Part 1: On Land and water driving across the US.: Texas to California…
My mentor and friend Laurie Marshall and I drove from El Paso, Texas to the Bay Area for 16 hours, in two days, to bring our Singing Tree Murals and supplies to display and create a mural at the Bioneers Conference, 35th year.
The road trip was a nice space to connect more ideas and prepare myself for the adventures I'd have in California. On the way, we crossed the hot deserts of Arizona, Tucson, Phoenix, and L.A., and arrived through the large middle of California agriculture. It’s bigger than you’re imagining it. Even bigger. Onward and onward it goes, you can spot orange trees, other citruses, and peaches. Nothing labelled= you just have to know from the shape of the leaves, and branches. It would be nice if it were labelled we thought. “This is where your almond milk comes from” a sign would say. “Thank the migrant workers who work in these fields” another could read. Signs did abound about water and how they (the farmers?) think it should be managed. “Does growing food waste water?” a sign asked. “Newsom, stop wasting our water”. It was a great road trip to discuss the politics of water rights and management but we came home even more enlightened on the topic since water and land management was a big topic on the Bioneer's conference agenda.
It was my first time at Bioneers. And my first time in California in my adult life. I was excited to be in the liberal land of progressive policies and diverse demographics. Our gracious host, Leslie Rein, epitomized these values with her global perspective and commitment to justice, art, and peace. Immersed in spontaneous dance sessions with Leslie, I felt a sense of anticipation for the transformative experiences awaiting me at Bioneers.
I was excited to come to Bioneers since I knew that Robin Wall Kimmerer had been a keynote speaker last year. Her book Braiding Sweetgrass got me through grad school, rekindling my hope for the Western science and research I was immersed in, to evolve into something that could serve humanity. The poetic appreciation for the natural world and botany spoke deep to my soul, as an amateur botanist forager myself, and longtime environmentalist. Well, even though my indigenous author hero wasn’t there, I was excited to hear from Merlin Sheldrake, another fabulous author discussing his passion for natural life, and its capacity to bring hope. I’ll describe more about his keynote address which was on the last day! (it was even better than you're thinking!)
A quick side note is that I’d added and honored three books in a previous collaborative singing tree mural, as add-ons that lived on the Ancestors Singing Tree that Protects Future Fruit, the first Singing Tree mural to feature books. The books I added were: Entangled Life, Braiding Sweetgrass and Silent Spring.
Part 2: Day 1, 2,
Entering the conference, I harbored reservations about performative environmentalism and cultural appropriation. However, I was heartened by the genuine commitment of attendees to combat oppression and amplify marginalized voices. Colette Pichon Battle's impassioned plea for intersectional climate justice underscored the urgency of collective action.
Another thing on my agenda for this day, was to do my final interview for the role of Dietrich fellow. … (SEE OTHER BLOG POST) . I was thrilled that it went well, and I did some yoga on the porch before getting to my lunch.
As we’d set up all our supplies and murals in the room the day before, everything was ready to start our breakout session of Youth leadership and peace building- the singing tree- hands on mural making. In our small tent at the end of Allston way we set up a circle of chairs and filled and overfilled each one with about 35 youth who came to bring their contributions and visions to the 135 singing tree, the 10th one to be created in three days at the Bioneers conference. Following the introductions of high school students with aspirations to do what they could and wishing to find a career in the environmental sciences, we established our community agreements. This standard procedure allows us to open the circle to safely discuss heartbreaks and pains we and our communities are experiencing. Visioning solutions to heartbreak and putting them on paper is the tool of the singing tree.
The session with the youth came to a close and everyone was able to draw their vision for a Singing Tree of Reproductive Freedom that Restores Mother Earth. With 35 sketches to take home and study our team excitedly found themes and patterns that would bring our collective vision to life. Our background was inspired by a colorful sketch, and our spirals and rivers and uteri were also from the collective imagination. It was great to be a part of that. Coming out hopeful, I went to the next breakout session on the work of the debt collective.
At this session I shared some info about my work with Just Money and how it can help combat the debt crisis. I appreciated the idea of a debtors assembly where thoughts and experiences troubles and traumas with debt are shared. To humanize the struggle of the graph you see here… what is the experience of all the folks on the right? And how can we change the narrative that comes with these troubling policies?
There was much time then to mingle and chat and I met a fellow who was familiar with the American monetary institute!! And a staff member of Code Pink.
Our singing tree team completed painting the sky in light rain and I made my way to the youth room for the queer mixer. Here I was brought into a kind compassionate space where a ceremony of reflection was facilitated by the unrolling of a climate story scroll in a circle of hummers, stompers, us the audience made into participants and players welcomed into the game of peacemaking. Food was nice and I met Arty and Jan, collaborators of the youth programming.
