Chicago Great Lakes Chapter Bioneers Organizing Meeting

September 13, 2010
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Sierra Club conference room
70 E. Lake Street
(a short two block walk from the “el” at Lake Street)

What is Bioneers?

Meeting at the crossroads of ecology and social justice, bioneers engages citizens from all walks of life who are focusing on solving our most urgent problems within a framework of interdependence:

It is all connected. Taking care of nature means taking care of people – and taking care of people means taking care of nature. Bioneers takes a “solve -the-whole-problem” approach that is holistic, systemic and multidisciplinary and mimics nature.

How exciting that we have a bourgening movement for change that inspires a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations!  But to create a Chicago Great Lakes Chapter that hosts a 2011 October conference not only takes dreaming and visioning . . . it also takes work. We’re recruiting people who want to see this happen as well as those who have the dreams and the solutions that honor the web of life and all people.

Interested?  Contact us and we’ll get right back to you!

Come to our next meeting where we hope to do some more brainstorming about
1.    Who we ask to serve on the planning committee? (to represent the diversity of Chicago’s residents)
2.    Who we should connect with here in Chicago? (who is doing the kind of work we want to lift up, celebrate and learn from?)
3.    What are possible venues for a conference? (a four-day conference centrally located in the city can be a challenge)
4.    How do we organize ourselves and communicate with one another? (What tools are available to us for that purpose)

We’ve met just once as a small group.  Joining us now means you have the opportunity to shape what we do in Chicago.  Bioneers is about hope – living into a vision of life.  Won’t you join us?

How to Start a Movement

Admit it. You are impatient. Waiting for a global society to collectively make the changes required to live into a more just and sustainable world is just hard.

We’re told change is slow, but how slow does it really have to be?  What does it take to get your ideas noticed?  How do you get others to join you?  How many people do you REALLY need to begin?

Well, maybe… just maybe starting a movement for positive change isn’t as hard as we think. Watch this funny short video by Derek Sivers, who presented at 2010 TED Conference (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design). This video was posted by TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less.  After watching…tell us what you think!

That Majestic Plastic Bag

Have you ever wondered where all those plastic bottles, jugs, and containers you collect end up after they’re hauled off to the recycling center?  The answer is not very comforting.  Right now, less than 7% is recycled, and the rest of it either ends up in a landfill or is sent to China for recycling. Plastic that is not disposed of properly finds its way into our waterways and then into our ocean, where it is mistaken for food, and chokes or starves birds and marine animals to death Making plastic depletes finite petroleum resources and pumps toxic chemicals into air and water.  When it’s useful life is over, we can’t get rid of it. Unless it’s been incinerated, every piece of plastic ever manufactured remains on earth today.

Click here to read more about the hazards of plastic and then move into action!

Rethinking Plastic

Ecological Destruction or Earth Community?

How do we see our relationship with our planet?  Do we yet understand that destroying the rich, biodiversity of our planet means the ultimate destruction of our own species?

Since the 1980s, humanity has been in ecological overshoot, using resources faster than they can be regenerated and putting carbon into the air faster than it can be reabsorbed. Globally, we now demand the biological capacity of 1.4 planets. Our patterns of consumption in the U.S. require nearly five planets.   This means that our supply of natural resources – like trees and fish – continues to shrink, while our waste – primarily carbon dioxide – accumulates.

According to the latest data from the Global Footprint Network, on September 23, 2010 humanity will have used up all the resources nature will provide this year. From now until the end of the year, we’re dipping into our ecological reserves, borrowing from the future. This can go on for a short time, but ultimately it leads to a build up of waste and the depletion of the very resources on which human life depends.

We are at a crossroads in human history, never experienced before.  Knowing our earth community is in crisis, are we ready to change systems that require growth and expansion to those that value all life, fostering regeneration and rebirth?

E.O. Wilson of Harvard University tells us:  ”In the end it will all come down to a decision of ethics, how we value the natural world in which we have evolved and now – increasingly – how we regard our status as individuals (Thomas Berry. 1999. The Great Work. p. 102).

Watch the video reflecting on Thomas Berry and the Earth Community and tell us what you think…..

How green is Chicago?

Eco-Justice Collaborative is part of a growing coalition of organizations working to make Chicago a healthier place to live.  One of the objectives of f the Chicago Clean Power Campaign is to clean up Chicago’s coal plants – two of the oldest and dirtiest plants in the nation.

On July 15, the coalition held a press conference, announcing decisions by the national offices of Sierra Club and Greenpeace to make the Chicago Clean Power Campaign a priority.  This is a sign that not only is the campaign gaining momentum, but it is part of a growing recognition across the country that our addiction to fossil fuels is literally killing us.

The on-going oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the recent mining disaster in West Virginia, the destruction of the Appalachian mountains by mountaintop removal coal mining and the poisoning of our air in Chicago should shake us to the core. How loud must our wake-up call be before we act?

Read “Chicago’s Growing Clean Power Campaign Becomes Ground Zero for National Environmental/Citizens Groups” by Jeff Biggers.

Discuss….