ABOUT THE FILM
Luminaries

Composer, singer, actor, and activist; Sting has won universal acclaim in all these roles, but he defies easy labeling. He's best described as an adventurer and risk-taker. As he himself has said, "I love to put myself in new situations. I'm not afraid to be a beginner." Husband and father of six, masterful guitarist and bassist, and devoted Yoga practitioner, he's made a career, in fact, of new beginnings.

A milkman's son from Newcastle, England, Sting was a teacher, soccer coach and ditch digger before turning to music. His eclectic tastes, equally inspired by jazz and the Beatles, would eventually prove prophetic. In 1977, Sting met Stewart Copeland and they, along with guitarist Andy Summers, formed the Police. The band quickly became a success both in the UK and US scoring several No. 1 hits including "Roxanne," "Every Breath You Take," "King of Pain," and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic." They earned five Grammy Awards and two Brits, and in 2003 the band was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The trio's live work forecasts the astonishing inventiveness and range of influences that Sting would fully realize in his solo career.

With the release of Dream or the Blue Turtles in 1985, followed by Bring On The Night, Nothing Like The Sun, The Soul Cages, Ten Summoner's Tales, Mercury Falling, Brand New Day, All This Time, Sacred Love, Songs From the Labyrinth, and If On a Winter's Night, Sting has evolved into one of the world's most distinctive and highly respected performers. As a solo artist, he has collected an additional 11 Grammys, two Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, three Oscar nominations, Billboard Magazine's Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year.

He has appeared in 15 films, Executive Produced the critically acclaimed "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," and in 1989 starred in "Threepenny Opera" on Broadway.

Also an accomplished author, Sting published a memoir entitled Broken Music in 2003, which spent 13 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list. He most recently released Lyrics, a comprehensive collection of lyrics and personal commentary, also featuring photographs from throughout his career.

In 2007, The Police reformed and embarked on a world tour. The much heralded tour played to over 3.7 million people on five continents and ranked as the third highest grossing tour of all time. The tour also garnered numerous accolades including "Major Tour of the Year" from Pollstar, "Top Selling" and "Top Tour of the Year" from Billboard, along with the People's Choice award for "Favorite Reunion Tour of 2007."

Never afraid to blaze the path of new musical territory, Sting's foray into the classical realm began with the crossover success of his #1 album "Songs from the Labyrinth," a lute-based interpretation of the music of 16th century composer John Dowland, released in 2006 on Deutsche Grammophon.

Sting continued to pursue his passion for uniting musical genres with his most recent release "If On A Winter's Night" which debuted at #1 on Billboard's classical chart and remains there. Deutsch Grammophon also released a live concert performance on DVD entitled, "Sting: A Winter's Night - Live from Durham Cathedral." Filmed at the magnificent Durham Cathedral near Sting's hometown, he was joined by 35 musicians and conducted by producer Robert Sadin. The DVD also includes a behind-the-scenes look from the concert's conception leading up to final rehearsals. Along the way, Sting revisits places from his childhood and reunites with old friends and band mates, swapping stories and reminiscing.

Sting's acclaimed ventures into the classical realm were further complemented by an invitation to perform with the legendary Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2008. After reworking selections from his expansive catalog, he and several members of his longtime band joined the orchestra in a performance that left an indelible mark on Sting. Eager to explore the possibilities of further symphonic collaboration, Sting was thrilled when the Philadelphia Orchestra asked him to join them in commemoration of the 153rd anniversary of the Academy of Music earlier this year.

Consequently, Sting, accompanied by the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, will embark on a world tour this summer. The tour will find Sting performing his most celebrated songs re-imagined for symphonic arrangement. The 45-piece orchestra will be conducted by Maestro Steven Mercurio (Pavarotti, Bocelli).

Sting's support for human rights organizations like the Rainforest Foundation, Amnesty International and Live Aid mirrors his art in its universal outreach. Along with wife Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Foundation in 1989 to protect both the world's rainforests and the indigenous people living there. Together they have held 16 benefit concerts to raise funds and awareness of our planet's endangered resources. Since its inception, the Rainforest Foundation has expanded to a network of interconnected organizations working in 18 countries over 3 continents.

American filmmaker, writer, musician and visual artist. Over a lengthy career, Lynch has employed a distinctive and unorthodox approach to narrative filmmaker (dubbed Lynchian, which has become instantly recognizable to many audiences and critics worldwide. Lynch's films are known for dreamlike images and meticulously crafted sound design.

Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, for his film The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986), and Mulholland Dr. (2001), and has also received a screenplay Academy Award nomination for The Elephant Man. Lynch has twice won France's Cesar Award for Best Foreign Film, as well as the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival.

The French government awarded him with the Legion of Honor, the country's top civilian honor, as Chevalier in 2002 and then Officier in 2007, whilst that same year, The Gaurdian described David Lynch as "the most important director of this era."

Ellen Page has firmly established herself as one of the most talented young actresses in Hollywood today. In 2008 she received Best Actress nominations from the Oscar's, BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG and won an Independent Spirit Award for her role in "Juno."

Ellen recently completed production on "Super," a comedy in which she stars opposite Rainn Wilson and Liv Tyler. The film directed by James Gunn centers on a world of superheroes with Ellen playing the side-kick to Rainn Wilson's character.

Ellen will next be seen in Christopher Nolan's psychological thriller "Inception" opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordan-Levitt and Marion Cotillard. The Warner Bros. film is slated for release in July 2010. Also in 2010, Ellen will star with Susan Sarandon in "Peacok," an independent film written and directed by David Lander.

Most recently Ellen starred in Fox Searchlight's "Whip It," which was Drew Barrymore's directorial debut. Along with Ellen and Drew, the film had an all star cast including Kristin Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden, Alia Shawkat, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Luke Wilson, Eve and Landon Pigg.

Ellen is the heart of Jason Reitman's hit comedy "Juno" written by Diablo Cody. The film is about an offbeat teenager (Page) who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and makes a surprising decision regarding her unborn child. The film also stars Olivia Thirlby, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, J.K. Simmons, Michael Cera and Allison Janney. Cody won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for the film.

In 2006, Ellen appeared as Kitty Pryde in the third installation of the X-Men franchise: "X-Men: The Last Stand," which grossed more than $230 million dollars worldwide. Ellen recently starred in the title role of Bruce McDonald's "The Tracey Fragments." She starred opposite Catherine Keener in "An American Crime," written and directed by Tommy O'Haver. The film is based on the horrifying and true events surrounding a disturbed mother and her children in 1960's Indiana. Other recent credits include the Canadian ensemble piece, "The Stone Angel" featuring Ellen Burstyn and directed by Kari Skogland; Alison Murray's "Mouth to Mouth"; Daniel MacIvor's ensemble piece "Wilby Wonderful" and "Smart People," opposite Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church.

