IHM: Bioneers Detroit Conference 2008

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Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit conference
To be held at Marygrove College
Sept. 17, 2008

The fourth annual Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit (GLBD) conference on environmental issues will be held at Marygrove College Oct. 17-19.

It is one of 18 satellite conferences connected to the national Bioneers conference and is one of three Great Lakes sites this year. IHM Sisters Gloria Rivera and Paula Cathcart initiated the process for Detroit to become a satellite conference site and brought the conference there in 2005. Other sites are Traverse City, now in its seventh year, and Cleveland, new in 2007.

The Detroit conference features plenary speakers beamed in by satellite from the 19^th annual national conference in California. Speakers include Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of Jaques-Yves Cousteau and co-founder of EarthEcho International; Christine Loh, internationally acclaimed environmental activist; Naomi Klein, Canadian journalist and author of the Shock Doctrine and No Logo; and Rebecca Moore, founder of Google Earth.

Locally, the GLBD conference will present practical approaches to key environmental issues, and participants will have the opportunity to learn from a variety of local environmental leaders in areas such as organic farming, environmental activism, recycling and energy preservation.

Five different tour options are also available to participants and include a bus tour of neighborhoods negatively impacted by environmental disregard; community gardens and urban agriculture; and a tour illustrating the transformation of used tires into attractive mud mats.

Registration is $255 for the entire conference, $170 for two days, and $80 for one day. Activist/student/senior citizen discounts are available, as are a limited number of scholarships. For more information, contact Gloria Rivera, IHM, at river1143@sbcglobal.net.