October 2009

If last night’s Kick-off Event for Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change 2009 is any indication of how the rest of the conference will be, then color me happy. Well, maybe not happy. Awed might be a better word. Or amazed. Or stunned. The Kick-off featured messages from New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) senior scientist Dr. Lisa Suatoni, and Growing Power CEO and keynote speaker Will Allen. Hosted, sponsored and emceed by the Women’s Fund and their Executive Director, Kate Fentress, and Jennifer Grantham, coordinator of the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance, the event encompassed a broad spectrum of issues that face the New Bedford community – and indeed, all communities – in the upcoming decades.

Dr. Lisa Suatoni introduced the NRDC’s newly released short film, ACID TEST, which examines the growing problem of ocean acidification. As the film explains, a quarter of the world’s carbon pollution is absorbed by the ocean and turned into acid. This acidification, if continued unchecked, will have unwelcome consequences; specifically, seashells will begin to dissolve. For a city that is the number one fishing port in the US, and for which 75% of that revenue comes from scallops, this is a dire message indeed. As the significance of Dr. Suatoni’s research sank in, a palpable hush fell over the Zeiterion Theatre. If their thoughts were anything like mine, then they probably felt completely helpless in the face of such an enormous, global problem.

It is the work of innovators like Will Allen, however, that gives us the hope and the means to avoid such a catastrophic future. Allen, a 2008 MacArthur fellow, is at the forefront of what he calls the “Good Food Revolution.” Less than one percent of food in most cities is locally grown, he says, but he is making an enormous effort to change that. It is his vision to making healthy, locally-grown produce available in urban areas. At the end of Allen’s powerful slide show, documenting the last sixteen years of his work, I heard a man behind me murmur, “Wow.” Allen received a standing ovation – more than well deserved, as the revitalized audience (myself included) sallied forth to meet this year’s conference head on. 

Bring it on, Bioneers by the Bay.

The annual Bioneers by the Bay conference on the environment and social justice begins tonight with a documentary on ocean acidification, a byproduct of climate change that could be especially harmful for an area where the economy is so dependent on fishing, organizers say.

The short film, “Acid Test,” recently released by the Natural Resources Defense Council, will be followed by a discussion led by the council’s senior scientist Lisa Suatoni. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. at the Zeiterion Theater.

The kick-off event, which is free, also includes a talk from Will Allen, a former professional basketball player who now runs a farm in Milwaukee called Growing Power that provides food to the needy. Allen will also give a keynote talk and lead an urban farming workshop on Friday.

Desa Van Laarhoven, the executive director of the Marion Institute, which is a main organizer of Bioneers, said the conference is focused on finding solutions to climate change and bringing together different perspectives. An increase in carbon dioxide has a well-known greenhouse effect on the atmosphere, but fewer people know that it also raises acidity levels in the ocean, she said.

For a fishing industry like New Bedford’s, the effect could be devastating, Van Laarhoven said, because acidity can kill some fish species. Scientists “are realizing this is a huge issue,” she said.

The conference also includes talks and workshops on far-ranging aspects of the environment and social justice. One workshop will teach how to start a community bike shop, another will focus on organic beekeeping and another will examine eco-fashion, which takes old clothes and refreshes them with environmentally friendly dyes.

The list of speakers includes Robin Chase, the founder of GoLoco, a Web site for arranging carpooling, Paul Hawken, an author who has also run multiple environmental businesses, and Winona LaDuke, the director of Honor the Earth Fund, a group run by Native Americans that works to erase geographic and political isolation in Native settlements and raise money for Native environmental groups.

Bioneers, now in its fifth year, will also have trolley and walking tours around New Bedford, including brownfield sites and the waterfront. Most of the conference’s events take place at the Zeiterion or nearby downtown sites.

The conference has helped create collaborative approaches, including a breakfast series on sustainability that grew from a Bioneers panel discussion, said Kathleen Christianson, the project director for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s sustainability office.

“It’s a really excellent opportunity for people in the area to hear some outstanding leaders in the fields of sustainability and social justice,” she said. “It always sort of surprises me because it’s a hidden gem and it really shouldn’t be hidden.”