Whidbey Geodome Project

One of the most awe-inspiring events at this year's Bioneers conference (Oct. 19-21) in San Rafael, California was the Whidbey Geodome's Earth Portal. As a special project of New Stories (a non-profit supporting emerging stories as a tool for understanding humanity), The Earth Portal provides an immersive multimedia experience where we can take a journey from the Earth to our solar system and beyond to infinite galaxies. The Geodome reminds me of the classic Charles and Ray Eames "Powers of Ten" film where we can play with scale.... only in this case we pull away from the Earth, our galaxy and way beyond to an amazing perspective on our place in the universe. The technology is also very well-suited to learn about the many of the ecological issues that we're confronting here on Earth including climate change, fracking, loss of biodiversity, etc.

Everyone who watched the show with me was awestruck by the remarkable perspective that the Geodome delivers. This is a remarkable tool for schools to inspire students (and adults!) about our planet and ways of understanding our role in the universe. Because it's portable, it can be set up temporarily at schools, conferences, fairs, etc. For the past six months, it was set up in Seattle as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the World's Fair.

I look forward to hearing more about the Whidbey Geodome as it becomes better known and experienced by everyone. Check it out!

Bioneers: Education for Action

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Education for Action working group at the Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California. The objective of this group of about 40 is to find ways of leveraging sustainability education on a national scale. Quite an ambitious goal, yet as we broke it down into smaller chunks, we discovered that there were some aspects that were very doable!

It was intriguing that this group of leaders from the education, marketing, media, business and government sectors, among others, had deep experience and ideas on how best to engage a broad spectrum of people in sustainability education. The process our group underwent included working in smaller groups of about 7 people to drill down on a specific area which was then blended into the outcomes from the other groups. This is a long-term objective in which we focused on achievable goals. I'm excited to see what unfolds.

On a broader perspective, I'm thrilled to see how Bioneers is expanding its programs into: Dreaming New Mexico (a template for implementing regional sustainable practices); Food & Farming, Indigeneity, Women's Leadership and Education. One of the strongest aspects of The Bioneers is its network of people and organizations working of all aspects of sustainable practices. Leveraging this network into more specific programs is a wonderful way to turn the network into meaningful action.

Last year, I remember being pleasantly surprised to see TED talks on an airline flight. I look forward to seeing Bioneers talks in future flights, websites, television, radio and many other outlets. This is already underway as the 'Beyond Bioneers' phase of these ideas are mainstreamed.