As the lead in Lionsgate's 2005 independent feature, "Hard Candy," directed by David Slade, Ellen won great praise for her tour de force performance as a fourteen year old girl who meets a thirty year old photographer on the Internet and then looks to expose him as pedophile. The film costarring Patrick Wilson and Sandra Oh premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ellen has long been a fixture in Canadian television and cinema. She began her career at the age of 10 on the award-winning television movie "Pit Pony" and received a Gemini nomination for Best Performance in a Children's Program and a Young Artist Awards nomination for Best Performance in a TV Drama Series. Two films later, Page appeared as Joanie in "Marion Bridge," winner of the "Best Canadian First Feature" at the Toronto International Film Festival. The part won Page an ACTRA Maritimes Award for "Outstanding Female Performance." She also appeared in the cult hit TV series "Trailer Park Boys." Page won a Gemini award for her role of Lilith in the first season of "ReGenesis," a one-hour drama for TMN/Movie Central. She also starred in "Mrs. Ashboro's Cat," a cable feature for The Movie Network for which she also won a Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series.

Paul Stamets has been a dedicated mycologist for over thirty years. Over this time, he has discovered and coauthored four new species of mushrooms, and pioneered countless techniques in the field of edible and medicinal mushroom cultivation. He received the 1998 "Bioneers Award" from The Collective Heritage Institute, and the 1999 "Founder of a New Northwest Award" from the Pacific Rim Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils. In 2008, Paul received the National Geographic Adventure Magazine's Green-Novator and the Argosy Foundation's E-chievement Awards. He was named one of Utne Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" in their November/December 2008 issue. In February 2010, Paul received the President's Award from the Society for Ecological Restoration: Northwest Chapter, in recognition of his contributions to Ecological Restoration

He has written numerous books on mushroom cultivation, use and identification; Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms and The Mushroom Cultivator (coauthor) have long been hailed as the definitive texts of mushroom cultivation. His latest book is called, Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World.

Paul sees the ancient Old Growth forests of the Pacific Northwest as a resource of incalculable value, especially in terms of its fungal genome. A dedicated hiker and explorer, his passion is to preserve, protect, and clone as many ancestral strains of mushrooms as possible from this pristine woodlands. Much of the financial resources generated from sales of goods from Fungi Perfecti are returned to sponsor such research.

A leader of the tropicalia movement in Brazil in 1967 and 1968, along with artists like Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil and other musicians mixed native styles with rock and folk instruments. Because Gil fused samba, salsa, and bossa nova with rock and folk music, he's recognized today as one of the pioneers in world music.

A multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter, Gil joined his first group, the Desafinados, in the mid-1950s and by the beginning of the 1960s was earning a living as a jingle composer. Although known mostly as a guitarist, he also holds his own with drums, trumpet, and accordion. He began playing the accordion when he was eight, and he listened to street singers in the marketplace around Salvador. By the end of the 1950s, Gil was studying business administration at Salvador's Federal University and playing with a group called Os Desafinados. At this time he heard singer and guitarist Jo?o Gilberto on the radio and was so impressed that he immediately bought a guitar and learned to play and sing the bossa nova. He spent the early '60s composing songs for TV ads, and in 1964, he was in Nos Por Exemplo, a show of bossa nova and traditional Brazilian songs directed by Caetano Veloso. In 1965, he moved to S?o Paulo, and after singing and playing in various shows, he had his first hit when singer Elis Regina recorded his song "Louvacao." He began to establish himself as a singer of protest songs, and he became very popular with Brazilians involved in the Tropicalia movement, which opened up native Brazilian folk music to other kinds of influences.

The success of the single "Louvacao" inspired Gil to record an album of his own material with the same title. Gil made his first self-titled recording in 1966, but his first hit single didn't come about until 1969, with "Aquele Abraco." His musical fusion of bossa nova, samba, and other styles was so revolutionary it frightened the country's military dictatorship into arresting him, and that's when he headed to Great Britain. (He and Caetano Veloso were placed in solitary confinement while authorities figured out what they wanted to do with the pair.) After three years in England, where he had the chance to work with groups like Pink Floyd, Yes, the Incredible String Band, and Rod Stewart's band in London clubs, he returned to Brazil in 1972. He recorded Expresso 2222, which spurred two hit singles in Brazil, "Back in Bahia" and "Oriente."
After playing at the Midem Festival in France in 1973, Gil recorded Ao Vivo in 1974. A year later, he recorded with Jorge Ben for the album "Gil and Jorge." In 1976, he toured with Veloso, Gal Costa, and Maria Beth?nia and released the Doces B?raros album. For most of the rest of the 1970s, he recorded for a variety of Brazilian record companies until signing an international deal with the WEA group of labels in 1977. He toured U.S. colleges in 1978 and firmly established his place in the international jazz world with his albums Nightingale (1978) and Realce (1979) . He also released a double live album in 1978, Gilberto Gil ao Vivo em Montreux, recorded during his performances at the jazz and blues festival in Switzerland. In 1980, Gil teamed up with reggae musician Jimmy Cliff. The pair toured Brazil, and Gil's cover of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" climbed to number one, selling 700,000 copies. Gil followed up in 1981 with Luar (A Gente Precisa Ver o Luar), one of his most acclaimed recordings. In 1982, he performed again at the Montreux festival, but this time with Jimmy Cliff. He followed up with Um Banda Um (1982), Extra (1983), and Ra?a Humana (1984), the last recorded with Bob Marley's Wailers.

In the late '70s, Gil became a prominent spokesman for the black consciousness movement then taking place in Brazil. In 1982, he had huge crossover success with "Palco," which became popular in dance clubs and led to stadium tours of Europe. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., he would play mid-sized jazz clubs in New York City and Los Angeles. Gil celebrated his then two-decade career in 1985 with the album "Dia Dorim Noite Neon" (released in the U.S.), and released Gilberto Gil "em Concerto," recorded live in Rio, in 1987. The early '90s saw Gil continuing his involvement in social and political causes in his native country, finding widespread support for his political stances, and he was elected to office in the port city of Salvador (aka the Black Rome), his hometown. In 2003, Gil began serving as Brazil's Minister of Culture, and two years later, he received Sweden's "Polar Music Prize" and a "L?gion d'Honneur" from the French government. Gil continued to maintain a recording career throughout the 1990s and 2000s, including the 2008 release "Banda Larga Cordel."

Shiva Rea, M.A. is a yogini firekeeper, sacred activist, and leading innovator in the evolution of vinyasa flow yoga integrating the tantric bhakti roots of yoga, Krishnamacharya’s teachings and a universal, quantum approach to the body since she began teaching twenty years ago. She leads retreats and pilgrimages worldwide and has served as a creative catalyst to bring community together including Yoga Trance Dance for Life, Moving Activism for 1,008,000 Trees, Yogini Conferences and the worldwide Global Mala Project.

Tiokasin Ghosthorse - B.L.A., M.A., is from the Cheyenne River Lakota (Sioux) Nation of South Dakota. He is the host of First Voices Indigenous Radio on WBAI NY - Pacifica Radio. (www.wbai.org or www.firstvoicesindigenousradio.org)

Tiokasin has been described as "a spiritual agitator, natural rights organizer, Indigenous thinking process educator and a community activator." One reviewer called him "a cultural resonator in the key of life."

