Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Finger Lakes Bioneers Conference October 16th-18th

The Finger Lakes Bioneers Conference announces keynote speakers and the launch of a new website WeMakeOurFuture.org.

Finger Lakes Bioneers is honored to host the first and only Beaming Bioneers site in all of New York State. Bioneers is celebrating its 20th year of providing a global environmental forum with practical solutions for people and the planet.

The mission of Finger Lakes Bioneers is to establish an ongoing conversation that transcends the barriers of geography, class, race, and generation to co-create a shared future based upon sustainability and social justice. Together we are offering the We Make Our Future conference as a regional venue for that conversation.

The conference will be held October 16-18 on the Ithaca College campus and various downtown locations. For more information please visit our recently launched website WeMakeOurFuture.org.

By linking nationally renowned speakers at Bioneer headquarters via satellite with local topics and experts on the ground, the We Make Our Future conference aims to inspire a potent global-local approach to our environmental and social dilemmas. Citizens, policymakers, youth, community leaders, and business owners are coming together to do the exciting and necessary work of co-creating our shared future in the Finger Lakes Region.

Finger Lakes Bioneers is proud to announce Jonathan Todd, Omar Freilla, John Logue, and Dorothy Cotton as presenters of this inaugural year’s keynote addresses.

Todd is the COO of John Todd Ecological Designs, and is best known for his work in the planning, fabrication and operation of a wide variety of Eco-Machines™ and floating water Aqua-Restorer™ technologies.

Omar Freilla and John Logue will deliver a keynote address and in-depth workshop on worker-owned green business. Freilla founded Green Worker Cooperatives (GWC) to foster environmental and economic justice by developing worker-owned and environmentally-friendly businesses in the South Bronx. Logue is the director of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center. Both groups are organizing low-income residents into worker-owned cooperatives in the green economy and providing the necessary training and assistance to launch new businesses.

Ithaca’s own Dorothy Cotton will present Sunday’s keynote address. Cotton was the Education Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for twelve years under the direct supervision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She will speak on the lessons of the civil rights movement for the sustainability and social justice movement.

In addition to on-site conference activities, Finger Lakes Bioneers will host a series of public events throughout the weekend including a poetry slam, recognition ceremony, live music, a Bioneers Salon, sustainability marketplace, DJ dance party and more.

Tickets to attend the conference are $35 dollars per day or $90 for all three days. To learn more about all of the activities, presenters, and opportunities to get involved please visit WeMakeOurFuture.org. or email info@wemakeourfuture.org.

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