Environmental issues discussed at second Bioneers conference
Focusing on how environmental sustainability affects personal and societal health, community members and fellow Aggies met this weekend at the second-annual Bioneers Conference to discuss the future precautions needed to heal the natural world.
“Historically, we have regarded Mother Nature as one dumb broad,” Chip Ward, Saturday’s keynote speaker and local activist/author, said. “Pleasant to look at, but irrational, wasteful and annoyingly unpredictable.”
Society has taken advantage of the natural resources this world offers without understanding how this behavior will impact the future, Ward said. However, people are since learning the tradition of depleting the land of resources without planning for future preservation will lead to unimaginable problems, he said.
“There is also evidence of new respect and humility. Much of what we have learned adds up to this: Mother Nature knows best,” Ward said, adding humans cannot stand above the ecological processes or climate and nutrient cycles, but their survival is intrinsically linked to them.
The Bioneers Conference is California based and is broadcast to various sites across the nation via satellite. This event hosts a variety of speeches and workshops for people to participate in at each site. Utah State University hosted several workshops regarding alternative transportation, green business practices, fair trade and sustainable community development during this year’s conference.
Craig Hibberd spoke on Saturday about green design.
“I think a lot of people know something about [green design] and are trying to find ways to implement it and make it happen,” Hibberd said, who brings his expertise in green design from Moab, the first green-powered community in the nation.
During the keynote speech, Ward went on to discuss the importance the environment bears on human psychology and the significance of restoring biodiversity in the natural world. Biodiversity is the key to health and success of nature, he said. It is a storehouse of new information that might benefit society through medicine and alternative materials, Ward said, and not only may society profit from a diverse environmental world, but so will nature.
As an environmental activist, Ward has helped form several groups such as Heal Utah and Families Against Incineration Risk. He has also published several books, including “Hope’s Horizon: Three Visions of Healing the American Land.” Through his career, Ward said he has come to understand that using anger to change society’s behavior has only worked for short-term results.
As an activist, Ward said he has learned he is seen as “an ambassador of doom and outrage.” Fear and anger can motivate people to act in the short term, but for long-term results “doom and rage wear people down,” he said. To change and implement behaviors that benefit the environment and restore health to the natural world, people need to set positive goals and hope for the long haul.
“Hope is a bold and deliberate choice,” he said, “an act of defiance.”
Attending Bioneers is an opportunity to hear concepts that most people wouldn’t have the chance to hear, Krista Moon, a senior majoring in aviation, said.
“I think environmental education is really important,” Moon said, adding she came to this year’s conference “to see what’s going on in the environmental community.”
Having attended last year’s conference, Moon said there weren’t as many people involved in this year’s events. “It’s kinda sad,” that less people attended this year, she said.
USU colleagues were not the only ones attending this conference. Many community members and several high school students participated in this three-day event.
Keisha Mercer, a sophomore at Logan High School, came with fellow students to support the Logan Environmental Action Force (LEAF) club.
“We thought we could help out since it’s about the environment and learn more,” she said. “Not a lot of people know about the environment – not a lot of people care.”
-kcashton@cc.usu.edu