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| 2009 Keynote Speakers (Last Update: 7/1/09) |
Friday Noon
Mainstage |
Center for Constituitional Rights
"The Brave Struggle of Indigenous People Around The World Who Fight Big Oil At All Costs."
More information coming soon |
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Friday PM
Mainstage |
To Be Announced |
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Saturday
Noon
Mainstage |
Thomas H. Greco, Jr.
"The End of Money: The Soft Path Toward a Sustainable, Regenerative Economy"
 The global financial crisis is no accident. It is the natural outcome of a flawed system that has long been building to a climax. The limits to growth have been reached and a metamorphic societal change is underway. Power is devolving to the community and bioregional level as we the people organize and empower ourselves to create a new “convivial” world order and steady state economy that offer the possibility of a dignified life for all. The key to achieving that lies in reclaiming the credit commons and transcending the dysfunctional political money system that has been for centuries centralizing power, concentrating wealth, and forcing artificial growth. Thomas Greco will explain how that can be achieved by means of voluntary, localized approaches to exchange and finance that empower communities and reward people fairly.
 Biography
Thomas H. Greco, Jr. Mr. Greco is a community and monetary economist, writer, networker, and consultant, who for three decades has been working at the leading edge of transformational restructuring. He is regarded as a leading authority on free-market approaches to monetary and financial innovation, including cashless exchange systems and complementary currencies. A former engineer, entrepreneur, and tenured college professor, Greco is a sought-after advisor and speaker at conferences internationally. He is Director of the Community Information Resource Center, a U.S. non-profit networking hub, which provides information access and support for efforts in community improvement, social justice, and sustainability.
He is the author of the recently released, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization. His previous books include, Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender, New Money for Healthy Communities, and Money and Debt: A Solution to the Global Crisis. Further information can be obtained from the website http://reinventingmoney.com and the blog http://beyondmoney.net
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Saturday PM
Mainstage |
Brian Tokar
"Renewing Energy and Renewing Society"
Three decades ago, a powerful grassroots antinuclear movement transformed debates about US energy policy and articulated a vision of a liberatory, solar-powered society. Today, after 30 years of political stagnation and reaction, concerns about our energy and climate future are again in the forefront of popular awareness. The time horizon for action is much shorter than before, but the need for fundamental changes in how we live is more urgent than ever. Social ecologist Brian Tokar will discuss the potential--and the necessity-- for broadly democratic and participatory social changes at the heart of a meaningful solution to our energy and climate crises, in contrast to the many status-quo "false solutions" that often dominate our public discussions.
 Biography:
Brian Tokar has been an activist, author and a leading critical voice for ecological activism since the 1970s, and is currently the Director of the Institute for Social Ecology, based in Vermont. He is the author of The Green Alternative (1987, revised 1992) and Earth for Sale (1997), and edited Redesigning Life?, an international collection on the politics and implications of biotechnology, (Zed Books, 2001), as well as Gene Traders: Biotechnology, World Trade and the Globalization of Hunger (Toward Freedom, 2004). Brian has lectured throughout the U.S., as well as internationally, and is acclaimed as a passionate advocate of grassroots action for ecological sanity and global justice. His articles on environmental issues and emerging ecological movements appear in Z Magazine, Earth Island Journal, and on websites such as Counterpunch, Toward Freedom, ZNet, Truthout, and WW4Report. Brian holds concurrent degrees from MIT in biology and physics, and a Masters degree in biophysics from Harvard University.
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Sunday Noon
Mainstage |
Brendan I. Koerner
“Transforming the Grid, Transforming America”
A whopping 40 percent of all the energy used in the US—be it oil, gas, wind, or solar—travels along the wires that comprise our electric gird. Yet this keystone of our 21st-century economy has yet to advance much beyond its 19th-century roots. Considering how wasteful, unresponsive, and just plain dumb the grid is, it isn't surprising that outages—which have been increasing steadily over the past quarter century—cost us $150 billion a year. The real shock is that the damn thing works at all.
Now consider what we will ask the grid to handle in the near future: Demand for electricity is expected to increase by as much as 40 percent in the next two decades—more than twice the population growth rate. To meet that need, we will have to generate an additional 214 gigawatts, a feat that would require the construction of more than 357 large coal plants. We also want to plug in dozens, if not hundreds, of gigawatts of wind and solar power harvested from the most remote corners of the country. And we will want to recharge millions of electric vehicles every night, without fail.
That is why we must fix the grid—reinvent it to be reliable, efficient, responsive, and smart. Unfortunately, technology alone can't solve this mess. Political gridlock, broken markets, and shortsighted planning have created a slew of bottlenecks that can't be solved with a bunch of smart meters and fancy routers.
If we're serious about remaking our energy infrastructure, we'll need to replace our current system of misplaced incentives, which does little but encourage both customers and private industry to neglect the grid. We have to give those stakeholders new reasons to turn on, engage, and transform. Because until we do so, none of our clean-energy dreams can come true.
 Biography
One of America’s leading technology and environmental journalists, Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired and the founder of Slate’s eco-themed “The Green Lantern” column. He was previously a product-design columnist for The New York Times, as well as the Village Voice’s “Mr. Roboto” tech-advice columnist. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Spin, Details, Popular Science, Mother Jones, The New Republic, the Village Voice, and numerous other publications. Koerner’s first book, Now the Hell Will Start, was published in 2008, and was hailed as “remarkable” by The Washington Post; he is currently adapting the book for Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule production company. Koerner was named one of Columbia Journalism Review’s “Ten Young Writers on the Rise,” and he won the 2003 National Headliner Award for feature writing. A native of Los Angeles, he currently lives in New York City with his wife and son.
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Sunday PM
Mainstage |
To Be Announced |
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