Our Projects

One Earth is engaged in convening, policy, communication and action initiatives to transform the consumer lifestyle – and the economic, industrial production, financial, political, social and cultural systems that support it. You can read about our work below and – for the latest – take a look at our One Earth news stories. Below, you will also find One Earth’s track record, highlighted outputs and key milestones to date.

Our goal is to shift consumption and production patterns towards sustainability, and the four One Earth projects are designed to contribute to this shift.

Rethinking the Good Life: North American social change initiative in which One Earth and partners identify and act on the high impact areas for accelerating breakthroughs in sustainable consumption and production.
Policy Engagement: initiatives from the local to the international level aimed at encouraging and supporting policy makers in creating sustainable consumption and production policies.
Transformative Tools and Capabilities: initiatives aimed at equipping change makers with the communication and practical tools as well as the capacities to catalyze social change.
Change Network for SCP: initiative aimed at identifying and connecting the communities of practice and actors engaged in different areas of sustainable consumption and production.

You can read about One Earth’s team here.

OUR APPROACH

The One Earth team recognizes that moving towards sustainability is a complex and “sticky” problem requiring large systemic shifts throughout the entire production-consumption system, including in investment and marketing and in society’s underlying cultural norms and narratives. Our audience is change makers and networks across sectors and scales who are engaged in catalyzing sustainable consumption and production. We develop and deliver high-impact inputs and game-changing ideas at the local, national and international level in order to achieve consumption and production patterns that foster social justice and quality of life for all within the ecological carrying capacity of the planet.

Our theory of change informs how we carry out this work, which includes: connecting and building bridges across people and ideas; providing change makers with tools and capacities as well as inspiring them through story telling, powerful metaphors and the sharing of good practices; supporting the existing network of actors engaged in sustainable consumption and production(SCP); identifying and filling existing gaps in knowledge and understanding of the SCP system; and recognizing the power of deep listening as a catalyst for building trust and reciprocity with the people we engage with. Our approach reflects the fact that we cannot always plan outcomes, and we strive to create the space and conditions for emergent outcomes that precipitate change at all levels. We focus on the bigger picture. We seek to both “ride the wave” of existing efforts as well as “create waves” through our own initiatives in areas where we have identified gaps and where we see tremendous opportunities. Key partners are set out here and below.

1. RETHINKING THE GOOD LIFE

What if we reinvented how we consumed and produced things in a way that enriches all aspects of our lives—our ecologies, economies, and social life? What would this future reality look like? What would it take to make this happen? These are critical questions we must answer. Rethinking the Good Life is a systemic change initiative aimed at accelerating breakthroughs around sustainable production and consumption in North America. One Earth is partnering with other key players to convene leaders across sectors, top thinkers, creatives, and visionaries using cutting-edge foresight tools to envision futures in which we consume and produce sustainably and enact high-impact solutions across sectors to achieve these better futures. Key outcomes include change labs (multi-sector working groups innovating on high impact solutions such as new models, mindsets and metrics); future maps, scenarios and simulations, attention-grabbing communication on sustainable futures and economies; new cognitive frames and language for enhancing public discourse; deeper engagement from corporate, government, media and civil society leaders; and new leadership capabilities for action and innovation.

Credit: Mariken van Nijmegen

This initiative is about our ‘stuff’ — the what, where, how and why we consume and produce things today. It is about moving from a society that wastes resources and people to a system that redefines successful living and prosperity, redesigns our economic system, and focuses on the real ‘stuff of life’ — human wellbeing, healthy communities and ecology. This social transformation is already underway. Our initiative adds to the momentum by equipping changemakers with communication tools and messaging about a post-carbon and green economy, building on science and existing solutions and ideas. We will create compelling vision of what sustainable futures could actually look like, identify the most effective strategies, actions and levers of change to transform our ‘stuff’ economy, and catalyze action, learning and innovation.

In a three-day meeting in 2012, we’ll convene a diverse group of thought leaders, artists, creative talent, and practitioners from across sectors to map the future in order to identify and launch high-impact “change labs”. Our process features cutting-edge foresight tools, visual mapping, rigorous research, and ‘social technologies’ that enable collaborative problem-solving and creativity around complex challenges.

