet continue struggling. Based on practices passed down for generations, Kevin John Fong has brought his Five Elements approach to thousands of people and hundreds of organizations to achieve workplace health, professional growth, and personal well-being. Combining traditional East Asian philosophies with organizational design and models provided by nature, this framework provides a means for us to identify the underlying patterns that weave us together so that we can help ourselves and others. Kevin will start off this Community Conversation by explaining how we can apply the Five Elements in our lives. Facilitated by: David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture and UCSC Right Livelihood College. “Harvester:” Jason Bayani, author, theater performer, Artistic Director, Kearny Street Workshop.

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College

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Panelists


Kevin Kahakula’akea John Fong
Founder
Kahakulei Institute
David Shaw
Founder
Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood Center
Jason Bayani
Artistic Director
Kearny Street Workshop

The UN Conference of the Parties (COP) 28th gathering on Climate Change wrapped up in December of 2023. Indigenous Peoples presence has increased every year, and we have become the second largest civil society delegation at COP, second only to oil & gas lobbyists. Indigenous Peoples have played a critical role in these spaces for decades, utilizing the deep-rooted knowledge our communities hold concerning the effects of climate change and the connections to our intimate relationships with land and water. Our beliefs tell us how to keep systems in balance, contrary to the ideologies of capitalism that have spread across the globe. We know climate change is driving extreme weather and the 6th mass extinction on Earth, yet governing bodies are still not doing enough to mitigate greenhouse gasses.  Promises are starting to be made with attention to the recommendations of Indigenous Peoples, our knowledge systems, and our rights, but they continue to be negated by policies that subsidize the carbon-based economy. Indigenous Peoples require more than just political action but recognition of our sovereign inherent and internationally affirmed rights to turn this crisis around. Join us to learn how Indigenous climate activists impact national and international negotiations and policies to address climate change and what you can do to support the movement. Moderated by Eriel Deranger, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Indigenous Climate Action.  With Jayce Chiblow, Director of Education and Programming with Indigenous Climate Action; Mak’wala Rande Cook, Ma’amtagila hereditary chief and founding Director of the Awi’nakola Foundation.

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn

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Panelists


Eriel Tchekwie Deranger
Indigenous Climate Action
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Jayce Chiblow
Director of Education and Programming
Indigenous Climate Action
Rande Cook
Founding Director
Awi’nakola Foundation

International performer/wellness pioneer Zuleikha will guide us through free movement and pauses within a weaving of world music, all designed to stabilize our body’s dynamic ecosystem, bring us to a state of deep embodied awareness, and build up our reserves for rejuvenation. Zuleikha will also be sharing easy-to-learn but powerful practices that help us melt knots of physical and psychic tension, allowing our bodies to restore their natural balance and become energetically revitalized. You will leave this session equipped with a simple, enjoyable toolkit you can access anytime, anywhere to cultivate sustainable balance and inner resilience.

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College

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Panelists


Zuleikha
Executive Director and CEO
The Storydancer Project

Through colonization, hyper capitalism, and unaddressed trauma, many of us have forgotten how to play our part in the orchestra of the natural world. In this session, two remarkable activists and legal practitioners from different continents, working in different communities, but who happen to share a belief in the power of creative expression help us reconnect to the entire web of life. They will discuss interdependence, forgotten ways of relating to each other and all species, and how well-harmonized songs can bring delight and balance to the human spirit, to trees and plants and to our fellow fauna. With: Erin Matariki Carr, a leading Indigenous legal scholar and Rights of Nature activist in Aotearoa (New Zealand); and Claudia Peña, Co-Director of the Center for Justice at UCLA, Executive Director, For Freedoms, a national civic arts organization.  

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Freight & Salvage

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Panelists


Erin Matariki Carr
Project Lead
RIVER
Claudia Peña
Co-Director
For Freedoms & Center for Justice at UCLA

Join Puyr Tembé, First Secretary of Indigenous Peoples of the State of Para in the Brazilian Amazon; Celia Xakriabá, a Federal Deputy in the Brazilian Congress and a co-founder of ANMIGA (the National Association of Ancestral Indigenous Women Warriors);  and Leila Salazar-López, Executive Director of Amazon Watch, in an intimate and inspiring conversation about the power of Indigenous women’s leadership to protect the Amazon and all of the biomes of Brazil. What began as seeds of resistance to deforestation and land-grabbing for industrial extraction has grown to a national and international movement to reforest minds and hearts to defend Indigenous land rights, respect women’s rights and protect Mother Earth. Learn how you can join the movement. “The fight for Mother Earth is the Mother of all fights!”

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Puyr Tembé
First Secretary
Indigenous Peoples of the State of Para
Celia Xakriabá
Federal Deputy
The Brazilian Congress
Leila Salazar-López
Executive Director
Amazon Watch

Over the past decade, the most far-reaching social revolution of the 21st century has taken place in Syria’s Kurdish-majority Northeast, commonly referred to as “Rojava.” Though still largely unknown, today roughly a third of Syrian territory is governed not by a nation-state, but through a federation of participatory local councils known officially as the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). Despite conditions of constant war and isolation, the people of Rojava are building and defending a society rooted in principles of direct-democracy, women’s autonomy, cultural diversity, cooperative economics, and social ecology. Join us for a conversation with two writers and activists who have recently returned from the region, as we discuss the revolution’s achievements, its challenges, and its enduring relevance for liberatory movements worldwide. With: Anna Rebrii, journalist, researcher; and Arthur Pye, writer and activist. Moderated by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer.

