2010 Keynote Speakers
Keynote: Thursday, 7:30 pm
Peter Forbes
Who better to speak at this year's conference, with the hope to
bring together a wide circle of participants, than Peter Forbes who is
known for his ability to build bridges between sectors, coalitions and
organizations and for nurturing a new land movement that integrates
land health, social justice, and human spirit.
As a student and storyteller of the relationship between land and
people, Forbes led conservation projects with the Trust for Public
Land for eighteen years. With the success of more than one hundred
projects, including the protection of Walden Woods and Scott and Helen Nearing's Good Life Center
in Maine, he earned a national reputation as being a champion of a new brand of community-based
conservation where the health of the people and the health of the land are viewed as equal.
Following his work on community-based land conservation projects at the Trust for Public Land,
Forbes co-founded Center for Whole Communities at Knoll Farm in the Mad River Valley of Vermont.
This learning and leadership center strengthens the movements for social and environmental change
by looking deeply at the issues that divide us from one another and from the land.
Keynote: Friday, 10:30 am
Bill McKibben
Described by MSN as one of the dozen most influential men of
2009, acclaimed Vermont author and environmentalist Bill McKibben
McKibben is sure to inspire conference-goers of all walks of life.
McKibben's first book, The End of Nature, was published in 1989 and
is considered to be the earliest book about global climate change
written for a general audience. Since that time, he has written over
a half dozen books, including the 2010 release Eaarth, which delves
into the challenges of living on a planet which humans have irreversibly changed.
In addition to the influential books McKibben has authored, he is a prolific community organizer,
having founded the organization 350.org, which coordinated 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in
181 countries to advocate for the reduction of green house gases and to curtail climate change.
Keynote: Saturday, 8:30 am
Dana Hudson
Dana Hudson, of the National Farm to School Network, Vermont Food
Education Every Day (FEED) and Shelburne Farms will give the closing
keynote, weaving together the conference threads with a talk on her
nationwide work to cultivate a closer relationship with farms and the
food they grow for us. In her position as Northeast Regional Lead for the National Farm to School Network, Dana connects people with both their human and natural communities. She facilitates farmer to school relations throughout the northeastern states. Dana has spoken at many conferences about agriculture and the connection we have with our food including those of National Farm to Cafeteria, Society of Nutrition Education and Northeast Farm to School, among others. She also has been an invited contributor to national and regional food and agricultural policy forums and events with the USDA and the New England Governors Commission on Agriculture and has presented in 14 states,
Canada and England.
The Burlington School Food Project in Vermont is just one example of many successful initiatives of which Hudson has been part. She led the project management during the initial three years of the multi-partner program. Additionally, Hudson has run graduate level professional development courses
on Farm to School, as well as farm-based seminars and workshops for farmers and other groups. She also is a founding and current board member of the national Farm Based Education Association.
Entertainment
Thursday, 8:30 pm (two choices)
Film
Camilla Rockwell, Filmmaker - MOTHER NATURE'S CHILD: MUDDY KNEES IN
THE AGE OF TECHNOLOGY
A screening of MOTHER NATURE'S CHILD, a documentary about the changing the relationship between children and the natural world and the effect of “nature deficit disorder" on their health and well-being. Includes stunning footage of children ages 2-20, and interviews with Richard Louv, David Sobel, Stephen Kellert and others.
Open Mic
Share your songs, skits, poetry, imitations of woodcock courtship dances. Please contact Margaret Burke, mburke@shelburnefarms.org, if you would like to donate your talents!
Friday, 7:30 pm The Old Sam Peabody Contra Dance Band
With Delia Clark calling, there will be contra dancing until 8:15. The band will continue to play for your listening pleasure, and end with a jam session. Bring your instruments!
Saturday, 2:30 pm (as part of the closing) Yoh Theater Speakchorus
The Yoh Theatre Players are Woodstock Union High students. The "speak chorus" format borrows from the tradition of the chorus in ancient Greek dramas, shifting voice and rhythm to give reading a text out loud the quality of incantation. Details on the work they will perform will be available soon.