If you were at the October 19th Earthwork Musicians concert you heard the premier of May Erlewine’s “A Letter from Downstream“. May has made the song available on the Save the Wild Up Website.
We all live downstream, so while you are at their site, please donate to help stop sulfide mining. Below are some additional images from the Earthwork Musicians concert.
Images By Gary L Howe
There will be more images from the 2007 Great Lakes Bioneers Conference online soon, but we wanted to share the local news coverage we received this past weekend–The links are below. Here, our farmer-chef extraordinare, Todd Springer, takes a moment out of lunch to talk with 9&10 News.
You can also find images from other Bioneers sites on the Bioneers Flickr
Watch Online: TV 9&10 News
Local Newspaper: Record Eagle
And, Thank you to the Record Eagle for including us in their weekly Cheers section on the opinion page.
– To the Great Lakes Bioneers, who held their sixth annual conference at NMC over the weekend to spread the word about organic farming, alternative energy, the environment, social issues and more. Events included sessions on challenges facing migrant workers in northern Michigan, wind energy in the state and integrating social activism into family life. Weekend programs were to include sessions on natural and healthy foods, green building and marine ecology.
Food and music. I guess that’s our favorite subject.
Here’s some of Gary Howe’s shots of the first day of the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference in Traverse City. Marty Heller was our first local keynote reminding us that the local food movement is very radical and also very alive in Michigan.
There were more kids than ever running around with the new family friendly space and workshops.
Todd Springer mixes a mess of local greens for our lunches. We ate them along with corn pone and, yes, some tofu chili.
Sally Neal was first in line for lunch. She is one of the many amaaaaazing Sally’s who work on our conference.
Ten musicians graced our stage Friday evening for the Earthwork Concert. Make that 13 with three surprise - and somewhat shy - guest stars (not pictured here). Songs were medicine tonight. From the ice age to the future and back again; literally. It’s never too late to take back the future.
The Great Lakes BIONEERS made the front page of the B section in today’s Record Eagle. Pioneering healthier living: Great Lakes Bioneers convene by Cymbre Foster gives a rounded description of what we are offering at the 2007 conference–”from local farmers, green builders, water keepers, small business owners, teachers, healers, artists”.
Read the full article here: Pioneering healthier living: Great Lakes Bioneers convene
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Jan-Michael Stump/Record-Eagle
Less than two weeks to go…Are you registered?
We can no long accept registrations that are mailed in, because we just can’t guarantee that they will get to us in time. You can certainly still register online at our secure online registration (until the 14th), or simply come and register on site.
Downloads you might want:
1. Registration Brochure (PDF)
2. Registration Form (PDF)
Recently, Great Lakes Bioneers, both Traverse City and Detroit, were given a nice shout out in the TC Business News. The article also features our favorite bakers…Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery and Avalon International Breads.
Read it here: Michigan bakeries share social model for success
TBYT (timeday.org), a nonprofit, launches a national campaign for mandating 3 week minimum vacation for all American workers. The US is the only industrial nation that fails to legally protect its citizens’
vacations. Last year, 25 percent of American workers got no paid vacation at all, while 43% didn’t even take a solid week off.
“Three week vacations have proven to be a boost to productivity and profits at enlightened American firms with that policy. Performance goes up when people come back from a vacation,” said Joe Robinson, author of Work to Live. “In the knowledge economy, the source of true productivity is a refreshed and energized mind.”
“What we’re asking for is quite modest when you consider that residents of most industrial countries get five or six weeks off and that the absolute minimum in Europe is twenty days of paid vacation after the first year on the job,” said Take Back Your Time’s Executive Director Lisa Stuebing.
Contact:
Lisa Stuebing
Seattle, WA
Take Back Your Time, Executive Director
206-524-6788
lisa@timeday.org
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:
“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.
Looking for a useful petition to sign?
The folks at FreePress are leading the call to save Internet radio from the prohibitive restrictions of massive increases in royalty rates for nonprofit and commercial “webcasters”. Internet radio provides an outlet for new artists, independent performers and endless variety of musical genres that aren’t available anywhere else. The recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board to is a mistake and they need to hear from people who utilize it. You can read more about it on the Save Our Internet Radio Blog, and please sign the online petition and contact your federal representatives now!
Also, at Freepress.net you can support Net Neutrality by learning more about the topic an signing those online petitions as well. There are also useful Letter to the Editor building tools to make it easy to voice your opinion in regional newspapers.
You may also notice a video by Bioneer pleanary speaker Van Jones at this year’s National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis. Van Jones closed the conference, watch HERE, and at the end of his remarks he made a plea to work together after the conference; not to fall into an over-critical analysis of Free Press and the conference.
