Bioneers

5?? DAYS UNTIL #BIONEERS2025! Beginning Wednesday, stay tuned on Instagram @Bioneers for live updates from the nexus of nature-inspired solutions. If you’re attending the conference, use the hashtag ?? #Bioneers2025 ?? — we’ll be on the lookout for your posts! Follow us on Instagram: https://buff.ly/6bHBhmY

California’s #SaltonSea region is home to some of the worst environmental health conditions in the country. Recently, however, it has also become ground zero in the new “lithium gold rush”—the race to power the rapidly expanding #ElectricVehicle and #RenewableEnergyStorage market. The immense quantities of #Lithium lurking beneath the surface have led to predictions that the region could provide a third of global demand. But who will benefit from the development of this precious resource? ???? In an excerpt from “Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future,” co-authors Chris Benner (Institute for Social Transformation and the Everett Program for Technology and Social Change at University of California, Santa Cruz) and Manuel Pastor (USC Equity Research Institute) examine the valley’s history, the economic and social structures behind its agricultural boom, and how they set the stage for today’s lithium development—raising critical questions about how the next boom will impact those who live and work in the valley. Read it now: https://lnkd.in/gJURx-vR

?? Reclaiming Belonging: Food as a Path to Healing & Regenerative Futures Before #Bioneers kicks off, From Soil to Soul is co-hosting a special workshop + community dinner in Oakland, CA—and you won’t want to miss this! ? What to Expect: A curated experience weaving together storytelling, innovation, gamification, and trauma healing, followed by a soul-nourishing dinner crafted by the wonderful Chef Crystal Wahpepah of the Kickapoo Nation of Oklahoma. Our own Jahnavi Mange will be presenting with Marilyn Cornelius (she/her) on how food is a path to healing. ?? Date: March 26, 2025 | Time: 5:00PM PT ?? Location: Wahpepah's Kitchen, 3301 E 12th St #133, Oakland, CA ?? RSVP: https://lu.ma/g59l92zo ??? Why This Matters: Food is more than sustenance—it’s a bridge to healing, connection, and resilience. This event supports an Indigenous-owned restaurant and fosters deeper conversations around food sovereignty. Proceeds will go towards supporting indigenous food sovereignty efforts. Seats are very limited—secure your spot now! Only 28 spots are left! Let’s gather, learn, and reclaim belonging through food. ?? #indigenousfood #foodsovereignty #foodjustice #FromSoiltoSoul

Many of us have likely heard of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s famous classical conditioning experiment, in which he trained dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell by associating the sound with mealtime. But what about moths being trained to flap their wings in response to whistling? As detailed in a Knowable Magazine article by Alla Katsnelson, about 13 years before Pavlov published his renowned paper, American zoologist and comparative psychologist Charles Henry Turner published his report on moths’ response to whistling, which revealed that they can hear pitch. This report is but one among the 71 that Turner authored in his lifetime! His extensive work on insect minds was not only far-reaching but also very far ahead of its time. As a Black scientist working around the end of the 19th century, Katsnelson writes that Turner was repeatedly faced with barriers as he sought to establish and maintain his scientific career. ???? Learn about Turner’s three decades of research and how researchers are rediscovering the forgotten legacy of this trailblazing Black scientist: https://buff.ly/yiChckM #BlackScientists #CharlesHenryTurner #BlackInSTEM ?? Image credit: Knowable Magazine

You can watch a hundred documentaries. You can scroll through news updates every day. You can do incredible work from behind a screen. But nothing replaces being in the room. Because when you’re there, you: ?? Hear an idea that shifts your perspective ?? Meet someone who becomes a collaborator, mentor, or lifelong friend ?? Feel the energy of a movement that is bigger than you #Bioneers2025 is more than a conference. It’s a gathering place for solutions, connection, and action. If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, come be in the room with us. Come learn, share, and leave with more clarity, energy, and support. ?? Still a few seats left at #Bioneers2025. ?? in comments

In an essay from Earth Island Institute Journal, author, activist, and Bioneers speaker Taylor Brorby tells of growing up in a North Dakota coal town, where he spent many days fishing on Nelson Lake — a man-made body of water created to help with fossil fuel extraction that sits in the shadow of the Milton R. Young Power Plant. Reflecting on those waters, which because of discharges from the plant never freeze despite the harsh winters of North Dakota, Brorby examines the new fossil fuel technology of carbon capture and the environmental consequences of the underground storage of liquified carbon dioxide. Through personal narrative and investigative insight, Brorby questions the promise of this new technology and the stories we tell ourselves. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gB5Fynvr #TaylorBrorby #FossilFuels #NewEnergy #CarbonCapture

With #Bioneers2025 you'll experience a climate gathering that'll leave you feeling inspired—not exhausted. Some spaces make you feel heavier after you leave. Full of facts and urgency—but no path forward. No connection. No lightness. No fuel to keep going. This is different. Yes, we’ll talk about the hard stuff. But we’ll also: ? Gather in joy and friendship ? Learn wellness & self-care tools for changemakers ? Hear stories of resilience & hope from frontline communities ? Dance, sing, and remember what it feels like to be fully alive Movements that last are fueled by more than urgency. They’re fueled by community, vision, and moments of joy. Come experience it for yourself. You don’t have to do this work alone. ?? See you at #Bioneers2025? ?? https://lnkd.in/dxmHHXZ

?In just 10 days, visionary artists will take the stage at #Bioneers2025! ? ?? Keynote speaker Haley Mellin, PhD, is an artist who focuses on painting and land conservation. As the founder of #ArtIntoAcres, she guides creative support toward Indigenous and community-led efforts to protect wild places, weaving care into the tapestry of sustaining biodiversity. She brings creativity from the canvas to the planet.?Is biodiversity conservation a science, a form of stewardship, or perhaps an art? In her talk, Mellin will show how it can be all three.? ?? It’s not too late to get your ticket and join us for art, music, workshops, and so much more. Register here: https://lnkd.in/g2nTxT_s Cara Romero Sioduhi Studio Giant Puppets Save the World #Berkeley #BerkeleyArts

Renowned essayist and writer Pico Iyer recently shared: "Baratunde Thurston is in many ways the most eloquent and dazzling speaker I've ever heard, as well as a longtime hero and inspiration... Nobody I know blends youthful cool and classic intelligence as he does, with effortless panache. He brings together the language of today and the rigor of Harvard with a humanity and warmth that humble and give me hope for the future. If ever I get the chance, I travel a long, long way out of my way to hear Baratunde talk on anything — our natural world or our cities, his mother or his reading." ??? Thurston is just one of the incredible visionaries coming to #Bioneers2025. Attendees will also hear keynotes from César Rodríguez-Garavito, Attorney & founding Director of the More Than Human Life (MOTH) Project, Amy Bowers Cordalis, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group, and many more. Join us in Berkeley at the end of the month to share inspiration and bold new ideas. Register here: https://lnkd.in/g62jgRBr