Great Lakes Bioneers

Great Lakes Bioneers Volunteers Reception
We really appreciated everything you do, even if it is taking a necessary nap!
Come join us on Thursday, 22 May 2008 From : 5:30pm To : 7:30pm
Stop by to sign up for a BIONEERS sub-committee and/or volunteer for tasks before or during the conference. Refreshments will be provided by Homegrown Organic Eatery and Right Brain Brewery.

Fee?? No way. This is a free event to say thank you for all that you’ve done to make the Great Lakes BIONEERS an year round inspiration.

For more Information, email : info@bioneers.org

TAKE A FAIR TRADE BREAK on WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY
SATURDAY, MAY 10TH all day at Unity, Higher Grounds, and Oryana
TC’S LARGEST FAIR TRADE COFFEE BREAK is at 3PM at Unity

For the official international Web site, go to: World Fair Trade Day
Come join in these local events to celebrate the movement to make trade fair. Learn about the benefits of fair trade (FT), and taste the difference that respect, love and dignity can make in chocolate, coffee, olive oil, fruit preserves, bananas and other fair trade products.

Unity FT Marketplace will be tasting free FT coffee, chocolate, etc all day, as well as holding a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to the store full of FT fashion, toys, books, and beautiful/useful home decor. join us here at 3PM for the official TC’s largest fair trade coffee break Lets get the whole town together to join in this awesome celebration 113 E State St. (in the alley behind the City Opera House) 929-4228 http://unityfairtrade.com/

Higher Grounds and Oryana all day will be tasting free fair trade coffee, local FT fruit preserves and other FT goodies. Come check out their SALES on FT products in honor of WFTD

Oryana: 260 E.10th St. (at Lake st) 947-0191 http://www.oryana.coop/

Higher Grounds: 806 Red Dr., Suite 150 (the old state hospital) 922-9009 http://www.highergroundstrading.com/

What is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is an alternative way of doing business, one that builds equitable, long-term partnerships between consumers in North America and producers in developing regions. Fair Trade businesses commit to:

• Paying a fair wage in the local context.
• Offering employees opportunities for advancement.
• Providing equal opportunities for all people, particularly the most disadvantaged.
• Engaging in environmentally sustainable practices.
• Being open to public accountability.
• Building long-term trade relationships.
• Providing healthy and safe working conditions within the local context.
• Providing financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible.
This criteria was established by the Fair Trade Federation.

This Just In, Corporations are ruling the world! OK, so that’s old news but if your looking for a comprehensive and entertaining look at the creation of the modern corporate machine, visit our friends at the State Theatre (www.statetheatrtc.org) tonight to view the screening of THE CORPORATION (www.thecorporation.com).

Taking the corporation’s legal status as a “person” to its logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist’s couch to ask “What kind of person is it?” Provoking, witty, sweepingly informative…and, either depressing as hell or a stimulus package of a different sort.

When: Tonight!!! April 28 at 7:30 at the Traverse City State Theatre… www.statetheatretc.org
This film is part of the on going Monday night Community film series, tonight’s host is the Unitarian/Universalist group

Second Annual Skill Swap–registration now open!
Presented by our friends at ISLAND and the Wagbo Peace Center is now taking registrations for the event on May 10, 2008 from 9 to 3 at Wagbo Peace Center in East Jordan. On display with hands on experience are 15 skills that build self-reliance, taught by your friends and neighbors, along with a fresh local and wild foods lunch and a post-workshop contra dance! Skills include bread baking, seed starting, irrigation for water saving, handmade paper making, timber stand improvement and more!

Early registration is $25 per person, kids 14 and under free! Add lunch for just $5.

All the information you need and online registration is at www.artmeetsearth.org/skillswap.htmlSkills Workshops:

Session I (9:30 to 10:55)
Baking Bread: Yeasted & Sourdough
Seed Starting & Transplanting
Irrigation for Water Saving
Handmade Paper Making
Timber Stand Improvement

Session II (11:05 to 12:30)
Chicken Processing
Seed Saving
Earth Floor Construction
Handmade Soap
Cook for a Crowd (& make lunch!)

Session III (1:30 to 2:55)
Friction Fire Starting
Cultured Foods
All About Herbs
Pruning Fruit Trees
Earthwise Cleaning Products

Once again we are honored to be invited as part of the annual NMEAC Environmentalist of the Year Event.

WHEN: Friday, 18 April 2008 From: 6:00pm–9:00pm
WHERE: The Waterfront Conference Center, US 31 North at 4 Mile Road.
WHAT: Good food, good company and deserving awards. Keynote speaker will be Dr. Howard Tanner, former head of the MDNR and lifelong conservation advocate. Open to the Public and tickets available at the Door- adults$20.00, seniors $10.00 , kids $5.00

The Great Lakes BIONEERS will also be presenting the annual Bioneers award. And, since we just can’t wait, this year’s BOY goes to acclaimed author and activist, Stephanie Mills.

