Bioneers (biological pioneers) is an annual conference, a movement and a way of life! National BIONEERS is in its 26th years and Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit (GLBD) in its 11thyear! The conference is taking place at Marygrove College, 8425 West McNichols Rd, Detroit MI 48221. Click here to see the conference program (PDF).
BIONEERS’ tagline, revolution from the heart of Nature, and GLBD’s mission to promote sustainable community that fosters life-giving relationships, nurtures connections, and celebrates solutions for restoring and healing Earth’s communities inspire us to continue to claim that the social justice movement and the environmental movement are ONE MOVEMENT.
From 8:00am to 2:25pm youth grades 7 through 12 have a program as part of the GLBD Conference. Students, chaperones, and teachers please click the Youth Day Registration found below.
The theme for this year’s conference: We are One – Opened to Spirit, Hearts Engaged, Grounded in Earth and Acting for Life. Our intention is to provide a community learning environment that invites:
Moving from head to heart, from knowing to feeling, loving and compassion
Deepening our interconnectedness with all life
Awakening to who we are as humans in this 21st century
As in years past conference participants will have many opportunities:
When people come together as a learning community to discover new sustainable ways of being and when they share transformative ideas for the sake of the Commons everyone benefits. When students and teachers attending the conference bring back what they learned to their schools, education can flourish. When everyone is welcome and affirmed we move toward wholeness.
Cities Of Peace Detroit – Learnshops
Cities of Peace Detroit learnshops at Great Lakes Bioneers Conference 2015
B.1 Experiencing Group Coherence/Your Role in Building the Beloved Community in Detroit
Saturday from 2:10-3:20
Presenters: Cass Charrette is founder of Cities of Peace Detroit and a minister of the Beloved Community…The Seminary of Spiritual Peacemaking. She sees the Beloved Community in Detroit as a model for building the new culture/new earth in communities around the world. Stephen Boyle is a community activist, photographer, designer, web and social media developer. Additional presenters may be added.
If you have ever asked yourself how you can connect and contribute beyond the conference, this learnshop is for you. It will take a shift from the head to the heart, though, and a deepening experience of group coherence. Through various activities the learnshop will lead you to a deeper consciousness of your passion, purpose and interconnectedness.
C.1 Returning to Sacred Wholeness
Sunday from 10:25-11:35am
Presenters: Cass Charrette is founder of Cities of Peace Detroit and a minister of the Beloved Community…The Seminary of Spiritual Peacemaking. She sees the Beloved Community in Detroit as a model for building the new culture/new earth in communities around the world. Carrie Landrum is a peacebuilder dedicated to growth and transformation. She is a professional facilitator and educator at the University of Michigan. Her dream is to co-create Detroit as a global center of peace and healing.
An essential step for bringing forth a sustainable world is a commitment toward personal and collective healing. Explore the Four Quadrants of Wounding/Healing Mapping: personal, collective cultural, traumatic events, and wounds in the psyche. How will you choose to be an interrupter of these patterns within these four quadrants?
Each year, Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit (GLBD) brings together people from all areas of the sustainability movement. Whether you are a long-time activist or just curious, a weekend of learning and inspiration is expected.
The 11th annual conference will be held October 23-25, 2015 at Marygrove College here in Detroit. Following on the heels of the 26th Annual Bioneers National Conference from October 16-18 at Marin College in San Rafael, California.
The theme of the conference is “It’s all connected”
Learnshops will be held Friday with a focus for young Bioneers.
The following art events are aligned with the conference.
Living Spaces
OPENING ART EXHIBIT & RECEPTION (LA Gallery 4th Floor) The show features the work of Aaron Jones and Nicole Davis exploring the use of alternative and environmentally friendly materials in urban design.
Lexicon of Sustainability
Beyond Words Gallery, Nancy A. McDonough Geschke Library – held from Monday, October 12 through Friday, November 6
The Lexicon of Sustainability pop-up show demystifies today’s food making processes and its basic terms, and encourages everyone to make changes in their lives that will lead to healthier, safer and more sustainable food production now and in the future.
All Beings Confluence
A banner exhibit being held in conjunction with the GLBD conference.
This post will be updated as more details arrive. Please check the GLBD website for the most recent information.
