Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago is partnering with the EcoJustice Collaborative to host its first annual gathering at University of Illinois–Chicago Student Center East, from November 2 to 4. Participants can join international, national and local visionaries to imagine and help create a new world through a program of presentations, interactive workshops, music, drama, dance, poetry and celebration.

More than 20 years ago, Kenny Ausubel coined the term “Bioneers”, short for biological pioneering, a philosophy which holds that responses to our most pressing environmental, social and economic challenges must be in harmony with the wisdom and design of natural systems and principles such as kinship, cooperation, diversity, symbiosis and cycles of continuous creation, absent of waste.

Attendees can enjoy more than 40 different workshops and eight plenaries, plus flash talks and performing artists. Topics will include urban agriculture, waste recycling, climate change, biomimicry and green buildings and infrastructure; as well as group problem solving and cooperative models for housing, food and employment. Bioneers co-founder Nina Simons will be joined by Vandana Shiva, an internationally renowned scientist and food justice activist; Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at Post Carbon Institute; Mark Lakeman, from Portland’s City Repair Project; and Starhawk, an author, activist and eco-feminist.

Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago hopes to lay the foundation for ongoing collaboration among all area residents that care about creating healthy and sustainable cities for themselves and future generations.

For more information or to register, visit ChicagoBioneers.org.