Now — as the assaults on so much that we hold most dear are intensifying and our systems are breaking down in big chunks — investing in the leadership of women, grassroots leadership of all kinds and whole systems change has never been more important.
I believe you can make no better investment in progressive social and environmental change — none more leveraged, relevant or timely — than by donating to Bioneers.
While we believe everyone is called to be leaders now — Bioneers has prioritized the leadership of women, youth and Indigenous people.
Merriam-Webster recently proclaimed feminism as the most-looked-up word of 2017. While some may feel sad that so many still don’t know what the word means, for me it’s so exciting that feminism’s emergence into mainstream culture, awareness and policy — as true political, economic and social gender equity — may be finally on its way.
At Bioneers, we’ve advocated for and featured the leadership of diverse women leaders for 20 years. Gloria Steinem noted that “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” Our videos, award-winning podcasts and radio and book series feature inspiring examples of women leading visionary and effective change from all ages, ethnicities, sectors, classes and disciplines.
We also see our old-growth cultures, First Nations and Indigenous peoples, as having incredibly valuable traditional knowledge, insight and leadership with respect to living through climate change and resisting corporate rule. That’s why our Indigeneity program is creating curricula and sharing media year-round to inspire young Native people to become the leaders they were born to be.
Bioneers’ Youth Program, which now comprises 20 percent of our conference audience each year, is catalyzing, connecting and cultivating young leaders to levy their voices and power to create and demand change from policymakers.
Nina Simons, Kenny Ausubel and the Bioneers community shed light on the value and necessity of Bioneers today. Bioneers’ award-winning podcast and terrestrial radio series feature the leadership of women, indigenous people and youth, as well as people of color movement-leaders, in ways that are inspiring, evocative and revelatory. It’s why our keynote videos are being shared widely on YouTube and social media, where we’re reaching millions.
As Naomi Klein notes in her recent book No Is Not Enough, we cannot base this movement of movements on resistance alone. A compelling vision of the world we’re working toward — one that is pluralistic, invites everyone to the table and doesn’t require any dogma or belief systems to participate in — is essential.
That’s the solution-oriented vision that Bioneers reveals and exemplifies.
After all these years, I’m still amazed to discover skillful and courageous leaders in their thirties and forties who testify that their path and vision were ignited by Bioneers, years ago. This year, a speaker returned to present her work on innovative approaches to shifting the mindset of policy-makers, and she brought her 14-year-old daughter. Turns out, she last came to Bioneers when she was 19 years old and pregnant, on a youth scholarship, and the experience shaped her professional career.
Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons accept the Goi Peace Award on behalf of the Bioneers community in Japan, November 2017. Last month in Tokyo, when Kenny and I received the Goi Peace Award, we met a young Japanese journalist who’d attended Bioneers three times. As he presented his slides and experience to the largely Japanese audience, he was asked what ideas he’d taken home from Bioneers to seed in Japan. He replied that he’d started a green online magazine, created a Community Supported Agriculture farm in his village, and begun an alternative currency — a time bank — to help knit his community closer together.
I know we’re all getting barraged with asks at the end of a year when the demands come from every direction — but there’s no one else I see working as strategically, as widely and as effectively to ignite leadership, strengthen resistance and work toward a positive future vision as Bioneers.
PLEASE DONATE Your contribution will help us launch greater media outreach, and — if you’re a new or increasing donor — your support will be doubled in value by a matching grant.
Won’t you consider supporting this vital, timely and sacred work now, when it’s most needed?
Thank you, lovingly and in solidarity
And on behalf of the sacredness of the entire web of life,
Nina Simons
Co-founder
A Gift: Great Bioneers Media
I hope you’ll take a few moments to peruse some beautiful examples of the type of media made possible by your support of Bioneers.
- A Karmic Moment: Why Men Must Step Up Now to End Rape Culture — At the 2016 Bioneers conference, Eve Ensler gave a visionary call for men to put ending rape culture front and center in their lives and work. Listen and read the transcript here.
- Backlash Moment: Converging at the Crossroads of Identity and Justice — In this podcast, visionary law professor and changemaker Kimberlé Crenshaw discusses the current political and racial climate that led to a Donald Trump presidency, and shows that it’s only at the crossroads of our many identities that we will find a story big enough to embrace the diversity and complexity of our globalized 21st century world.
- Indigenous Women Rising: Upholding the Hoop of Life — Learn how five Indigenous women of the North and South are showing us how to keep fossil fuels in the ground and uphold our part of the hoop of life in this podcast.
- Making Tomorrow Today: The Power of Youth — Dynamic young people are surmounting considerable social and economic obstacles by following their dreams to create a better world. The young people in this podcast are enlivening the horizon of positive possibilities with grace, courage and boundless creativity.
- Breaking the Male Code: The Tyranny of Masculinity — Eve Ensler, Tony Porter, Dallas Goldtooth, and George Lipsitz take on the issue of redefining masculinity in this important podcast.
