Bioneers 2008 - Revolution in the Heart of Nature

	Just one reason why we do what we do - Fall comes to the new River Gorge and Bridge. In the far distance is Gauley Mountain, now threatened with destruction by mountaintop removal mining even though it is a symbol of West Virginia on the official state quarter.

For the first time in my 17 years of working with OVEC, I attended the Bioneers conference in beautiful Marin County, Calif., held October 1719.

From the www.bioneers.org website: Bioneers is inspiring a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations. Founded in 1990, Bioneers promotes practical environmental solutions and innovative social strategies for restoring Earths imperiled ecosystems and healing our human communities. Bioneers consider people to be part of nature, not separate from or above nature.

The themes at this years conference included global warming, bio-mimicry (problem-solving by copying what nature does), technology used to organize and the interrelatedness of economy and ecology.

As I listened to one engaging plenary session after another, I couldnt help but wish that other OVEC leaders and members were present especially young ones.

David Orr, professor and chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College and an award-winning scholar and leader in the sustainability movement, spoke of mountaintop removal mining during his "Some Like It Hot, But Lots Dont: The Changing Climate of US Politics." David told the Bioneers that when it comes to climate change, "Time is not our friend" and it is "all hands on deck time."

He is working with others to present a plan of action to curb the impacts of climate change to the new administration. See www.climateactionproject.org. In a separate workshop, David suggested the two ways to help young people fall in love with the natural world are to "kill the TV" and to get the kids outside!

Mountaintop removal was also a topic of Rebecca Moores presentation. Moore is a computer and software scientist at Google. She conceived and now manages the Google Earth Outreach program, which supports the work of non-profits, communities and indigenous peoples around the world in applying Googles mapping tools to pressing problems like mountaintop removal.

In 2006, Google partnered with Appalachian Voices to create virtual flyovers of mountaintop removal sites in Central Appalachia. In 2007, they developed a remarkable tool Whats Your Connection? that allows a person to enter his/her zip code and see their connection to mountaintop removal mining.

OVEC and other grassroots groups helped supply the content for this web tool, available at www.ilovemountains.org.

Mary Anne Hitt, the former executive director of Appalachian Voices, gave a presentation ("Google Earth Outreach: High Tech Hits the Ground Mapping") on how Google partnered with them to help stop mountaintop removal.

Without a doubt, this powerful tool has increased national awareness, helped inform people across the globe about this extreme mining method and has moved thousands of people to take action on behalf of our beloved mountains.

Executive Director of Clean Power Now Barbara Hill was a presenter on a panel called "Changing the Climate: Large-scale Collaborative Strategies for Clean Energy." She talked about the importance and current status of the Cape Wind Project. See www.cleanpowernow.org.

She noted how OVECs work to end mountaintop removal is connected to the need to begin a transition from a fossil fuel-based energy/economic system to clean, renewable wind. Barbara drew cheers from attendees when she related how CLEAN (see page 5) weighed in to help stop the blasting at Coal River Mountain.