Bioneers, under its parent foundation, Collective Heritage Institute, is a nonprofit organization based in New Mexico and California that promotes practical and innovative solutions to global

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

and bio-cultural challenges. Founded in 1990 their philosophy recognizes and cultivates the value and wisdom of the natural world, emphasizing that responses to problems must be in harmony with the design of natural systems. Official Programs include Moonrise Women's Leadership, Restorative Food Systems,

Indigeneity Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

(Indigenous Forums,) Education for Action, and the award-winning Dreaming New Mexico community resilience program. Bioneers produces innovative media covering subjects such as environmentalism,

rights of nature Rights of nature or Earth rights is a legal and jurisprudential theory that describes inherent rights as associated with ecosystems and species, similar to the concept of fundamental human rights. The rights of nature concept challenges twentie ...

, social justice, sustainability and

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

. Bioneers Radio is broadcast on local radio stations across the U.S., as well as having segments featured on national NPR stations. The organization also organizes the annual National Bioneers Conference, which is credited with inspiring a generation of leaders in

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

. Conference presenters have included

Michael Pollan Michael Kevin Pollan (; born February 6, 1955) is an American author and journalist, who is currently Professor of the Practice Non-Fiction and the first Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer at Harvard University. Concurrently, he is the Knight Professo ...

Andrew Weil Andrew Thomas Weil (, born June 8, 1942) is an American celebrity doctor who advocates for alternative medicine including the 4-7-8 breathing technique. Early life and education Early years Andrew Thomas Weil was born in Philadelphia on June 8 ...

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best know ...

Philippe Cousteau Philippe Pierre Cousteau (30 December 1940 – 28 June 1979) was a French diver, sailor, pilot, photographer, author, director and cinematographer specializing in environmental issues, with a background in oceanography. He was the second son of ...

Eve Ensler V, formerly Eve Ensler (; born May 25, 1953), is an American playwright, performer, feminist, and activist. V is best known for her play ''The Vagina Monologues''.

, Bill McKibben,

Paul Hawken Paul Gerard Hawken (born February 8, 1946) is an American environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, economist, and activist. Biography Hawken was born in San Mateo, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where his father worked at ...

, and more. Plenary (Keynote) sessions from the national conference are also webcast to Beaming Bioneers satellite conferences held simultaneously in various locations throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Origin of name

Bioneer Bioneer (root: "biological pioneer") is a neologism coined by filmmaker, author and eco-activist Kenny Ausubel.Utne Reader. (1999 Mar-Apr)"15 Ideas That Could Shake the World". ''Utne Reader''. Retrieved on 2007-03-20. According to ''Utne Reader' ...

(root: "biological pioneer") is a

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

coined by founder

Kenny Ausubel Kenny Ausubel is a social entrepreneur, investigative journalist, and award-winning filmmaker. He launched the annual National Bioneers Conference in 1990 with Nina Simons. He has received the Buckminster Fuller Institute’s Challenge Award as wel ...

.Utne Reader. (1999 Mar-Apr)
"15 Ideas That Could Shake the World"
''

Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...

''. Retrieved 14 August 2009. It describes individuals and groups working in diverse disciplines who have crafted creative solutions to various

and socio-cultural problems rooted in shared core values, including whole systems, ( anticipatory) thinking, a view of all life as interdependent, and sustainable mutual aid.

Annual conference

The first National Bioneers Conference, organized by Co-Founders

and

Nina Simons Nina Simons (born January 10, 1957, in Manhattan, NY) is a co-founder & co-CEO of Bioneers, and an organizer of women's leadership retreats and trainings. Her book ''Nature, Culture & the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership'' (2018) received t ...

, took place in 1990. For many years the conference took place annually in the fall in

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...

. In 2023, the Bioneers conference will move to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

and be held from April 6-8, 2023. The national conference brings together a wide array of scientific and social innovators. Conference speakers come from

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

fields:

and socio-political activism; "green"

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

, design,

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

and

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

; organic and "beyond organic" farming and gardening;

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

perspectives;

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

bioremediation Bioremediation broadly refers to any process wherein a biological system (typically bacteria, microalgae, fungi, and plants), living or dead, is employed for removing environmental pollutants from air, water, soil, flue gasses, industrial effluent ...

, and wildland preservation;

alternative energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a Orders of magnitude (time), human timescale. It includes sources such as Solar power, sunlight, wind power, wind, the movement of Hydropo ...

; engaged spirituality, literature and the arts; holistic and "ecological" medicine;

ethnobotany Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...

; socially responsible entrepreneurship, business and philanthropy; the

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...

, women's and youth movements;

independent media Independent media refers to any media, such as television, newspapers or Internet-based publications, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications. Within the United States and other developed ...

; etc. In many cases the technological or social solutions to problems showcased are founded on emulation of natural self-organizing systems.

References

External links

Bioneers.org
- site of the Bioneers , Collective Heritage Institute.
Read a blog by Founder Kenny Ausubel
at

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

{{Authority control Environmental organizations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in New Mexico

Origin of name

Annual conference

See also

References

External links