Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature

For thousands of years, First Peoples have successfully managed the complex reciprocal relationships between biological and human cultures using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Yet no prior human civilization has ever faced the globalized ecological collapse occurring now.In the face of unprecedented pressures on their homelands and ways of life, indigenous leaders Enei Begaye, Dune Lankard, and Hawk Rosales are organizing in new ways to protect the environment--and spread their knowledge for the sake of all life on Earth and future generations.

Hosted by Atossa Soltani, Founder and Executive Director of Amazon Watch, among the most effective groups in the world conserving the Amazon and its peoples.Learn about the struggles to preserve some of the last large-scale vibrant ecosystems on Earth, crucial to the diversity of life on our planet, the climate and to our own species’ survival. Kris Tompkins describes the remarkable work she and her husband Doug Tompkins, Co-Founder of Esprit, are doing as conservation philanthropists and practitioners to create national parks that protect and restore wildlands and biodiversity, inspire care for the natural world, and generate healthy economic opportunities for communities in Patagonia in Chile and Argentina.John Liu shows how understanding the true value of ecological functions including hydrological cycles, climate regulation and soil fertility reveals an astonishing cost-benefit ratio that points to both the ecological and economic imperative of large-scale ecological restoration worldwide, such as he has demonstrated in China and Rwanda. Marina Silva will describe what can and must be done to protect the forests and peoples of the Amazon while alleviating poverty.With:Kris Tompkins, conservationist, former CEO of Patagonia, who since 1993 has worked with her husband Doug Tompkins to create large wilderness conservation areas in Chile and Argentina;John D. Liu, international filmmaker, conservationist and ecological restorationist;Marina Silva, Brazilian environmental leader.

If people are to find creative ways of living together and healing both culture and nature, the awakening of individual genius may be the deepest and most imaginative way to approach the seemingly impossible tasks that face contemporary cultures. With: Michael Meade and John Densmore.

What do octopuses, bees, plants and slime molds have in common with human beings? For one thing, they exhibit the ability to solve problems and make decisions. Author and anthropologist Jeremy Narby reveals his astonishing research on the profound intelligence active throughout nature. After all, how could people be intelligent if the nature that created us were not even more intelligent?

Just how dumb do they think we are? Who would believe that destroying the ecosystems on which all life depends, while dis-employing more and more people, is somehow good for the economy? But exactly that fiction of jobs versus the environment has been successfully marketed to us. Community organizers Van Jones and Majora Carter propose a radically simple solution for both environmental destruction and social inequality: Bring the rising green revolution to low-income, urban America.

There is indeed a clash of civilizations today, between a sustainable civilization and a disposable one. Author and social entrepreneur Paul Hawken identifies a new superpower: the mighty river of global popular movements with real solutions. He tracks the unprecedented phenomenon of this biggest movement in the history of the world, the diverse face of a rising new culture of restoration, of reconciliation, of healing.

At the Bioneers Conference in 2017, we spoke with Heather McGhee, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the organization Demos. McGhee describes how the election of Barack Obama resulted in both a racial backlash and the illusion that we were suddenly living in a post-racial society. She also shares a hopeful story that demonstrates a pathway towards healing the divisions that harm us all.

A healthy environment is not just a biological issue, but also a fundamental human right. Acclaimed social entrepreneur and author Paul Hawken proposes that we need to go far beyond "sustainability" as a guiding principle and dare to create a restorative economic system founded in social equity and power for all.

Innovations usually arise locally. If conditions are right, they spread globally. That story is playing out around the world today. In India, human rights activist Mallika Dutt designed an elegant media campaign that successfully interrupts domestic violence live in real time. High school science educator Jay Vavra helped his San Diego students save endangered species in Africa by using simple genetic identification technologies in local African bush meat markets. Nonprofit leader Shannon Horst employs holistic rangeland management techniques to stop the spread of deserts in Africa, the U.S. and worldwide. What's spreading fastest is hope.

Imagine this: A popular character on a Spanish-language soap opera resonates so deeply with viewers that they become empowered and educated about literacy. Avatars in the virtual world called Second Life enable people of all faiths to better understand and respect Islamic culture. Digital and media entrepreneur William Ryerson effectively uses innovative media for social change.Digital citizen diplomats Joshua S. Fouts and Rita J. King design virtual games that help foster vibrant community and culture in the physical world. They're all demonstrating the game-changing power of technology to change the world for the better.