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | The Marsh Theater

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Panelists


Anna Rebrii
Member
Emergency Committee for Rojava
Arthur Pye
Member
Emergency Committee for Rojava
J. P. Harpignies
Senior Producer
Bioneers

The interwoven set of “polycrises” we face today is so vast as to be hard for the head and the heart to truly comprehend. How do we make sense of it all? Where to turn for clarity in these complex times? The gripping power of stories to transform our collective understanding and opinions has been a throughline for all of human history, and it remains as true now as it ever has. Brilliant contemporary writers across genres are leading the way, crafting narratives that question, clarify, connect and expose the core issues we face. Join three insightful writers in a conversation about the essential role of art and imagination as we grapple with the increasingly strident cultural politics of the Anthropocene, the importance/hubris of human innovation and plumb the depths of our personal and collective reservoirs of resilience. Hosted by novelist/filmmaker Laleh Khadivi. With: poet/memoirist/essayist/activist Taylor Brorby; and fiction writer/professor Ramona Ausubel.

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Magnes Museum

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Panelists


Taylor Brorby
Author & Activist
Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land
Ramona Ausubel
Author and Professor
Laleh Khadivi
Novelist and Filmmaker

This interactive caucus space for white-identified youth is rooted in truth-telling about the past. We will seek to unpack the history of whiteness and explore how it lives in our bodies.  Through ritual, introspection and dialogue, we will witness and support each other in cultivating the emotional capacity to dismantle white supremacy from the inside out. Come explore how we can regain our collective humanity, cultivate solidarity with BIPOC communities, and contribute to creating a world that works for everyone. With: Hilary Giovale, author of Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers Toward Truth, Healing, and Repair; and artist and community organizer, Lauren Gucik

Note: White-identified people of all ages are welcome to join and witness this session. 

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Upstairs in The Marsh

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Panelists


Lauren Gucik
Living Pantry Coordinator
The Butterfly Movement

The BIPOC Youth Caucus is a safe and brave open forum where youth of color have an opportunity to listen to one another and share the real issues that come with holding their identities in social and environmental movements as well as in the world at large. Facilitators will help youth deal with their struggles and aspirations and have an opportunity to move toward healing. Facilitated by activists Brandi Mack, Minkah Taharkah, and Alondra Aragon.  

March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center

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Panelists


Brandi Mack
Co-National Director
The Butterfly Movement
Minkah Taharkah

The Butterfly Movement
Alondra Aragon
Community Organizer
Hummingbird Farm Collective

Ramona Ausubel signing copies of The Last Animal

Taylor Brorby signing copies of Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land

Kevin John Fong signing copies of The Five Elements: An East Asian Approach to Achieve Organizational Health, Professional Growth, and Personal Well-Being

Laleh Khadivi signing copies of A Good Country

March 29th | 6:15 pm to 7:15 pm | Pegasus Bookstore (Lobby of Magnes Museum)

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Panelists


Ramona Ausubel
Author and Professor
Taylor Brorby
Author & Activist
Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land
Kevin Kahakula’akea John Fong
Founder
Kahakulei Institute
Laleh Khadivi
Novelist and Filmmaker

Come unwind from the day at Bioneers Afterglow! Join us for light refreshments, casual activities and a relaxed environment to meet up with old friends and make new ones. All conference attendees are welcome! 

Bioneers Learning students are especially encouraged to come find each other at this Friday mixer! If you’ve participated in a Bioneers Learning course, come on out to meet up in person, and if you haven’t taken part yet, program staff will be around to chat and answer any questions you might have. 

March 29th | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm | The Marsh Berkeley Theater Cabaret

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Join us for this interactive presentation with Monique Fay and her extraordinary photographs taken over 40 years.

The images will come alive to reveal the classical archetypal elements embedded in Nature, knowable to us.

With bodily expression, sound, taste, smell, and spontaneous movement, we enter experience directly and bring the five healing energies to life.

Enjoy the reception, followed by the unique interactive program with the artist.

  • 6:30 PM to 7:15 PM Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be served. 
  • 7:15 PM Experiential program, with movement and music, begins promptly.
  • 8:30 PM Program concludes.

This event is produced by Dharma College. Advance RSVP is requested.

March 29th | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

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Co-sponsored by Amazon Watch, with introduction before and Q+A following the film. Directed by Indigenous activist Edivan Guajajara and environmental filmmakers Chelsea Greene and Rob Grobman; produced by Academy Award winner Fisher Stevens with Leonardo DiCaprio Executive Producer.

We Are Guardians follows Indigenous forest-guardian Marçal Guajajara and activist Puyr Tembé as they fight to protect their territories from deforestation, an illegal logger who has no choice but to cut the forest down, and a large landowner at the mercy of thousands of invaders and extractive industry. Through intimate, character focused storytelling, the film weaves together politics, history, economics, science, and consciousness to provide an in-depth exploration of the incredibly complex and critical situation of the Amazon region.

March 29th | 6:40 pm to 8:35 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Bioneers is proud to present a great double-bill concert featuring one of the nation’s leading “engaged” singer/songwriter/musicians, Chris Pierce, and a truly exciting duo from Kentucky, The Local Honeys, poised to become not only leading artists in their home state but defining voices of a new Appalachia.

This concert is presented as part of the 35th Annual Bioneers Conference, taking place March 28-30 in Berkeley. The Bioneers Conference is the ultimate gathering of movement leaders and champions of ideas and initiatives that have the power to create a brighter, healthier, and more just future. Join us at Bioneers 2024, where we’ll share what we’ve learned, link arms, nourish our hearts and vision, and align ourselves to prevail for the long haul.

