Bioneers by the Bay returns to UMass Dartmouth

DARTMOUTH, Mass. — The Marion Institute has announced this year’s featured speakers for its third annual Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change Conference to be held at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth from October 19 to 21.

The conference is the 2007 Northeast regional “beaming bioneers” site, one of 20 throughout the U.S. that make up a network of annual gatherings at which local concerned citizens and community activists gather with internationally acclaimed scientific and social innovators to explore practical models for restoring the Earth and its inhabitants.

The three-day conference is expected to attract over 2000 attendees from throughout New England and beyond and will feature topics ranging from climate change to economic sustainability to social justice.

The regional program will have interactive workshops, a youth initiative program for high school and college students, music, films, local and organic foods, and exhibits by sustainable businesses and organizations. The program will be linked via satellite with the main Bioneers conference in San Rafael, California.

“Bioneers by the Bay,” explains Marion Institute director Desa VanLaarhoven, “provides an opportunity for students, scientists, grassroots activists and ordinary citizens concerned about the future of our planet — both environmentally and in terms of world health and social justice — to share visionary and practical solutions to help us lead more sustainable lifestyles and restore the Earth for generations to follow.”

Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change is a partnership between the national Bioneers organization in California, the Marion Institute, UMass Dartmouth, the City of New Bedford, MA, the Center at WestWoods, Westwood, MA, and Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, VT.

Featured presenters at the 2007 Bioneers by the Bay conference include:

• Will Allen, an organic farming activist who co-manages Vermont’s Cedar Circle Farm, co-chairs Farms not Arms, and authored “War on Bugs,” which reveals how farmers were convinced to use deadly chemicals, hormones and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

• Van Jones, founder and national executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and one of the nation’s leading voices on human rights, the disenfranchised and “green collar” jobs.

• Bill McKibben, author of “End of Nature,” regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and organizer of the April 14 Step It Up 2007, A National Day of Climate Action.

• Dr. Joia Mukherjee, an infectious disease specialist and medical director of the international medical charity Partners in Health, consultant to the World Health Organization on the treatment of HIV and MDR-TB in developing countries and an executive board member of Health Action Aids.

• John Perkins, author of the New York Times bestseller “Confessions of an Eco nomic Hit Man” and, more recently, “The Secret History of the American Empire,” a compassionate plan for crafting a world that future generations will be proud to inherit.

• Simran Sethi, an award-winning journalist, co-host of the Sundance Channel’s The Green and contributing author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy, the companion guide to the PBS series Ethical Markets.

• Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation shrimper, author of “An Unreasonable Woman,” and environmental and social justice activist who battled toxic polluters on the Gulf Coast of Texas and later co-founded the National Women’s Peace Movement, Code Pink.

• Naomi Wolf, an international best-selling author who became the literary star of the third wave of the feminist movement and also co-founder the Woodhull Center for Ethical Leadership, dedicated to the future of America’s young women.

For more information call the Marion Institute at 508-748-0616, email info@connectingforchange.org or visit www.connectingforchange.org.

Former Cape Verdean president speaks

DARTMOUTH, Mass. — His Excellency Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro, the first democratically elected president of the Republic of Cape Verde, shared his thoughts about leadership at a talk on Monday, October 1, at the UMass Dartmouth Library Browsing Area.

Entitled, “The Obstacles of Leadership and Prospective for the Future,” the lecture was free and open to the general public as well as the campus community. Sponsored by the African and African American Studies Department and the College of Arts and Sciences, the talk was expected to attract local dignitaries of Cape Verdean descent.

Professor Chidiebere Nwaubani, department director said, “It’s a major event any time you have a sitting or former president of a country, especially one that was elected to the office, give a talk. There’s so much to gain from hearing someone in such a position... And with a huge Cape Verdean population in our region, this is an example of the university’s outreach to the community.”

Monteiro served as president of the Republic of Cape Verde from 1991 to 2001.  During his term in office, he was actively involved in many international human rights organizations including his role as chairman of the Third Conference on Regional System of Human Rights Protection in Africa and Europe.  He participated in the Organization of African Unity’s mission to Angola following the country’s first free elections in 1992.

Monteiro is currently the fifth Lloyd G. Balfour African President-in-Residence at Boston University’s African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC). That program enables former democratically-elected African heads of state to spend up to two years at BU, sharing insights on contemporary trends in Africa and interacting with political, religious, academic and community leaders throughout the United States.

UMass Dartmouth holds workshop on meridian medicine

By Ryan Gallagher

Dr. Vasu Brown, the guest speaker for the meridian medicine workshop which took place last Friday, comes from India and is trained in medicine.

Brown was born and raised in an impoverished part of India and, as a child, wanted to get out of poverty. “I don’t define myself as what I have done, but what I want to do to increase human values,” she said. She added, “When I was eight years old, I told my mother I wanted to be a healer.”

She has traveled extensively, using her training internationally. She has written a number of books, many of which are on meridian medicine.

Meridian medicine studies are a passion of Brown’s. The Indian System for meridian medicine is called “nadi vaithiyam,” which means pulse medicine. The other meanings for meridians are the channels that energy, blood and lymphatics flow through. Lymphatics are known as the “the electric meridians” of the body. These meridians are structures that are used to diagnose and treat various conditions in traditional Chinese medicine, Japanese Jin Shin Jyutsu, Indian Nadi Vaithiyam and other meridian-based theories around the world.

The difference between meridian medicine and other treatments, like acupuncture, is that acupuncture uses different perspectives to analyze health issues such as the eight principal patterns, pernicious evil and the five elements. Meridian medicine uses layers to understand the problem. Brown related it to “what Shrek said in the movie ‘Shrek’: ‘Ogres are like onions, they both have layers,’ so does meridian medicine.”

The layers of meridian medicine are part of the energy cycles of the body and have nine different energy depths. All energies have reasons and stories to them.

Then there are the seven chakras which make up a great connecting system and bring all parts of the physical being into sync with each other. These points govern the endocrine system, which in turn controls the seven major areas of the physical body. For example the first chakra is the earth chakra, located at the base of the spine and it deals with survival and is blocked by fear.

The teachings of meridian medicine are ancient and date back to a time before Moses and the Gautama Buddha. The teachings and concepts of this art have so much information to offer in the field of healing. Each culture that is familiar with meridian medicine brings in their own traditions.