Scott Hess from sustainablbe Petaluma sent this along...

Dear Friends,

Just returned from the second day of the 10th annual Bioneers Conference now being held at the Marin Civic Center. What an atmoshere! What an amazing vision being held my so many beautiful, brilliant and inspired people.

This annual event brings together leading scientific and social thinkers and doers who have developed both visionary and practical solutions for restoring the Earth. In the morning session we heard Bill Mckibben on global warming, Paul Hawkin and Amory and Hunter Lovins on Natural Capitalism, esteemed biologists David Suzuki and Mae-Wan Ho on genetic engineering , Katsi Cook on restoring indigenous herbalism and midwifery, and writer and poet Terry Tempest Williams on the Relationship between Nature, Spirit and Place. The afternoon spiraled on from there with one profound presentation/interaction after another.

The major theme is this: We are on the verge of an extraordinary Shift in thinking. The potential dangers of our planetary moment are truly awesome- many of which were spelled out in chilling detail or alluded to in the day's events. Its life in the balance, and human beings are at the crux. We must catch the new vision of the Earth as a Biological rather than mechanistic Being. As we take Nature as our mentor we are being given startling new solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Amory and Hunter Lovins, especially, were glowing with creative energy and positive hopefulness.

Their new book, Natural Capitalism, which they co-authored with Paul Hawkin was, as John Sheehy reported last week, red hot. It, among hundreds of fascinating publications, sold out almost immediately at the conference and may be accessed in its entirety at http://www.natcap.org.

I'm used to fairly free written expression but it is impossible to do justice to this event. I can only say that I feel elevated, spiritually embraced and somewhat awestruck at the day's events.

The moment is vibrant and the tide is turning.

Peace an

-- Jean Wasp (jean@sonic.net), October 31, 1999