Chris Pierce, a highly acclaimed, socially-conscious singer/songwriter/musician, has been described as “one of America’s most talented, gifted, and affecting artists.” He has toured or played nationally and internationally with such luminaries as Neil Young, B.B. King, Seal, Al Green, Steve Earle, Allison Russell, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Jill Scott, Keb’Mo, Blind Boys of Alabama, Aaron Neville, Allison Russell, Sara Bareilles, and others. He has performed at many prestigious venues from The Kennedy Center to NPR’s World Café to the Newport Folk Festival. His most recent albums are 2021’s American Silence, widely viewed as one of the best folk albums of that year, and 2023’s Let All Who Will. In addition to his solo career, Chris Pierce performs/records with Sunny War as “War and Pierce,” with the Americana/roots band Leon Creek, and occasionally with the Black Opry Revue. (chrispierce.com)

The Local Honeys (Montana Hobbs and Linda Jean Stokley) is a highly acclaimed musical duo from Kentucky that was formed a decade ago. Montana and Linda Jean are solidly anchored in the Appalachian culture and music they grew up in and deeply respectful of those roots, but their innovative songwriting, storytelling and musicianship are not constrained by tradition, as their music is very much of its time, elegantly and powerfully capturing the beauty, struggles and complexities of contemporary Appalachian life. Their most recent album is the eponymous, The Local Honeys, on La Honda Records. (http://www.thelocalhoneys.com/)

NOTE: Access to this performance requires a separate registration from Bioneers attendance, with an additional ticket price of $30. This concert is open to the general public. Doors at 8:00pm.

While we would love for you to join us for the full Bioneers Conference experience, you can buy tickets for just the concert below.

March 29th | 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm | Freight & Salvage

Note: A separate $30 fee is required for this event.

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Panelists


Chris Pierce
Singer, Songwriter, Musician

Directed by award-winning Berkeley-based filmmaker Rick Goldsmith, is the story of one secretive hedge fund that is plundering America’s newspapers and the journalists who are fighting back. Investigative reporter Julie Reynolds, Denver Post editorialist Chuck Plunkett and a handful of others, backed by the NewsGuild Union, go toe-to-toe with the faceless Alden Global Capital in a battle to save and rebuild local journalism across America. Who will control the future of America’s news ecosystem: Wall Street billionaires concerned only with profit, or those who see journalism as an essential public service and the lifeblood of our democracy? Rick Goldsmith will be on hand to answer questions about the film after the screening.

March 29th | 8:40 pm to 10:35 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Saturday, March 30th all times PDT

Click Title to Expand

Introduction by Alexis Bunten, Bioneers Indigeneity Program Co-Director 

In this talk, one of the most respected, beloved and impactful longtime activists on behalf of Indigenous rights and women’s leadership as well as a major figure in the “Rights of Nature” movement, will delve deeply into how many Indigenous peoples view the human relationship to the natural world and what their ancestral wisdom teaches about how to harmoniously interact with nature’s fundamental components, aka the “elements”—Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. Casey will explore how these incredibly sophisticated traditional Indigenous land, water and fire stewardship strategies, many of which are now being “rediscovered” by contemporary managers, have much to teach us as we grapple with the climate crisis.

March 30th | 9:17 am to 9:39 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Alexis Bunten
Co-Director, Indigeneity Program
Bioneers

Keynote


Casey Camp-Horinek
Environmental Ambassador, Elder and Hereditary Drumkeeper
Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma

Introduction by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer

Rae Wynn-Grant, Ph.D., a wildlife ecologist and conservation biologist who researches how human activity influences carnivore behavior and ecology and is passionate about science communication, is the creator of the award-winning podcast “Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant” (produced by PBS’ Nature) and has recently become the co-host of the just resuscitated revered TV show, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Currently a Research Faculty member at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, she maintains a Research Fellow position with the National Geographic Society in partnership with the American Prairie Reserve and a Visiting Scientist position at the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Grant, who also serves on the Board of Directors for NatureBridge, is a leading advocate for women and people of color in the sciences and is the author of many scientific papers, as well as her upcoming memoir, Wild Life.

March 30th | 9:47 am to 10:09 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


J. P. Harpignies
Senior Producer
Bioneers

Keynote


Rae Wynn-Grant
Wildlife Ecologist and Conservation Biologist
University of California at Santa Barbara + Host of Wild Kingdom

An extraordinary 17-year-old scientist, researcher, biomimetic inventor and passionate eco-activist and conservationist shares her hopeful vision of a new world informed by a deep respect of the natural world and powered by brilliant, clean green technologies.

March 30th | 10:09 am to 10:20 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


Charlotte Michaluk – Youth Keynote
Engineer, Scientist and Linguistics Researcher
Acnestis By Wind

The Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company (DAYPC) is a diverse group of teens that collaborates with professional artists to create dynamic, original productions. Combining hip hop, modern and aerial dance, theater, song, and rap, company members take the stage to tell stories that stem from their lived experiences and express their visions for a world transformed. Since 1993, DAYPC has performed original work for up to 25,000 audience members annually, garnering critical acclaim and widespread community support for both their technical prowess and their commitment to advancing inclusivity, equity, and justice.

March 30th | 10:46 am to 11:58 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


Introduction by Teo Grossman, President of Bioneers

Erica Gies is an independent journalist, National Geographic Explorer, and the author of Water Always Wins: Thriving in an age of drought and deluge, published in the U.S., U.K., and China. She covers water, climate change, plants and wildlife for Scientific American, The New York Times, bioGraphic, Nature, and other publications. The honors she has received include the Sierra Club’s Rachel Carson Award, Friends of the River’s California River Award, the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation’s Excellence in Journalism Award, and the Harvey Southam Lectureship at the University of Victoria.