One Earth will collaborate with other partners to develop integrated vivid scenarios of future sustainable lifestyles, cities, economies and societies. These scenarios will take both written and multimedia form and will incorporate cutting edge ideas about what sustainable futures could be. Scenarios are not future predictions but outline possible and plausible descriptions of how the future may unfold. Scenarios are used to raise awareness, stimulate innovation, map interconnections, and support decision-making. The purpose of these scenarios is to consciously and actively create a new human story, to redesign the meaning of wellbeing and to redefine quality of life to incorporate equity within the ecological limits of the planet. We will describe positive and attractive futures that serve to pull social change towards sustainability.

Image credit: Mariken van Nijmegen (graphic facilitation at Gaining Ground conference, 2009)

Core Partners:
Adaptive Edge; Free Range Studios; The Story of Stuff; Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption; Paul Hawken; Dianne Dillon-Ridgley; Chris Jordan; Konda Mason; Joel Makower; Erik Assadourian, Worldwatch Institute / Center for a New American Dream; North American Sustainable Consumption Alliance (NASCA); Integrative Strategies Forum (ISF); My Sustainable Canada; Take Back Your Time; Center for a New American Dream; Ecocity Builders; UNEP / Wuppertal Collaborating Center on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP); Futerra Sustainability Communications; United Nations Marrakech Task Force on Sustainable Lifestyles; Smart Civil Society Organizations’ Hub.

2. POLICY ENGAGEMENT FOR SCP

This project is specifically aimed at developing and delivering targeted, high-leverage policy input and ideas to policy makers and key stakeholders. No individual or country can be sustainable on its own. Changes to individuals’ lifestyles are very important, but they are helped or hindered by a broader system of policy incentives and barriers: transportation infrastructure, tax cuts, waste management policy, subsidies…Policy initiatives need to reflect the urgency of the issue as well as be managed in a coordinated fashion across ministries, levels of government and sectors. They also need to be done within a global framework, where equity considerations across developed and developing countries form the basis for action.

Much of our policy engagement work involves dialogue with policy makers and key stakeholders, sharing best practice, engaging in detailed analysis and policy input through reports, taking the lead on writing position papers or strategies or commenting on drafts initiated by others, delivering presentations, attending conferences, producing videos, and publishing our ideas through our website and various social media. We engage with a variety of stakeholders, from NGOs and civil society networks to governments, international institutions, the academic community, artists, communicators, youth and progressive businesses.

We work at all geographical scales, and currently have ongoing projects and working relationships at the international level with the United Nations (HQ; UNEP-DTIE; UN-DESA) as well as various networks (ICSPAC; ANPED; CI) and organizations (CSCP Centre; Copenhagen Resource Institute); at the regional level with several networks (SCORAI; NASCA; NARSPAC); at the national level with various departments of the Canadian Federal Government (Industry Canada; Environment Canada; DFAIT; NRCAN), the national NGO network Canadian Environmental Network, as well as individual organizations (My Sustainable Canada); and at the local level with the City of Vancouver’s Greenest City Lighter Footprint Committee. We are actively involved in the UN process to develop a 10 year framework on sustainable consumption and production: we co-facilitated NGO involvement at the UN meeting in Stockholm. See the Track Record below for more.

One Earth hosts the We Canada initiative. It is a nation-wide initiative for sustainability that brings the diversity of Canadian voices to the Earth Summit 2012, and to the attention of our government. The lead-up to this event is a chance for us to look at where we have come from, where we need to go, and how WE CAN create a sustainable future! We Canada is about talking, about sharing, about creating a community of engaged citizens around common ideas and concerns for our future. We Canada is also about action, about telling our Canadian leaders that they must take a stand for sustainability. Tell Canada what you think WE CAN (and should!) do to create sustainable change! Get involved or submit a We Can statement on the website at earthsummit.ca.

We Canada is an initiative by The Canadian Earth Summit Coalition, a self-organized, independent and informal civil society network of non-government, non-profit, academic and research organizations, international leaders in sustainability thinking, activists, cultural workers and individuals, working towards Canadian leadership at the Earth Summit 2012, formally known as the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

The Coalition serves as a platform for sharing ideas and building strength for sustainability, but does not support any one political viewpoint or policy. We support a diversity of viewpoints and ideas. Partners maintain their independent programs, projects and political stances while promoting Canadian leadership at the Earth Summit 2012 and beyond.

