The
Bioneers celebrated another annual conference in San
Rafael this past October. This was my fifth one and
I’m always exhilirated when I attend. It’s
not only inspiring, but audiences have the rare
opportunity of seeing and listening to the best
visionaries and biological pioneers throughout the
country passionately speaking about their work in
restoring our planet as well as ourselves.
The days are packed with presenters giving their
major talks in the morning while the afternoons are
crammed with up to 15 different smaller workshops and
slide show presentations... from indigenous shamanic
psychoactive plants to urban farming to mushrooms
devouring E-coli and petrochemical compounds to youth
activism... along with an Exhibit Hall with more than
50 booths buzzing with people desiring to learn more
about this new movement that is speaking about
restoration and sustainability.
Bioneers is an umbrella organization that encompasses
a plethora of activities all designed to make major
impacts on restoring the planet. Its focus is on the
biological, the political and the spiritual
dimensions of this dedicatedly enthusiastic movement.
Wade Davis spoke about the varieties of belief
systems within the almost extinct indigenous tribes,
their shamanic practices as well as a need to
understand our arrogant preponderance toward
superiority. Paul Stamets spoke about how mycelium
spores are being used to transform petrochemical and
E-coli compounds to organic material as well as
assisting in eliminating ants, beetles and termites
without toxic chemicals. Gabriel Howearth showed a
slide presentation about his property in Baja where
just in a matter of 4 years, he and his wife have
created an oasis of medicinal plants, herbs, trees,
an edible food forest, housing (where no trees are
cut down), water catchment systems... in a climate
that only gets 4 days of rain a year. He also showed
photos of endangered plants from war-torn areas that
he has planted.
Peter Montague from Rachel’s Weekly spoke about
how the corporate press will not cover: 1) the
working class; 2) technologies that kill; and 3)
corporate elites who are undermining our democratic
principles. He also spoke about the 60,000 people in
the US who die each year from industrial poisons;
that’s more than people who die from AIDS, who
get killed by cars or who are shot by hand-guns.
Speaking about bio-terrorism he (along with others at
the conference) spoke about US mother’s milk
that is so toxic that most countries would not be
able to sell it on the shelves. How come we
don’t speak about bio-terrorism at home? JL
Chestnut spoke about how his law firm succeeded in
getting 8 billion dollars via a law suit for the
black farmer in the US. His firm is now going after
the US for compensation for Native American and
Latino farmers. His comments about the current
administration resulted in howls and numerous
standing ovations (watch out for the video of his
presentation soon to be shown at the Palm Theatre).
One of the most inspiring talks of all was from Diane
Wilson, an "uneducated" [her word] mother
of five and shrimp farmer. She became furious when
she learned of the polluters Alcoa Aluminum, Union
Carbide, Dupont, and Formosa Plastics who were
dumping chemicals into the Texan Gulf Coast. Because
of her outrage she soon became very knowledgeable of
discharges, toxicity, endocrine disrupters and zero
discharge emissions. She organized Vietnamese
fisherman and single mother fisherwomen to take down
the polluters. In 1995 she won zero discharge
agreements from Formosa Plastics, one of the largest
producers of PVC in the world and has now written a
book about her civil disobedience experiences (her
presentation video will also be shown at the Palm
soon).
For more details of how to order Bioneer audio and
video tapes, go to www.conferencerecording.com or go
to www.bioneers.org to find out the latest of what
the Bioneers are up to.
HopeDance had a booth at the conference where new
subscribers, donations, new listserv participants,
and connections happened. We received a number of
videos and books for review, so stay tuned. If you
are interested in reviewing Bioneer-like videos and
books, give us a call at (805) 544-9663.
Bob Banner
