Theme: Climate
Saturday, December 5th
In the words of the great climate scientist James Hansen “We can’t fix the climate until we fix our democracy.” That does not mean, however, a return to some mythical past, but taking a large step toward democratizing society and organizing governance according to the “original instructions” drawn from the best practices of earlier systems and of our own most compelling visions of the future. The Haudenosaunee (Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy) is one example of effective democratic governance. Franklin Roosevelt’s proposal for a “Second Bill of Rights” (1944) is another, one adapted to industrial democracy. We do not lack for powerful ideas and practical examples, but fulfilling the promise of democracy in our time will require systemic changes that: (a) serve the public good, not the interests of the powerful and wealthy; (b) render the economy subservient to society, not its master; and (c) extend unalienable rights and due process of law to future generations and nature. Hosted by Monika Bauerlein, Co-Editor of Mother Jones. With: David Orr, founder of the State of American Democracy Project; Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onandaga nation, Haudenosaunee; Maine State Senator Chloe Maxmin.
December 5th | 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm
Panelists
David Orr
Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics (Emeritus) | Oberlin College
David W. Orr, a Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics (Emeritus) at Oberlin College, is a pioneering, award-winning thought leader in the fields of Sustainability and Ecological Literacy. The author and co-author of countless articles and papers and several seminal books, including, most recently, Dangerous Years: Climate Change and the Long Emergency, he has served as a board member or adviser to many foundations and organizations (including Bioneers!). His current work is on the state of our democracy
Monika Bauerlein
CEO | Mother Jones
Monika Bauerlein is the award-winning CEO of Mother Jones, one of the most important and impactful investigative journalism institutions in the U.S. Born in Germany but widely traveled, she had an extensive journalistic career as a writer and editor until coming to Mother Jones in 2000. Under her and now Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery's leadership, MOJO has become one of the rare success stories in contemporary independent journalism, winning three National Magazine Awards.
Oren Lyons
Faithkeeper | Onandaga Nation, Haudenosaunee
Oren Lyons, a Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan who serves as a Member Chief of the Onondaga Council of Chiefs and the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy (i.e. the Haudenosaunee peoples), is an accomplished artist, social and environmental activist, and author; a Professor Emeritus at SUNY Buffalo; a leading voice at the UN Permanent Forum on Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples; and the recipient of many prestigious national and international prizes including The UN NGO World Peace Prize. Oren also serves on the boards of several major nonprofit organizations and social enterprises; is founder and Principal of One Bowl Productions, a purpose driven film and TV production company; and is an All-American Lacrosse Hall of Famer and Honorary Chairman of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team.
Chloe Maxmin
State Senator | Maine
Chloe Maxmin, hailing from rural Maine, is a Maine State Senator just elected in 2020 after unseating a two-term Republican incumbent and (former) Senate Minority Leader. In 2018, she served in the Maine House of Representatives after becoming the first Democrat to win her rural conservative district. Chloe is seeking to develop a new politics for rural America, and she and her campaign manager, Canyon Woodward, are currently writing a book for Beacon Press about their electoral success and political goals.
Saturday, December 12th
In a world on fire with multiple, epochal crises, how do we nurture hope, build power and contribute meaningfully? How do we catalyze and sustain the personal and collective transformations this immense planetary challenge calls for? Though the problems seem larger than life, our greatest power may in fact lie in our closest communities, in small daily acts of courage and conviction, in small groups of unstoppable world-changers, and small gardens that revitalize communities and reconnect us to nature’s operating instructions.
December 12th | 10:49 am to 11:04 am
Keynote
Trathen Heckman
Founder and Director | Daily Acts Organization
Trathen Heckman is the founder/Director of Daily Acts Organization, a non-profit dedicated to “transformative action that creates connected, equitable, climate resilient communities.” He also serves on the convening committee for Localizing California Waters and the advisory board of Norcal Resilience Network, and he has helped initiate and lead numerous coalitions and networks including Climate Action Petaluma. Trathen lives in the Petaluma River Watershed where he grows food, medicine and wonder while composting apathy and lack.
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, one of the nation’s most innovative thought leaders in ocean and coastal conservation and recent co-creator of the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy, explains how she developed a passion for marine biology and ocean conservation, and draws from the brand new anthology of wisdom by women climate leaders she co-edited with Katharine Wilkinson, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, to share her vision of how emerging forms of honest, heart-centered leadership can help humanity address the greatest crisis it has ever faced.
December 12th | 11:05 am to 11:20 am
Keynote
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
CEO and Founder | Ocean Collectiv
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a Brooklyn native marine biologist and policy expert, is founder and CEO of Ocean Collectiv, a strategy-consulting firm for conservation solutions, and founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank focused on coastal cities. Her mission is to build community around solutions for our climate crisis. She is co-editor of All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, a brand new anthology of wisdom by women climate leaders.
