Bioneers: Green Economy and Business

Economist and historian Gar Alperovitz digs deep into how we can truly transform our economic system for the better. This speech was given at the 2012 Catalyzing a Resilient Communities Network Intensive, a supplement to the 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).

Industry will dominate society's values for a socially and environmentally regenerative world. Gravitz, President and CEO of Green America, affirms that companies do listen to customer concerns, and energy and water conservation is a matter of their survival. Thanks to battery storage technology, solar and wind are knocking dirty energy off the grid. CSAs and farmers markets are booming, helping reverse the prevalence of childhood illness. As with biodiversity in nature, respectfully engaging unlikely allies is our best strategy for making meaningful change. 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. 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).

Omar Freilla, one of the nation's most dynamic and creative young environmental justice leaders, is a founding board member of Sustainable South Bronx and launched Green Worker Cooperatives, an inspiring initiative dedicated to the creation of worker-owned, environmentally friendly manufacturing cooperatives in the South Bronx. Freilla describes how his enterprises in skill training, energy-efficient construction, and equitable planning and policy are harnessing the value of both people and materials to regenerate entire neighborhoods. This speech was given at the 2005 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Re-Imagining Labor in a Green Economy 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).

One of the nation's most effective and dynamic young labor leaders presents the vision of Caring Across Generations, a new national coalition of 200 advocacy organizations working together for a dignified quality of life for all Americans. Its purpose is to transform some of our most fundamental social and economic challenges – jobs, long-term care and immigration – into opportunities for innovation and solutions that benefit everyone. 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 Legendary co-founder and CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute, Physicist Amory Lovins, is the most important figure in the history of "alternative energy." He offers a realistic out line of how we can archive a prosperous post-petroleum economy through cutting-edge design innovations, radically enhanced resource efficiency, and judicious use of biofuels and hydrogen. Introduction by Kenny Ausubel, CEO and Co-Founder of Bioneers. This speech was given at the 2004 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).

Green economy African-American leader Jerome Ringo stands witness to the gravity of the current global environmental crisis and domestic economic decline, and illuminates the path to forge a coalition to deliver policies that will help build a prosperous green economy. It's an economy that grows on a trellis of social justice and equity, matching the people who most need work with the work that most needs doing. Ringo suggests we build the economy by repairing our damaged world and restoring equity, jobs and justice for all. This speech was part of the 2009 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Re-Imagining Labor in a Green Economy 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).

Ray Anderson, the nation's most inspiring "green business" visionary leader, and his $1 billion global carpet manufacturing company, Interface, Inc., are nearly halfway to a zero environmental footprint by 2020. He shows how sustainability and ethics are far better paths to business performance and profit. This speech was presented at the 2008 Bioneers National Conference in San Rafael, CA. 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).

One of the world's leading energy experts and visionaries, Amory Lovins makes a winning case for powering our future by "reinventing fire," also the title of his 2012 book. Brimming with scientific data and a pithy and dry wit, he demonstrates the practical path away from our fossil fuel based economy. By integrating transportation, buildings, industry and electricity, and combining these with new business strategies, he believes we can simultaneously make the world safer, healthier and wealthier, for all of society. His remarkable vision for smarter and fairer energy policy has also persuaded top business leaders, the Department of Defense, and decision makers in Washington D.C. This speech was presented at the 2011 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Ecological Design 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. 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).

If we can make radical changes in how we think about our relationship to nature and economic growth, we will see restored, vibrant ecosystems and healthy, prosperous farmers, cows, consumers, employees, investors and future children. So says the iconic food entrepreneur Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farm, the world's largest organic yogurt company that he helped start 27 years ago. In 2005, he was named managing director of Stonyfield Europe, a joint venture with Groupe Danone (France). He's also Chairman and co-founder of O'Naturals, a chain of natural fast-food restaurants. A visionary sustainability activist for over 33 years, Gary is working with large companies to reduce their health-care costs by motivating employees to adopt self-care practices. This speech was given at the 2010 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 leading young change-maker turned entrepreneur is showing how, in this generation, we can shift from fossil fuels to a world 100% powered by clean energy, and we can do it in a way that makes all of us richer, healthier and happier. The only way it will happen is if we get involved and take power into our own hands. Solar Mosaic, the company he co-founded, is employing revolutionary crowdfunding techniques to democratize investment opportunities and spread distributed energy. This speech was presented at the 2013 Bioneers National Conference in San Rafael, CA. 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.