What Is a Bioneer?

Bioneers is inspiring a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations.

Viable solutions already exist for most of our environmental and social crises. The solutions in nature consistently surpass our concept of what is possible. Where we don’t know what to do, we have a good idea what directions to head in. Once people discover these realities, it dramatically leverages pressure for change.

It’s All Connected!

Chicago is the nation’s third largest city.  But it isn’t just any city, it is CHICAGO and it is alive!  At its heart are culturally rich and diverse people who pulse with innovation and promise.  Lake Michigan’s shores shape Chicago’s body and its fresh waters pour through its veins, sustaining all life.

The City’s highway and rail transportation systems and original Chicago-style architecture form the bones and connecting tissue of its body, carrying goods and services that support us, and providing shelter against the elements.  Its businesses, industries and educational, health and faith institutions are strong, both powering and sustaining city life.

Information, communication and technologies form networks and interactions that flow continuously through Chicago’s brain, while its soul sings out a long history of struggle and toil through blues and jazz and celebrates the sacredness of life not only in its houses of worship, but also in the beauty of its prairies, wetlands and freshwater ecosystems.  The “city that works” is also the city that plays, and its strong but playful spirit spawns restaurants, theatre, sports teams and tourist attractions that are known world-wide.

Chicago, just like other living organisms, responds to change both from within and from the outside.  It grows and matures when it is healthy; it declines when it is not.  And Chicago is not immune from the environmental and social problems resulting from a fossil-fuel based economy.  These systems contribute to unstained growth, exploitation of resources, global climate change, a faltering economy, and the concentration and misappropriation of economic and political power.

A Chicago Chapter in the Works!

EJC is partnering with others to create a Chicago Bioneers Chapter and 2012 gathering.  Interested in getting involved?

Contact Pam or Lan at 773.556.3418 or email Lan at lrichart@ecojusticecollaborative.org.

What Is a Chicago Bioneer?

Like the biological pioneers of the larger Bioneers movement, a Chicago Bioneer knows that solutions should be based on the wisdom and proven design of natural, living systems, rather than ones that are simply engineered technological fixes, which continue our current patterns of resource consumption and exploitation, often at the expense of one or more of our vital parts.

A Chicago Bioneer:

• Takes a holistic, and multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving, by “connecting the dots” among life-giving systems that make up Chicago.

• Educates by popularizing breakthrough ideas and practices, while advocating for opportunities to heal and restore our city to its fullest potential.

• Links individuals and networks in order to foster connection, cross-pollination, and collaboration of people and ideas, all focused on positive change.

• Honors and invigorates the ideas and energy of youth by engaging them in key areas of planning and programming.

• Grows social capital by innervating and strengthening strategic networks, including bioregional and community-based alliances.

In the context that our city is alive, Chicago Bioneers mission is to promote solutions that allow Chicago to thrive and protect the city from challenges that threaten its health.

We recognize that all parts of this dynamic, living organism are inter-connected, and that all parts need to be considered in any solution in order to foster an environmentally and socially just city that matures and changes for the good of the whole.