March 30th | 11:19 am to 11:41 am | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Teo Grossman
President
Bioneers

Keynote


Erica Gies
Author & Journalist
Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge

Introduction by Toby Kiers, Ph.D., Executive Director and Chief Scientist, SPUN

Most fungi live out of sight, yet they make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that support and sustain nearly all living systems. The symbiotic mycorrhizal networks formed by plants and fungi comprise an ancient life-support system that easily qualifies as one of the wonders of the living world. Yet climate change strategies, conservation agendas and restoration efforts overlook fungi and focus overwhelmingly on animals and plants. This is a problem: the destruction of underground fungal networks accelerates both climate change and biodiversity loss and interrupts vital global nutrient cycles. In this session, Merlin Sheldrake, the biologist and bestselling author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our World, will drive home just how critically important fungi are and discuss the visionary work of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) and its efforts to map and protect the mycorrhizal fungal communities of the planet. He will also present cutting-edge research into the flow dynamics of carbon and nutrients within mycorrhizal fungal networks.

March 30th | 11:41 am to 12:04 pm | Zellerbach Hall

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Introduced by


Toby Kiers
Executive Director and Chief Scientist
Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)

Keynote


Merlin Sheldrake
Biologist and Writer
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures

MaMuse, a long-lived musical duo composed of the highly accomplished multi-instrumentalists (including upright bass, guitar, mandolins, and flutes), powerful vocalists, and brilliant songwriters, Sorah Nutting and Karisha Longaker, is dedicated to playing uplifting, heart-opening music rooted in the folk and gospel traditions that embodies a love of all life, a cultivation of emotional intelligence, and a desire for a world in which all can thrive.  

March 30th | 12:11 pm to 12:21 pm | Zellerbach Hall

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Keynote


MaMuse
Musical Duo

Throughout history, the most significant movements for positive change have nearly always been accompanied by powerful artistic expressions that shed light on injustices and offer visions of a more equitable society. We are currently facing unprecedented challenges as our climate unravels and reactionary authoritarian movements gain in momentum. Does navigating these seemingly perpetual existential crises necessitate new strategies from the “engaged” creative community? This session will feature leading activist/artists and innovative figures reshaping art institutions, who will share their insights and experiences. Moderated by Arturo Mendez-Reyes, founder of Arts.Co.Lab, a “Cultural Equity Agency” dedicated to strengthening the cultural ecosystem within marginalized communities. With: Devon Bella, founder of Art and Climate Action, a Bay Area collective committed to fostering a sustainable and environmentally-conscious arts community; David Solnit, renowned direct action organizer, author, and puppeteer, co-founder of Art and Revolution; Orion Camero, former Brower Youth Award winner and Spiritual Ecology Fellow.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


David Solnit
Co-Founder
Art and Revolution
Arturo Mendez-Reyes
Founder
Arts.Co.Lab
Devon Bella
Founder
Art and Climate Action
Orion Camero
Action Lead Program Manager
Narrative Initiative

Hosted by the Wildlife Conservation Network (a nonprofit dedicated to helping wildlife and people coexist and thrive).

We share our planet with many other animals, including some especially beautiful and captivating wildlife species, and tragically, our own species is taking up more and more space and consuming an ever-increasing share of the biosphere’s resources, so many wild animals are facing unprecedented challenges. Protecting these incredible creatures is a difficult and fascinating job, one that requires as many of us as possible to become engaged and support conservation efforts around the world. In this session, some leading experts in the field will share their insights, experiences and remarkable stories about their efforts to safeguard wildlife and wild places, and tell us how we can be more involved in this critically important work. Hosted by Paul Thomson, Senior Director of Conservation Programs, Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN). With: large-carnivore ecologist and a fellow with the National Geographic Society, Rae Wynn-Grant; Neal Sharma, California Wildlife Program, WCN; ; Zoliswa Nhleko, Ph.D., a wildlife ecologist and Senior Programs Manager at WCN.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Freight & Salvage

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Panelists


Rae Wynn-Grant
Wildlife Ecologist and Conservation Biologist
University of California at Santa Barbara + Host of Wild Kingdom
Zoliswa Nhleko
Senior Programs Manager
Wildlife Conservation Network
Neal Sharma
California Wildlife Program
Wildlife Conservation Network
Paul Thomson
Senior Director of Conservation Programs
Wildlife Conservation Network

Bioneers brings together a very diverse, discerning, engaged and reflective community, and the curated conversations around crucial topics we have been hosting recently (“Conversation Cafes”) have proven highly popular and stimulating. Each session begins with a very brief presentation by one of the conference presenters as a “conversation starter” to frame the topic, followed by structured group discussion. At the end of each session, a “harvester” who has carefully witnessed and “absorbed” what has transpired, offers us a poetic synopsis/recapitulation of the highlights of our time together.

The learning and networking we engage with at Bioneers often leave us afire with ideas and energies for bringing ecological and social change to our local and global communities. Unfortunately, our passions are not always mirrored by our personal, professional, and home communities, but the scale of the change needed for mass healing will require practically everyone. Transformative learning theory teaches us that in order to change interlocutors’ outdated paradigms, it is essential to work just beyond their comfort zone – too much discomfort will shut someone down, and too little will not create sufficient disruption. In this session, we will explore our edges of efficacy in fostering change with unlikely partners. The central question we will contemplate is: “What are our leverage points to foster effective paradigm changes within our communities? “ Come prepared to listen and interact in mindful, respectful conversations with open minds and hearts. Conversation starter: Jeanine Canty, Professor of Transformative Studies at CIIS. Facilitated by: David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture and UCSC Right Livelihood College. “Harvester:” Jahan Khalighi, spoken word poet, youth educator and community arts organizer.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College

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Panelists


Jeanine Canty
Professor of Transformative Studies
California Institute of Integral Studies
David Shaw
Founder
Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood Center
Jahan Khalighi
Program Manager
Chapter 510

Many of us have deep and intense feelings about the war on Gaza, the October 7th attacks on Israelis — and the painful historical context in which these events exist. This session offers time to share those feelings together; it is not a time for debate or discussion, but a time to speak and listen compassionately. The facilitators will open with a ritual and hold this Circle with respect and care. Circle practice is a discipline of hope centered on the worldview that we are profoundly interconnected, that we heal and process most deeply in community. Everyone is welcome; we invite all to share from the heart and hold space for all our stories. Facilitated by: Penny Rosenwasser, Ph.D., a founding board member of Jewish Voice for Peace and author of “Hope into Practice, Jewish women choosing justice despite our fears”; Michelle Gutierrez, co-founder of Hidden Water, mediator, organizational change consultant, restorative justice trainer and practitioner.

