As a part of Google’s Environment Day on April 25th, we invited architect, designer, thought leader, and author William McDonough to Google NYC for a talk on "Design as Optimism." Moderated by Mary Davidge. Design is the first signal of human intention. We are all designers because we all have intentions. What if our intention is to do good and make the world better because we are here? William McDonough shares real world examples of materials, products, buildings, communities, and economies that were designed in the search for good. About William McDonough William McDonough points the way toward “more good, rather than less bad” values and practices for businesses in all sectors at all scales—showing how a positive future of continuous improvement is possible now. He is an architect, a global leader in sustainable development, and serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Environment and Natural Resource Security. For more than 40 years, McDonough—through McDonough Innovation, William McDonough + Partners, Architects, and MBDC—has defined the principles of the sustainability movement. He is co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002) and The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—Designing for Abundance (2013). He also co-founded the not-for-profit Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute; and in 2012, he became the subject of Stanford University Libraries’ first “living archive.” McDonough has received the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development (1996), the first U.S. EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (2003), and the National Design Award (2004). In January 2017, he was awarded the Fortune Award for Circular Economy Leadership at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting where he was hailed as “the father of the circular economy”. In 2009, he co-founded the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, to scale up the rigorous product certification program. Time magazine recognized him as a “Hero for the Planet,” noting: “His utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world.”

May 8, 2017 Our Children’s Trust, which is suing the federal government over its climate policies on behalf of twenty-one young people. The lawsuit asks the federal government to prepare a science-based national climate recovery plan that will bring carbon dioxide to below 350 parts per million by the year 2100. And results have been encouraging: a preliminary ruling in November states that the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life. Victoria Barrett is one of the plaintiffs.

April 25th, 2017: Brenda White Bull, lineal descendant of Lakota Chief Sitting Bull and Standing Rock Sioux Nation citizen, presented an intervention at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She spoke on the state and personal violence perpetrated upon Indigenous women and men in the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline. watch and share! #IndigenousRising #NoDAPL #WaterisLife #StandWithStandingRock Shot and edited by @IndigenousWomenMedia

Water.org co-founder Matt Damon shares some inspiring thoughts and anecdotes with World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. Learn how water can be made accessible to the world’s poorest. And see how even a mega-star can be humbled by a smart Haitian pre-teen.

At the time, it seemed unthinkable. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley stood on a stage with oil industry executives and environmental leaders to announce a new climate change policy for Canada’s top oil-producing province, home to the world’s third largest oil reserves. How did they do it?

Jane Mayer talks about how money has influenced the political conversation on climate change.

Watch their full talk here: http://bit.ly/2lTHbh5 Extraordinary award-winning poets, performance activists and cultural architects Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman of Climbing PoeTree explore the network of mutuality that binds our existence through the ricochet of oppression and the reciprocity of liberation. Their art is a tool for catalyzing action, cross-pollinating solutions, getting at the root of our most pressing social and ecological issues, and reminding us that we all belong to each other. This speech was given at the 2016 National Bioneers Conference. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. Subscribe to the Bioneers Radio Series, available on iTunes and other podcast providers and on your local radio station. Support Bioneers today: www.bioneers.org/donate Please join our mailing list (http://www.bioneers.org/subscribe), stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Will Keepin & Cynthia Brix - Transforming Patriarchy: From Gender Oppression to Beloved Community Watch their full talk here.

The Gender Equity and Reconciliation process (GRI) seeks to heal the profound wounds around gender, sexuality, and relational intimacy. It brings together people of all sexual orientations and genders to jointly confront gender disharmony to reach healing reconciliation. Will and Cynthia have developed the method over 24 years, introducing the practices in nine countries. Gender reconciliation's startling successes in South Africa have played a role in transforming that country's AIDS and HIV policies, and exciting new academic research on the program is underway at two South African universities.

This speech was given at the 2016 National Bioneers Conference.

Please join our mailing list (http://www.bioneers.org/subscribe), stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

From the Ecuadorian Amazon, Sarayaku stands in solidarity with the Sioux Nation in North Dakota in their peaceful struggle against the oil pipeline crossing their sacred land in Standing Rock. #NoDAPL

Published on Feb 27, 2017

From the Ecuadorian Amazon,

stands in solidarity with the Sioux Nation in North Dakota in their peaceful struggle against the oil pipeline crossing their sacred land in Standing Rock. #NoDAPL