Check out www.nmeac.org or www.glbconference.org for additional information.

Saturday, MARCH 15, 2008 Earth Day Parade Fundraiser….

The annual “Bring in the Spring” kick-off event to mark the beginning of the Earth Day parade-building workshops is set. Join the community to CELEBRATE the arrival of Spring!

It will be a marvelous evening of family fun, with a Puppet Fashion Show, featuring fantastic Garbage Art Creations- Light refreshments will be served, followed with a dance-dance-to the Earth Day Revolution-Party!

This is a “Swanky” event—so haul out your fancy duds and let’s have some high-class, crazy puppet fun!

$10 each/ $25 per family

6-9 PM at the ArtCenter of Traverse City corner of Elmwood and 11th St.

for more information: www.littleartshram.org
Dede 231-276-2328 or, 231-510-3491

Full Press Release & Film Description: King Corn (PDF)

This March 31st, follow the journey of two college friends as they purchase, grow and sell an acre of commodity corn in Iowa. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll definitely read your ingredient labels differently.

Mon., March 31 > Pre-Film Reception 5:30-7 > Film 7:30

Great Lakes BIONEERS presents the documentary film, King Corn from Mosaic Films Inc., at the Traverse City State Theatre on Monday, March 31 at 7:30 PM. Before the film, join our special guests at a Locavore Hors d’Oeuvres Challenge hosted by Serenity Tea Bar and Café, located across Front St. from the theater from 5:30-7:00PM. The community is welcome to participate in the Locavore Hors d’Oeuvres Challenge by bringing a finger-food that features ingredients grown and produced within our local foodshed. A dish is not required and the pre-film reception is free.

King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the East coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat—and how we farm.

“If you take a McDonald’s meal, you don’t realize it when you eat it, but you’re eating corn. Beef has been corn-fed. Soda is corn. Even the French fries. Half the calories in the French fries come from the fat they’re fried in, which is liable to be either corn oil or soy oil. So when you’re at McDonald’s, you’re eating Iowa food. Everything on your plate is corn,” says author and UC Berkeley professor, Michael Pollan.
How did the tyranny of corn come to be? Is it possible Americans eat nearly 75 pounds of high fructose corn syrup annually? Why do we spend billions per year subsidizing a single crop?

Great Lakes BIONEERS and Oryana Natural Foods Market have teamed up to bring co-Producer, Ian Cheney, to Traverse City for the event. Meet Ian before the film at the Serenity Tea Bar and Café and stay after the film for a quick Q&A. Talkin’ Bout Making Culture, a locally produced documentary about Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, in Michigan will also be shown at the pre-film reception. .

Great Lakes BIONEERS would also like to thank Edible Grande Traverse and the Michigan Land Use Institute for additional contributions.

For ticket information: www.statetheatretc.org

Holiday Reception at Unity Fair Trade

Come support new owners, Vicki and Art Kinney and shop sustainably!!!

When: Tuesday evening, December, 18th; from 7:00 to 9:00 PM
What: Community, refreshments and music
Where: Unity Fair Trade Market (located in the alley behind Union Street Station)
Who: sponsored by the Great Lakes Bioneers Committee

“It is difficult to believe our story, but if we don’t tell you, you won’t know.”

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to screen WAR/DANCE for our Saturday night film. This documentary tells the story of Dominic, Rose, Nancy and their school in the Patongo Internally Displaced Persons camp as they take an historic journey to compete in Uganda’s national music and dance festival. This powerful and vivid film received the Best Non-Fiction Film award at the 2007 Traverse City Film Festival. It is schedule to hit theaters nationally on November 2, and so this is an opportunity for people in Northern Michigan to once again see this film before its official release.

The film is presented by the Great Lakes Bioneers as part of the annual Great Lakes Bioneers Conference held on the campus of Northwestern Michigan College October 19-21, 2007. Its open to everyone, so even if you can’t make the conference, come join us for a movie.

We will be accepting donations at the event on behalf of the Patongo Scholarship Fund, which is overseen by the co-director of War/Dance, Sean Fine.

BIONEERS at the Movies!
October 20th in the Milliken Auditorium
$7/$5 students
Doors open at 7PM, Film at 7:30PM

For more info: ART meets EARTH

Student Registration available here on September 1. Printable poster here (PDF)

Registration brochures have been sent out and we are beginning to receive a your registrations. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We also offer secure online registration. It helps us save some paper and it even helps us with some of the adminstration time, so we encourage you to register online.

Great Lakes Bioneers Online Registration

Download a Registration Brochure (PDF)

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

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!!

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.

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