We are excited to announce that our CascadiaNow! executive director Brandon Letsinger will be a featured Ignite speaker at Whidbey Island’s Salish Sea Bioneer Conference next week!
Happening from November 6-8 at the Whidbey Institute the weekend will gather nearly a hundred activists and visionaries from around the Cascadia bioregion and Pacific Northwest for a weekend of workshops, discussions, presentation and performance. The Salish Sea Bioneers are an extension of the Whidbey Institute, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and part of the national bioneer network. Their goal is to find strength through solidarity through sharing our stories, building stronger regional networks, and creating space for us to collectively explore the path ahead.
Over the past 5 years, they’ve engaged over 500 leaders of diverse backgrounds from all across the Northwest. This year, their Salish Sea gathering includes Keynote presentations from Sundance Chief Rueben George and Zarna Joshi. Chief Rueben George is an Indigenous community organizer and spiritual leader Lakota Sun Dance Chief and the grandson of Chief Dan George, an Oscar-nominated and widely respected native leader. Zarna Joshi is a community organizer and activist and has often appeared in the media to speak for climate justice and social justice issues. She is an organizer with Rising Tide Seattle, Earthship Seattle, ShellNo Action Council, and numerous other grassroots groups.
In addition, this year will feature other Ignite talks from VICKI ROBIN: The Challenges of launching the 10-Day Local Food Challenge; LILLIAN HEWKO: Seeds of Love—The Land, Mind & Prison Connection; MICHAEL B. MAINE: Homogeneity Is A Myth; KRIS STENNES: Powerful Leadership Model for Collaborative Processes.
Opening Talks by KENNY AUSUBEL and NINA SIMONS, Bioneers Founders MALIK YAKINI- Food, Race and Justice XIUHTEZCATL MARTINEZ and ITZCUAUHTL ROSKE-MARITINEZ Youth Activist Rap Duo ERIEL DERANGER- Reclaiming Our Indigeneity and Our Place in Modern Society BEN KNIGHT- Self-Organizing Community Democracy for the Internet Age RINKU SEN- Both/And/All: Environmentalism and Racial Justice KIM STANLEY ROBINSON- Rethinking Our Relationship to the Biosphere: A Utopian Vision of A New Economic Paradigm MICHAEL MEADE with JOHN DENSMORE- How Your Unique Genius Can Help Heal Nature and Culture FANIA DAVIS – Restorative Justice’s Promise: Helping Us Re-Invent What it Means to be Human
More information and register at:
http://whidbeyinstitute.org/event/bioneers-2015/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1474594872868730/
See the Full Schedule:
2015 Salish Sea Bioneer Conference Schedule (PDF)
