Bioneers

Globally renowned playwright and activist Eve Ensler performs an act from her new "Fruit Trilogy," a mesmerizing and provocative edge-walking play that explores a woman's mystical journey into her body. Eve is the creator of "The Vagina Monologues," perhaps the most performed play in history, as well as the founder of the immensely impactful V-Day movement, which seeks to end violence against women and girls globally. As an author-artist-activist, she has fearlessly explored women's oppression, empowerment and emancipation with unparalleled intensity and influence.

Bren Smith, founder of GreenWave and winner of the 2015 Buckminster Fuller Challenge award, tells his personal story of ecological redemption. He dropped out of high school and became a commercial fisherman at age 14, but witnessed the destruction of the ocean firsthand. In a quest for a better way, he pioneered a revolutionary new model of harvesting bounty from the seas. He describes his innovative, practical design and future vision for "restorative 3-D ocean farming".

How can we help young, motivated agrarians survive daunting structural obstacles and become successful farmers to whom retiring organic farmers can transmit their wisdom? How can we invest in the democratization of our land base? These questions drive Agrarian Trust, started by Greenhorns founder Severine v T Fleming, one of the most dynamic leaders in the young farmers’ movement.

The most influential climate activist of our era, Bill McKibben, a founder of the extraordinarily effective 350.org grassroots campaign, describes the immense groundswell of global citizen engagement rising to challenge the "dirty" energy industry. Find out where we are scientifically and politically in the transformation to end our reliance on fossil fuels, while lighting the pathways toward a clean-energy future.

The award-winning Canadian journalist, international activist and best-selling author of books including "The Shock Doctrine," and "No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies," depicts climate change as more than an “issue.” It’s a civilizational wake-up call delivered in the language of fires, floods, storms and droughts. It demands that we challenge the dominant economic policies of deregulated capitalism and endless resource extraction.

In this 6th Age of Extinctions, the biosphere’s life-support systems that have allowed humans to ascend are collapsing. Visionary mycological researcher/inventor Paul Stamets illuminates how fungi, particularly mushrooms, offer uniquely powerful, practical solutions we can implement now to boost the biosphere’s immune system and equip us with benign breakthrough mycotechnologies to accelerate the transition to a restored world.

The cognitive and emotional benefits of healthy oceans and waterways have been celebrated through art, song, romance and poetry throughout human history. Marine biologist, activist, community organizer and author Wallace J. Nichols will dive deeper and explore our blue minds through the dual lenses of evolutionary biology and cognitive science, reminding us that we are water.