Great Lakes Bioneers

Anyone interested in Carpooling from Northern Michigan???

DIANE WILSON, Author, founder of Code Pink, Environmental & Peace Activist will speak on THURSDAY, MAY 10, at 7:00 pm in the General Lectures Building NW corner of Warren and Anthony Wayne Drive/ Third Avenue, Wayne State University Campus, in Detroit. This event is FREE and open to the public. Copies of An Unreasonable Woman will be available for signing at the event. This will be an exciting event and a great opportunity to see how one person can make a difference and truly change the world. This talk and booksigning are co-sponsored by the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, Wayne State University and The Book Beat bookstore.

Diane Wilson was a 2005 Bioneers Plenary Speaker.

“We’re losing ground. This planet is losing ground. So things need to happen and they need to happen quick. Our message should be loud and clear there comes a time when the home needs protecting and the line needs drawing and anybody that dares cross it acts at their own peril.” — Diane Wilson

Last Monday was a typical potluck at the Neahtawanta Inn; many splendid dishes of food; kids running around; lots of animated conversation; a selection of wine; and some Bioneers literature strewn around.

What set it apart as a special occasion were the guests of honor: Nina Simons and Kenny Ausubel, founders and co-directors of Bioneers. They live in Santa Fe where the main Bioneers office is located. They were in Traverse City to attend a Kellogg Foundation sponsored conference, Food and Society, held this year at the Grand Traverse Resort.

After filling our plates and stomachs with an incredible array of amazing food (we do potlucks well), we settled in for a discussion with Kenny and Nina. What followed was a wide-ranging conversation about the ripples that Bioneers is making in this country and beyond. We heard from Nina about her work helping to train women in leadership skills and empowerment and how important it is in these challenging times to have women in places of power. She spoke with genuine admiration about the depth and richness of the Bioneers communities sprouting up at each satellite site. Kenny talked about how excited they are to be getting involved in their own community around local issues, now that there’s a satellite site in Santa Fe. This local organizing has spawned a state-wide initiative in New Mexico about local food.

The Bioneers community is very also excited about a film called The 11th Hour, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, that is based on interviews with over 70 people, most of who are past plenary speakers from previous Bioneers conferences. Kenny is in the film and he and Nina met with Leonardo and advised him about the film. It will be widely released in the fall of ‘07, right before the conference. We talked about the fact that many of the Bioneers principles and concepts are creeping into the mainstream and how this challenges us to redefine the “new normal”.

They raved about the line-up of the 2007 Bioneers plenary speakers for this year’s conference, giving us a sneak preview of some of the new voices to Bioneers (13 of the 15 speakers are first-time plenary speakers). The evening came to a close with a few moments of silence as we all soaked in the energy and deep connection in the room.

We were honored and pleased to have them as guests, and welcome them back anytime for one of the best potluck dinners out there. —Sally Van Vleck

It’s not too late for us all to shift gears and celebrate National Downshifting Week. I know, a lot is going on, there are things you HAVE to do. But, if we are serious eco-minded activists, we have an obligation to “slow down and green up.” All right, now I need to run and get some stuff done.
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National Downshifting Week

Saturday 21st to Friday 27th April 2007
… permission to extend the Week

Prairie Home Companion features Daisy May and Seth Bernard

The Earthwork Music Collective is one of Great Lakes Bioneers’ favorite partners and we’ve enjoyed their concerts, workshops, and stories.

Members of this collective spill enthusiasm and love for life and community. Seth Bernard and Daisy May Erlewine, cornerstones of Earthwork Music, will be featured on Praire Home Companion April 21.

This weekend marks the first annual People In their Twenties Talent Show on Praire Home Companion and this fabulous duo are one of six finalists chosen from among 740 entries.

You can vote online for your favorite artist Saturday night, April 21 at 7pm EST (show starts live at 6pm) by hitting the Prairie Home Companion homepage.

You can also watch the show with friends at Short’s Brewery in Bellaire, and then catch two more Earthworkers - Jen Sygit and Rachel Davis - live right after!