NOTE: Given space constraints, this session will close at 60 attendees.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Ashby Room, Residence Inn

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Panelists


Penny Rosenwasser
Founding Board Member
Jewish Voice for Peace
Michelle Gutierrez
Restorative Justice Circle Trainer

In 2023, Mashpee Wampanoag youth came together to protect herring, a keystone species in their ancestral homelands, whom their tribe has stewarded for the last 12,000 years. Extractive fishing and pollution has reduced the herring population to 5% since this data has been tracked. The youth took note, organized a coalition, and drafted a resolution to protect herring, based on Rights of Nature legal principles. They brought it to their Tribal Council, who unanimously approved it. In this panel, we’ll hear this inspiring story from the youth directly, and their practical tips for how other youth can protect the places they live through direct action. Moderated by Britt Gondolfi.  Featuring: Talia Landry, Ciara Oakley Robbins, Jyrzie Alves, Amaya Balbuena, Jacelle Steiding.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn

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Panelists


Talia Landry
Grants Manager
Mashpee Wampanoag Education Department
Amaya Balbuena
Member
Mashpee NEA
Ciara Oakley-Robbins
Carpenter and Indigenous Environmental Activist
Britt Gondolfi
Community Organizer, Author

Addressing the immense ecological crisis facing us requires that we learn to think, speak, and take action in ways that reflect how natural systems actually work. Come discover the Warm Data Lab, a practice developed by Nora Bateson that seeks to nudge us away from sterile, habitual patterns of thinking and speaking into far more genuinely “ecological” modes of perception, cognition and communication. The Warm Data approach asserts that we need a new language that’s alive, responsive, in-play with living processes, one that permits us to perceive that we are embedded in “nests of relationships,” constantly co-learning and co-evolving with all beings. With: Nora Bateson, founder, The International Bateson Institute and Warm Data Labs, Fellow, Lindisfarne Foundation, author, film-maker, and lecturer; Rex Weyler: co-founder, Greenpeace International, founder, Hollyhock Educational Institute, ecologist, author, and journalist.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College

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Panelists


Nora Bateson
President
International Bateson Institute
Rex Weyler
Co-Founder
Greenpeace International and Hollyhock Educational Institute

Join us to surface the schisms and false associations about the archetypes of “yin” and “yang,” or ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ that have dominated our civilization’s worldview for far too long. What’s led our societies to behave in ways that have perpetuated this imbalance and led us to this point of emergency on all fronts? What does authentic yin-led leadership look like? We’ll surface new visions for being human, no longer reliant on archaic binaries. With Taj James, co-founder of Full-Spectrum Capital and Beloved Communities Network; Pat McCabe/Woman Stands Shining (Diné), Co-Creator at Stand In the Light Studio, Co-Founder of Joy House: The School for UnLearning; Aya de Leon, climate author/publisher, lecturer at UC Berkeley; Shayna Cureton, founder of Abundant Beginnings.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


Taj James
Full Spectrum Labs
Co-Founder and Curator
Aya de Leon
Author and Activist
Pat McCabe
Woman Stands Shining
Shayna Cureton
Abundant Beginnings
Founder

Richmond, CA, has been the site of exemplary progressive community organizing and political mobilization these past few years, and it is home to a number of groundbreaking projects, and some exciting new initiatives on the horizon include: a 10-acre farm and resiliency center in North Richmond; California’s First ADA accessible community garden on the Richmond Greenway; innovative approaches to getting youth access into higher education; radically boosted cycling infrastructure; and much more. Come hear from local Richmond activists and leaders as they share stories, best practices, and fresh perspectives on what building a genuinely progressive community looks and feels like. Hosted by Adam Boisvert, Deputy Director and Director of Education Programs at Urban Tilth. With Najari Smith, Executive Director at RICH City Rides; Arleide Santos, Community Organizer at Urban Tilth; Anselmo Ramirez, co-founder, Moving Forward; Chito Floriano, Director of Farm and Gardens at Urban Tilth.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | The Marsh Theater

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Panelists


Adam Boisvert
Urban Tilth
Deputy Director
Najari Smith
Executive Director
RICH City Rides
Anselmo Ramirez
Co-Founder
Moving Forward
Chito Floriano
Director of Farm and Gardens
Urban Tilth
Arleide Santos
Community Organizer
Urban Tilth

This intimate room will provide Bioneers attendees with a gently curated healing space for connection, contemplation and experiencing the transformative power of communal grieving. All the sessions held here will be facilitated by death midwives /community gatherers/educators Anneke CampbellBirgitta Kastenbaum and Amber Deylon

The room will be open from 2 to 3 pm, before the day’s two sessions begin at 3pm, for those who want to come and sit quietly and/or write messages for the altar, but the room will be closed once each session begins to assure privacy. The communal altar invites you to honor loved ones by bringing offerings including photos and/or responsibly foraged gifts from nature. 

