Bioneers: Ecological Medicine

The Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network invokes indigenous peoples asking the world to reevaluate our relationship to Mother Earth. We can turn away from destroying, privatizing and commodifying nature, and instead to “indigenuity” to fashion sustainable solutions by re-sacralizing our relationship with Mother Earth. This speech was given at the 2013 Bioneers National Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. Learn more about the Bioneers Indigenous Knowledge Program at http://www.bioneers.org/pages/indigen... and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Paul Stamets, the visionary biologist, mycologist and author of Mycelium Running, reveals astonishing evidence of how nature's solutions surpass our conception of what's possible to radially restore ecosystems and human health. "I believe in the natural intelligence of this planet. And if I learned anything in the past several years, its that that precept that I have adopted has led me to some astonishing breakthrough discoveries." This speech was given at the 2001 Bioneers National Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

This award-winning author, biologist and environmental health researcher explores the threats to climate and public health from extreme energy extraction including hydraulic fracturing (fracking). From strip-mining of frack sand in Wisconsin that releases carcinogenic silica dust to the deep-well injection of fracking waste in Ohio, which has been linked to earthquakes – these new methods of extracting hydrocarbons are shock-and-awe operations. Of particular interest are the living organisms that inhabit Earth’s deep geological strata. Far from being inert, our nation’s bedrock is an underground “coral reef” of microbes, another invisible ecosystem that’s linked to life in ways not yet fully understood here on the sunlit surface of our planet. This speech was given at the 2012 Bioneers National Conference and is featured on the Environmental Justice Vol. 1 Collection. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

The American Dream has come to mean accumulating more and more stuff – and it has been exported worldwide. Yet all the stuff in our lives is taking an enormous toll on the environment, public health, equity, personal happiness and even our sense of citizenship and democracy. Filmmaker-activist Annie Leonard exposes the often hidden costs and provides a hopeful vision for moving beyond the age of stuff. She reframes consumerism and hyper-materialism by encouraging people to jettison their shopping bags without regret, and instead embrace the creation of a livable, joyous, equitable and life-centered world. This speech was given at the 2009 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Environmental Justice Vol. 1 Collection. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

In this rousing tour-de-force, ecologist Brock Dolman reveals Planet Earth as Watershed Earth. He illustrates how the future lifeboat we’ll need is shaped exactly like our local watershed. All living things are inextricably linked by water and designed around its flow. With lessons from across the globe, he calls for a “rehydration revolution” – water systems based on good science, respect, and widespread community participation. He spins dazzling poetics to show how water-literate human settlement patterns can regenerate ecological integrity and social resiliency to prepare for the climate changes ahead. It’s a mesmerizing performance that gets a standing ovation. This speech was given at the 2009 Bioneers National Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

The renowned mycologist and genius discoverer of immunological and bioremedial properties of mushrooms Paul Stamets unveils his latest breakthrough research. Since our emergence from Africa, mushrooms have represented a thread of knowledge – critical for human survival as medicine, fire portability and the regeneration of forests. His latest epiphany is MycoHoney, made by bees that sip mycelium droplets, which prolongs worker bee longevity, detoxifies the hive, and could prevent colony collapse disorder, as well as our own. Fasten your seat belt. This speech was given at the 2014 Bioneers Annual Conference. "Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

It’s time to create the green molecular building blocks that make green technology truly clean, from raw materials and production to social justice. World-renowned green chemist John Warner illustrates how we can create a new generation of biomimetic and green molecular building blocks to help us reach the “world we want.” A founder of Green Chemistry, he has published over 200 patents, papers and books. He’s founder, President and Chief Technology Officer of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, and co-founder of Beyond Benign, a nonprofit for sustainability and green chemistry education. This speech was given at the 2014 Bioneers National Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

Health-care visionary and Commonweal founder Michael Lerner connects the dots between the condition of human health and the drivers of extinction: toxic habitat, invasive species, declining biodiversity and climate change. He looks at the inseparability of the planetary ecological and socio-political crisis and our personal health, and what we must do to address both. This speech was given at the 2004 Bioneers National Conference and is featured on the Ecological Medicine, Vol. 1 and Environmental Justice, Vol. 1 Collections. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