The Detroit to Flint Water Justice Journey is about lifting up the need for clean and affordable water in Michigan. The walk will begin on Friday, July 3 in Detroit where tens of thousands of citizens have had their water shut off and where the 2005 Water Affordability Plan has been passed by the Detroit City Council but never implemented. From there, the walk will continue to Highland Park where the community has been threatened with mass water shutoffs after years of administrative mismanagement. The journey will conclude on Friday, July 10 in Flint where residents with serious health problems related to unsafe water from the Flint River – hair loss, autoimmune disorders, skin burns, and children with lead poisoning – share their stories. Along the way, the walk will pass through cities, rural areas, lakes, rivers, and watersheds.
The walk itself is simply the thread that weaves together a series of important public events to highlight the issues by hearing from people on the front lines – local residents personally affected by unclean and unaffordable water, concerned citizens, people committed to water justice including public health workers, attorneys, pastors, elders and youth. The key events include: the sendoff from Detroit on July 3, a cultural event and town hall meeting in Highland Park that same afternoon, a public cross-county speak out in Pontiac on Sunday, July 5, and a rally at Flint’s Town Hall on July 10. The focus is on connecting caring communities at these public events and sharing our collective concern for clean, affordable water upheld as a human right and to affirm that water is a sacred trust that should be held as a common rather than a commodity.
Governor Snyder has been invited to Flint on July 10 to hear from citizens from the cities of Detroit, Highland Park, and Flint.
Weeks ago, members of the state legislature were invited to a public hearing on water that involved testimony from these communities. Now, concerned citizens will return to Lansing via bus after the Flint rally to call for clean and affordable water at the state capitol.
Our children are born into belief systems, values and conditioning from their elders for living the essential truths of consciousness, interconnected as one humanity, living within a just. equitable, sustainable culture.
True democratic equality is at the heart of our knowing that the least among us are endowed with the ability to live a fulfilled life.
Government Is Of and For The People
When the resources needed for a fulfilling life are made available and accessible to all the people, then we will have a government of and for the people.
A true government of and for the people enables all people to be valued, to have a quality education, healthy food, clean water, safe shelter, health care, and mobility both physically and economically. Communities operating close to purpose understand how to enable all to have what is needed to live cooperatively. Cooperative communities understand how to delegate the responsible use of resources from The Commons. We move from punitive to restorative justice processes. It insists on processes that hold truth and justice at its core.
Equality In Democracy
When all people can be heard as equals, whether in agreement or dissent then we begin to have an open dialog for true democracy.
A true democracy establishes communal conversation with all voices heard discussing needs, resources, and developmental processes. Working together to assess community needs and implementing effective communal solutions. As a representative in government or community, there is assumed responsibility that includes due diligence and comprehending the decisions made affect the lives of many. Embracing transparency and open collaboration with all people is required by representatives. It is a high priority to value people over goods and services and without this understanding, we are not serving all people. Rather, our systems create division, separation, categorization, and ultimately oppression.
…Where we will no longer need to fight for social justice and human rights.
…Where we will no longer need our voices heard in mass protests that speak of the injustices of the world created by separation thinking. Rather, communal consciousness values all people. The removal and displacement of people from cities will not be a unconscionable thought, nor in terms of profit gained.
…Where we will no longer need to be involved in a struggle for all people to have access to resources that are essential for human life, such as water, health care, shelter and food.
Where we will no longer need to fight for social justice and human rights.
Where we will no longer need our voices heard in mass protests that speak of the injustices of the world created by separation thinking. Rather, communal consciousness values all people. The removal and displacement of people from cities will not be a unconscionable thought, nor in terms of profit gained.
Where we will no longer need to be involved in a struggle for all people to have access to resources that are essential for human life, such as water, health care, shelter and food.
We hold a Vision that these honorable fights, raising our voices and struggles will be a thing of the past only to be told in our history books…
for we hold a vision that caring for one another as a collective and living unity consciousness principles within all of society will be prevalent in our government and communities as a new global meme.
We not only have the courage to voice what needs to be heard and transformed, we have the courage to envision a whole new world.
Let us take the steps for transformation as a community to become a reality at the deepest level. Allowing our passion for social change to merge voice and contemporary skills for taking the leap into cocreating, from the Essence of our Being, a new way of life.