Cultures worldwide practice rituals deeply intertwined with the natural world to mark transitions and losses of life. Come join us in a circle to explore how resilience and thriving in these difficult times require expanding our ability to be present with grief and getting to know it for its gift potential of regeneration and transformation. Through intimate sharing and group conversation, anchored in breath, embodied practices and offerings to our communal altar, we will connect with the strength and healing available when we honor our grief in community.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Insight Room, Dharma College

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Panelists


Birgitta Kastenbaum
Co-Founder
Bridging Transitions
Amber Deylon
Creator
Grieve and Breathe
Anneke Campbell
Writer and Community Activist

This panel will focus on the current rise of fascist leaders, rhetoric and movements in the U.S., looking at contemporary expressions of fascism and how individuals, communities, organizations and networks can respond and resist. Especially in the context of the 2024 elections, the anti-fascist actions of millions of ordinary people will determine whether our baseline democratic norms and institutions will survive. Hosted by Linda Burnham, women’s rights and racial justice activist since the 1960s, co-editor of: Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections, author of Project2050, and co-creator of the online curriculum, Fascism101. With: Malkia Devich-Cyril, founding Executive Director of MediaJustice; Emily Lee, Executive Director of Seed the Vote; Tarso Luís Ramos, Executive Director at Political Research Associates, who has been researching and challenging the US right for more than 25 years.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Linda Burnham
Activist, Writer and Strategist
Emily Ja-Ming Lee
Co-Founder
Seed the Vote
Malkia Devich-Cyril
Founder and Executive Director
MediaJustice
Tarso Luís Ramos
Executive Director
Political Research Associates

Today news of “natural” disasters is nearly constant, documenting epic floods, fires, droughts, and storms. In fact, human activities play a large role in making these events much worse, and not just because of climate change. Our development—urban sprawl, industrial agriculture and forestry, the engineered way we try to control water, etc.—has significantly altered the water cycle, with knock-on effects throughout the ecosystems that sustain life. Join four deeply knowledgeable writers, researchers, and policy strategists to explore how to integrate systems theory, respect for nature’s right to exist, and the restoration and protection of the ecosystems that support us into the dominant culture. With: Erica Gies, science journalist and author of Water Always Wins; Suzanne Simard, renowned biologist and bestselling author of Finding the Mother Tree; Felicia Marcus, now the Landreth Visiting Fellow at Stanford University, previously the long-time chair of the California State Water Resources Board; and Laura Tam, Senior Program Officer at the Resources Legacy Foundation and co-author of the Adaptation Atlas published by the San Francisco Estuary Institute.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Magnes Museum

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Panelists


Erica Gies
Author & Journalist
Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge
Suzanne Simard
Professor of Forest Ecology
University of British Columbia
Felicia Marcus
Landreth Visiting Fellow
Stanford University’s Water in the West Program
Laura Tam
Senior Program Officer
Resources Legacy Fund

Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors—people eager to learn, share, explore and create together. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters. The presenters will share their life experience in an interactive dialogue with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism. 

In this session, Bioneers youth will have the unique opportunity to sit with Marlowe Sam, Wenatchi/Lakes descendant from the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington State (CCT). Marlowe carries a lifetime of knowledge and experience as a professor and expert on indigenous water rights in Canada. Co-hosted by David Hage of Weaving Earth.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Upstairs in The Marsh

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Panelists


Marlowe Sam
Adjunct Professor in Indigenous Studies
UBC Okanagan
David Hage
Co-Founder
Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

In this poetry writing workshop, we will explore the concept of “the third place,” i.e., where we hang out besides home and school. What are our favorite third places? What makes for a great third place? Are stimulating, safe and supportive third places hard to find? We will write and improvise about third places, share our work, and collectively discuss how to find or create more excellent third places. Facilitated by young poets, Rose America Garcia and Vivian Owens.

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center

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Panelists


Rose Garcia
Member
SPOKES
Vivian Owens
Student
Las Positas Community College

This is a working session open to all youth who want to come and complete the Singing Tree Collective Mural before the close of the conference, as well as to reflect about the symbolism that has emerged in our collective artistic collaboration. Hosted by Laurie Marshall, Leslie Rein and Fernanda Lugo

March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Singing Tree Tent on Allston Way

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Panelists


Laurie Marshall
Founder
Unity Through Creativity Foundation
Leslie Rein
Certified Facilitator
Singing Tree Project
Fernanda Lugo
Counselor
Concordia Language Village in Minnesota

Nora Bateson signing copies of Combining

Linda Burnham signing copies of Power Concedes Nothing

Erica Gies signing copies of Water Always Wins

Rae Wynn-Grant signing copies of Wild Life

March 30th | 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm | Pegasus Bookstore (Lobby of Magnes Museum)

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Panelists


Nora Bateson
President
International Bateson Institute
Linda Burnham
Activist, Writer and Strategist
Erica Gies
Author & Journalist
Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge
Rae Wynn-Grant
Wildlife Ecologist and Conservation Biologist
University of California at Santa Barbara + Host of Wild Kingdom

Oil, gas and coal are driving the climate crisis yet have, incredibly, largely been ignored in climate talks and policies. That’s starting to change. Millions of people are coalescing around the call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to end the expansion of fossil fuels, phase out existing production, and accelerate a just transition to clean energy and low carbon solutions. Join a panel of civil society, government and Indigenous leaders in a conversation about the growing momentum for a Fossil Fuel Treaty and how this global initiative is shaping the climate conversation, removing industry’s social license and compelling decision-makers to finally take action to end the era of fossil fuels—fast, fair and forever. Hosted by Cara Pike, Senior Communication Advisor to the Fossil Fuel Treaty, founder/Executive Director, Climate Access. With: Osprey Orielle Lake, founder/Executive Director, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network; Eriel Deranger, Founder and Executive Director, Indigenous Climate Action; Michael Brune, Climate and Campaign Strategist.