Environmental lawyer and executive director of the Science & Environmental Health Network Carolyn Raffensperger lays out the history of the Precautionary Principle and portrays how it can be used as an effective tool in policymaking to protect the public health, environment and future generations. She maintains that it is “the beginning of an essential transformation in the way we relate both to the Earth and to the things we invent.” This speech was given at the 2001 Bioneers National Conference and is featured on the Ecological Medicine, Vol. 1 and Environmental Justice, Vol. 1 Collections. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

This passionate organizer for Physicians for Social Responsibility in Southern California recounts how an environmental justice coalition came together in some of Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhoods to force California’s EPA to use precaution as an organizing principle. She shows how communities resist being forced to make the false choice between health and jobs, and are demanding healthier models of development. She describes the inspiring battle spearheaded by one remarkable activist mom in the L.A. Unified School District to stop using toxic pesticides. It led to one of the best nontoxic integrated pest management school policies in the country. This speech was given at the 2004 Bioneers National Conference and is featured on the Ecological Medicine Vol. 1 and Environmental Justice Vol. 1 Collections. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

The renowned psychologist and author dispels the fog of duality and polarization that enshrouds our society, such as under-thinking while over-working, or preaching democracy while failing to vote. Paradoxically, knowing what’s wrong with our nation is what paralyzes us. We play the mind game of opposites – red or blue states, religion or science, winning or losing – and fail to find a third way. Searching out the meaning of the symptom might release us from this stalemate. On-the-ground community building, voting and governing the government, Hillman believes, could help us reclaim an Earth-based culture and more decentralized society from our stalemated, empire-building nation. This speech was given at the 2006 Bioneers National Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

Can plants help people access the intelligence in nature—the “mind of nature”—that we must learn to understand in order to supersede our ecologically destructive habits? This panel features Jeffrey Bronfman, founding member of the União do Vegetal church of the United States; Paul Stamets, master mycologist; Katsi Cook, renowned Mohawk midwife and environmental activist. Hosted by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Associate Producer. This panel took place at the 2014 Bioneers Annual Conference. Video shot and edited by Bjarni Thor Haraldsson. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

The Canadian physician and best-selling author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts is a brilliantly original thinker on addiction, trauma, parenting and the social context of human diseases and imbalances. Contrary to the assumptions of mainstream medicine, he asserts that most human ailments are not individual problems, but reflections of a person's relationship with the physical, emotional and social environment, from conception to death. Mind and body are not separate in real life, and thus health and illness in a person reflect social and economic realities more than personal predispositions. In other words, personal responsibility cannot be separated from societal responsibility and changing the world. This speech was presented at the 2012 Bioneers National Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

Deep Ecology extends an inalienable right to life to all beings. A systems theorist, author and lifelong activist, Joanna Macy describes how healing the world and healing your heart and soul go hand in hand. This talk took place at the 2013 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Protecting and Restoring Nature Collection, Vol. 1. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

In this Sixth Age of Extinctions, the life support systems that have allowed humans to thrive are eroding. Paul Stamets, the world's leading visionary "myco-technologist," shows how fungi and mushrooms can help restore ecosystems, degraded landscapes and human health – fast. Like people, habitats have immune systems, and our close evolutionary relationship to fungi provides the basis for novel environmental deployments of key mushroom species that can lead to greater sustainability and better health. This speech was given at the 2011 Bioneers National Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

A leading national expert on botanical medicine and integrative approaches to health care, Dr. Low Dog challenges America’s healthcare system. She advocates for a holistic approach drawing from the best of traditional herbalism, nutrition and modern medicine. She shows how nature-honoring lifestyles can address and prevent these problems and weighs the efficacy of alternative modalities including medicinal herbs. This speech was given at the 2001 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Ecological Medicine, Vol. 1 and Indigenous Essentials, Vol. 1 Collections. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

The brilliant health researcher, cancer survivor, bestselling author of Living Downstream, and the most articulate advocate for a toxic-free environment since Rachel Carson, describes her health battles, motherhood and activism. She shows the environmental links to many cancers (including hers) that the medical establishment refuses to look at. She focuses on the effects even tiny amounts of chemicals can have on the fetus and small children, and challenges our collective failure to address our global ecological unraveling or control toxic chemicals. She has faith that an environmental human rights movement will emerge to usher in a far more conscious era. This talk was given at the 2008 Bioneers Annual Conference and is part of the Everywoman's Leadership, Vol. 1 and Ecological Medicine, Vol. 1 Collections. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges.