BLUEGRASS BIONEERS 2011

The Leading Sustainable Solutions Conference

At the University of Louisville

October 21-23, 2011 - FREE

Friends & Sponsors

As we look toward the 2011 conference, we thank all of our 2010 friends and sponsors for their support.

Amazing Green Planet: Amazing Green Planet opened its doors in October, 2008. As the first "green store" in Louisville, we offer you an alternative to the typical retail experience. Amazing Green Planet features products made from sustainable materials, presents solutions for everyone to cut down on their carbon footprint and incorporates fair trade principles. Our goal is to save the earth's resources and to educate our community on how to preserve our wonderful planet. Although our store may be one small business among many, we strive to do our share to "Help Mother Nature Smile."

Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest: The goal in all of Bernheim’s activities is to help realize its mission of strengthening the bond between people and nature by finding new ways to connect nature with people’s everyday lives. We believe that if people recognize and benefit from the many values found in nature, quality of life will be improved, and thus they will be motivated to protect the natural world for both its practical and its intrinsic value.

Blackbird502 Web Applications + Design: We are dedicated to building sustainable web applications and designing effective websites for local and sustainable businesses. We believe in promoting all things local, independent, grass-roots and green. Most recently, we launched an interactive directory and website hosting service for GreenListLouisville.com. GLL is a comprehensive directory of Green businesses in Louisville and offers easy-to-update and inexpensive websites for small businesses.

Carmichael's Bookstore: National Independent Bookstore of the Year for 2009, Carmichael’s has been in business in Louisville for more than 30 years. It was started in April of 1978 by Carol Besse and Michael Boggs (the store name is a combination of their first names), and has been owned and operated by them ever since. It is a family business in the best tradition. As the business grew, so did the number of family members involved, and the staff now includes a second generation.

Cultivating Connections: Cultivating Connections is a grassroots, nonprofit contributing to the creation of a just and sustainable community by nurturing and celebrating our connections with each other and with our world. Cultivating Connections affirms and explores the connections between environmental sustainability, social justice and spiritual fulfillment, and the role we each are called to play in bringing forth a vibrant Earth Community, by offering workshops, study groups, retreats, conferences, sacred celebrations and other programs around the themes of environmental spirituality, personal empowerment, and the new cosmology.

The Green Building: Renovation of the 110 year old masonry structure, a former dry goods store, was commenced by owners Augusta and Gill Holland in spring 2007 when they decided to become the first commercial building in Louisville KY to go for LEED platinum certification (the US Green Building Council's designation of a sustainable building). The 15,000 square foot mixed use facility houses a street facing café called 732 Social from James Beard nominated Ton Brothers, The Green Building Gallery, event spaces, and an indoor-outdoor courtyard at the rear complete with a green wall vertical garden.

The Green Convene: The Mission of the Green Convene is to Quickly move Louisville to sustainable policy and practice. The Green Convene envisions a sustainable Louisville that supports environmental, social and economic well-being; a community with clean energy, air, water, food and shelter for all, now and in the future.

GreenList Louisville: GreenList Louisville is a free printed guide to sustainability in Louisville. We want to list all sustainable businesses, services and organizations in Louisville. We are freely connecting people with providers - for the benefit of us all, and especially that of our planet.

Please support our advertisers. They fund our effort to make sustainable Louisville visible. Be sure to let them know you found them in GreenList.

Heine Brothers Coffee: Heine Brothers' Coffee roasts organic, fair trade coffee for its seven neighborhood gathering places. Ten years ago, we cofounded the world's first fair trade, organic green coffee purchasing cooperative to buy coffee directly from cooperatives of farmers in the growing countries. In 2006, we founded Breaking New Grounds, a 501C3 dedicated growing food, farmers and jobs in the city. Through this organization, we turn our 70 tons of coffee grounds produced each year and other local food waste into beautiful and nutritious worm compost. We sell this product, called Life's Magic, in our stores and use the money raised to fund an organic urban farm in one of Louisville's food deserts.

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth: KFTC gives people from all over the state, from Paducah to Pikeville, from the mountains to the big cities, the opportunity to work together on issues that are important to them and to society. When people from the small towns, big cities and mountains work together they change the world. We all know you can't fight city hall alone, but if you work together with like minded people you can become city hall.

Kentucky Resource Council: The Kentucky Resources Council (KRC) is Kentucky's only environmental advocacy organization offering legal and strategic assistance without charge to individuals, community groups and local governments statewide. A nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, KRC accepts neither corporate nor government funding, and is supported solely by donations from individual and group members, individual donors, and charitable foundation grants. KRC's mission is to protect Kentucky's natural resources and promote healthy communities by providing legal and technical guidance and assistance to individuals, communities, and organizations with environmental concerns.

New Possibilities Associates: New Possibilities Associates LLC knows what it takes for teams of people to successfully lead in the face of complex, diverse and rapidly changing reality. Our commitment is to finding new solutions to the messiest and most challenging problems. New Possibilities Associates offers planning, training, facilitating, ongoing consulting, and coaching for leaders. We specialize in sustainable solutions to tough problems in environments of rapid change.

Rainbow Blossom Natural Food Markets: We guarantee our foods are free of synthetic preservatives, artificial colors or flavors. Our commitment to quality allows us to guarantee that our customers will be satisfied with our products unconditionally. Thank you for supporting a locally owned business contributing to our community.

SHINE: Shine is a wellness studio, located in NuLu just off East Market St, devoted to nurturing a graceful life through movement, music and fun. Movement - yoga, modern dance, Pilates & Nia; Music - drum circles, live music events & Music Together; Healing Arts - massage therapy, reiki, intuitive therapy & the sustainable body system; and much more!

YERT: (Your Environmental Road Trip) is a 50-state, 1-year, eco-expedition throughout the entire US covering "The Good...The Bad...The Weird." With video camera in hand and tongue in cheek, Ben, Julie, and Mark have explored the landscape of America's unique approach to environmental sustainability. After creating and posting to their website 50 short films about sustainability around the country (and amassing over a million online video views), the YERT team is turning their 600 hours of footage and 800+ interviews into a forthcoming 90-minute feature film.