Politics for the Lakota is spiritual and is not separate from the rest of life. Indigenous peoples are after an inclusive politics, an inclusive world.

Tiokasin has had a long history in Indigenous rights activism and advocacy. He spoke, as a teenager, at the United Nations Conference on Human Rights International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. He has supported or participated in many of the major occupations including Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973, as well as Lyle Point, Washington, Western Shoshone, Nevada, and Big Mountain, Arizona. Ever since his UN work, he has been actively educating people who live on Turtle Island (North America) and overseas about the importance of living with each other and with the earth.

He is a survivor of the "Reign of Terror" from 1972 to 1976 on the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation, and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Boarding and Church Missionary School systems designed to "kill the Indian and save the man."

Tiokasin Ghosthorse is also a master musician and one of the great exponents of the ancient red cedar Lakota flute, and plays traditional and contemporary music, using both Indigenous and European instruments. He has been a major figure in preserving and reviving the cedar wood flute tradition and has combined "spoken word" and music in performances since childhood. Tiokasin performs worldwide and has been featured at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the United Nations as well as at numerous universities and concert venue.

Dr. Michael K. Dorsey is Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College (USA). He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment (B.S. & Ph.D.); Yale?s Forestry School (M.F.S) & the Anthropology Department at The Johns Hopkins University (M.A.). Dorsey?s researches international and domestic environmental (in)justice; with a sub-focus on resource management conflicts. Currently he is writing a volume examining bio-commerce in Ecuador?s Upper Amazon basin. Dorsey teaches courses on the above as well as on international environmental policy issues. Dorsey has been lecturer at: the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (Netherlands); Kungliga Tekniska H?gskolan (Sweden); and University of Witswaterstrand (South Africa). In 1992 he was a member of the US State Department Delegation to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, ?The Earth Summit.? His recent publications on climate change include ?Green Market Hustlers,? in Foreign Policy In Focus (June 2007, Washington, DC) as well as ? Tales of Skeptic Tanks, Weather Gods and Sagas for Climate (in)Justice? in Capitalism, Nature, Socialism (A Taylor & Francis Journal) Vol. 18, No. 2, (June 2007). He is also a co-contributor to the recently released volume, Climate Change, Carbon Trading And Civil Society: Negative Returns On South African Investments (Rozenberg Press, The Netherlands & University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, South Africa, 2007). Dr. Dorsey continues to provide advice to governments, foundations, and others, on a variety of global environmental governance matters, including climate change and biodiversity policy, to better engage ongoing multilateral negotiations and processes.

Ganga White is the founder of the White Lotus Foundation and is recognized as an outstanding teacher and exponent of Yoga. He has been called one of the “architects of American yoga” and a “pioneer of yoga” by the Yoga Journal. Since 1967 he has made many valuable and enduring contributions to his field. He has decades of practice and research in entheogens and Amazonian shamanism. Ganga is one of the early developers of Flow Yoga, creator of Partner Yoga in the 1970’s, and with his wife Tracey Rich, released the #1 international best selling Total Yoga videos--with sales over 1.8 million. His website is: www.whitelotus.org Ganga White founded the nationally renowned Center for Yoga in 1967 and has extensive background in health, science and philosophy with teaching experience spanning over forty years. He has trained thousands of Yoga teachers, studied and lived in India visiting remote monasteries and learning centers, and teaches internationally. He founded Yoga centers in major U.S. cities and for five years served as vice-president of the Sivananda Yoga organization. He has received the teaching title, Yoga Acharya, three times from the Sivananda Ashram, the Yoga Vedanta Forest University, Rishikesh, Himalayas, and the Yoga Niketan in India. He had years of personal study with many great teachers including Swami Venkatesananda, J. Krishnamurti and BKS Iyengar, Joel Kramer, and K. Pattabhi Jois. In addition, his work and achievements have earned him the rare, honored title Yogiraj, "king of yogis." Ganga’s text, DOUBLE YOGA, introducing partner yoga was published in 1979 by Viking-Penguin. Though he has been honored with the sacred title, Yogiraj, and has a Sanskrit name, Ganga is a free thinker who questions authority, outmoded beliefs, and dogmatic systems. His teaching empowers the individual while retaining the essential truths of Yoga. Ganga has stated, "I am very concerned with awakening the mind as well as the body. Yoga is far more than simply a healthful exercise system. The most important purpose of Yoga is to bring about a deep transformation of the individual - an awakening of intelligence that is free of dependencies and romantic beliefs and ready to meet the accelerating challenges of the 21st century."

Barbara Marx Hubbard has been a leading voice for innovative change in the world for the last 45 years. She posits that evolutionary forces characterized by intensified social and technological creativity, deepening spirituality and environmental systems awareness are now coming together to create global change of a magnitude even greater than that of the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. Many people regard her as an heir apparent to Buckminster Fuller. She is the producer and narrator of the award-winning documentary series entitled Humanity Ascending: A New Way through Together. Part One: Our Story, is now translated into seven languages, and in Part Two: Visions of a Universal Humanity, she brings together some of the finest minds of our time, presenting us with positive, future scenarios for humanity based on the latest scientific, social and spiritual realities. She co-founded the Foundation for Conscious Evolution through which she developed the Gateway to Conscious Evolution, a global educational curriculum enrolling participants in the developmental path toward the next stage of human evolution. She first came to national attention when her name was placed in nomination for the US vice presidency of the Democratic Party in 1984. She ran on the platform of creating a Peace Room to be as sophisticated as our War Rooms to scan for, map, connect and communicate what is working in America and the world. She co-founded The Committee for the Future in Washington D.C., which developed the New Worlds Educational and Training Center based on her work. She co-produced 25 SYNCON conferences to bring together people from every field and function to seek common goals and match needs and resources in the light of the growing edge potentials of humanity. She was one of the original directors of the Center for Soviet American Dialogue and served as a citizen diplomat during the late 1980's. She has been instrumental in the founding of many important organizations and initiatives including the World Future Society, New Dimensions Radio, Global Family, Women of Vision and Action, The Foundation for the Future, and the Association for Global New Thought. She was awarded the first Doctorate in Conscious Evolution by Emerson Institute" *Barbara’s books include: The Hunger of Eve: One Woman’s Odyssey toward the Future; The Evolutionary Journey: Your Guide to a Positive Future; Revelation: Our Crisis is a Birth –An Evolutionary Interpretation of the New Testament; Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of our Social Potential and Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence.

Bernard Lietaer, author of the forthcoming “Of Human Wealth” (Citerra Press, 2010) and “The Future of Money” (London: Random House, 2001), has been active in the domain of money systems for a period of 25 years in an unusual variety of functions. While at the Central Bank in Belgium he co-designed and implemented the convergence mechanism (ECU) to the single European currency system. During that period, he also served as President of Belgium’s Electronic Payment System. His consultant experience in monetary aspects on four continents ranges from multinational corporations to developing countries. He co-founded one of the largest and most successful currency funds becoming its General Manager and Currency Trader. He was Visiting Professor of International Finance at the University of Louvain and Naropa University. He is currently Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Resources of the University of California at Berkeley, Member of the Club of Rome; Fellow at the World Academy of Arts and Sciences; of the World Business Academy; and of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Terence McKenna received a B.S. in Ecology and Conservation from the Tussman Experimental College, a short-lived outgrowth of UC Berkeley, in 1969. He spent the months after his graduation traveling through India and other Asian countries, alternately smuggling hashish and collecting butterflies for biological supply companies. In 1971 Terence McKenna, his brother Dennis, and three others traveled to the Colombian Amazon in search of oo-koo-h?, a plant preparation containing DMT. At La Chorrera, at the urging of his brother, he allowed himself to be the subject of a psychedelic experiment which he claimed put him in contact with The Logos: an informative, hallucinatory voice nearly universal to the visionary experience. The revelations of this voice prompted him to undertake his investigations into the structure of the I Ching, which eventually led him to his Novelty Theory. For most of the 1970s McKenna maintained a low profile, living in a nondescript suburban home, supporting his lifestyle with the royalties from the Magic Mushroom Growers Guide, and the cultivation and sale of psilocybin mushrooms. He said that he was frightened out of this line of work, and into public speaking by the harsh penalties the war on drugs exacted from his colleagues. He himself was once wanted by Interpol for drug trafficking. McKenna also co-founded Botanical Dimensions with Kathleen Harrison (his collegue and wife of 17 years), a non-profit ethnobotanical preserve on the Island of Hawaii, where he lived for several years prior to his death. Before moving to Hawaii full time, McKenna split his time between Hawaii and a town called Occidental, located in the redwood studded hills of western Sonoma County, California (a town unique for its high concentration of visionaries and famous artists, including Tom Waits and Mickey Hart). He died of glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain cancer. He was 53 years old. He is survived by his brother Dennis, his son Finn, and his daughter Klea.

In the 1960s, archaeologist Michael Coe was one of the pioneering investigators of the Olmec Civilization. He later made major contributions to Maya epigraphy and iconography.

In more recent years he has studied the Khmer civilization of Cambodia. He is the Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus at Yale University, and Curator Emeritus of the Anthropology collection of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History. He is the author of "Breaking the Maya Code" and numerous other books including "The Maya Scribe and His World," "The Maya," and "Angkor and the Khmer Civilization."

Curt Collier is the Deputy Director of Groundwork USA, an independent organization founded by the National Park Service and the EPA that promotes habitat restoration and local stewardship through community building and empowerment. In his capacity at Groundwork, Mr. Collier travels around the country helping local communities develop environmental organizations, and works to create programs that engage youth in the process. He is also the program director for The Science Barge, a floating self-contained "farm" on the Hudson River (at Yonkers) powered by solar panels and wind turbines that demonstrates the feasibility of urban agriculture.

Finally, Mr. Collier is one of three Leaders (ministers) of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. At the Society, Mr. Collier frequently speaks on the environment, runs a CSA, organizes an environmental theatre team, and engages the congregation in urban agriculture and environmental activities. He is originally from Texas, growing up on a piece of land his family homesteaded, and is an avid canoeist.

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She is also an executive member of the San Francisco-based International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council.

Maude is the recipient of eight honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the "Alternative Nobel"), the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, and the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award.

In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. She is also the best selling author or co-author of 16 books, including the international best seller "Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water."

Professor Gaspar Pedro Gonzalez is a Maya-Q'anjob'al novelist, poet, painter, and literary critic. He is a graduate of the Universidad Mariano Galvez in Guatemala City where he currently teaches Mayan literature and oral tradition. He is a member of the Academy of Mayan Languages . He has served as an official of the Ministry of Culture of Guatemala . In addition, Gonzalez founded and serves as president of Sb'eyb'al, a leading Mayan cultural organization, which organized the First and Second Congresses of Indigenous Literature of the Americas in Guatemala City in 1998 and 1999. He has published several trilingual literary works (Maya-Q'anjob'al, Spanish and English). His book entitled Kotz'ib', nuestra literaturas maya (1997) is an important text that provides cultural and literary parameters in our interpretation of Indigenous cultural productions. His second novel, El retorno de los mayas/The Return of the Maya (2000) deals with the return of a group of Mayan refugees to Guatemala . His other works published include La Otra Cara, A Mayan Life (1995), The Dry Season; Q'anjob'al Maya Poems (2001), 13 B'aktun: Mayan Visions of 2012 and Beyond (2010). Gonzalez's two novels, collection of poetry and his text on Maya literature are widely used in university classrooms.

Andre Soares is a trilingual teacher, natural builder and permaculture designer. In Australia he founded the Permaculture Institute of Central Queensland and NAG Community Radio. In 1997 Andre returned to Brazil to coordinate the UNDP permaculture program. As a teacher he educated over 5000 designers through out the country. In 1998 he co founded Ecocentro IPEC in central Brazil and in 2002 started the Mollison School for Sustainable Studies (Ecoversity). As a designer of sustainable systems and social entrepeneur Andre has started a number of organizations and encouraged thousands of people to demonstrate how sustainable living is a viable proposition.

Lucy Legan has worked in community development for more than 20 years with Indigenous communities, womens groups, young people and farmers. Since arriving in Brazil she has co founded both the Ecocentro IPEC and the Mollison School for Sustainable Studies where she remains as director. She has authored a nationally selected prize winning environmental education guide that has been introduced into state schools.

Nassim Haramein was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1962. As early as 9 years old, Nassim was already developing the basis for a unified hyperdimensional theory of matter and energy, which he eventually called the "Holofractographic Universe." Nassim has spent most of his life researching the fundamental geometry of hyperspace, studying a variety of fields from theoretical physics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, biology and chemistry to anthropology and ancient civilizations. Combining this knowledge with a keen observation of the behavior of nature, he discovered a specific geometric array that he found to be fundamental to creation, and the foundation for his Unified Field Theory emerged. This unification theory, known as the Haramein-Rauscher metric (a new solution to Einstein's Field Equations that incorporates torque and Coriolis effects) and his most recent paper The Schwarzschild Proton, lays down the foundation of what could be a fundamental change in our current understandings of physics and consciousness. This groundbreaking theory has now been delivered to the scientific community through peer-reviewed papers and presentations at international physics conferences. Further, The Schwarzschild Proton paper has recently received the prestigious "Best Paper Award" in the field of physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, field theory, and gravitation at the University of Li?ge, Belgium during the 9th International Conference CASYS'09. Fluent in both French and English, Mr. Haramein has been giving lectures and seminars on his unification theory for over 10 years. His lectures are multimedia presentations that lead his audiences through the validity of his theories with observational and theoretical data. He has presented at such institutions as the Department of Physics at Georgia Tech, the Department of Physics at University of Nebraska at Omaha, and Fellows of the Department of Education at the University of Montreal, and his unification model has now been delivered to the American Physical Society. In addition to his scientific papers, Mr. Haramein imparts this theory in a layman's paper, a 4 DVD set entitled "Crossing the Event Horizon: Rise to the Equation," and his international speaking tours. In the past 20 years, Mr. Haramein has directed research teams of physicists, electrical engineers, mathematicians and other scientists. He has founded a non-profit organization, the Resonance Project Foundation, where, as the Director of Research, he continues exploring unification principles and their implications in our world today. The foundation is actively developing a research park on the island of Hawai'i where science, sustainability, and green technology come together.

