Learn to build a world where everyone belongs. Take free classes at OBI University.   Start Now

October 2014

The challenge we face today: the fear of the Other. How can we structure society to acknowledge our deep connection? - john powell #Bioneers14 (from Twitter)

Haas Institute Director john powell spoke to a crowd of over 1,500 people at the annual Bioneers conference in San Rafael, CA on October 19 where he was an invited plenary speaker. john's talk, entitled "Beloved Community: Interbeing, Race, Class, and Person 'Hood" explored our fear of the “Other” which can be magnified by unstable contracting economies, radically shifting demographics, and new social norms—and asked the question: Can humanity overcome these divisions and come together to protect our common home?  View john's Bioneers 2014 presentation here.

Kenny Ausubel, co-founder and CEO of Bioneers, an organization whose mission is to be a "hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges" wrote to us after john's talk:

"john a. powell is a living light in the Bioneers community. His keynote at Bioneers 25th anniversary conference uniquely brought together the dimensions of class, race, identity, psychology, nature, law and history as few do, or could do. He speaks with the quiet authority of a person whose deepest well is the love and compassion that can come only from the most profound sense of interbeing – the ancient wisdom that, as we say at Bioneers, 'It’s all connected and it’s all relatives.' We are honored and grateful to have john among us, and to help spread his vision and wisdom far and wide. He is a living treasure and a gift to the world. As humanity navigates this perilous passage in our collective evolution, john provides a compass of the heart and a map of the territory that invite and guide us to become our highest self as a species and an individual."

"The work, passion, ethos, and philosophy of john a. powell sits at the nexus of what it means to be a Bioneer. When Bioneers was founded 25 years ago by Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons, they intentionally sought to create a solutions-based field around the tenets of radical inclusivity and social justice. The wisdom and deep knowledge of john's speech and workshop at Bioneers 2014 were a critical voice of compassion, reason, and insight for which we are deeply grateful. john is a favorite of the Bioneers audience!" - Joshua Sheridan Fouts, Executive Director of Bioneers and the Collective Heritage Institute.