Thursday, March 27th
ReParentive® Therapy, a somatic, experiential, non-hierarchical and non-pathologizing therapeutic modality that has roots in approaches to mental wellbeing that prioritize embodiment, mindfulness, liberation, and social justice, views the body as an ecosystem that reflects what’s happening in the larger society and in which resulting negative patterns can get encoded. ReParentive® concepts and approaches can be valuably applied to systems, leadership styles, activism and personal/spiritual growth, providing tools that permit us to heal at a deep level and shift those deeply encoded cellular and neurological patterns, allowing us to “spiral out” from an authentic, embodied place with radically increased efficacy. Come discover how ReParentive Therapy techniques and perspectives can enhance your life and work. With therapist, teacher and group leader, Pamela Rosin, MFT.
March 27th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College
Panelists
Pamela Rosin
Founder | ReParentive Therapy
Pamela Rosin, MFT, the founder of ReParentive Therapy (an intergenerational trauma healing model), is an adjunct faculty member at the Integral Counseling Psychology Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and a Certified Hakomi Therapist who utilizes experientially-based modalities and a synergy of Buddhist and Somatic psychologies to cultivate healing in her patients. In her therapy, teaching and leading of groups, Pamela draws from her extensive and varied background, which apart from her formal studies, includes professional acting, a decade as a bodyworker, and many years of teaching Shakespeare in prison.
Friday, March 28th
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.
Growing in Southeast Louisiana near a corridor callously but accurately dubbed Cancer Alley means growing up with the ecological grief and anxiety that accompanies knowing your home and ecosystem are harming you and your community’s health. When your connection to home and family binds you to a place riddled with toxic pollution and politics, what is the antidote? Leave and find a safe community, or stay and take up the work of your ancestors to resist these toxic industries? For those living in and around Cancer Alley, these choices can be a daily battle, but the best elixir for ecological grief is action.
This youth-led community conversation is for anyone living on the frontlines of endemic pollution or climate catastrophe who has wrestled with the choice of staying and fighting or leaving to find a better place to call home—and for anyone who wants to learn from and support them. With: Lael Kylin Judson from Rural Roots Louisiana; and Skye Williams. Facilitated by David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture and UCSC Right Livelihood Center; and Tenika Blue, an advocate for anti-violence initiatives, social justice reform, and community healing. “Harvester:” Jason Bayani, author, theater performer, Artistic Director, Kearny Street Workshop.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Ashby Room, Residence Inn
Panelists
David Shaw
Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College
David Shaw, a whole systems designer, facilitator, educator, and musician, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.
Tenika Blue
Social Justice Advocate
Tenika Blue, a fourth-generation Bay Area native with 20+ years’ experience advocating for anti-violence initiatives, social justice reform, and community healing, organizes sacred circles as a central part of her work, employing a heart-centered approach to foster community resilience, empower individuals to connect with their roots, and embrace transformative healing.
Lael Kylin Judson
| Rural Roots Louisiana
Lael “Kylin” Judson, a sophomore honor student at The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a resident of Ascension Parish, has lost loved ones to pollution-related illnesses and works with Rural Roots Louisiana on Environmental Justice issues centered around Cancer Alley, a region disproportionately impacted by industrial toxicity. Kylin aspires to becoming an Environmental Lawyer dedicated to addressing systemic inequities and protecting vulnerable communities.
Skye Williams
Activist | Rural Roots Louisiana
Skye Williams, a soon-to-be graduate of Donaldsonville High School in Louisiana is an activist with the Environmental Justice, Eco-Literacy, Earth-care advocacy and community-building organization, Rural Roots Louisiana. Skye plans a career in nursing as well as Environmental Justice activism.
Jason Bayani
Artistic Director | Kearny Street Workshop
Jason Bayani, MFA, a theater performer and author, is Artistic Director of the Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest multi-disciplinary Asian Pacific-American arts organization in the country. A Kundiman Fellow, his published works include: Locus (a 2019 Norcal Book Award finalist) and Amulet. He has written for World Literature Today, Muzzle Magazine, Lantern Review, and other publications and performs regularly around the country. His first solo theater show was 2016’s Locus of Control.
When we say “Forever Chemicals,” what do we really mean? Recent EPA findings on the PFAS class of chemicals and the resulting extensive media coverage of their implications has helped shine a light on what has been an egregious decades-long history of disregard for public and environmental safety from industry and regulators. The legacy of toxics in the biosphere, from the micro to the macro, is truly horrifying. A reckoning is coming in terms of public health and financial/legal liability. It’s not all bad news, however. The development of new approaches to materials science, green chemistry and circular economics is pointing towards a possible future where the trimmings of the modern world may be able to exist peacefully with ecological systems. Join Dr. Arlene Blum, a legendary leader in highlighting the extreme risks posed by these substances and a tremendous voice advocating for sane policies in response to their clear dangers and two other leading experts to discuss the current state of toxics and where we are headed from here. Hosted by: Arlene Blum. With: Martin Mulvihill, co-founder, Safer Made.
March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
Arlene Blum
Executive Director | Green Science Policy Institute
Arlene Blum Ph.D., biophysical chemist, author, and mountaineer is Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute and a Research Associate at UC Berkeley. Her science and policy work with government and business has contributed to preventing the use of PFAS, flame retardants and other classes of harmful chemicals in products world-wide. Arlene also led the first American—and all-women’s—ascent of Annapurna I and the first women’s climb of Denali. She is the author of Annapurna: A Woman’s Place and Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life.
Martin Mulvihill
Co-Founder | Safer Made
Marty Mulvihill, Ph.D., a chemist and advisor at the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry (where he served as the initial Executive Director), has developed technologies and created safer chemicals and materials for the personal care, construction, electronics, and textile industries. He is also co-founder of and a managing partner in Safer Made, a mission-driven venture capital fund investing in companies and technologies that: reduce human exposure to harmful chemicals, bring safer products and technologies to market, tell a unique story, have the potential to change their sectors, and protect human health and the natural world.
Saturday, March 29th
Our “personal ecology” is the dynamic relationship between all the interconnected inner and outer elements that shape our life—our mind, body and spirit and also our community and the environment that surrounds us. Exploring our personal ecology can be of great help in radically improving how we live, how we connect, and the balance we create between all the elements in our lives. Come discover ways to cultivate better balance, awareness, and harmony, so you can be better equipped to care for and nurture yourself, your family, your friends, your community, and the larger world. With Brandi Mack, who has a long track record in community engagement, “trauma-informed” design, facilitating transformative experiences and blending nature-based solutions with mindful practices to foster connection, reflection, and growth.
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College
Panelists
Brandi Mack
Holistic Health Educator
Brandi Mack, a traditional ecological designer with a deep passion for personal growth and community building, is deeply committed to creating a healthier, more sustainable world for future generations. A holistic health educator, therapeutic massage therapist, permaculture designer, living systems thought leader, and mother of three daughters, she has a long track record of facilitating transformative experiences and blending nature-based solutions with mindful practices to foster connection, reflection, and growth.