Mitch Horowitz is a writer and publisher of many years' experience with a lifelong interest in man’s search for meaning. The editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin in New York, he is the author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Bantam, September 2009). A frequent writer and speaker on metaphysical themes, he has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, The History Channel, The Montel Williams Show, All Things Considered, Air America Radio, and Coast to Coast AM. He has written for U.S. News and World Report, Parabola, Science of Mind, the Religion News Service, and the popular weblog BoingBoing. His website is: https://www.mitchhorowitz.com

Michael Jantzen, who considers himself to be an artist and a designer, was born in Centralia Illinois on May 3rd 1948. He grew up with his parents and eight brothers and sisters on a summer resort near Carlyle Illinois. It was there that his early experimentations with structure design led him to Southern Illinois University, at Edwardsville and their Dean’s List Program. After graduating with a Bachelors of Arts degree, Michael went on to receive his Masters of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis Missouri. Over the next twenty years he designed and built many experimental art projects, and architectural structures. Many of the architectural structures explored new ways of re-inventing the house. Michael moved to the Los Angeles area in 1990 to continue his leading edge experimental work in the crossover fields of art and architecture. Michael’s work has been featured in hundreds of articles in books, magazines, and newspapers from around the world. His designs have also been featured on various TV programs, exhibited in many galleries, at the National Building Museum in Washington DC, at the Harvard School of Design and Architecture, at the Canadian Center for Architecture in Montreal, and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Michael is married to Ellen Jantzen who is also an internationally known artist. www.michaeljantzen.com

Ken Jordan is publisher and executive producer of Reality Sandwich and Evolver.net. Ken has been an online pioneer since leading the 1995 launch of the award-winning SonicNet.com, the web's first multimedia music zine and digital music store, which later became a property of MTV. SonicNet was named best website of 1995 by Entertainment Weekly and won the first Webby award for music site before becoming a property of MTV. He later was Creative Director of Icon New Media, which published the popular, award-winning webzines Word.com and Charged.com. In 1999 he co-founded the public interest media issues portal MediaChannel.org, in partnership with Globalvision and the international civil society network OneWorld.net. As a consultant for the human rights organization WITNESS, he conceived their highly regarded online video "Hub." He has consulted with NGOs, foundations and start-ups, including Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, Evolver, netomat, Leveraging Investments in Creativity, AlGore.org, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Democrats in Congress. With his Reality Sandwich partner, Daniel Pinchbeck, Ken co-edited the anthology Towards 2012: Perspectives on the Next Age (Tarcher/Penguin, 2008, Nautilus Silver Award winner). He is co-author of the influential white paper "The Augmented Social Network: Building Identity and Trust into the Next-Generation Internet" (First Monday, August 2003), and editor of Planetwork Journal. He collaborated with the legendary playwright and director Richard Foreman on Unbalancing Acts: Foundations for a Theater (Pantheon, 1992), and is co-editor of the anthology Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality (W.W. Norton, 2001), an anthology of seminal articles that trace the development of the computer as an expressive, interactive medium. The book is widely taught at colleges and universities and has been translated into Korean and Chinese. Ken has written for Wired, Index, and Paris Review, among other publications.

Kathi von Koerber is a dancer/healer and filmmaker from Germany/South Africa. She has spent time and working on projects with elders from Bushmen tribes in southern Africa, the Tuareg in the Sahara, Gabonese Eboga priestess Bernadette Riebenot, Lakota, Navajo and Cherokee in the United States, Xawante and Fulnio in Brazil, and the Camsra and Kogi in Colombia. Kathi teaches and performs Improvisational Butoh dance internationally for the last 15 years, and has designated her life to the preservation of indigenous wisdom and advocating rituals as a key element in human evolution and initiation into adulthood. Kathi founded the company Kiahkeya (www.kiahkeya.com) in 2004, with the aim to inform and disseminate art, creativity and spirituality for the purpose of cross cultural and environmental equality and tolerance. Various projects include films on the Bushmen tribe of Southern Africa, the film “Footsteps in Africa” ( www.footstepsafrica.com) on the music and dance and survival skills of the Tamashek Nomads of the Sahara, an environmental Butoh dance film shot on the Alaskan ice caps called "Ridden by Nature", which she is currently editing, and now currently producing a film on the mystical powers of water called “Moving waters”. Kiahkeya also produces Intercultural workshops, including dance, plant medicine healing modalities, earth prayers of different traditions, leadership wilderness training and sustainable living and farming. All Kiahkeya projects are efforts to support the environment and its inhabitants, in this modern day and age. Kathi honors the voice of the grandmother and supports the prayer of the woman and her ancient voices, through the tools and means of praying with the elements, the earth, its food, the fire and its transformation, the water and its purifying power, and the air through which we walk our dance of life.

Joel Kovel was born in 1936, in Brooklyn, NY, and spent his early years there and on Long Island. He attended Yale College and then studied medicine at Columbia University (MD, 1961) and psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, eventually becoming Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Residency Training at that institution. He also holds a diploma in psychoanalysis from the Downstate Medical Center Institute. After practicing psychiatry and psychoanalysis for twenty four years, he left these professions in the mid-1980s, in part because of dissatisfaction with the health care system. Since 1988 he has been Professor of Social Studies at Bard College, Annandale, NY. Joel Kovel is both a scholar and an activist. In the former capacity he has published nine books and over a hundred articles and reviews. His books include White Racism, which was nominated for a National Book Award in 1972; A Complete Guide to Therapy; The Age of Desire (in which his work in the psychiatric-psychoanalytic system is detailed); Against the State of Nuclear Terror; In Nicaragua; The Radical Spirit; History and Spirit(1991); Red Hunting in the Promised Land (1994), a study of anticommunist repression in America; and The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or The End of the World (Zed, 2002). Since 2003 he has been Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly journal, Capitalism Nature Socialism. As an activist, Joel Kovel has been engaged in struggles for peace and justice since the Vietnam War era. He has worked within the antiwar and antinuclear movements, the solidarity movements in Central America and the Caribbean, the movements for democratic media, and, increasingly, for ecological transformation. He lived in Nicaragua for a period in 1986, and accompanied Pastors for Peace as they broke the US blockade on Cuba in their 1994 Friendshipment. He has acted in films, worked frequently with the Bread and Puppet theatre, and lectured on four continents. Kovel joined the Green Party since 1990. In 1998, he was the Green Party candidate for US Senator from New York, and in 2000 sought their Presidential nomination. Kovel is married, has three children, three stepchildren and five grandchildren. He lives in Willow, a rural district of Woodstock, in Ulster County.

