Moonrise: “The Power of Women Leading from the Heart”
Edited by Nina Simons with Anneke Campbell, Foreword by Terry Tempest Williams

Review by Candy Jones:

Moonrise is as spectacular as a Harvest Moonrise. It soars large into the sky, gathering with it the visions dreams and actions of a collective of true visionaries, setting the readership into a distinctively uplifting and edifying journey into the solutions being bantered about by this earth’s greatest minds and hearts. Moonrise cleverly and systematically creates an arch of comprehension, sensitization, and yes illumination on to the pressing social and environmental issues of the day and beyond. Nina Simons, co founder of the legendary Bioneers organization, has amassed a spectacular collection of thirty-seven essays written by both herself and other leading Pioneer (hence Bioneers) thinkers of our times who are tackling some of the world’s greatest social ills all in a fashion distinctively outside of the box, and, yes, the box is recycled!

Whenever I open a book devoted to discussing social/environmental/political problems I do so with a hefty sense of trepidation. After all, contemplating the world’s ills can be overwhelming if not depressing. Yet, with Moonrise, the moon sheds little glare and spawns soothing rays of inspiration as the reader is provided truly innovative solutions and on-going programs that are successfully battling the very ills of which we despair. That’s 37 chapters of solutions in motion.

One such visionary providing a solution is Judy Wick with her essay on Local Living Economy. Judy Wicks is the founder of the landmark White Dog Café in Philadelphia. Judy has rethought success, community, and relationship, to say nothing of her concept of business. Her very successful restaurant not only feeds its clients food concocted from green, organic, local suppliers, but she has educated her “competitors” and community as to the value and means by which to do the same. She takes her clients on solar house tours, educates them on the working of biodiesel, organic farms, prisons, and instills in them a sense of activism in their community inspiring them to become vibrant members of society. Judy is an agent of change advocating a local living economy based on maximizing relationship not profits. Judy’s being doing all of this successfully for twenty-six years. It’s astounding what she has created.

Another chapter of note, is Janine Benyus chapter on “What Life Knows”. Janine is a naturalist, educator and writer who advocates using natures engineering genius to develop green solutions to some of our most confounding design problems. She calls this “biomimicry”. Janine points out that nature has 3.8 billion years of engineering experience relating to sustaining life and that this vast knowledge might be a wise well from which to draw! Janine delves into the issue of silica and plankton. Janine revels that photosynthetic plankton makes its cell walls out of silica without emitting toxins and carcinogens as does our Silicon chips and solar cells manufacturing processes. She points out that the University of California scientist are mimicking the way the plankton forms silica which may alter the way computer chips are made! Janine examines other such natural innovations borrowing from nature’s design such as Geoffrey Coates creating biodegradable plastics inspired by the way mollusks use C02 to make sea shells, or the way a scientist named Frank Fish, redesigned the Japanese Magnet train to avoid the boom it created when traveling in tunnels as well as increasing its fuel efficiency by redesigning it’s beak to mimic the design of the Kingfisher. Frank was a committed birdwatcher, and it was his astute observation of nature that brought him his design solutions.

Other submissions from the likes of Julia Butterfly, Eve Ensler, Alice Walker, and the every inspiring Terry Tempest Williams make this two hundred ninety five page book an anthem of sounds solutions and glimpse of what’s possible and what is to come as these profoundly gifted visionaries and leaders cut an intelligent, sustainable, and inspirational path of life that we can journey along in the days, weeks, and years to come. Moonrise gives me the juice to bound into the future with hope and excitement.