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Texas Bioneers Conference 2008 Program

This year's Texas Bioneers Conference will focused on sustainability, diversity and energy challenges. Every session for each conference is relevant, current and led by someone working actively in the subject area presented. Although all listed speakers are confirmed, the program is subject to change without notice.

Friday, October 17th, 2008

9:00am Registration (3rd Floor)

10:00 -10:15am Greeting and Keynote (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)

Texas Bioneers Plenary Speakers  

See Onsite Speakers for biographical information

DR. RIGOBERTO DELGADO  (10:15-10:45am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Heifer International
Building Community and Caring for the Earth in the Southwest
How can we create more sustainable, just and secure food systems across cultures in the rural and urban Southwest and the Texas-Mexico border region? Dr. Delgado will address lessons learned, challenges and opportunities in group building and human development.

JANE WEINER  (10:45-11:15am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Director, Hope Stone Inc.
Art is Salt and Salt is Art
Art is as essential to life as air, water and food. Ms. Weiner will combine her speech with dance to illustrate the importance of art.

JOHN CALAWAY  (11:15-11:45am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Chief Development Officer for Babcock and Brown Wind Energy
Taking Steps to Protect Wildlife Surrounding Wind Energy Projects
How can we lessen the impact of wind energy projects on surrounding wildlife? Mr. CALAWAY will discuss mitigating wildlife issues associated with large-scale wind energy projects in sensitive environmental areas.

DR. BERTIE SIMMONS   (11:45-12:15am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater))
Principal, Furr High School
Never Doubt that a Few Concerned Citizens Can Change the World
One person can change the world! Ms. Simmons will use storytelling and a film clip to demonstrate the power of how individuals can have an impact on environmental and social justice issues.

12:15-12:30pm Cath Conlon / Mark Illian (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)

12:30-1:30pm Lunch

1:30- 2:45pm Breakout Sessions

Texas Bioneers 2008 Breakout Sessions

See Onsite Speakers for biographical information

DR. RIGOBERTO DELGADO (320A)
Caring for the Earth in the Southwest Questions

KELLIE BRETT (320D)
Gravity Optional
This leadership series will give an overview of leadership, to include a few “ah ha” inspiring questions. Next, we will jump right into a fun, team-building exercise. The session will conclude with a through debriefing of the exercise. (Note – Each session will have the same intro and conclusion, but the exercises will differ in rules and objective without changing the message.)

Panel: CHRIS FRY, LaVERNE WILLIAMS and JEFF KAPLAN (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
The True, “Whole” Cost of Building Green – How to create eco-friendly homes, healthy and safe indoor environments
Moderator:  LEO GOLD, Financial Advisor and host of KPFT’s New Capital Show

JOHN CALAWAY (330A)
Taking Steps to Protect Wildlife Surrounding Wind Energy Projects

Panel: NITA LINDLEY and NORAH VASEN (340A)
Brazos Abiertos: Opening Arms and Responding to AIDS in the Yucatan

NANCY SORENSON (320A)
Connecting With Our World Through Yoga, A Practice Experience With Yoga

Panel: ADRIAN ARROYOS and MAGGIE KATTAN (330B)
100 Mile Harvest
Husband and wife Adrian Arroyos and Maggie Kattan describe how their family committed to shrink their ecological footprint as consumers in their daily lives. For a year, they committed to eating only locally grown food. Every ingredient in every meal had to come from no more than 100 miles from their home. In the process, they learned about local food production and sustainability, the real power of “enlightened” consumers, and their role in challenging and industrial food system that is threatening human health, damaging the environment and undermining global food security.

 2:45-3:15pm Break:  Mingle; music; see the vendors: share with someone about making Bioneers a lifestyle!

3:00-6:00/7:00pm National Plenary Speakers

National Bioneers Plenary Speakers (via Satellite Broadcast)

See Satellite Speakers for biographical information

PAUL STAMETS (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Solutions from the Underground: Using Fungi to Help Save the World
One of the most brilliant explorers of the deep biology of mushrooms and fungi illuminates some potentially world-changing fungus-based ecological, medicinal and nutritional technologies.

ERICA FERNANDEZ (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Si, Se Puede! (Yes, We Can!)
This remarkable eighteen-year-old environmental justice activist and Brower Youth Award winner helped mobilize her diverse community in Oxnard, California to defeat the placement of a liquefied natural gas facility just offshore.

RAY ANDERSON (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Sustainability in Action
The nation’s most inspiring green business visionary leader and Interface, Inc., his $1 billion global carpet-manufacturing company, are nearly half way to a zero environmental footprint by 2020. He shows how sustainability and ethics are far better paths to business performance and profit.

