Iroquois elder and global indigenous leader Oren Lyons describes the authentic origins of the U.S. Constitution in the ancient Iroquois “Great League of Peace.” He weaves the story of the Peacemaker and how leaders are raised and chosen, with decisions based on seven generations and women choosing chiefs. He warns climate disruption should motivate us to “raise up our leaders.”

This speech was given at the 2003 Bioneers National Conference and is featured on the Indigenous Essentials, Vol. 1 and Democracy, Human Rights and the Rights of Nature, Vol. 1 Collections.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. 

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

Learn more about the Bioneers Indigenous Knowledge Program at http://www.bioneers.org/pages/indigen... and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

The Roots of American Democracy | Chief Oren Lyons

This rousing collection of videos portray the vibrant global movement of movements devoted to environmental health, justice, dignity, diversity, and democracy – to human rights and the rights of nature. It opposes the concentration of wealth and distribution of poverty. It augurs an ecologically literate, just civilization where taking care of nature means taking care of people – and taking care of people means taking care of nature. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges. Visit Bioneers.org to learn more about our programs, annual conference and local gatherings.
Cover image by Tiffany Bozic (tiffanybozic.com)

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john a. powell (spelled with lowercase), head of the UC Berkeley Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, explains what Martin Luther King Jr.'s concept of Beloved Community really means.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. 

To learn more about topics like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Beloved Community | john a powell

It is the chief moral obligation of our time to build a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. The activist and founder of four non-profits, including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Van Jones, urges us to carry our spiritual, cultural and economic movements into the electoral arena to transform politics and forge a green "New Deal" coalition so that kids who are now prison fodder will help create a zero-pollution economy, harvest the sun and heal the land instead. Introduction by Jodie Evans, co-founder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace.

This speech was given at the 2007 Bioneers National Conference.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. 

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Towards a Green Alliance: Birthing a New Politics | Van Jones

The world is running out of fresh water, and there is no environmental crisis as great as the commodification of the world’s water supply by giant corporations. Maude Barlow, national chairperson of The Council of Canadians, and author of Blue Gold, will describe the movement to guarantee a water-secure future based on conservation, equity and the public good. Introduction by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers CEO and Co-Founder.

This speech was given at the 2003 Bioneers National Conference.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. 

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Blue Gold: Water as a Human Right | Maude Barlow

Often the same adversaries oppose women’s, anti-racist, environmental, peace, human rights, indigenous, sexual liberation, consumer, children’s rights and other such movements. Yet these movements often remain separate and don’t see their organic linkage. Gloria Steinem, the iconic leader who continues to inhabit the leading edges of progressive social change, traces the historical, political and practical reasons movements are linked — not ranked — and why our success depends on it. Introduction by Nina Simons, Bioneers President and Co-Founder.

This speech was given at the 2011 Bioneers National Conference.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. 

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers Everywoman's Leadership program, please visit http://www.bioneers.org/programs/every-womans-leadership/ and stay in touch via Facebook (bit.ly/everywomansFB) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/Bioneerswomen).

When Women Are People…and Corporations Are Not | Gloria Steinem

How might we see the environment, social justice and our spirituality differently if we understood a bit better how our minds work and how connected we all are? john a. powell, an internationally recognized authority in civil rights and liberties, structural racialization, ethnicity, housing, poverty and democracy, was recently the Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State. He founded the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota; was National Legal Director of the ACLU; co-founded the Poverty  Race Research Action Council; and has taught at numerous law schools including Harvard, Columbia and Berkeley. Introduction by Paloma Pavel, Co-Founder of Breakthrough Communities.

This speech was given at the 2001 Bioneers National Conference.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. 

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

The Roots of American Democracy | Chief Oren Lyons

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