We’re proud that Michigan’s waters have fostered such amazing musicianship and so glad to know these musicians personally. Break a leg!!

Last night four of us from the Great Lakes Bioneers Committee previewed the film, Crude Impact, for possible showing at the conference in October in Traverse City. The movie would definitely fall in the “downer” category, chronicling the history of the rise of the oil industry and its profound effects on civilization. Divided into sections such as “human impact”, “environmental impact”, “military implications”, “media impact” etc., the film employs articulate analysts, such as Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, who make the case for reigning in oil consumption, along with stunning graphics and footage from around the world. It addresses the disproportionate use of oil, showing the over consumptive practices of the developed world compared to the abject poverty, suffering and oppression of the poorest people who reside in the countries where the oil is extracted.

The concept of peak oil is explained and its consequences predicted in terms of increased violence, rising prices, and more environmental degradation. Yes, it’s a downer movie. We’d rather not know that our lifestyle is responsible for the suffering of billions of people. Let’s just keep recycling, planting trees, driving to meetings to talk about sustainability, and keep buying products to make us happy.

And yet…perhaps we need to allow ourselves some discomfort. Maybe it’s time (overdue?) to look squarely at our role in this crisis. The people in Nigeria who are being exploited, whose homes, lands and way of life are being destroyed are powerless. It is up to us in the developed countries to make the necessary changes, no matter how uncomfortable to our cushy lifestyle, to seek solutions to the global energy crisis and its consequences.

The movie ends with a few suggestions for change. They are:

1. Become involved in the democratic process to change the policies of our government to a more sustainable path
2. Look at our own ecological footprint and reduce it
3. Seek out hope and don’t give in to despair and resignation

All 3 of these suggestions are promoted by the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference, especially the last one: focusing on positive solutions to bring us back into balance with Earth’s systems.

After the movie, I wasn’t any more depressed than I was beforehand. I already know that we’re on an unsustainable path that is causing unacceptable suffering by our fellow humans. The movie increased my resolve and determination to do my part. Bioneers offers an outlet and opportunity for all of us who want to be part of the solution.

-Sally Van Vleck

The 2007 Earth Day parade is soon upon us! On Saturday April 21 come join all the four and two legged, feathered and non-feathered, water and land, creatures, for a march along Front Street in Traverse City. The parade lineup is at noon at Central Grade School and the parade begins at 1 PM.

Get all the details on the Little Artshram blog! As you can see, the weather is looking good.

The workers at the Earth Day Workshops have been busy building puppets at the Art Center in Traverse City. Louie Blouin puts the final touches on a chicken (?) on Sunday April 15th. There is certainly still opportunities to help out in the final week. Visit the Little Artshram for all the details!

Other Earth Day events planned:

1. NMEAC EOY and Bioneer of the Year Award> Friday April 20th
2. Self serve, self haul compost is yours FREE > Saturday, April 21st
3. Free Blue Spruce trees> Saturday , April 21st
4. Empty Bowls> Fresh Food Partnership> Sunday, April 22nd

Tuesday, April 24th from 6:30 to 9:00 PM MSU Horticultural Research Station 6686 S Center Hwy Traverse City, MI 49684 (off of Bingham Rd in Leelanau County)

A free evening talk with “Fermentation Revivalist” Sandor Ellix Katz, author of Wild Fermentation and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved.

This event will also launch of Nancy & Pat Curley’s (Past Great Lakes Bioneers Planning committee members!) new local fermented-foods business, Leelanau Cultured Veggies, with tastings and a talk about their seed-to-jar process of FARMentation.

This event is free - please register here!

The Folks at Little Artshram and associates are busy preparing for the Earthday Parade. This years’ theme is “Global Warming: The Tipping Point”.

They need your help. If you want to plan, brainstorm, organize, fundraise, give money and/or supplies, sculpt, sew, papier-mâché, staple, build, paint, cook food, usher, clean up, sing songs, play music, or dance please join them!

Information can be found on their BLOG: Little Artshram

For a little Perspective on the recent United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, visit From the Wheelhouse.

