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A4B8;84=2H In some ways, Andres Edwards says, the Bioneers are preaching to the choir, ‘But the choir gets rejuvenated—and that’s important.’
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At 20, the Bioneers conference celebrates art, knowledge and community By Michael Shapiro
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s a journalist in the 1970s and ’80s, Kenny Ausubel saw the coming environmental crisis. He decided to do something about it, becoming part of the solution by starting Seeds of Change, a New Mexico company promoting agricultural diversity by saving and selling rare and heirloom seeds. Soon he was connected with what he called “all these amazing Bioneers� (a contraction of “bio� and “pioneers�), and a friend said, “Why don’t you have a conference?� “I’d never been to a conference,� Ausubel
said in a phone interview earlier this month. The idea “didn’t grab� him, but Ausubel’s friend said, “Here’s $10,000—have a conference.� At that first conference in 1990, Ausubel realized that “within just a few hours of getting all these remarkable people together, it was like a revival meeting. I thought they’d all know each other, but I discovered that few did, even within the same fields.� That was 20 years ago. Today the conference, to be held this weekend at the Marin Center, has grown to more than a hundred speakers and almost 3,000 attendees. But don’t think for a second that it’s the kind of conference where the
audience just sits and listens. Its goal is participation and engagement, Ausubel says, and there are sessions designed to encourage attendees to “reimagine� their lives. After two decades of wild growth, the Bioneers has become an alternate version of the TED conference. It brings together an allstar roster of leading lights in fields ranging from permaculture to biomimicry (emulating natural systems to solve environmental problems) to green chemistry. And it goes beyond science with topics such as socially responsible herbal medicine, eco-psychology, cultivating women’s leadership, faith and nature, and a seed exchange hosted by the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. &%
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THE BOHEMIAN
10.13.10-10.19.10
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