
In Support Of

Balancing the Biome: Rights of Nature
As living communities of animals, plants, people and microbes, diverse biomes thrive when each organism lives in symbiosis with others. This framework inspires CRUDE and Humble Bloom’s third Balancing the Biome Summit, entitled Rights of Nature, in support of Save Our Great Salt Lake.
Balancing the Biome: Rights of Nature is an invitation to reimagine collective stewardship of Great Salt Lake's precious ecosystems and the world at large. Through engaging firesides, expert-led panels, workshops, and a thoughtful lakeside ceremony, this summit connects the fight for Great Salt Lake’s survival to the wider water rights movement, inspiring cooperation and community to effect change locally and globally.
The Rights of Nature movement is quickly gaining momentum. How would such a legal system work, and could giving rights to nature create a paradigm shift in our fight against the climate crisis? Or, in preventing ecosystem collapse at Great Salt Lake? These are the questions we're asking at Balancing the Biome: Rights of Nature, an in-person experience October 7-8. Join us as we explore this movement with Great Salt Lake experts, artists, activists, and advocates working within the Rights of Nature movement.
Starts at 10am MT Friday & Saturday
Industry SLC @ 650 S. 500 W., Salt Lake City, UT 84101
&
Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake
CONFERENCE AT INDUSTRY SLC
WELCOME
Solonje Burnett and Danniel Swatosh of Humble Bloom
Denise Cartwright and Krista Parry of CRUDE
Tzintzun Aguilar-Izzo and Blake Lavia: Artists, Community Organizers & Talking Wings Co-Founders
RIGHTS OF NATURE INTRO
The Rights of Nature movement states that nature has a right to exist, flourish and be recognized as a rights-bearing entity. As such, nature has legal rights that can be enforced by people, governments, and communities. In practice, Rights of Nature creates duties for humans to act as guardians on behalf of the “non-human” world.
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Talking Wings Co-Founders Blake Lavia & Tzintzun Aguilar-Izzo
CORPORATE CARE + CONSCIOUSNESS
WholesomeCo Cannabis takes a sustainability-first approach in many facets of their business in order to set a new standard for the cannabis industry, which is notoriously wasteful and operates with a large footprint. Hear how this corporation incorporates plants and empowers people through their values and actions.
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Julian Miranda: Community Engagement Manager
SOUL MOMENT: WATER WISDOM
Tap into the force universally symbolizing life, movement, purification, transformation, and healing.
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Jordan Danielle: Multidisciplinary Artist
SAVE OUR GREAT SALT LAKE
The state and fate of Utah's Great Lake. How we got here, why current strategies have failed, and the need for a broarder, life-affirming movement like Rights of Nature.
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MODERATOR
Ali Vallarta of City Cast Salt Lake
FEATURING
Deeda Seed: Public Lands Senior Campaigner, Center for Biological Diversity
Nate Housley: Historian & Save Our Great Salt Lake Founding Member
Virgil Johnson: Educator & Native American Activist
Zach Frankel of Utah Rivers Council
BREAK: REFRESH & REVIVE
SOUL MOMENT: WATERWORKS
Select readings from award-winning authors and poets living and writing in Utah.
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RIGHTS OF NATURE: BEFORE WE RUN DRY
To meet the challenge of saving Great Salt Lake, we need a new approach. Rights of Nature is the movement shifting the paradigm in hearts, minds, and environmental law.
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MODERATOR
Yessenia Funes: Atmos Climate Editor & Journalist
FEATURING
Grant Wilson: Executive Director, Earth Law Center
Frank Bibeau: Leech Lake Reservation Tribal Attorney
Blake Lavia: Artist, Community Organizer & Talking Wings Co-Founder
SOUL MOMENT: REFLECTION & JOURNALING
Rights vs. Rites: Changing laws doesn't change minds. Explore the cultural shift needed to accept our relationship to nature and each other.
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LUNCH
MOVEMENT MOMENT
Meditative movement and breathwork for grounding and energizing bodies and minds.
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Kera Thompson: Registered Yoga Teacher
INTERSECTIONS OF A LIMINAL STATE
We sit at an interconnected series of crises threatening our survival. In order to heal and survive, we must take an intersectional approach to ecological restoration and grassroots organizing.
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MODERATOR
Alastair Lee Bitsóí: Writer, Creator, Storyteller, Farmer and Model/Actor
FEATURING
Ashley Finley: Birthkeeper and Community Activist
Tzintzun Aguilar-Izzo: Artist, Community Organizer & Talking Wings Co-Founder
Katie Boué: Outdoor Advocacy Project Founder
Isaias Hernandez: Environmental Educator
SOUL-UTION SESSIONS
Community building and alternative learning workshops rooted in empathy and strategy.
