By Erica Baumgardner '16

Knox College will host its fourth annual Prairie Fire Bioneers Conference, a Beaming Bioneers event, from November 7 to 9 at the Ford Center for Fine Arts. The event includes interactive workshops, presentations by local sustainability leaders, and several nationally recognized speakers.

A keynote address entitled "The Future of Buildings: The Standard of the Past and the Hope for the Future" will be presented by Knox alumnus Jim Hallock. After graduating from Knox in 1969, Hallock relocated to Colorado where he founded Earth Block, Inc., a company dedicated to constructing cost-effective homes from compressed earth. Hallock also served as a United States Department of Agriculture consultant, assisting with reconstruction efforts in Honduras during the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch.

Several renowned plenary speakers will also be broadcast from the National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California. These include:

• Terry Tempest Williams, beloved writer, naturalist, conservationist, and passionate free speech advocate, who will speak about "A Love That is Wild: Why Wilderness Matters in the 21st Century."
• Canadian journalist and social activist Naomi Klein, who will speak on “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate.”
• Award-winning mycological researcher Paul Stamets, whose talk is titled “How Mushrooms Can Help Us Survive Extinction 6x.”
• A spokenword performance by multimedia theater artists and educators Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman of Climbing PoeTree.

Local workshops will also be held throughout the weekend, led by local experts on topics such as sustainability, traditional and modern agriculture, investment strategizing, maximizing educational resources, and community activism.

View the full schedule and register for the event at www.knox.edu/bioneers.