KAVITA RAMDAS (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Shakti, Shanti, Sangam: Power, Peace and the Politics of Change
The president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, among the most effective international leaders empowering women globally, explains how listening to and learning from women community leaders is the key to building sustainable and effective movements for social justice, equality and peace.

ALEXANDRA COUSTEAU (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Saving Our Water Planet
As a member of the legendary Cousteau family, Alexandra grew up traveling the globe and learning firsthand the value of conserving the natural world. An Emerging Explorer with National Geographic, Alexandra will discuss what we must do to preserve the integrity of our planet’s waters, share stories from her most recent adventures around the world, as well as talk about her latest initiative which seeks to inspire and empower individuals to protect not only the oceans and its inhabitants, but also the human communities that rely on the purity of our freshwater resources.

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

7:30am Registration (3rd Floor)

9:00 - 9:30am Greeting and Keynote (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)

Texas Bioneers Plenary Speakers

See Onsite Speakers for biographical information

GINA DONOVAN  (9:30-10:00am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Executive Director, Houston Audubon Society
Saving the Neches River
Thanks to grassroots efforts, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recently established the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge in East Texas, a major conservation victory in the face of opposition from the City of Dallas and the Texas Water Development Board! This triumph was achieved through generating over 20,000 letters, e-mails, faxes and phone calls to appropriate elected officials. Ms. Donovan will also discuss plans for the future.

DAN PHILLIPS & AMANDA TULLOS   (10:00-10:30am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Founder, Phoenix Commotion & Founder, Living Paradigm
Affordable Housing with Reclaimed Materials
Homesteading reaches back centuries, and is now once again a feasible possibility. Building from recycled materials keeps costs low. With a seasoned builder mentoring the process, the owner/builder can construct his own shelter, using recycled materials, and come in well below – 50 to 60 % – market prices. This session will outline how Mr. Phillips and Ms. Tullos help others make homeownership a reality through The Phoenix Commotion and Living Paradigm.

JOE NELSON ICET  (10:30-11:00am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Urban Farmer, The Last Organic Outpost
Community Farming in the Inner-City
Even in the inner-city of Houston, creating a sustainable local food economy is possible! Mr. Icet will discuss the Emile Community Farm and Live Oak Outpost and community center, his current farming projects and techniques for successful farming in Houston.

JEFF KAPLAN  (11:00-11:30am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Owner, New Living
Raising Consumer Consciousness Through a Green Community Store
The advance of the point-based LEED program has made the green building movement popular in the commercial sector, while it remains difficult to understand for the average consumer. Mr. Kaplan is going to talk about the practical side to the green building movement, and speak to his recent experience of raising consumer consciousness among Houston homeowners.

11:30am-12:00pm Cath Conlon / Mark Illian (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)

12:00-1:15pm Lunch

1:15-2:30pm Breakout Sessions

Texas Bioneers 2008 Breakout Sessions

See Onsite Speakers for biographical information

JUDITH McGEARY (330B)
Founder, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
Regulatory Threats to Sustainable, Local Food
How are sustainable and local foods threatened by regulation? Sustainable and local foods provide positive solutions to a wide range of problems, ranging from land use to human health to water conservation to social justice.  Yet many regulatory programs are designed to benefit industrial factory farming, and burden sustainable agriculture. Instead of addressing the root causes of the problems, industrial agriculture and agency officials develop policies that further consolidate our food supply in the hands of a few large corporations. Come learn more about your food supply and what you can do offer protection!

DR. PAUL B. RANGE and GLORIA HASWELL (320E)
Aquaponics for Urban Food Production
Paul and Gloria will cover the basics of aquaponics relating to food production, construction of small aquaponics unit, conversion of units to mechanical wind power and and demonstrate on an apartment-sized unit. This session will include a 15-minute question and answer session.

CLARK MARTINSON (320A)
2008 Bicycle Trends: Demo Bike Repair
With the bike industry offering more choices than ever and bicyclists going on errands, commuting to work and participating in U.S. eco-tours and cross-country trips through groups like Houston Wilderness, this session will motivate you to get a bike and join the fun! ! Mr. Martinson will bring in an old bike and show how to restore it for commuting and running errands by adding new tires, grips, racks, fenders, bags, lights and a kick stand. While he is demonstrating he will describe riding a bike to errands and work, basic tools, how to fix a flat, rules of the road, bicycle safety and bicycle touring. This session will motivate you to get rid of your car and walk, bike or take a bus!

