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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
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"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