Dennis McKenna is the editor and author of two publications: The Natural Dietary Supplements Pocket Reference (INPR, 2002) and Botanical Medicines: The Desk Reference for Major Herbal Supplements (Haworth Herbal Press, 2002). He is co-author, with his brother Terence, of The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens and the I Ching (Seabury Press). He serves on the Advisory Board of the American Botanical Council and the Editorial Board of Phytomedicine, the International Journal of Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology. he is the author or co-author of more than 40 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.

I received a BGS in Mathematics and Art from Ohio University, a Master’s in Ceramic Engineering and a PhD in Glass Science, both from Alfred University. I have used this unique educational background to solve problems in resource sustainability and medicine. In 1996 I started a company using my technology to make recycled glass solid surfaces as an alternative to granite and marble. In 2006 the business transformed into Vetrazzo, where I am V.P. of R&D. I receive most of my funding from the National Institute of Health, applying glass and ceramic technology to solve medical problems in such areas as mammography, laser surgery and color blindness. I am drawn to solve problems that are interdisciplinary and whose solutions hold some deeper societal benefit. I have authored 12 scientific papers and hold 6 patents in the area of glass-based products in the sustainability, laser and medical fields. Currently I am starting two new businesses. The first business will diagnose and correct color-deficient vision as well as screen for tetrachromatic women, and the second business will manufacture synthetic-rock garden planters created by combining post-agricultural and post-industrial waste. I have a laboratory in Berkeley, CA and live in Oakland, CA.

Dean Radin, PhD, is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University (Rohnert Park, CA). His early career as a concert violinist shifted into science after earning a masters degree in electrical engineering and a PhD in psychology from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. For a decade he worked on advanced telecommunications R&D at AT&T Bell Laboratories and GTE Laboratories; for over two decades he has been engaged in consciousness research. Before joining the research staff at IONS, he held appointments at Princeton University, University of Edinburgh, University of Nevada, and three Silicon Valley think-tanks, including SRI International, where he worked on a classified program investigating psychic phenomena for the US government. He is author or coauthor of over 200 technical and popular articles, a dozen book chapters, and several books including the bestselling The Conscious Universe (HarperOne, 1997) and Entangled Minds (Simon & Schuster, 2006). His technical articles have appeared in journals ranging from Foundations of Physics and Psychological Bulletin to Journal of Consciousness Studies. He has appeared on television shows ranging from the BBC’s Horizon and PBS's Closer to Truth to Oprah and Larry King Live, and he has presented over a hundred invited lectures in venues including Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton Universities, Google headquarters, DARPA, and the US Navy.

John Perry Barlow is a former Wyoming rancher and Grateful Dead lyricist. He graduated in 1969 with High Honors in comparative religion from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

More recently, he co-founded and still co-chairs the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He was the first to apply the term Cyberspace to the "place" it presently describes. He has written for a variety of publications, including Communications of the ACM, Mondo 2000, The New York Times, and Time. He has been on the masthead of Wired Magazine since it was founded. His piece on the future of copyright, "The Economy of Ideas" is taught in many law schools and his "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" is posted on thousands of web sites.

In 1997, he was a Fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics and has been, since 1998, as a Berkman Fellow at the Harvard Law School. He works actively with several consulting groups, including Diamond Technology Partners, Vanguard, and Global Business Network. In June 1999, FutureBanker Magazine named him "One of the 25 Most Influential People in Financial Services."

He writes, speaks, and consults on a broad variety of subjects, particularly digital economy. He lives in Wyoming, New York, San Francisco,oOn the road, and in Cyberspace. He has three teenaged daughters and aspires to be a good ancestor.

Richard Register is one of the world's great theorists and authors in ecological city design and planning.

He is also a practitioner with three decades of experience activating local projects, pushing establishment buttons and working with environmentalists and developers to get a better city built and running.

Presently, he is exploring transfer of development rights (TDRs) for reshaping cities and proposing an ecocity redesign of downtown Berkeley thorough an effort called the "the Heart of the City Project" funded partially by the State of California Coastal Conservancy and (pledged) City of Berkeley.

“Fear Factor” host Joe Rogan will be the first to admit that he only does television for the money. His true love is stand-up comedy. Prior to “Fear Factor,” which is in its fourth season on NBC, Rogan charmed viewers with his role on the hit comedy series “NewsRadio,” as Joe Garelli, the resident electrician at WNYX Radio. This season Rogan will be working double duty as he takes on hosting duties of the “The Man Show” on Comedy Central. “The best thing about ‘Fear Factor,’ says Rogan, “is that the contestants have no idea if their fear – be it snakes, heights or whatever – will come in to play until the moment they have to perform the stunt. In addition, they have no idea what the stunt is, so there’s no way to prepare for it. Everyone is on even ground.” Reality television was never in Joe’s original career plan, nor was television or comedy of any kind. So how did this accidental performer wind up with a role on a successful sitcom, a groundbreaking debut comedy album on Warner Bros. Records titled “I’m Gonna Be Dead Someday,” and hosting “Fear Factor” and “The Man Show”? The answer is simple: Tae Kwan Do. Joe began practicing martial arts at the age of 13. Within two years, the Boston native earned a black belt and soon became the Massachusetts full contact Tae Kwon Do champion four consecutive years. By the age of 19, Rogan won the US Open Tae Kwon Do Championship, and in true Joe Rogan fashion, the lightweight champion went on to beat both the middle and heavyweight title-holders to obtain the Grand Championship. Joe credits Tae Kwon Do for his discipline and focus, two characteristics which have enabled him to accomplish many things. It was not only Joe’s performance and abilities on the mat that wowed his buddies; it was his humor. Joe thought that they only laughed at his humor and constantly badgered him to perform stand-up because they were his friends. Joe failed to truly believe his material could reach a broader audience. Luckily, Joe’s friends persuaded him into trying out his “act”- such as it was- during an open mic night in a local club. Just as his friends suspected, the audience was as smitten with Joe as he was with stand-up, and he knew it was meant to be. In addition to “Fear Factor” and “The Man Show,” Joe continues to provide color commentary for the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). He resides in Los Angeles and performs stand-up locally as well as across the country.

