Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature

What we're trying to do is not about winning, it's about losing, and it's about losing this burden of having to make it, to be rich, to be comfortable, to be seen, to be famous, to be followed, to be friended, to be known. We don't need all that because it's an upside down world and the winners are the losers. And what we lose is the delusion and suffering that we are here on Earth for ourselves. That is such a delusion, you know. Takers suffer always.

How can a grocery store lift a community out of poverty? The People’s Grocery provides creative solutions to community health problems that stem from a lack of access to and knowledge about healthy, fresh foods. The personal journey of Executive Director and home-grown food justice leader Nikki Henderson brings heart, soul and love to community health and wealth for the low-income community of West Oakland, California.

Healing the Inner Environment - Brain research is revealing astounding insights into the mechanisms of post-traumatic stress and neuroplasticity the brains ability to be rewired and re-trained. The world today is ravaged by traumas from war, privation and economic crashes to natural disasters and ongoing environmental degradation. In response, world-renowned psychiatrist Dr. James S. Gordon of the Center for Mind Body Medicine has trained thousands of teachers globally to advance ancient mind-body healing techniques of self-care to reconnect each individual with his or her own nature, with family and community, and with the natural world. The results are impressive. What might happen if we approach healing the environment from the inside out?

Linking Gender, Social Movements and Democracy - World-renowned feminist, writer and change-maker Gloria Steinem connects the dots among disparate social movements to reveal the common patterns of oppression that underlie them all. From gender and race to democracy and universal spirituality, she applies her razor intellect, compassionate heart and nuanced eye to weave a unifying vision of a richly human and humane world where all people are valued for their uniqueness and full humanity - neither treated as property, nor defined by labels or stereotypes.

Farming Fields of Dreams - Our food and farming systems may top the list of the most destructive abuses of land in history. What needs to change? What models are there to guide us? Visionary organic farmer, food system entrepreneur and award-winning writer/photographer Michael Ableman reflects on what it will take to restore healthy thriving lands and a functional and equitable food system with access for all. How will we feed the worlds growing population and provide access to healthy food? As locavores know, the answers hit close to home.

Social Capitalism and the United States of Europe - Despite suffering severe shocks from the 2008 global economic and banking crisis, nations of the European Union have provided the world with a potent new economic species. Social Capitalism shares prosperity more widely, institutionalizes broader national democracy, and creates long-term environmental sustainability. It includes universal healthcare thats affordable, education for all that is often free, family-friendly work policies, and real worker participation in corporate decision-making. Europe watcher Steven Hill believes it may be the most important innovation in the world economy since the rise of the corporation and we all have a ringside seat to history.

The Indigeneity Essentials - Were all indigenous to planet Earth, but weve not been acting that way. Cultural ecologist, indigenous scholar and activist Dr. Melissa K. Nelson reminds native and non-native peoples alike that we all need to re-indigenize ourselves by learning and practicing natures operating instructions and the Original Instructions for how to be a human being. At this unprecedented moment of globalized environmental breakdown, its going to take the best of Western science and the indigenous science of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to navigate this evolutionary keyhole.

Blue Mind, Ocean Heart - Illuminating the magical underwater world, Jacques Cousteaus 1960s films and TV show caused a sea change by moving the hearts and minds of tens of millions. Marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols, ocean advocates Philippe and Alexandra Cousteau, and the Truckee High School Envirolution Club are among the rising tides of passionate innovators making remarkable advances to understand and restore the waters of the world. Their inspiring stories give good reason for hope, including the scientific fact that we have a blue mind born in and of the ocean to guide us.

Reinventing Fire for the Clean Energy Era - The internationally acclaimed energy and design strategist Amory Lovins shows how by 2050 we can run our energy system with no oil, coal or nuclear power. He says we can achieve that vision with clean energy and energy conservation, led by business, without an act of Congress or any new inventions. By making this transition, we can save more than $5 trillion and double the size of the US economy.

Environmental Security is Homeland Security - The concept of national security is moving beyond bullets, bombs, soldiers and warcraft to encompass the countrys internal resilience, health and environmental sustainability. Whats needed, say two leading environmental visionaries, is the equivalent of a wartime mobilization to create a sustainable planet including a far more decentralized infrastructure. Global energy strategist Amory Lovins and Oberlin College Professor David Orr advocate sustainability as the strategic imperative and foundation for a new national security narrative. The military is starting to agree.