Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons - Bioneers

Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons are the co-founders and co-presidents of Bioneers. For the past 18 years they have hosted the Bioneers Conference which acts as a dynamic forum connecting people and ideas in a “globalocal” movement. For more information, and to register for the conference please visit www.bioneers.org

What is a Bioneer?

Kenny: What life does is to create conditions conducive to life. And the greek word for life is bios and I think that that is what Bioneers are really about, creating conditions conducive to life.

Nina: And I would say that a Bioneer is someone who has found a way to bring their unique gift in service and to all of life and the restoration and reinvention of our world.

What inspired you to create Bioneers?

Kenny: Interestingly the deepest roots of Bioneers come from the world of plants and food and farming. I made a feature documentary in the late 1980’s about herbal cancer treatment, and it revealed to me the most basic principle of natural medicine which is working with nature to help nature heal itself. And that was a big inspiration from really how life works, how biology works. And then I co-founded a company called Seeds of Change, organic biodiversity. Nina and I worked with that company for the first six years or so and it really tried to work with farmers and seed heads, maniac seed collectors. Part of our understanding was that diversity is the very fabric of the web of life. It’s nature’s fail save mechanism against extinction. I would say biological and cultural diversity especially in the realm of food and farming really were core to the inspiration to the bioneers conference. When it first started that was probably our single biggest focus. And it remains our single biggest focus I would say.

Nina: What caused me to fall in love with Bioneers was really that I had originally come from a back ground that was about arts and culture. And though I loved being in the natural world and felt connected to it, I hated science. And when I sat through my first Bioneers conference I realized that every person who was speaking was in a co-creative dance with the natural world and it completely dissolved the false separation for me between arts and sciences. It was very clear that this was the community I really wanted to serve. It also ignited for me a sense of wonder and kind of childhood awe that this was exactly the creativity that was most exciting to me.

Why do you host the conference in Marin?

Nina: Marin County is an optimal home for the conference because of its wealth of
agricultural land and activity, as well as a real openness for innovation and creativity.

Kenny: The environment that we experience in Marin also sets a positive tone for our 19 Beaming Bioneers conferences; the core conference in Marin is beamed by satellite
to 19 sites in the US and Canada which are holding concurrent conferences featuring local activists and local solutions for their region.

How does Bioneers walk its talk at the conference?

Nina: We’ve really tried to infuse Bioneers with a sense of integrity and that has meant partnering with local groups. We work closely with Marin Conservation Corps to make the event itself a zero waste realm. This year we won’t have any plastic water bottles on site. We’re also thrilled to partner with Marin Farmers Market, sourcing much of the food for the event from local farmers. I think a central part of what Bioneers is about, and also what Marin Farmers Market does, is to strengthen everyone’s sense of localization and community and connection to their neighbor. We aspire to do that via the event itself to inspire people to do the same at home.

To what would you attribute the growing mainstream consciousness of environmental and social challenges?

Kenny: I think a lot of the shift and main streaming of organic food is driven by people’s concerns about health, and about our children. And I think, more and more, people want a sense of connection; of going to some place like Marin Farmers Market where you can meet you local farmers and know where your food is coming from, and shake the hand of the person that you give your money and feel really great about that. People want a sense of connection, and community as well as healthy safe food.

Nina: I think it’s also been motivated by a growing awareness of just how serious some of the environmental and health challenges that we face really are. And I think that what we’re witnessing is the convergence, the positive motivation of having healthier foods that are grown locally, by people you know in an artful way and avoiding the pesticides and the chemicals that are so pervasive throughout our culture.

How do you stay hopeful in light of the challenges we’re facing today?

Kenny: Bioneers is a natural anti-depressant. It comes from being involved in this incredible soup of heroes and innovators creating positive change in our world. Solutions have always been at the core of Bioneers. By sharing them with the world we are hoping to seed a national and global movement for restoration. That sustains my sense of hope.