Onward to the speakers reception I was welcomed into a space of well dressed climate professionals that attempted and somewhat succeeded at centering indigenous art. I gladly grabbed some free food and mingled searching for fellow Latinos, or youth with whom I could connect. It didn't take long to find a crew speaking Spanish and we chatted it up, then I found my friend of Code Pink again! And she interviewed me! (I will find the link and add in when it's out and published!)
I spoke to and met many exciting people at the mixer, including Charlotte Michaluk with whom I talked about research books and our attempts to fit into the indigeneity and crafting solutions as scientists. I was excited when I realized that she was the 17-year-old prodigy who was inventing solutions for cargo ships. She recommended some books which I will read, and I shared my yoga mat and pictures of my crafts with her. The night felt very rich and thrilling and I even talked to my Uber driver, to take me back to the generous household of Leslie, where Steve and Laurie were too… awake and equally exhausted from the day. My exhausted and overstimulated brain did not let me sleep well that night but I wrote poetry and a plan to address the injustices of the world we would face in time to come. …
I was ready to roll out my banners and tell everyone about how Just Money could be a part of our just transition plans. With the talk by Sage Lenier, and much discussion on the underlying roots of capitalism design and corporate interventionism in policy the auditorium of the keynotes was abuzz with wokeness and preparedness to fight, digging deep at the roots. Kenny Ausbel admitted “It’s the corporations, stupid” (remind me to invite him to the ECONET Calls with Move to Amend, and have him put an ally affiliate on the agenda for next year!!-. They’ve got to know MTA already has had 94 co-sponsors to the declaration that Corporations are not people and Money is not Speech!)
During the breaks, I rolled out my banner and held it up in the atrium, with a little help from my friends. I was able to give out a few flyers about Mayday For Money. At lunch, we did some painting – and eating. Both are equally important to our health and well-being. :P I then prepared to go to the session with Sage Lenier, and talk to her 1 on 1, invite her to learn more about monetary reform as climate action. (note to self; FIND PICTURES From JAN, the professional photographer)
Much of the mural was completed, including bits and pieces of the angel and tree, which were aptly painted to the song our chants ``Take me to the river” which all the elders in the tent seemed to know and I easily learned and sang along. Cold, and wet from the 4-inch puddle our station was in, our team opted to have a calm night at home to rest. We did have a beautiful lunch at home, where I helped cook and had karaoke dancing and yoga time with Leslie. Such fun.
DAY 3 The FINAL DAY OF Bioneers!
We did the usual struggle to find parking, set up our station and get to the keynote auditorium, excited to meet new friends and of course, thrilled to hear from my new friend Charlotte Micheluk! I cheered her on loudly as they called her up to the stage- as I knew she had been nervous for her research presentation and talk from our conversation on Thursday. I nearly ran out of voice after I equally excitedly cheered on Merlin Sheldrake to give his talk on fungi! If you haven’t read the book Entangled life, you're in for a treat, rich in storytelling ,and climate hope and regeneration. If you want to enjoy a beautiful narration, get the audiobook with the author's voice 😉. I knew I needed to be at his book signing at talk to him about how I’d honored the book Entangled Life on the Singing Tree previously.
^So Happy to MEET MERLIN! <3
I got my friend a gift from the artist station Pardicolor which brings artists' work to the field of conservation. Tabitha and her sister Melzie were very welcoming. After making friends and meeting friends (and the other fabulous singing tree facilitator) we went over to get lunch with the youth station, and then paint our last details onto the singing tree, to be completed in the evening and taken by Bioneers for final storage… I encouraged everyone I saw on the streets and in the next session, on art-ivism , to participate by adding in their leaves to the singing tree. I drew my leaf with my original design that creators vision brought to me:
NOTES FROM THE ART-ivist session. ( I literally forgot a pen, so I had to have a blast of color with my PrismaColor pack). One takeaway to note from this was the important creative work that we artivists do to reshape the cultures and stories and narrative of how our world works, and the possibilities.
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Honestly, the whole Bioneers experience exceeded my expectations, and I did come out feeling healed by the community, hope and music presented. MaMuse at the end was fabulous and exactly what was needed. There was so much talk of taking our time to live in our biological beings that we are. We are after all as Casey Camp said, "nature protecting herself". Exhausted I talked to my friend Arturo, that it would be nice if the conference speed was a little more accessible and paced with our biological needs to rest and integrate. He agreed and then we listened to our bodies needs and did some yoga, ate and finally took all the stations down, to return Allston way back to its pre-Bioneers condition. Hoping that all the attendees would leave in a different condition, more healed, connected, and ready for the work to come, as they all left for their homes.
THE END.
( I got to play among the ginormous eucalyptus Trees on the Berkeley campus with my friend Amy Nava!. How blessed we are to be on this Earth!)