Winner of the first Neil Postman award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, Douglas Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other’s values. He teaches media studies at the New School University, serves as technology columnist for The Daily Beast, and lectures around the world. He has just released his most important book to date: an analysis of the corporate spectacle called Life Inc. for RandomHouse, as well as a series of short films called Life Inc Dispatches. His ten best-selling books on new media and popular culture have been translated to over thirty languages. They include Cyberia, Media Virus, Playing the Future, Nothing Sacred: The Truth about Judaism, Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out and Coercion, winner of the Marshall Mcluhan Award for best media book. Rushkoff also wrote the acclaimed novels Ecstasy Club and Exit Strategy and graphic novel, Club Zero-G. He wrote a series of graphic novels for Vertigo called Testament, and is currently working on another book for Vertigo as well as a new series of graphic novels for Smoking Gun Interactive. He has written and hosted two award-winning Frontline documentaries – The Merchants of Cool looked at the influence of corporations on youth culture, and The Persuaders, about the cluttered landscape of marketing, and new efforts to overcome consumer resistance. Rushkoff writes a column for the music and culture magazine, Arthur. His commentaries have aired on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR’s All Things Considered, and have appeared in publications from The New York Times to Time magazine. He wrote the first syndicated column on cyberculture for The New York Times and Guardian of London, as well as regular columns for Discover Magazine and The Feature. Rushkoff is a PhD candidate at Utrecht University’s New Media Program. He has taught regularly for the MaybeLogic Academy, NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, and the Esalen Institute. He also lectures about media, art, society, and change at conferences and universities around the world. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Media Ecology Association, The Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, and as a founding member of Technorealism, as well as the Advisory Board of The National Association for Media Literacy Education, MeetUp.com and HyperWords . He has been awarded Senior Fellowships by the Markle Foundation, the Center for Global Communications, and the International University of Japan. He served as an Adviser to the United Nations Commission on World Culture and regularly appears on TV shows from NBC Nightly News to Larry King and Bill Maher. He developed the Electronic Oracle software series for HarperCollins Interactive. Rushkoff is on the board of several new media non-profits and companies, and regularly consults on new media arts and ethics to museums, governments, synagogues, churches, and universities, as well as Sony, TCI, advertising agencies, and other Fortune 500 companies. Rushkoff graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, received an MFA in Directing from California Institute of the Arts, a post-graduate fellowship (MFA) from The American Film Institute, and a Director’s Grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He’s finishing his dissertation on media literacy and gaming for University Utrecht. He has worked as a certified stage fight choreographer, an SAT tutor, and as keyboardist for the industrial band PsychicTV

Paul D. Miller aka DJ SPOOKY That Subliminal Kid is a composer, multimedia artist and writer. His written work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Source, Artforum and Rapgun amongst other publications. Miller's work as a media artist has appeared in a wide variety of contexts such as the Whitney Biennial; The Venice Biennial for Architecture (2000); the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany; Kunsthalle, Vienna; The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and many other museums and galleries. His work New York Is Now has been exhibited in the Africa Pavilion of the 52 Venice Biennial 2007, and the Miami/Art Basel fair of 2007. Miller's first collection of essays, entitled Rhythm Science came out on MIT Press 2004. His book Sound Unbound, an anthology of writings on electronic music and digital media is a best selling title for MIT Press. Miller's deep interest in reggae and dub has resulted in a series of compilations, remixes and collections of material from the vaults of the legendary Jamaican label, Trojan Records. Other releases include Optometry (2002), a jazz project featuring some of the best players in the downtown NYC jazz scene, and Dubtometry (2003) featuring Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Mad Professor. Another of Miller's collaborations, Drums of Death, features Dave Lombardo of Slayer and Chuck D of Public Enemy among others. He also produced material on Yoko Ono's recent album Yes, I'm a Witch. DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation was commissioned in 2004 by the Lincoln Center Festival; Spoleto Festival USA; Weiner Festwochen; and the Festival d'Automne a Paris. It was the artist's first large-scale multimedia performance piece, and has been performed in venues around the world, from the Sydney Festival to the Herod Atticus Amphitheater, more than fifty times. The DVD version of Rebirth of a Nation was released by Anchor Bay Films/Starz Media in 2008. DJ Spooky's multimedia performance piece Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica was commissioned by BAM for the 2009 Next Wave Festival; The Hopkins Center/Dartmouth College; UCSB Arts & Lectures; Melbourne International Arts Festival; and the Festival dei 2 Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. With video projections and a score composed by DJ Spooky, performed by a piano quartet, Terra Nova: Sinfornia Antarctica is a portrait of a rapidly transforming continent. In August 2009, DJ Spooky visited the Republic of Nauru in the Micronesian South Pacific to do research and gather material for The Nauru Elegies, a collaboration with artist/architect Annie Kwon, first presented at Experimenta in Melbourne, Australia in February 2010. In January 2010. Miller was commissioned by German radio to write the composition “Terra Nullius”. DJ Spooky's CD The Secret Song was released in October, 2009 on Thirsty Ear Records. With guest appearances by Thurston Moore, The Coup, Mike G. of the Jungle Brothers, Rob Swift of the X-Ecutioners, Mike Ladd, Vijay Iyer, and many others, The Secret Song is a manifesto about our overloaded digital culture. “The Secret Song is the welcome return to recording by one of its most mercurially intelligent musicmakers. It may also be the only concept recording of the 21st century that can be considered crucial listening.” – All Music Guide, Oct. 7, 2009

Penny Livingston-Stark is internationally recognized as a prominent permaculture teacher, designer and speaker. Penny has been teaching internationally and working professionally in the land management, regenerative design and permaculture development field for 25 years and has extensive experience in all phases of ecologically sound design and construction as well as the use of natural non-toxic building materials. She specializes in site planning and the design of resource-rich landscapes integrating, rainwater collection, edible and medicinal planting, spring development, pond and water systems, habitat development and watershed restoration for homes, co-housing communities, businesses and diverse yield perennial farms. With her husband James Stark, and in collaboration with Commonweal - a cancer health research and retreat center - Penny co-manages a 17-acre certified organic and certified salmon-safe farm in Bolinas, California, called the Commonweal Garden. In addition, Penny and James are stewarding and working to restore 200 acres of land in Trinity County, California. Penny co-created the Ecological Design Program and its curriculum at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture, and she co-founded the West Marin Grower’s Group, the West Marin Farmer’s Market and the Community Land Trust Association of Marin. Penny has also worked with the Marin County Community Development Agency and Planning Department to develop recommendations on sustainability for updating the Community Plan. Penny is a founding member of the Natural Building Colloquium, a national consortium of professional natural builders, creating innovations in straw bale, cob, timberframe, light clay, natural non-toxic interior finishes and other methods using natural and bio-regionally appropriate materials for construction.