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Cara Pike
Founder and Executive Director
Climate Access
Eriel Tchekwie Deranger
Indigenous Climate Action
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Michael Brune
Director
Larsen Lam Climate Change Foundation
Osprey Orielle Lake
Founder and Executive Director
Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International

Bioneers brings together a very diverse, discerning, engaged and reflective community, and the curated conversations around crucial topics we have been hosting recently (“Conversation Cafes”) have proven highly popular and stimulating. Each session begins with a very brief presentation by one of the conference presenters as a “conversation starter” to frame the topic, followed by structured group discussion. At the end of each session, a “harvester” who has carefully witnessed and “absorbed” what has transpired, offers us a poetic synopsis/recapitulation of the highlights of our time together.

This session will lead off with conversation starter Joan Blades, entrepreneur, renowned activist, author and co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org (an open-source effort to build respectful connections across ideological, cultural and party lines) discussing the “Building Trust in Elections” project, a critical call to action for 2024. Trustworthy elections are something an overwhelming number of Americans desire. How can we make it a transformational effort to restore confidence in elections? The conversations will be facilitated by: David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture and UCSC Right Livelihood College. “Harvester:” Jason Bayani, author, theater performer, Artistic Director, Kearny Street Workshop.

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College

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Panelists


Joan Blades
Co-Founder
Living Room Conversations
David Shaw
Founder
Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood Center
Jason Bayani
Artistic Director
Kearny Street Workshop

The ravages inflicted on ecosystems and human communities, especially those of frontline First Peoples, by the brutally exploitative extractive system that dominates the global economy, threaten to unravel the entire web of life. The challenge of our time is to quickly reverse that ecocidal trajectory, and one of the best places to look for effective alternative models is in the deep wisdom of traditional Indigenous cultures who learned over millennia to work with the natural world with an attitude of reverent and respectful reciprocity to meet human needs while ensuring the environment’s ongoing health. In this session three inspiring leaders working to implement various forms of Indigenous ecological science in partnerships with university, state and local partners share their perspectives and experiences. With Nina Simons, author of Nature, Culture & the Sacred and Bioneers’ co-founder; deeply respected longtime activist and educator Jeannette Armstrong, Ph.D., Syilx Okanagan Nation, cofounder Enowkin Centre; dynamic young leader in salmon restoration/dam removal struggles on the Klamath River, Sammy Gensaw III, Yurok, co-founder, Ancestral Guard; and Niko Alexandre, co-founder of the Shelterwood Collective, which brings together Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ people in a land-based, community-building project that is implementing TEK methods in their fields and forests.   

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


Nikola Alexandre
Co-Creator & Stewardship Lead
The Shelterwood Collective
Samuel Gensaw, III – Youth Keynote
Founding Director
Ancestral Guard
Jeannette Armstrong
Co-Founder
Enowkin Centre
Nina Simons
Co-Founder and Chief Relationship Strategist
Bioneers

Join our panel of engineers, artists, and land stewards who will discuss their professional journeys and share their personalized tips and strategies to help guide you in your academic, professional, and personal endeavors. This panel invites the community to listen and learn from Native professionals at different stages in their career path, within STEAM fields. These professionals will reflect on questions like What is burnout? How can I land an internship? What sustains you? What does sustainability look like for Native-led spaces? This conversation will be geared towards youth attendees, who are invited to participate in resource sharing and ask questions. Moderated by Nazshonnii Brown-Almaweri.  Featuring brooke smiley and Ras K’Dee.

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn

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Panelists


brooke smiley
Artist, Dancer and Somatic Movement Educator
Ras K’Dee
Editor and Producer
SNAG (Seventh Native American Generation) Magazine
Nazshonnii Brown-Almaweri
Indigeneity Program Manager
Bioneers

In this interactive workshop for environmental educators and community and faith-based leaders working with youth at the intersection of social justice, environmental degradation and advocacy, several leading educators and facilitators in “the Work That Reconnects” (WTR) will share strategies to help youth, emerging adults and others move from despair and grief around environmental breakdown, climate change and social injustice to community connection, engaged action and “Active Hope.” Participants will gain experience with and resources for integrating the Work That Reconnects into their own work. With: Constance Washburn, Co-Director of the Spiral Journey Work That Reconnects Facilitator Development Program; Mutima Imani, Co- Director of Spiral Journey, Coach and Healer at the Urban Healing Temple, and Heidi Honegger Rogers, Associate Professor, University of New Mexico.

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College

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Panelists


Mutima Imani
Facilitator
Spiral Journey International Facilitation Development Program
Heidi Honegger Rogers
Associate Professor
University of New Mexico College of Nursing
Constance Washburn
Co-Director
Spiral Journey Work That Reconnects Facilitator Development Program

In this session, two leading researchers seeking to understand the critically important but long overlooked and understudied role of fungal networks in supporting life and regulating climate will discuss their work with the groundbreaking, visionary Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), an organization at the forefront of studying and protecting fungal networks all over the world and driving innovation in underground climate and biodiversity science. With: biologist Merlin Sheldrake, Ph.D., author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our World; and Toby Kiers, Ph.D., Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Executive Director and Chief Scientist at SPUN. Moderated by J.P. Harpignies, senior producer, Bioneers Conference.

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Freight & Salvage

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Panelists


Merlin Sheldrake
Biologist and Writer
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures
Toby Kiers
Executive Director and Chief Scientist
Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)
J. P. Harpignies
Senior Producer
Bioneers

Hosted by the Ecology Center

Since the “Back to the Land” movement and the Free Breakfast Program of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in the 1960s and 70s, food-based movements have continued to evolve and chart new territory thanks to dedicated generations of leaders. In this session, some visionary contemporary food equity luminaries will discuss their projects and analyses and share their experiences and insights. We will hear about how to forge structural solutions for building systemic change through pilot programs, community building, and political advocacy; learn about innovations and successes in production and distribution at local and national scales; and come away with an overarching picture of how food activists are collaborating to build a healthy, sustainable, and just food system for all. We will leave feeling informed, activated, and inspired to make change. Moderated/hosted by Martin Bourque, Executive Director, Ecology Center. With: Minni Forman, Food and Farming Director, Ecology Center; Xavier Morales, Executive Director of The Praxis Project; Miguel Villarreal, Interim Co-Executive Director, National Farm to School Network.