PAUL BERRERA (320C)
How Can Yoga Enhance Your Life?
Mr. Berrera will discuss yoga and its benefits as they relate to aging, breath and awareness.

KELLIE BRETT (320D)
Gravity Optional
This leadership series will give an overview of leadership, to include a few “ah ha” inspiring questions. Next, we will jump right into a fun, team-building exercise. The session will conclude with a through debriefing of the exercise. (Note – Each session will have the same intro and conclusion, but the exercises will differ in rules and objective without changing the message.)

GINA DONOVAN (340B)
How to Be As Big As You Can Be!

DAVID GRESHAM (330A)
Sustainable business equals sustainable communities: Is global business really bad for our communities?
What are the true costs of buying products from overseas, and is buying products created locally really that much cheaper? Mr. Gresham will give examples of global versus local and explore the true costs of the products we buy.

MOVING IMAGE FESTIVAL SCREENING (320F)

2:30-3:00pm Break - Music; mingle; see the vendors; tell someone how you are bringing Bioneers into your life

3:00-6:00/7:00pm National Plenary Speakers

National Bioneers Plenary Speakers (via Satellite Broadcast)

See Satellite Speakers for biographical information

JANINE BENYUS (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Nature’s 100 Best: Top Biomimicry Solutions to Environmental Crises
The brilliant naturalist, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, and founder of the Biomimicry Institute reminds us that our prime directive as living beings is always to seek to create conditions conducive to life. What are Nature’s 100 Best (her book-in-progress), revolutionary solutions to the world’s most vexing challenges?

DUNE LANKARD (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Sustainable Solutions Over Centuries: A New Business Model
This Eyak Athabaskan native from the Copper River Delta region of Alaska and lifelong commercial fisherman became a community activist and preservationist when the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill desecrated his homelands and waters. He describes the preservation of ecosystems and people as the way to maintain healthy thriving economies for businesses and communities into the future.

DAVID ORR (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Some Like It Hot, But Lots Don’t: The Changing Climate of US Politics
One of the nation’s most important architects of environmental literacy in higher education and a leading light of the sustainability movement, this visionary educator will outline a national climate-change policy for the incoming administration developed by the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP).

GREG WATSON (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Twelve Degrees of Freedom: Lessons Learned from Thirty-five Years of Environmental Activism
His exemplary contributions have ranged from launching community gardens and farmers’ markets to serving as Massachusetts’ Commissioner of Agriculture, teaching environmental science, working with low-income communities, developing sustainable technologies and helping create the nation’s first offshore wind farm. Now senior advisor for Clean Energy Technology within the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, he describes how to foster unprecedented collaborations in support of comprehensive design solutions.

SANDRA STEINGRABER (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
The Environmental Life of Children—from Placenta to Puberty
Dubbed “the new Rachel Carson,” this ecologist, biologist, cancer survivor, mom, internationally recognized expert on environmental links to cancer and reproductive health and author of the award-winning books: Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment and Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood, explains why pediatric environmental health activism is the civil rights movement of our era.

RECEPTION FOR THE PACHAMAMA ALLIANCE  (7:00-9:00pm / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

8:00am Registration (3rd Floor)

MORNING MEDITATION:  DR. ALEJANDRO CHAOUL   (8:00-8:30am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)

Texas Bioneers Plenary Speakers 

See Onsite Speakers for biographical information

Greetings and Keynote   (9:30-10:00am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)

LaVERNE WILLIAMS, AIA LEED AP (10:00-10:30am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
CEO, Environment Associates, Architects & Consultants of Houston
Green Home Planning, Development, Architecture & Construction
Find out how green practices can save you money and help pave the way for a sustainable future. 

BEE MOORHEAD  (10:30-11:00am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Texas Impact
Environmentalism in Faith Communities
It takes quite a leap of faith to see Texas as a national leader in global warming solutions. But if there's anything Texas has plenty of, it's faith — from Protestant evangelical fervor to contemplative Catholic spirituality to Eastern mysticism and beyond. Moorhead will address the role faith communities have in helping the environment.

RON SASS   (11:00-11:30am / 3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Rice University
You and Your Carbon Footprint
A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation and more.  We will explore ways of reducing our individual and collective carbon footprint.

11:30am-12:00pm Cath Conlon / Mark Illian (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)

12:00-1:15pm Lunch

1:15-2:30pm Breakout Sessions

Texas Bioneers 2008 Breakout Sessions

See Onsite Speakers for biographical information

PANEL:  DR. ALEJANDRO CHAOUL, DR. LORENZO COHEN and BILLIE MARTIN, DC (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Integrative Medicine - New Age Medicine or Just Good Medicine?
Transforming the Texas Medical Center.