Core Partners:
North American Sustainable Consumption Alliance (NASCA); Integrative Strategies Forum (ISF); My Sustainable Canada; Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI); North American Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption (NARSPAC); International Coalition for Sustainable Production and Consumption (ICSPAC); City of Vancouver; Environment Canada; Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT); Industry Canada; Canadian Environmental Network (RCEN); United Nations Environment Program – Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (UNEP-DTIE); United Nations – Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA); UNEP / Wuppertal Collaborating Center on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP); Copenhagen Resource Institute; The Story of Stuff; Futerra Sustainability Communications.

Other Partners:
Global Footprint Network (GFN); United Nations – Regional Office of North America (UNEP-RONA); Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED); Consumers Council of Canada (CCC); Consumers International (CI); IGAPURA; The Sustainability Project / 7th Generation Initiative; International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD); International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED); European Environmental Bureau (EEB); European Environmental Agency (EEA); Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF); NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC); Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)

3. TRANSFORMATIVE TOOLS AND CAPABILITIES

One Earth creates and disseminates powerful, attention-grabbing communication and practice tools. We are committed to getting these into the right hands, supporting change-makers by improving the tools they work with as well as their capacity to transform practice and shift the cultural narrative.

Our Ecological Footprint. This idea – invented by One Earth founding fellow Bill Rees – has shifted the sustainability debate. It has travelled around the world as a powerful way of visualizing and exploring the relationship between what we consume and where it comes from. The footprint metaphor inspires people to think — and act — as if we live on one earth, rather than the 5 planets of resources we would need if we all lived like North Americans.

Films, photographs, indicators, green buildings, metaphors, guides and policies, community gardens, speeches: all of these can be game-changing. These “memes” can inspire one or many people, transforming their relationship with their community, resources, the things they consume or produce. Our cultural story is at the root of over-consumption. This story has been created in so many advertisements, a lack of transparency about the true cost of our “stuff,” a manufactured consent to “the good life.” To shift to sustainable consumption and production patterns, we need to revisit the story of our relationship to each other, to the planet. We also need to awaken society to the urgency of our material overshoot. Although we seem capable of responding to immediate harm as a collective (e.g., tsunamis, earthquakes, large-scale conflict), there is greater cultural inertia around slower moving or dispersed problems like rapidly overspending the earth’s resources which do not seem apparent to most North Americans because we can trade our way out of deficit – for the time being. We need to come to terms with our global interconnections. These tools can highlight the links between who we are, what we buy, where we live, what we make, what we trade, and how we live together, and reveal the natural resources that sustain cities and create interdependencies amongst urban systems, the global environment and human well-being.

One Earth’s work on “transformative tools” is as much about building the capacity of change-makers through training opportunities, how-to guides, multi-media communication, personal relations as it is about the “memes” themselves. One Earth develops new and packages existing content about (achieving) a less materials-intensive future in inspiring and insightful ways to inform decision-making and social change. And we make sure it gets into the right hands. For example, One Earth works with city councils, developers, tenant groups, homeowners and service providers to put the Eco-Strata Guide into practice, lessening the impact of building renovations and improving the efficiency of existing multi-family dwellings. Hopefulness stems from knowing that the future we seek is achievable and from inspiring action through clear communication and new capabilities.

Core Partners:
Free Range Studios; Futerra Sustainability Communications; Chris Jordan; Igapura (Sustainability Productions); Ecocity Builders; UNEP / Wuppertal Collaborating Center on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP); United Nations Marrakech Task Force on Sustainable Lifestyles.

4. SOCIAL CHANGE NETWORK FOR SCP

There are thousands of individuals, organizations and alliances engaged in transforming our consumption and production patterns; however, there is a need to reveal this network to itself, catalyze connections amongst the different communities of practice in order to adopt a systems approach to the challenge, complement each others work, and come together on key campaigns. In partnership with other key actors, One Earth is building alliances and strengthening the network of SCP actors. We are identifying who is doing what, where and with whom; creating maps and interactive representations of the network; connecting actors and activities; and identifying collaborative projects and events.

As part of this project, One Earth is working with other partners to examine the effectiveness of past and ongoing sustainable consumption and production campaigns. The purpose of this research program is to assess the range of approaches to SCP campaigns, particularly by civil society actors, to determine the effectiveness of these strategies in achieving their goals, and to derive key lessons as to the conditions and strategies which make successful SCP campaigns more or less likely. The research program will take place over a number of years, in partnership with others. This research is conducted in response to calls for initiatives tracking progress towards SCP.

OUR TRACK RECORD

This list of One Earth activities and outputs provides an overview of some of our key project highlights to date.