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Magnes Museum

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Panelists


Minni Forman
Food and Farming Program Director
Ecology Center
Xavier Morales
Executive Director
The Praxis Project
Miguel Villarreal
Interim Co-Executive Director
National Farm to School Network
Martin Bourque
Executive Director
Ecology Center

Almost 50% of lands in California have some level of protection, but how do we best take care of these lands and steward them responsibly in the face of rapidly increasing climate instability, development pressures, and the urgent need for far more inclusive access to the natural world by hitherto disenfranchised groups? Bay Nature is an independent nonprofit publication and website with a vision that all people have a close relationship with nature. It has been one of the leading organizations helping connect the people of the Bay Area to the natural world and motivating society to seek to solve problems with nature in mind. In this session leaders in local conservation will share their insights into how to engage specific communities and the broader public through wide ranging volunteer programs, green jobs initiatives and policy innovations to ensure vibrant ecosystems with equitable access to all. Moderated by Kate Golden, Bay Nature’s Digital Editor. With: Annie Burke, the Executive Director of TOGETHER Bay Area, a leading regional voice for resilient lands and watersheds for all the people around the Bay; Yakuta Poonawalla, Associate Director of Community Stewardship and Engagement at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy; Jessica Sloan, Volunteer Program Supervisor at East Bay Regional Park District; Steven Addison, Conservation Program Manager at Civicorps.  

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

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Panelists


Steven Addison
Conservation Program Manager
Civicorps
Annie Burke
Executive Director
TOGETHER Bay Area
Yakuta Poonawalla
Associate Director of Community Stewardship and Engagement
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy,
Jessica Sloan
Volunteer Program Supervisor
East Bay Regional Park District
Kate Golden
Digital Editor
Bay Nature

The Black Hive, a cohort of Black Climate Justice experts who draw from their collective experience and knowledge to assess how climate change and ecological destruction impact Black communities in the U.S. and across the Global Black Diaspora, are also at the heart of the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL). In this session some leading activists and leaders affiliated with the Hive will share their insights about Black futures in climate and environmental justice struggles, as well as discuss the Parable of the Movement campaign, inspired by the legacy of the late visionary author Octavia Butler. Hosted by Aya de Leon, climate author/publisher, lecturer at UC Berkeley; Devin Murphy, Mayor Emeritus in Pinole, CA; The Reverend Michael Malcom, Executive Director of Alabama Interfaith Power and Light and an ordained United Church of Christ Minister.

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | The Marsh Theater

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Panelists


Aya de Leon
Author and Activist
Devin Murphy
Mayor Emeritus
Pinole, CA
The Reverend Michael Malcom
Executive Director
Alabama Interfaith Power and Light

Join us for the grand finale of the weekend—an Open Mic session that celebrates the vibrant voices and talents of our youth. This event creates a sacred and empowering space for truth and healing, where young folks are invited to share their thoughts and talents. This Open Mic welcomes all expressions. Guiding us through the evening is the Hip Hop and R&B artist and activist, Jada Imani, who will add her unique flair to make it an unforgettable experience.

March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center

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Panelists


Osprey Orielle Lake signing copies of The Story is in Our Bones

Merlin Sheldrake signing copies of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds

March 30th | 6:15 pm to 7:15 pm | Pegasus Bookstore (Lobby of Magnes Museum)

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Panelists


Osprey Orielle Lake
Founder and Executive Director
Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International
Merlin Sheldrake
Biologist and Writer
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures

Come unwind from the day at Bioneers Afterglow! Join us for light refreshments, casual activities and a relaxed environment to meet up with old friends and make new ones. All conference attendees are welcome! 

March 30th | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm | The Marsh Berkeley Theater Cabaret

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Join us for this interactive presentation with Monique Fay and her extraordinary photographs taken over 40 years.

The images will come alive to reveal the classical archetypal elements embedded in Nature, knowable to us.

With bodily expression, sound, taste, smell, and spontaneous movement, we enter experience directly and bring the five healing energies to life.

Enjoy the reception, followed by the unique interactive program with the artist.

  • 6:30 PM to 7:15 PM Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be served. 
  • 7:15 PM Experiential program, with movement and music, begins promptly.
  • 8:30 PM Program concludes.

This event is produced by Dharma College. Advance RSVP is requested.

March 30th | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

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Written, Produced & Directed by Darrell Hillaire & Beth Pielert; executive-produced by the Lummi-led non-profit, Children of the Setting Sun Productions, and Vision Maker Media. (62-minutes)

Inspired by the late Chexanexwh Larry Kinley, a Lummi fisherman and tribal leader who worked to protect wild salmon and promote tribal sovereignty, Scha’nexw Elhtal’nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life follows two Lummi families as they fish sockeye while navigating climate change, wildfire smoke, and a depleting fishery. In these critical times, Larry asks: “Who Are We Without Salmon?” Scha’nexw Elhtal’nexw Salmon People shows the resilience and adaptive nature of the salmon and the people. It is a spiritual reflection on a lifeway centered on respect and gratitude since time immemorial.

There will be a 30-minute Q+A period after the screening with the film’s directors, Darell Hillaire and Beth Pielert.

March 30th | 7:00 pm to 8:40 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center

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Panelists


Darrell Hillaire
Executive Director
Children of the Setting Sun Productions
Beth Pielert
Founder
Good Film Works