On April 15th, the work of Wallace J. Nichols, who will be one of the speakers at the 2007 Bioneers Conference, will be feature on the PBS TV Series NATURE. The program will air at 8PM on April 15th in Northern Michigan. Check PBS for your schedule.

Perhaps a house party is in order! We will keep you posted if we here of any. In the meantime check out the footage: Voyage of the Lonely Turtle

Program Summary:
In 1996, Wallace J. Nichols, Jeffrey Seminoff, and Antonio Resendiz set Adelita, a female loggerhead sea turtle on the beach at Santa Rosalita in Baja California with a satellite transmitter bonded to her shell, and wished her well. Adelita would eventually make the 6,000-plus mile journey from Baja California to her birthplace of Kyushu Island, Japan, confirming that animals do cross the Pacific Ocean and that what we do on one side of the ocean impacts the other side.

Adelita’s journey was truly the start of an ocean revolution.

Adelita was the first sea turtle to wear a satellite transmitter bonded to her shell and head out across the Pacific Ocean. Whenever Adelita would surface, the one-pound transmitter would beam her location to a satellite, tracking her movements from the Baja California peninsula all the way to Japan. For the first time, researchers had confirmation that sea turtle conservation programs must span the globe in order to be effective.

On April 15, tune in to PBS’s Nature series for “Voyage of the Lonely Turtle,” and follow Adelita on her epic journey.

Bioneers Plenary Details:

WALLACE J. NICHOLS
“A Brave New Ocean or an Ocean Revolution?”
Space-based research and new deep sea technologies have resulted in an explosion of information about the ocean. To change our destructive course we must harness this knowledge, make it accessible to everyone and creatively communicate what the state of the oceans means to the future of life on our planet.
bio: Wallace J. Nichols, Ph.D. (www.wallacejnichols.org) is a scientist, ocean activist, author and a dad. He’s senior scientist at the Ocean Conservancy and a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences. He works with many non-profit organizations, youth, fishermen and researchers around the world to build an Ocean Revolution. He’s especially fond of sea turtles.

“It’s all Connected! It’s all Alive! Beaming Bioneers and your local food co-op” by Steve Cooke, Ellen Michel , and our very own Great Lakes Bioneers’ coordinator, and SEEDs executive director, Sarna Salzman.

This article explains why cooperative groceries and the Bioneers make a perfect match. And, don’t forget, one of our strongest supporters,the Oryana Natural Foods Cooperative is set to open its grand expansion this summer. Stop in and say thank you.

Don’t be late for NMEAC’s 18th Annual Environmentalist of the Year celebration!

When: Friday, April 20, 2007
Where: Waterfront Conference Center, Traverse City
Time: 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Featured Speaker: Glen Chown, Executive Director, Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy
Locally Grown and Produced Appetizers 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Co-Sponsored by the Great Lakes Bioneers, where we present the Great Lakes Bioneer of the Year Award.

Call 947-3280 for more information, and to nominate your EOY contenders, visit: www.nmeac.org

Bioneers luminary Bill McKibben is starting a movement and we are working together to invite your support and participation. Bill wrote early and often about the perils posed by climate change and we both feel it is the single greatest threat to civilization. So far, save for one march last year, there have been no mass protests, no large-scale gatherings of humanity to signal this dilemma and call for its prevention.On April 14, a new organization called Step It Up 2007 is inviting organizations to hold rallies and events across the country. So far, over 300 events are planned in 39 states. Please go to Step It Up 2007 and join one or create an event in your community. It can be as humble as a sign, as entertaining as theater, or as bold as a mass demonstration.

For More information visit: Step It Up 2007

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Another Bioneers Luminary, David Orr, is helping organize Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America (www.focusthenation.org).

Focus the Nation is coordinating teams of faculty, students, and at over a thousand colleges, universities and K-12 schools in the United States, to collaboratively engage in a nationwide, interdisciplinary discussion about “Global Warming Solutions for America”. View a video about the project on YouTube.

Focus the Nation is calling for educators and students to join them at the University of Las Vegas in Nevada this April, to help build an educated and engaged citizenry at a Free conference. For more information and to register, visit: April Conference