Global Expertise Meets Local Challenges at Baltimore Bioneers Events

This fall, a brilliant assembly of global and local environmentalists, healers, and business and community leaders will gather once again in Baltimore to discuss practical environmental, social, and economic solutions for our planet…and for our city.

The second annual conference, “Baltimore Bioneers ‘08: Cultivating Change. Inspiring Solutions.” will take place from Friday, November 7 through Sunday, November 9, 2008 at the University of Baltimore.

Along with international and local speakers, live panel discussions, workshops, and entertainment, the Baltimore event will also feature screenings from the national Bioneers conference, held in October in San Rafael, California.

Like the national event, the Baltimore Bioneers conference will offer answers to global issues. At the same time, national and regional speakers will apply a local lens to topics such as:

• Energy production methods that dramatically reduce global warming pollutants


• New, nontoxic technologies that emulate nature’s design genius


• The best green business practices


• Practical approaches to building conservation-based, cooperative communities


• New strategies for safeguarding human rights and the environment


• Creative new approaches to art from environmental, socio-political, and spiritual perspectives


• Emerging perspectives on health care that merge ancient and modern healing practices and address the new diseases resulting from environmental destruction

Featured among the national experts slated to speak at the Baltimore event are:

• Judy Wicks, founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and owner/founder of Philadelphia’s White Dog Café


• Wallace J. Nichols, Ph.D., senior scientist at the Ocean Conservancy and research associate at the California Academy of Sciences


• Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and author of The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America’s Coastal Cities

And with the Conference approaching quickly, the Cultivating Change team is ramping up activity with a lively schedule of seminars and salons.

Be sure to check out their website - http://www.cultivatingchange.org or their FaceBook page: Baltimore Bioneers: Cultivating Change, Inspiring Solutions - and keep up with the latest developments on their brand-new blog, Baltimore Bioneers Cultivating Change.

Co-sponsoring the event are the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance, Tai Sophia Institute, The Urbanite and the Baltimore chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council.

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Creating a Livable Future

I've been reading a great deal about Deep Ecology lately...and pondering how Green Business has launched a whole new concept of entrepreneurism.

For the past two centuries, businesses have treated natural resources as unlimited, there for the taking. They focused their creativity on getting the biggest bang for the buck in terms of efficiency, productivity, and sales.

At the time, this was seen as the entry to a new era of prosperity...but today, the long-term results are catching up to us. Global warming is altering the world's weather patterns and ecology faster than experts ever dreamed, and mainstream industry continues to deflect responsibility.

Some may wonder if it's too late - if the oceans, rivers, and streams are not irrevocably polluted, the aquifers drained past hope of replenishment, the rainforests razed past the point of renewal.

Some businesses deny the problems, or shrug their shoulders and drive to get even greater short-term profits while the getting's good. And some heroic souls put their lives and livelihoods on the line to resist the ongoing destruction.

But if the nature of commerce is to change - as it must - we need visionary new entrepreneurs who change the face of business by pursuing the best good for all, despite worsening conditions. Who visualize pioneering answers to overwrite the exploitative legacy of traditional industries, and set a new standard for balanced and sustainable business. Who take positive steps, in hope, toward creating a livable future for us all on this planet.

There are many, many green business networks and resources that offer opportunities to join in this visioning...for just a few, see the Reference Sites page of Your Words' Worth. For a globalocal event that encompasses this issue from many sides, see the Bioneers Conference, happening Oct. 19-21 in California, with satellite conferences held in many locations. For information on the parent conference, visit Bioneers.org for a list of satellite conferences, see the Beaming Bioneers site.



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