The climate change ship has left the harbor, and what confronts us is the urgent need to accomplish multiple goals simultaneously: reducing and then eliminating greenhouse gas pollution; rapidly scaling up drawdown efforts by returning carbon to the soil; and building the resilience and adaptive capacity in our societal systems to face the multi-pronged crises coming our way. And we must do it all with an equity lens at the center. It’s a tall order, but it’s non-optional. Luckily, there are people and projects all over the country and the world providing effective pathways forward for integrated climate action, using “whole problem” approaches. By leveraging collaboration across multiple sectors, these visionary leaders are outlining revolutionary blueprints for the next wave of essential work we need to do. Moderated by Kerry Fugett, Leadership Institute Manager of Daily Acts. With: Trathen Heckman, founder and Director of Daily Acts; Lil Milagro Henriquez, founder and Executive Director of Mycelium Youth Network; Brett KenCairn, Boulder, Colorado’s Senior Policy Advisor for Climate and Resilience and Director of the Urban Drawdown Initiative.
December 12th | 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm
Panelists
Trathen Heckman
Founder and Director | Daily Acts Organization
Trathen Heckman is the founder/Director of Daily Acts Organization, a non-profit dedicated to “transformative action that creates connected, equitable, climate resilient communities.” He also serves on the convening committee for Localizing California Waters and the advisory board of Norcal Resilience Network, and he has helped initiate and lead numerous coalitions and networks including Climate Action Petaluma. Trathen lives in the Petaluma River Watershed where he grows food, medicine and wonder while composting apathy and lack.
Lil Milagro Henriquez
Founder and Executive Director | Mycelium Youth Network
Lil Milagro Henriquez, founder (in 2017) and Executive Director of Mycelium Youth Network, an organization dedicated to empowering young people of color around climate change issues, is a veteran of social justice organizing with 18+ years' experience working on a range of issues, including: access to higher education for low-income people and communities of color; food sovereignty; environmental racism; and labor organizing; among others. She is a current recipient of a Women's Earth Alliance fellowship.
Brett KenCairn
Senior Policy Advisor for Climate and Resilience | Boulder, Colorado
Brett KenCairn, Boulder, Colorado's Senior Policy Advisor for Climate and Resilience, coordinates the city's climate action and climate resilience strategies and leads development of its carbon drawdown focus area. He initiated and now leads a multi-city collaboration called the Urban Drawdown Initiative co-launched with the Urban Sustainability Director's Network and Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance. Previously, Brett founded or co-founded several organizations, including the Rogue River Institute for Ecology and Economy, Veterans Green Jobs, and Community Energy Systems, and he has worked across the western U.S. in community-based initiatives in rural, Native American and other marginalized communities.
Kerry Fugett
Leadership Institute Manager | Daily Acts
Kerry Fugett facilitates and co-creates the Leadership Institute for Just and Resilient Communities at the non-profit, Daily Acts. She previously served as Executive Director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, leading grassroots campaigns to eliminate synthetic pesticides, facilitating coalition building, canvassing to elect environmental leaders, and organizing mutual support during record-breaking fires in Northern CA. One of her main areas of focus is the weaving of antiracism into community-led climate justice movements.
NOTE: This is a 120-minute session in which we will break up into 5 cohorts of 6-8 people, so register early because it is limited to 35 participants.
This session will be an interactive intergenerational futurist role-playing game in which people of all ages will collaborate to create a new future based on resilience and justice, centering the vision and leadership of younger generations. Participants will be placed into separate groups of 6-8 people who will then embark on an immersive journey through an eco-futurist, post-apocalypse world. Upon registration, you will receive a packet that explains the game, and each of us will select a specific character to embody in the scenario.
A game master will facilitate each separate cohort. The intention is to be in the play and practice of collective decision-making for resilience and justice, honoring the wisdom and visions that different generations and identities hold. Youth participants will make up the majority in every cohort, ensuring that youth voices are centered in self-determining the world of the future.
At the end of the game, the whole larger group will come back together and each team will share the choices they made and how those decisions shaped their outcomes. Inevitably, each group will have made different choices based on who was in the room and whose voices were most valued. This game is also designed to help demonstrate the multiplicity of imagined futures that we could step into at any given moment. By exploring themes of apocalypse and resilience through play, we open up space for radically imagining what is possible together from a place of curiosity and possibility.
If you are a youth (age 13 – 22) that would like to register for this session on scholarship, please email maya@bioneers.org.
December 12th | 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
Panelists
Lil Milagro Henriquez
Founder and Executive Director | Mycelium Youth Network
Lil Milagro Henriquez, founder (in 2017) and Executive Director of Mycelium Youth Network, an organization dedicated to empowering young people of color around climate change issues, is a veteran of social justice organizing with 18+ years' experience working on a range of issues, including: access to higher education for low-income people and communities of color; food sovereignty; environmental racism; and labor organizing; among others. She is a current recipient of a Women's Earth Alliance fellowship.
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