Interviews at the 2010 Bioneers Conference

Mike and JoAnna Bresnan of Costa Rica's, Children Feeding Children, program and the change and transformation that is occurring around the world. They introduce interviews with Annie Leonard and David Orr while attending the 2010 Bioneers Conference held October 15-17, 2010 in San Rafael, California.

Filmed by Barry Heidt of GeoSpirit.tv and edited by Rob Russo.

Prosperity without Growth 2 of 2 by Tim Jackson
Is our economy fit for purpose in a low carbon world? Can economic growth deliver us from the threat of catastrophic climate change, or is it the engine thats driving us relentlessly towards it?

Speaking today at a high-level debate in central London to mark the publication of his controversial new book Prosperity without Growth, Tim Jackson argues that building a new economic model fit for a low carbon world is the most urgent task of our times.

The current model isnt working, says Prof Jackson, a top sustainability adviser to the UKs four governments. Instead of delivering widespread prosperity, our economies are undermining wellbeing in the richest nations and failing those in the poorest. The prevailing system has already led us to the brink of economic collapse and if left unchecked it threatens a climate catastrophe.

Prosperity without Growth substantially updates Jacksons groundbreaking report for the Sustainable Development Commission. Launched earlier this year to great acclaim, the report rapidly became the most downloaded document in the Commissions nine year history and in recent weeks has contributed to a burgeoning debate about economic growth and its consequences for people and planet.

Economic System bumps into Biosphere Boundaries by John Fullerton
The founder of the Capital Institute, John Fullerton, says that climate change is just one symptom of a "full-world economy." Interviewed by Daniel Erasmus at King's College, April 2010.

The Challenges Ahead for a Sustainable Future by Robert Costanza
Robert Costanza is Director of the Institute for Sustainable Solutions at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.  Dr. Costanza is co-founder and past-president of the International Society for Ecological Economics. In this presentation he discusses sustainability from definition through to the processes necessary to come up with solutions to creating a better, more sustainable world.

RIGHT RELATIONSHIP: Building a Whole Earth Economy by Peter Brown
Dr. Peter G. Brown is a Professor of Geography at McGill University. In this discussion he calls out important points from his book, co-authored by with Geoffrey Garver, "Right Relationship: Buildng a Whole Earth Economy.  Our current economic system—which assumes endless growth and limitless potential wealth—flies in the face of the fact that the earths resources are finite. The result is increasing destruction of the natural world and growing, sometimes lethal, tension between rich and poor, global north and south. Trying to fix problems piecemeal is not the solution. We need a comprehensive new vision of an economy that can serve people and all of lifes commonwealth.

Can We Afford the Future by Dr. Frank Ackerman
There is no question that global warming exists, but there is little action among the government and society at large to take steps to combat it. Economist Frank Ackerman argues that the standard economic models used to calculate the global cost of protection, versus the cost of destruction of the planet, focus on an incomplete cost-benefit analysis.

Hosted by The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future on April 28, 2009.

Stuff, Life and Cybernetics
The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard is the starting point of a discussion of the linear system that depletes forests, empty lakes, erode the land, abuses atmospher and exploits the poor in third world countries.  The Viable System Model and Management Cybernetics is used to take a hard look at the system that is producing so much waste and resource depletion in order to suggest important change

Sustainability and The Turning Point
Joanna Macy stresses that the Earth itself can teach us how to live within the limits of earth and do no harm. Visit the Joanna Macy Website.