You’re in for a transformative experience.

I know where I’ll be getting my community, inspiration, and interaction this weekend.

Rather than heading into the hills, although a mountain rendezvous is tempting given the fantastic fall weather we’ve been blessed with, I’ll be on CU-Boulder’s beautiful campus engaging with friends, celebrating innovative thinking and practice, and making an important contribution to my community.

The 8th annual Colorado Bioneers conference is on!

Inspired to learn, engage, and build collaborative relationships with fellow community members in a groundbreaking and progressive environment? Then Bioneers is where you want to be.

Bioneers is, well, awesome.  If you’ve attended in previous years, you know what I am talking about. If you’re new to the conference, then you’re in for a transformative experience.

“Bioneers is an event that changes lives,” says Sarah Dawn Haynes, the programs assistant at the University of Colorado’s Environmental Center, who has been actively involved in Bioneers since 2004. “People put so much energy into producing the yearly conference because it’s unique. It breaks down the silos of movements and groups.”

“You don’t have to be an environmental activist or a woman’s rights activist or a farmer or an engineer to engage,” Haynes continues. “You just need to celebrate the people leading these movements. It’s about collaboration and understanding connections between movements.”

The Colorado Bioneers conference will be held this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (November 5, 6, 7) on the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus in the Eaton Humanities building.

This year’s conference will focus on issues concerning food production and climate justice, address ecological concerns, offer field trips and children’s eco-activities, provide a forum for genuine dialogue between concerned citizens, and so much more!

Please join me and hundreds of other inspired citizens this weekend to celebrate what is possible.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Jessie Lucier is a passionate steward for sustainability and recently completed a M.A. in environmental journalism at CU-Boulder, where she also worked for the university’s Environmental Center as the sustainability event coordinator.

Jessie is currently working as a freelance journalist and producer as well as working on a book about colony collapse disorder and the environmental, agricultural and economic impacts of honeybee loss in the U.S. She urges everyone to become involved in protecting the honeybees, as they very well might be the new “canary in the coalmine.”