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/