EDWARD HASWELL (330A)
High School Senior
Building an Aquaponic Systems
Edward will explain the benefits of maintaining an aquaponic system and how to build a system. He will conclude with a question and answer session.

KELLIE BRETT (320D)
Gravity Optional
This leadership series will give an overview of leadership, to include a few “ah ha” inspiring questions. Next, we will jump right into a fun, team-building exercise. The session will conclude with a through debriefing of the exercise. (Note – Each session will have the same intro and conclusion, but the exercises will differ in rules and objective without changing the message.)

DR. JOHN SPEER (320A)
Author
Healing Our Most Broken Places – What Prisoners can Teach Us
Prisoners have much to teach people in the free world about healing our communities and ourselves. Based on Dr. Speer’s experience leading a creative writing workshop in a state prison, he will lead a discussion about the surprising insights that emanate from some of the most broken and silenced among us.

PATTY ADAMIK (320C)
Healing Movement Therapist
Continuum Movement and the Play of Life
Explore the timeless dimension of the fluid realm of life! Spirals, waves and undulations are the intrinsic movements of evolution, renewal and health. Continuum Movement uses breath, sound and imagery to invoke these timeless forms, taking us on an inner journey that fosters a connection to the larger world and to the deepest part of our own nature. 

AMANDA AUSTIN (340A)
Co-Host of “The Human Rights Show,” Sponsored by Amnesty International
Human Rights Best Practices: Cutting-Edge Techniques in Human Rights Advocacy

BEE MOORHEAD (330B)
Texas Impact
Environmentalism in Faith Communities
It takes quite a leap of faith to see Texas as a national leader in global warming solutions. But if there's anything Texas has plenty of, it's faith — from Protestant evangelical fervor to contemplative Catholic spirituality to Eastern mysticism and beyond. Moorhead will address the role faith communities have in helping the environment.

CATHY INGHAM (340B)
Landscape Architect - Garden Dreams
Is Gardening a "Green" Activity?
Ms. Ingham will explore and discuss the differences between chemically and organically based gardening and landscaping practices and the consequences of these practices. Examples will be used to illustrate these concepts and participants will be able to take home samples of an organic fertilizer from a local supplier.

MOVING IMAGE FESTIVAL SCREENING (320F)

2:30-3:00pm Break - Mingle; music; see the vendors; share with someone about making Bioneers a lifestyle!

3:00-6:00/7:00pm National Plenary Speakers

National Bioneers Plenary Speakers (via Satellite Broadcast)

See Satellite Speakers for biographical information

LUCAS BENITEZ (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Fighting for Justice for Farmworkers
This champion of labor rights who left Mexico at age 14 to work in the fields in the US has led campaigns for living wages and ending farm worker slave camps. By organizing boycotts and hunger strikes, he and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers have forced the world’s largest and richest fast-food chains to the negotiating table.

CHRISTINE LOH (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
The “Development” Imperative for Asians
How Asians look at development will have a great impact on Earth’s environmental and ecological future. With the threat of climate change, the world must collaborate much more meaningfully, but will that happen fast enough? This internationally acclaimed environmental activist has worked extensively in Chinese business and government and now heads Civic Exchange, a Hong Kong think tank. She shares her astute perspectives on key levers for restorative development in Asia.

NAOMI KLEIN (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
One of the most important political and economic thinkers of our time, this Canadian journalist and author (The Shock Doctrine and No Logo) penetrates the veils of corporate globalization to expose transnational capital’s most ruthless strategies yet to exploit catastrophe from Baghdad to New Orleans. She portrays her vision of how people’s movements can counter the disaster of disaster capitalism.

REBECCA MOORE (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Google Earth: Visualizing Change, Mapping the Future
Google Earth’s mapping and visualization technologies are powerful tools for public-interest purposes, from environmental justice to climate change, biocultural preservation, land conservation and creating a sustainable society. This software engineer turned public-interest advocate founded Google Earth Outreach, and her efforts are dramatically leveraging the crucial work of NGOs, communities and indigenous peoples worldwide.

RICK REED (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)
Collaborating on a Grand Scale: Think Systemically and Act Collaboratively
As visionary co-founder of RE-AMP, he and the Garfield Foundation orchestrated a groundbreaking collaboration among 70 NGOs and 10 foundations to transform the Midwest from a leader in emissions to a leader in clean energy. In 2007, all seven of the region’s Governors signed an accord committing their states to slashing their global warming pollution by 80% over the next 40 years

Closing:  Cath Conlon / Mark Illian (3rd Floor General Assembly Theater)