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LEGISLATIVE WORKSHOP: Join HEAL Utah for a 101 on how the legislative process works and how you can participate every step of the way! During this presentation, we will break down how a bill becomes a law and tips on contacting your lawmakers to push for meaningful change.
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FEATURING
Meisei González & Carmen ValDez of HEAL Utah
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COMMUNITY HERBALISM + COOPERATIVE MODELS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: Learn about Mobile Moon Co-op's model for wealth redistribution, power decentralization, and community-building as methods of fruitful resistance.
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FEATURING
Rikki Longino of Mobile Moon Co-op
BREAK: REFRESH & REVIVE
KEYNOTE ADDRESS - RIGHTS OF MANOOMIN: In 2021, an action was filed in the Tribal Court of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota, by Manoomin (wild rice), the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and several tribal members, to stop the State of Minnesota from allowing the Enbridge corporation to use five billion gallons of water for the construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline. This is the first case brought in a tribal court to enforce the rights of nature, and the first rights of nature case brought to enforce Treaty guarantees. Frank Bibeau, Tribal Attorney representing wild rice and the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, will offer a deep-dive into the historic case for the Rights of Manoomin and its influence in how environmental law is focused in the U.S.
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Frank Bibeau, Leech Lake Reservation Tribal Attorney
INTERSECTIONAL IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL VIOLENCE
Environmental trauma can seriously impact our physical and mental health. Discover how community care is connected to self care.
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MODERATOR
Kristy Drutman of Green Jobs Board
FEATURING
Ashley Cleveland of Outdoor Afro
Brooke Larsen: Community Organizer & Writer
Luis Miranda: Climate & Social Justice Organizer
Olivia Juarez: Public Lands Director, GreenLatinos
CLOSING REMARKS
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Chandler Rosenberg: SOGSL Founding Member
MOCKTAIL HAPPY HOUR & CREATIVE CONNECT
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PREAMBLE SCROLL: Help us write Great Salt Lake's declaration of rights! What does the lake mean to you economically, culturally, recreationally, politically, and spiritually?
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FEATURING
Natalie Slater: Embodied Ecologies Artist Working Group
A DAY AT THE LAKE
BUS DEPARTURE TO GREAT SALT LAKE
WELCOME + GROUNDING + INTRO TO GREAT SALT LAKE
SOUL MOMENT: "SELAH"
The theme of this grounding moment is “Selah”, an ancient Hebrew musical direction which means “pause and reflect”. Participants will be guided through some gentle breathwork and very gentle/accessible movement to allow space to pause with nature and reflect on our relationship with her. To end the moment, participants will be invited to make a verbal/spiritual offering to The Great Salt Lake, our Earth Mother, and nature in general.
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Ashley Finley: Birthkeeper & Community Activist
BREAKOUT SESSIONS:
WITNESSING GREAT SALT LAKE: The Great Salt Lake ecosystem is one of the most important ecosystems in the world. It not only supports over 10 million birds and a myriad of other wildlife. It is also adjacent to a major metropolitan area and has profound implications for it’s human neighbors. Come on a short walk with Lake Nerd Jaimi Butler to witness the current state of our Great Salt Lake and learn how each of us can support this important ecosystem.
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FACILITATOR
Jaimi Butler: Biologist & Great Salt Lake Nerd
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WRITING IN RELATIONSHIP TO GREAT SALT LAKE: GIVING VOICE TO GRIEF AND PRAISE
A generative writing workshop facilitated by Nan Seymour, founder of River Writing. Would you like some encouragement to find and foster your voice in relationship to place? Nan will provide poetry-based prompts and friendly guidance. You do not have to identify as a writer, you only have to be willing to bear witness. All you need is pen and paper, and a little courage.
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FACILITATOR
Nan Seymour of Save Our Great Salt Lake & River Writing Collective
PICNIC LUNCH
COLLECTIVE HEALING
Imagining a new future: the change we want to be and see.
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Brooke Larsen: Community Organizer & Writer
Alastair Lee Bitsóí: Writer, Creator, Storyteller, Farmer and Model/Actor
CLOSING REFLECTIONS & INTEGRATION
Denise Cartwright of CRUDE
THANKS & BUS DEPARTURE
Equity Fund
Like our biomes, communities thrive when each part of the larger system can rely on the others for connection, healing, and sustenance. We created the Equity Fund to provide deserving community members with lesser means the opportunity to join us for the Balancing the Biome Summit.
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