Please share with friends and pardon cross-postings....

Are you tired of partisan bickering over banker bail-outs, expensive 
wardrobes, and Joe the plumber?  Ready for a breather before election 
day and a respite from economic doom and gloom?

Why not take a break this weekend, enjoy the fall weather, get together 
with friends and come to Grinnell for the 2008 Tallgrass Bioneers 
Conference. We won't be hearing politicians promises - just hearing 
from some great local and national speakers who have gotten past all of 
the talk to make a real difference in their communities and the world.

The conference starts on Friday, October 31st and runs through Sunday. 
Friday features a keynote address by Chad Pregracke - a young guy who 
has dedicated his life to cleaning up his beloved Mississippi river- 
and has lead others to adopt their own local waterways. Friday 
afternoon features an opening of still/LIFE - an amazing art 
installation by Dallas environmental artist Tracy Hicks sponsored by 
the Faulconer Gallery.  Friday also features live workshops on 
community renewable energy projects, immigration and local water 
quality efforts. In the Harris Cinema, we will be showing pre-recorded 
presentations from the national Bioneers conference, including Ray 
Anderson and Alexandra Cousteau.

Saturday features a walking tour of a restored prairie, a tour of 
Iowa's first LEED gold certified "green building", a discussion on 
climate and adaptation by survivors of Katrina and the Cedar Rapids 
floods, a hands-on workshop with Tracy Hicks, and more.  Pre-recorded 
speakers include Janine Benyus, Bill McKibben and David Orr. Our 
Saturday keynote is by Alison Gannett - a world champion skier and 
climate change activist who has converted the world's first 100mpg 
solar SUV hybrid and built the first straw-bale home in a national 
historic district. The day will be topped off by a local food banquet 
prepared by Chef Kamal Hammouda of the Phoenix Cafe,  and a dinner 
speech by organic dairy farmer Francis Thicke.

Sunday, we round out the weekend with a lake clean-up at Rock Creek 
Lake, a tour of a local sustainably operated farm, historic walking 
tour, an intergenerational art workshop,  pre-recorded presentations by 
Naomi Klein, Rebecca Moore,  Rick Reed and more.

It's going to be a great weekend of big-picture ideas and hands-on 
experiences - so please join us!

For more information, please visit:
http://www.gotoplanb.net/bioneersconference/tallhome.html
(a link to google map and driving directions is at the top of the page)
To pre-register, visit: 
http://gotoplanb.net/bioneersconference/tallregister.html
Complete schedule: 
http://www.gotoplanb.net/bioneersconference/tallconf.html


Rich Dana
Energy Program
Imagine Grinnell
319.530.6051
[log in to unmask]

"We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth 
successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship 
and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody. "

-R. Buckminster Fuller



Mike Carberry

Green State Solutions: Director

319-594-6453

Please reconsider the need to print this email. Mother Nature thanks you in advance.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]

Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp

Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship
e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's
latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent
editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/