About Us
Providing people with the tools to make meaningful and lasting change.
Mission Possible
The earth's temperature is rising. Humans are rapidly destroying the environment that sustains them in countless ways. The obscene inequality in distribution of wealth and innumerable other social inequities are growing. Structural racism seems to be ineradicable.
People care about these issues but struggle to know what to do. For Common Earth, there are no obvious answers or easy solutions. Instead, we provide a holistic understanding of the various forces involved and help participants shift their thinking from hopelessness to possibility. We are building a community of people with this new perspective. Together this community can overcome the barriers and share in the emerging caring society that puts carbon in its place.
Principles
Common Earth looks for basic principles. They govern the entire universe. Gravity, electricity, and ecosystems are all governed by basic principles. There are even principles of how we experience life. When one understands a fundamental principle, effective action becomes possible. When you encounter a new principle, you see the bigger picture and new possibilities present themselves. It is easy to see this strategy in action. When the Wright Brothers understood Bernoulli's Principle, the possibility of fixed-wing flight emerged.
So teaching basic principles is what Common Earth is all about. In-depth understandings of principles shift thinking and promote motivation to take effective action. A community of people armed with this deeper understanding of how the world works will be unstoppable. Changing our thinking changes the world we create.
The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.
- Robert Swan
Partners
Common Earth greatly appreciates the support of this program from the following partners:
The Patterson Family
Ecologos takes a unique approach to motivation. Rather than resorting to doom and gloom and guilt to move people, we appeal to their fundamental connection to nature. We all have powerful memories of encounters with the natural world. Our programs reconnect people with these deeply felt experiences, and nourish a commitment to action for a sustainable future. For more information, visit www.waterdocs.ca.
The Canadian Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA Canada) has a 40+ year history in developing the leadership capacity of individuals committed to positive social change. We do this through our Courage to Lead programming and other facilitated leadership dialogues offered to individuals, non-profit organizations and community groups and through the development of knowledge resources. For more information about ICA Canada, please visit http://www.icacan.org.
The Systems Dynamic Society is an international, nonprofit organization devoted to encouraging the development and use of systems thinking and System Dynamics modelling around the world. The Society provides a forum in which researchers, educators, students, consultants and practitioners in the academic, corporate, and public sectors can interact to keep abreast of current developments, build on each other’s work and introduce newcomers to the field. https://systemdynamics.org/
One Solution is working to solve large-scale global challenges by helping individuals, communities and systems to change from within. We believe that educating people about the mind so they can reconnect to their innate well-being, resilience and capacity for new ideas is the most efficient and sustainable solution to any problem. https://onesolutionglobal.org/