Education and Current Positions Dr. Todd is one of the pioneers in the emerging field of ecological design and engineering. He has degrees in agriculture (McGill University), parasitology & tropical medicine (McGill University) and a doctorate in fisheries and ethology from the University of Michigan. He has received two honorary doctorates in science and engineering respectively. Dr. Todd is a Research Professor in the School of Natural Resources and a Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Vermont. He is a Fellow of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at UVM. He is the Founder and President of Ocean Arks International, a non-profit research and education organization established in 1981, and the Founder and Chairman of John Todd Ecological Design, Inc., an international design, engineering and natural resource planning firm based in Woods Hole on Cape Cod. In 2009 he became a founding partner in The Ecological Investment Company of Vermont. a company that finances community based natural resource, agricultural and renewable energy based enterprises. At the University of Vermont John Todd teaches ecological design and oversees an ecological design studio at UVM. The course, as well as the design studio, explores the theory and practice of employing ecological knowledge to address urgent human and environmental problems. Recognition and Awards Dr. Todd is the author of over two hundred scientific, technical and popular articles. He is the author of seven books, the latest with his wife Nancy Jack Todd, entitled “ From Eco-cities to Living Machines: Ecology as the Basis for Design. He is the inventor of Eco-Machines for the treatment of wastes, production of foods, generation of fuels and the restoration of damaged aquatic environments. He holds four patents, and was named one of the 20th Century’s top thirty-five inventors by the Lemelson-MIT Program for Invention and Innovation, in their 2002 book entitled “Inventing Modern America: from the Microwave to the Mouse”(MIT Press). He is also featured in the December, 2004, “The Genius Issue” of Esquire Magazine. In 2007 he, along with his wife Nancy Jack Todd, was named visionaries of the 20th Century in a book entitled “Visionaries of the 20th Century” by the UK based Resurgence Group. The list of visionaries includes Gandhi, Rachel Carson, the Dali Lama, Aldo Leopold, Jane Goodall, Martin Luther King, Bob Dylan, Frank Lloyd Write and Carl Gustav Jung. John Todd’s many awards include Global Visionary Award from the City of Chicago (2006). Bioneers Lifetime Achievement Award (1998), the Charles and Ann Morrow Lindbergh Award for technological innovation on behalf of the environment (1998), Environmental Merit Award from the US EPA (1996), Daimler/Chrysler award for design (1994), the Discovery Award for technological innovation (1991), The Teddy Roosevelt Award for Conservation (1990), the United Nations (FUNEP) Award for contributions to the global environment (1990). The U.S. EPA Chico Mendes Memorial Award for Environmental Restoration (1989), and the Swiss Threshold Award for his Contributions to Human Knowledge (1980). He was named a “Hero of the Earth” by Time magazine in 1999. In 2008 Dr. Todd won the first International Buckminster Fuller Challenge, a one hundred thousand dollar prize for the best idea to help save humanity and the planet. The entry was entitled Design for a Carbon Neutral World: The Challenge of Appalachia Selected Publications He has just completed a book of short stories entitled Man Overboard: Natural and Unnatural Histories from the Edge of the Sea. In the fall of 2003 he published “Ecological Design Applied” a technical paper in Ecological Engineering 20: 421-440. He has a recent book chapter entitled “Living Technologies: Wedding Human Ingenuity to the Wisdom of the Wild” in a book entitled “Nature’s Operating Instructions: The True Biotechnologies” edited by Kenny Ausubel (Sierra Club Books), 2005. Recently he completed “Living Technologies in an Age of Limits: The Promise of Ecological Design”, due out in 2009 as a chapter in a book edited by David Orr. On April 22, 2008 he completed a white paper on Appalachia for the Lewis Foundation entitled A New Shared Economy For Appalachia: An Economy Built Upon Environmental Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, Renewable Energy and Ecological Design (www.oceanarks.org). Most recently with Samir Doshi and Anthony McInnis he has completed Beyond Coal: A Resilient New Economy for Appalachia, currently in press.

Dr. Ryan Wartena is the founder of Growing Energy Labs, Inc., a design and development company that offers balanced renewable energy networks. Dr. Wartena holds degrees in Chemical Engineering from UC San Diego and the Georgia Institute of Technology and performed post-doctoral work in the Naval Research Laboratory and MIT. In his work as a chemical engineer, he has developed micro- and nano-batteries, cell manufacturing techniques, growth of carbon nanotube structures, and the world's first self-assembled battery. His current projects include the creation and integration of full-cycle, web-enabled distributed energy systems for all scales of integrated applications. Ryan's vision of the healthy and harmonious integration of communication-energy technology into everyday life has informed his development of energy awareness technologies to enable the Internet of Energy. Artistic endeavors have included large-scale LED light projects, commissioned murals and biodiesel generators. Ryan is a California native growing up in the family machine shop on the ranch in the Sierra-Nevada Foothills and in the production room of Chuck E. Cheeses

Craig is the Curriculum Coordinator, Director of the Samson Environmental Center, Director of Hands-to-Work, and Language Department Chair at Darrow School in New Lebanon, NY. Craig graduated from Ithaca College, earning a B.A. in Politics, Environmental Studies, and French, and from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, earning an Ed.M. in Learning and Teaching. His work at Darrow and via Sustainability Efforts Consulting focuses on facilitating unique curriculums of place that create educational experiences by embedding school communities in local contexts. Craig teaches in the Science, History, and Language departments at Darrow where he lives with his wife Kenly and sons Haven and Keller.

Inger is a LEED Accredited Architect who has more than 25 years of experience creating sustainable architecture.

She has worked in California, Massachusetts, Washington, and New York and currently lives in Brooklyn with her family. Inger attended UC Berkeley where she received an AB degree in Architecture, and Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she earned a Master of Architecture degree.

Mahesh Prasad Varma (later changed to Maharishi Mahesh) was born in Madhya Pradesh, India on January 12th 1917. He was born to the Kshetriya (warrior caste) Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was born on January 12th, 1917 to a Kshetriya caste Hindu family living in the small village of Chichli near Jabalpur, in the central region of India. After completing a masters degree in Physics from Allahabad university in 1940 he felt increasingly attracted to the spiritual life. He joined the Jyotirmath and became a disciple of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati. After studying meditation under the guidance of the Shankaracharya for 12 years in 1953 he travelled to Uttarkashi in the Himalayas. Here he entered into a meditation retreat, enabling him to deepen his meditation experience. In 1955 he decided he should teach meditation to the world and so began teaching traditional meditation techniques. He also assumed the title “Maharishi” which means great sage and is quite common amongst Indian Gurus. In 1957 he founded his first organisation the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. There have been many related organisations, they tend to get grouped under the heading of transcendental meditation movement. The growth in the transcendental movement was rapid, especially in the 1960s when the counter culture made meditation and eastern spirituality more appealing and in the public eye. Many high profile celebrities were attracted to the movement these included the Beach Boys, singer-songwriter Donovan, Clint Eastwood and David Lynch. The most high profile were the Beatles who spent time on a retreat in the late 1960s After a while, with the exception of George Harrison they became disillusioned with the Maharishi and left. George Harrison maintained an interest in meditation throughout his life and helped proved the TM movement with a meeting place in England. The Maharishi has sought to identify different stages of consciousness. In particular he has sought to demonstrate that if groups of people sincerely meditate in the same area it can have an effect of creating a more peaceful and prosperous effect. He gave this the term the Maharishi effect. Since September 11th 2001 he has often stated that combined efforts of meditation are important for the progress of the world’s spiritual unfoldment. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is credited as the author of at least 14 books. The most important books are the Science of Being and the Art of Living: Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, passed away on 5th February, 2008 at his home and headquarters in Vlodrop, the Netherlands. He is believed to have been in his 90s.