Great Lakes Bioneers

Great Lakes Bioneers’ founders, Bob Russell and Sally VanFleck, were featured in this week’s free weekly The Northern Express. The feature is an interview with writer Anne Stanton discussing the state of the world. Those who know them will appreciate Stanton’s introduction: “Talking with Sally VanFleck and Bob Russell can either be highly motivating or deeply depressing.”

Look for the papers around Northern Michigan, they are literally everywhere, or read the article online after it is archived in a week or two at Northern Express Archive.

In February the Traverse City Record Eagle published a green edition supplement that featured one of our favorite Northern Michigan Bioneers, Jayne Leatherman Walker, from the Eco-Learning Center.

The article by Darcy Bluhm can be read here: A Growing Legacy: Jayne Leatherman Walker teaches sustainable living at The Farm. We couldn’t agree more with the author’s first sentiments that, “few people have made the commitment to overhaul a good portion of their lives to actually live the lifestyle” of living green like Jayne.

Image from 2004 by Gary Howe for a Bioneer Profile written by Jayson Spaulding when Jayne won the Great Lakes BIONEERS award.

Today, August 10, 2007, the 2nd hour of Science Friday will have a discussion about the “Farm Bill and What We Eat “  Guests include: Bioneer, Michael Pollan, Dr. Marion Nestle, and Sandor Ellix Katz. They will also be discussing what it takes to eat food that’s locally grown.

Listen to your local NPR station, or online at Science Friday. 

American Public Media’s Market Place, is asking for suggestions for its Let’s do the numbers segment!” On a daily basis, the show makes economics interesting and the let’s do the numbers is a look at the standard financial markets. But, the show now wants to know how you evaluate the state of the economy.  What number or statistic would you cite to illustrate the environmental and human effects of consumerism?

Some examples they give are: The Happy Planet Index , the decreasing number of (insert your favorite fruit here) species in the U.S., the growing acreage dedicated to shopping malls and landfills…How about the rate of return for a community using local currency.

Each year speakers at Bioneers give us numbers to think about, so be creative. Think of what Paul Stamets, or Van Jones, would suggest.
Oh, and if you think of it, let us know what you suggested.

Grace Lee Bogg is Detroit’s matriarchal activist; she was the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference-TC keynote speaker 3 year’s ago; and, an inspiration for all of us. She was recently interviewed by on Bill Moyer’s Journal on PBS. Watch online at www.pbs.org (transcript available) to hear her life story and to hear what it is that keeps her inspired to keep fighting for democracy and equality into her 92nd year. Her optimism, understanding and compassion is contagious.

Her final message for achieving change in the world? Do something local and we are the leaders we’ve been looking for. Right on, Grace!

Let us know what motivates you from this interview.

The Bogg’s Center can be found at: www.boggscenter.org

Just wanted to point you in the direction of one of the most informative BLOGS on the radar this past year–The Daily Table.

Recent posts discuss New York’s public health initiatives that include banning trans fats and teaching children nutrition, a series of posts about the protection of dairy cows (see the Cows Unite site, home to the Bovine Bill of Rights) and consistent discussion about the Farm Bill, or as we like to call it, the Food Bill. All their posts are chalked full of further links for your seeking of truth–it is out there!

Oh, and who can’t get enough of the Meatrix series? It is here as well.

And, since we are talking about food, this would be a good time to let you know that an expert of Michael Pollan’s presentation at last year’s BIONEERS conference, titled “Beyond the Bar Code: The Local Food Revolution” is available online at the Headwaters site…to purchase a copy of this plenary speech, or other Bioneer eco-products, use this link and help the Great Lakes Bioneers raise a little money.

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.

“We must choose a future for which our children and grandchildren will thank us”

Three notable videos from Oscar winning vice-president Al Gore’s trip to Capital Hill to brief the congress on the urgency of Global Warming. Also, this exchange between Gore nay-sayer Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and Committee chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is worth watching to really show the contempt some have for advocate s of change.

And remember, visit Step It Up 2007 for information on the April 14th Climate Change action and also read Bill McKibben’s recent article in the LA Times: Global Warming Can’t Buy Happiness

Events in Traverse City, Step It Up, TC! Get Lit For Less!, and Many other Great Lakes Cities

In the last few years we have been trying to document as much as the conference as possible. In 2006 we were able to record our Sunday morning keynote speaker, Holly Wren Spaulding.

She spoke about Fostering ideas and action for the long haul, “Tomorrow Begins Today”.

Spaulding has traveled extensively and her writings on social movements have appeared in many leading publications. To view or listen on your computer click HERE or visit www.glbconference.org

• Click the following link for more videos from Venting Media, including 2006 Closing w/ Daisy May “Shine On”

View this 4-minute short film that has been used in conjunction with events to tell the story of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge & the effort to drill for oil.

It accompanies the in-depth, one-hour-long Oil on Ice documentary. And remember, visit Step It Up 2007 for information on the April 14th Climate Change action.