Bioneers give students new look at Earth

Earth restoration will be on the tongues of the Bioneers, a group of environmentally conscious biological pioneers, this weekend. They'll share practical solutions for restoring Earth and its people at the 15th annual Bioneer conference. Though Bioneers are now recognized as the largest environmental conference in North America, it is much more than a simple conference -- it is a larger movement to revive, rejuvenate and rescue the blue planet.\nThe Bioneers are a culturally diverse collection of individuals who share a commitment to solving problems. From chefs and activists to biologists and economists, this weekend offers an opportunity for visionaries to come together and change the world. According to the Bioneers Web site, anyone who cares -- and acts -- to preserve the future of life on Earth can be considered a bioneer. \nThe conference will be held Friday through Sunday in San Rafael, Calif., but IU is one of 15 sites that will be hosting a simultaneous satellite conference. The theme of the local conference is "Sustainability: The Campus-Community Connection," featuring speeches and workshops led by local Bioneers as well as broadcasts live via-satellite of speakers from the conference in California.\nThis marks the first year that IU will host the conference. \n"This kind of education is vitally important and so often missed in higher education today," said Religious Studies Chair David Haberman, an organizer of this year's local conference. \nThanks to donations from the Union Board and other sponsors, all conference events will be offered free of charge to the local community. Haberman said he hopes the conference will reach students who typically don't think about environmental issues, and inspire them to become involved in the growing movement toward a healthy and sane future.\nCommunity members, faculty and students will all be in attendance at the conference. To reach a broader student population, Eduardo Brondizio, associate professor of anthropology, has incorporated the Bioneers conference into his lesson plans. Brondizio plans to use Bioneers as both an educational opportunity for his Global Environment class and a way to support the program. \n"If faculty doesn't promote and encourage these types of programs, then the chances to include this type of activity will fade," Brondizio said. \nThe California conference will be broadcast live via satellite from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday in Ballantine Hall, Room 013. Plenary speakers include Amy Goodman, producer and host of "Democracy Now," and Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute.\nIn addition to the broadcast, this year's conference includes local speakers and workshops. Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan will be speaking about sustainability at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Ballantine Hall, Room 013. Local Bioneers will be drawing on their own experiences to offer workshops about local agriculture, spirituality and teaching, student activism and waste reduction at 10 a.m. Saturday. Professor of English and author Scott Russel Sanders will speak about the importance of what he calls 'a sense of place' in Southern Indiana Saturday evening.\nBecause of local participation, the conference has grown from an opportunity to simply learn about solutions to a place where people can network with others passionate about a healthy future. \n"Students are flooded with information about problems -- the energy crisis, war, the environmental degradation -- they don't often enough hear about ways to gather together to respond and solve these problems," Sanders said. \nThe full schedule of Bioneers events and activities is available on the Web at http://environment.indiana.edu/html/bioneers.pdf. \nFor more information about this year's conference, contact David Haberman at dhaberma@indiana.edu. \n-- Contact staff writer Vanessa Caruso at vcaruso@indiana.edu.