I stopped by the Bioneers conference at the Maryland Institute College of Art today to see what it was all about.  You'll recall I previewed the event here a couple days ago. 

What I found was some very green and enthusiastic people - the "point of the spear," one organizer put it, in a drive for environmental change.  When I dropped in, they were being urged to get involved in fighting global warming and to push for healthier, more sustainable nutritition for young people.

Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, was wrapping up his pep talk when I got there.  Afterward, he told me he's optimistic about the revival of climate-change legislation next year.  Gov. Martin O'Malley endorsed a bill that initially would have committed the state to reducing greenhouse gases 25 percent by 2020, with a goal of cutting 90 percent by 2050.  The bill died in the waning hours of the General Assembly, opposed by manufacturers and by labor unions, which feared it could cost jobs at Sparrows Point and other industrial plants.

Tidwell said O'Malley administration officials have signaled their desire to sponsor the bill next year, and they plan to meet soon with labor and industry leaders to try to work out their concerns. 

Just before lunch, the bioneers heard how Baltimore city's school system is blazing a trail toward more sustainable school nutrition.   Several city schools are participating in a program that encourages youngsters to eat healthier foods.  The "Food Is Elementary" curriculum, developed by the Food Studies Institute in New York, teaches kids to prepare and appreciate whole, fresh foods rather than the processed fare so common at home and school.

"Baltimore is a wonderful example to do a case study for sustainable change," said Antonia Demas, director of the Institute and a visiting scholar at the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.  She cited a recent federal study projecting that one-third of children born in 2000 would develop diabetes as evidence that the high-calorie, high-fat, processed foods many kids consume could shorten their lives.

She was followed by an effusive Tony Geraci, the new food service director for Baltimore city schools, who regaled the audience with tales of how he's trying to get healthier foods in the cafeterias - and get the kids to eat them. 

Shortly after arriving in Baltimore in late July from New Hampshire, he said he arranged to buy peaches from a Carroll County orchard.  "I ate peaches with children who had never eaten a peach before off of a tree, and it knocked me down," he said. What's more, he contended that the fresh local produce cost less than the canned peaches that are the usual cafeteria fare.

"It's about changing the paradigm," he said, adding that he shares Demas' belief that the calorie-laden, processed -food diet of most youngsters these days is slowly killing them.

To hammer home the healthier food theme, an odd-looking school bus (picturted above) had been parked outside the Maryland Institute's Brown Center, where the bioneers are meeting.  It was driven there by folks petitioning President-elect Obama to plant an organic garden at the White House.

Organizers said that the three-day conference, which runs through Sunday, has drawn about 450 participants so far.  There's a fee to attend, but walk-ins are welcome.   Go to www.cultivatingchange.org for details.