Bioneers Conference 2011

Bioneers is the largest, annual environmental conference in the USA. It’s like TED talks, except with a hope filled focus on how to take care of the earth. The three day conference happens every October in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The one session that I connected with took place in a small tent, that seated a couple hundred people. Everyone was barefoot and sitting on the ground. We held a council and shared our knowledge on how we have experienced the divine feminine and the divine masculine.

To me the divine feminine isn’t a goddess. Instead it’s a balance of traits that I‘m searching for, the ones that will make me most effective and content in life. Women are known for being nurturing, but they are also fiercely protect their loved ones. Within myself, I want to be a whole person, both a cook and a bread winner. Then if it happens, find a man who is also actualized and together we’ll be like iron sharpening iron.

Just as women have natural strengths, men do to. I think of the divine masculine as a benchmark for the men I look to date. Are they gentle? Do they know when and how to protect? Are they humble? Are they compassionate? Do they guard their health as being the most important, for how else can you serve without life?

We talked about the imbalance of masculine versus feminine power and how men and women need to treat each other as equals. The session was co-facilitated by a man who looked like my late grate-grandfather, Popsi. He said it was up to the men to honor and respect the women by giving us space to do what we do best: taking things deeper, being creative, forming communities, sharing feelings…

Hearing from this Popsi look-alike that ladies should be praised and valued as essential, was edifying. I felt important. I felt vital. Being apart of this circle meeting gave me the further conviction to better myself, to find that balance of traits within.

We carpooled up to Marin county, that's just north of San Francisco for the Bioneers Conference.

We helped man the WEAD booth, which is the Women Environmental Artists Directory.

Over the three day weekend, the morning sessions were held in the main auditorium, where we heard from top environmentalists, scientists and activists.

Besides having a vendors tent of organic/fair trade/eco-friendly products, there was an art exhibit by the artist-in-residence from Recology.

If you are interested in going next year to the Bioneers Conference in October, be sure to check out the scholarships. They offer them for youth, full time college students, seniors and activists. They also have a scholarship for teachers who use the Bioneers DVDs as part of their curriculum.

One of my favorite presentations at the conference was by Paul Stamets. He talked about how mushrooms can save the world. Also check out Stamets presentation on TED.

-Article by installation artist and former student of the Eco Art Matters Class, Elizabeth Symington.