“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
The headwaters has announced the Beaming Bioneers Conference locations for 2007.
You can find more information on each site at the Beaming Bioneers Web page.
Where are you located?
2007 Beaming Bioneers Conference Locations:
Anchorage, Alaska
Baltimore, Maryland
Bloomington, Indiana
Boulder, Colorado
Bozeman, Montana
Carbondale, Illinois
Cleveland, Ohio
Cobleskill, New York
Detroit, Michigan
Grinnell, Iowa
Houston, Texas
Logan, Utah
- Brigham City, Utah
Marion, Massachusetts
Minneapolis / St. Paul, Minnesota
Portland, Oregon
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Seattle, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Traverse City, Michigan
Turlock, California
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
It’s been a while since we’ve given you all a shout out…honestly the skiing has been so great this year we haven’t held still long enough until now.
We have, however, had some good local events such as a December fundraiser and screening of Black Gold, a documentary that tells the story of coffee. Though it is the 2nd most valuable traded commodity in the world next to oil, many farmers struggle to be paid enough to keep their coffee fields. The event raised funds (over $12,000) for the educational fund for the Oromia Coffee Cooperative Union, which were delivered in person by event co-sponsor, Higher Grounds Trading Co.
We also were honored with the presence of Bioneers speaker, Thomas Linzey, at Michigan’s first Democracy School. Perhaps nowhere needs a paradigm shift more than our legal system when it comes to corporate person-hood!
On to the future!
First of all, greetings, salutations, and congratulations to Cleveland, this year joining forces with Detroit and TC as the newest Great Lakes Bioneers satellite location!!
We’d also like to share with you a sneak-peak into the weekend of October 19-21 and this year’s annual conference. Plans are in the works to create more time. Mad alchemy? Mere illusion? We’ll start by extending the lunch period, offering repeated viewings of the beamed plenary talks, and more workshop-like ways to engage throughout the day.
Speaking of workshops: All prospective and interested presenters, please visit http://glbconference.org/2007-forms/eval-form_1.html
…and submit your workshop proposal or idea. Our presenters are not paid, however we do offer complimentary registration, lodging, meals, and travel reimbursement for those selected.
As you can see…it’s happening! Can’t wait to see you soon.
The Michigan Public Service Commission recently released their report based on Governor Granholm’s directive to create a comprehensive 21st Century Energy Plan. Her directive called for a “reliable, safe, clean, and affordable supply of energy for Michigan’s future”. The report calls for ten percent of our electricity to come renewable energy sources by 2015, as well as the creation of a small energy efficiency program that would provide education and incentives for buying more efficient products. Additionally, the plan calls for a new coal-fired power plant that will cost ratepayers around $1.6 billion.
While having ten percent of our electricity come from renewable sources is a start, it will hardly make us an alternative energy leader since 24 other states, including several in the Midwest, already have standards at least that high. Even more alarming is the fact that energy efficiency programs are only funded for one year, and the funding is less than half of the minimum amount that experts have been advocating for.
Because of these weak policies, the report recommends that Michigan will need a new power plant. However, if we properly fund energy efficiency and call for thirteen percent of our electricity to come from renewable sources, then we won’t need a new plant at all. Energy efficiency saves energy at less than half the cost of building a new power plant, yet this is the resource that received the least attention because utility companies want to sell more, not less energy regardless of cost and pollution.
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
Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature Radio Series VI
Wins Two International Communicators Awards
The winning Programs may be purcashed at the Bioneers Store
Subscribe to Bioneers Podcasts at Bioneers Feeder
The Communicator Awards is an international awards\nprogram founded by communications professionals to recognize excellence\nin the communications field. Two shows from the 2006 Bioneers 13-part\nradio series won an Award of Distinction designated “for projects that\nexceed industry standards in quality and excellence.” The series also\nwon both the Crystal Award of Excellence and Award of Distinction in\n2005 and the Crystal Award of Distinction in 2004.
The first award-winning program, Time is Not Money: Waking from the Workaholic American Dream,: What are the most precious resources on Earth? Oil? Gold? Water? Is time our real gold? Author Vicki Robin faced a life-threatening illness and awakened to the true value of time. John De Graaf, producer of the film and book “Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic,” charts how U.S. residents spend time very differently from Europeans. Together, they examine what the alternative to overwork and the workaholic American dream would look like.”
The winning Programs may be purcashed at the Bioneers Store
Subscribe to Bioneers Podcasts at Bioneers Feeder
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