Keynotes and panels are subject to change. 

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Thursday, March 26

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PANEL

Nature, Culture and the Sacred: Terry Tempest Williams in Conversation with Nina Simons

Thursday, March 26 | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm PT

Freight & Salvage

In this intimate emergent conversation between two dear old friends, Terry Tempest Williams, one of the most sublime American writers to ever emerge from the deserts of the Southwest as well as a dedicated activist, conservationist, passionate lover of the natural world and one of our nation’s moral North Stars, will explore with Bioneers’ very own co-founder Nina Simons how to balance the personal and the political, the sacred and the mundane, the head and the heart, in this exceptionally challenging period in our history. 

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PANEL

Confronting the Global Crisis in Maternal Care & Children’s Health

Thursday, March 26 | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm PT

Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

Across the world, mothers and children are bearing the brunt of humanitarian catastrophe — from Gaza and Sudan to other conflict zones where medical systems are collapsing. And here in the U.S., maternal health inequities remain staggering, with Black women three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. This session brings together frontline medical workers responding to these crises both globally and locally. Hosted by Sandra Adler Killen, Emergency Room and Pediatric RN who has worked in underserved communities in the U.S. and internationally, including most recently in Gaza. With: Brandi Gates-Burgess, founder and Executive Director of Breast Friends Lactation and Support Services; and Dr. Cindy Nelly, global health consultant with 25+ years’ experience delivering care and building health systems in conflict and disaster zones. Moderated by Tiffany McElroy, Emmy Award-winning television journalist.

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PANEL

The New Jane Crow: Life in The Post Dobbs Reality

Thursday, March 26 | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm PT

Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

Three leading scholars/activists/attorneys and thought-leaders take stock of the current assault on social progress, women’s freedoms, racial and environmental justice, human rights, and democracy. Are we headed into a plunge towards a “Handmaid’s Tale”-like dystopian future, or is this the desperate last gasp of the patriarchy? They will share their analyses of the contours of this exceedingly challenging historical moment and their strategies to most effectively resist the toxic impulses threatening the very survival of our body politic. We can outlast this dark period of regression and emerge stronger to continue the multi-generational struggles for a far more gender-just society, one in which women finally achieve genuine, full equality, but we will need to mobilize all our skill and will and work together. With: Michele Goodwin, renowned constitutional legal scholar, bioethicist and author; Radhika Rao, Professor of Law and Harry & Lillian Hastings Research Chair, UC College of the Law, San Francisco; Ji Seon Song, Assistant Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law.

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Friday, March 27

PANEL

Global and Indigenous Women-Led Movements for Climate Justice

Friday, March 27 | 4:45 pm – 6:00 pm PT

Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

Although they receive less than 1% of climate funding, women-led climate justice grassroots projects around the world are generating cascading benefits, from greater gender and economic equity and less gender violence to improved biodiversity and ecosystems’ health. Simultaneously, the centrality to many Indigenous peoples’ cultures of traditional relationships to place and to honoring all of life as sacred are a tremendous resource in strengthening efforts to protect and renew biodiversity and water resources. Join an emergent conversation to explore what these two vastly under-resourced constituencies have to offer in the quest to co-create regenerative landscapes and futures. Hosted by Osprey Orielle Lake, founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN). With: Zainab Salbi, co-founder of Daughters for Earth; Dilafruz Khonikboyeva, Executive Director of Home Planet Fund.

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PANEL

A Wild Love for The World: Honoring Joanna Macy & her Legacy

Friday, March 27 | 4:45 pm – 6:00 pm PT

Berkeley Residence Inn, 3rd Floor Ballroom

Join us for an immersive presentation and participatory workshop honoring the life and legacy of the visionary teacher, eco-philosopher, and founder of The Work That Reconnects, Joanna Macy, who passed away in July last year, leaving behind a profound body of work devoted to helping us metabolize planetary grief and source courage from a fierce and enduring love for the living world.

Guided by facilitator, musician, and Macy scholar Lydia Violet, this gathering will weave performance, reflection, community singing, and collective experience into a shared act of remembrance. Drawing on Joanna Macy’s Council of All Beings practice, we will be invited to widen our perspective beyond the human story and reconnect with the larger community of life — listening for the voices, wisdom, and grief of Earth’s creatures themselves.

Audio of Joanna Macy’s own voice will be interlaced throughout the program, offering a living thread of guidance and remembrance. Her words call us back, again and again, to a central truth: even in times of great peril, the beauty and wonder of Earth endures — and so does our capacity to respond with love. Come as you are.

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Saturday, March 28

PANEL

Indigenous Forum – Women at the Center: A Call to Interdependence

Saturday, March 28 | 3:00 pm – 4:15 pm PT

Berkeley Residence Inn, 3rd Floor Ballroom

Women are central to the Great Law of Peace and Governance within the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations; Iroquois), whose federalist structure valuing peace, justice and collective wellbeing was an inspiration for democracy in the United States. A timely new book, American Indigenous Democracy: A Call to Interdependence, focuses on the teachings of Haudenosaunee traditional thinking, its presence at the foundation of the American republic, and its continuing power and relevance. This session will highlight women’s leadership and governance rooted in peace and matrilineal values by featuring revered contemporary leaders, author-activists, elders and clan mothers who are also key contributors to the text. They will speak to the themes of women’s leadership; governance rooted in peace and matrilineal values and wisdom from their own life’s work and activism. Moderated by Beverly Cook (Akwesasne Mohawk – Wolf  Clan). With: contributing authors Katsi Cook (Akwesasne Mohawk – Wolf  Clan); Michelle Schenandoah (Oneida); Louise Herne (Kaniekehaka, Mohawk); and editor Jose Barreiro (Taíno)

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PANEL

Wisdom from the Nonbinary: Medicines of Wholeness for Fractured Times

Saturday, March 28 | 3:00 pm – 4:15 pm PT

Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza

In a current moment characterized by intertwined hostilities and manufactured borderlines, how can we lean into the wisdom of the nonbinary to aid us in building lasting solidarities that transcend identity politics? These times call for bold visions to dissolve the devastating effects of a politics of separation. In this heartful emergent conversation, we will center storytelling grounded in queer and trans lives, spiritual wisdom traditions, and Indigenous ecological knowledge. Hosted by Sonali Sangeeta Balajee, founder of SSOMA (Spiritual Social Medicinal Apothecary). With: Willow Defebaugh, Editor-in-Chief, Atmos; Carol Cano, founder and Executive Director of Braided Wisdom; and Kate Morales, multi-faceted cultural worker, founder of the Somatic Scribing Lab.

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PANEL

Rematriation: Returning to the Sacred Mother

Saturday, March 28 | 4:45 pm – 6:00 pm PT

Magnes Museum

This session will delve deeply into the concept of “rematriation,” revealing how acknowledging the land and the planet as our Mother and acting accordingly has to lead us to a revisioning of our current values and institutions that are so out-of-balance with the sacred, and to work toward a radical restructuring of our society. The presenters will also move beyond concepts to share some lived experiences and personal stories that drive home the power of rematriation. Hosted by Dahr Jamail, Storytelling and Communications Manager at Home Planet Fund. With: Alana Peterson, Executive Director of Spruce Root; Rano Abutrobova, Project Board Secretary of Pamir Roots (Social Good Fund); and Louise Brady of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, founder/Director, Herring Protectors.