In discussions of sustainability, the environment often takes center stage while issues of social equity and economic sustainability are either relegated to the background or are not present at all. The Bioneers Conference — held from Oct. 16 to Oct. 18 on the Ithaca College campus — made inquiries into a more sustainable future from five perspectives: sustainable economy, our clean energy future, fortifying our food sheds, earth stewardship and health and well-being.

Daniel Roth, sustainability coordinator at Cornell, said he believes that the conference brought “sophisticated thinkers and activists” from multiple disciplines together to create a dialogue to design comprehensive solutions to the world’s sustainability problems.

Since 1990, Bioneers has hosted an annual national conference. In the last seven to eight years, the organization held conferences at satellite sites with video feeds of the national event and local speakers. Bioneers chose Ithaca as the first and only satellite site in New York, reinforcing the city’s reputation as “one of the most progressive towns in America,” Matthew Riis, the conference’s coordinator, said. Recognizing that important efforts toward sustainability extend beyond Ithaca, Finger Lakes Bioneers organized the conference with the goal of giving participants, “a broad bird’s eye view on Friday and over the course of the weekend, slowly whittl[ing] that down so on Monday they go home with concrete steps they’ll be able to implement,” Riis said.

A Bioneer attendee, John Finn, MEng, ’83, said, “We are at a critical point in the earth’s history to respond to these challenges by creating new ways to live on our planet. This time is not like any other — we have the opportunity to consciously and creatively respond to our situation by creating new ways to sustain and work on this planet — that’s what Bioneers is all about.”

Bioneers has a dual vision of innovation and practicality, so the idea behind the conference’s schedule was that participants would go home with knowledge of the actions that they could take. The role of the individual in health care was especially emphasized in a health & well-being panel discussion on alternative and complementary medicine. The speakers advocated for alternative techniques — herbal medicine, physical therapy and acupuncture — that combined with conventional forms of treatment — pills and surgery — forms complementary medical solutions.

Tammi Sweet, an herbalist, said that 80 percent of the ailments patients see their primary care physicians for can actually be treated through herbs and changes in lifestyle and diet. Marne O’Shae, a doctor practicing family medicine in Ithaca, said that the statistic was consistent with her own experiences. Sweet echoed a recurring theme of the conference, asserting that solutions to human problems are often found in nature.

In addition to local speakers, the conference featured tables hosted by local companies. Renovus Energy is a local company entering its seventh year of designing and installing solar thermal, solar electric, wind and microhydro renewable energy systems throughout New York. Others have shied away from microhydro, but Renovus believes that water resources can be harvested.

Duncan Cooper, director of sales and project assistant, points out that in contrast to solar energy, which is “intermittent both day, night and seasonally,” the flow of a stream can be partially diverted and channeled through a pipe to turn a turbine “365 days a year, 24 hours a day” even when surface water freezes.

Roth pointed out that Bioneers’ approach to sustainability is actually more true to the UN definition of sustainability, which also strongly emphasizes a long-term, multidisciplinary approach. Riis said the role of youth is, “always to learn from the current generation and push the envelope a litter bit further than the status quo.” Accordingly, attendance was not only limited to concerned adults — an effort was made to bring local high school students.

Paul Mutolo (Chem, ’94), Director of External Partnerships at Cornell’s Fuel Cell Energy Institute, was at Bioneers on the Commons this Sunday as part of the Institutes public outreach programs along side GM’s fuel cell Chevy Equinox. “Fuel cells are one of the most efficient sources of energy we know of,” Mutolo said. While electrical energy is usually generated by chemically combusting a fuel source, he continued, fuel cells instead decompose molecules in order to extract electrons directly. As of now, fuel cell cars are over two times more efficient than our current combustion-based vehicles. While there are select fuel cell cars available to drivers in Southern California, GM hopes to have a fuel cell model on the market by 2012.

Highlighting the struggle and social awareness that needs to be integrated into society for the green movement to be effective, Sunday’s keynote speaker, Dorothy Cotton discussed the parallels between the civil right’s movements to the current environmental one—even leading the audience in singing appropriately reworded spirituals. Having worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and having studied freedom struggles internationally, Cotton retuned to the conference’s theme, “We Make Our Future.” She stressed the importance of personal commitment in societal change.

As Finn said, Cornell’s combination of academic excellence and rigor has both an intellectual and a practical element — a reflection, he believes, of its Ivy League and land grant tradition. “The down-to-earth, literal education is an integral part of a Cornell experience. Bioneers are very much the same: combining practical experimentation with the embodiment of ideas.”

Hot commodity: Duncan Cooper of Renovus Energy displays a solar thermal system during this weekend’s Bioneers conference at Ithaca College.