Rethinking the Good Life theme at the Media that Matters 2010 conference

Media that Matters is a retreat and collaboratory for digital visionaries who are building bridges to broader audiences and new possibilities. This intimate, multidisciplinary gathering is aimed at sharpening skills, strengthening leadership, expanding professional connections, fuelling passions, and navigating the currents of today’s dynamic media climate. The 2010 conference focused on sustainability. As we take on the challenges of climate change and resource scarcity, our best solutions will reach beyond the symptoms of production and consumption, and will connect to a much deeper cause: the values and the worldviews that support our lifestyles and our economic models. Vanessa Timmer led the conference theme and convened the workshop on Rethinking the Good Life to explore how to engage media to co-create and communicate a new sustainability story.

http://www.mediathatmatters.org/MtM/mtmain.html

Sustainable Household Consumption Report

One Earth partnered with Consumers Council of Canada to produce a report for Industry Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs entitled “Sustainable Household Consumption: Key Considerations for a Canadian Strategy”. This report presents key considerations and elements of a household consumption strategy for Canada, within the context of the federal government’s current efforts to develop a Sustainable Consumption and Production Framework. Examining what sustainable household consumption means in a Canadian context is important insofar as the average Ecological Footprint of Canadians is significantly larger than what the Earth can sustain in the long term; indeed, were everyone around the world to adopt a typical Canadian lifestyle, four Earth-like planets would be necessary to support this way of living. The challenge is great: to maintain–and even enhance–quality of life of all Canadian citizens, while reducing by some 80% their material and energy demands. Household consumption is at the heart of these concerns, and should therefore be an integral part of any national sustainability plan in Canada. Embedding the household strategy within this broader SCP framework is essential, as a central conclusion of this report is that households cannot advance sustainable consumption on their own but require collective solutions and collective actions by government and other stakeholders. (March 2009, Released June 2009)
http://www.consumerscouncil.com/index.cfm?pagePath=Research/Recent_Reports&id=13948

United Nations Marrakech Process

One Earth was invited by the UN Environment Programme to co-facilitate and engage NGO participation in the UN-led 3rd international expert meeting as part of the “10-Year Framework on Sustainable Consumption and Production” (Marrakech Process) At this meeting in Stockholm, June 26 to 29, 2007, the NGOs presented a 2-page Recommendations Paper (PDF – 25kb, or Word – 60kb) to the Steering Committee. In the months prior to and following Stockholm, NGOs developed 3 papers to complement this 2-pager:

Context Paper (PDF – 38k) which investigates a number of aspects of consumption and production and highlights the urgency of reversing negative ecological and social trends
Recommendations Paper (PDF – 60k) which sets out general NGO recommendations for the Marrakech process and NGO involvement
Responses Paper (PDF – 61k) with specific comments on the draft Framework of Programmes set out in:
Background Paper 1 (PDF – ? k) prepared by the UN for Stockholm
Contact Policy Director Emmanuel Prinet for electronic copies.

In early 2009, One Earth commented publicly on the first draft of a document that will serve as input to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development on a 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) on sustainable consumption and production. The draft and comments from One Earth and others can be downloaded from the Marrakech Process website or the NGO Forum website. More information on the Marrakech Process.

One Earth’s Emmanuel Prinet is part of the advisory group for the development of a Sustainable Consumption and Production Framework for Canada, coordinated by Five Winds International for the Government of Canada. In November 2008 a joint Canada-US regional meeting on Sustainable Consumption and Production was held in support of the UN Marrakech Process. The Canadian framework will build on the vision discussions from this regional meeting, identify key policy and program objectives, define the roles of government, industry and consumers in fulfilling these objectives, and identify the programs and performance measures needed to make and track progress.This builds on One Earth’s involvement in the Marrakech Process. More information about the November meeting.

One Earth becomes a member of the UN Marrakech Task Force on Sustainable Lifestyles, and Vanessa serves as an expert advisor to its main project, the Global Survey on Sustainable Lifestyles from 2007 until 2010. An International Task Force on Sustainable Lifestyles was established under the leadership of Sweden to strengthen the ongoing Marrakech process. The focus of the Task Force is on sustainable lifestyles, e.g. consumption related to lifestyles and behavior, the need for information/education, the role of marketing and engagement in changing behaviors, including the role of young people. The Task Force considers legal, economic and voluntary policy instruments and identifies examples under each issue and links them to the themes of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). These examples are taken from ongoing national projects and initiatives, from relevant UNEP projects and from the most relevant projects and actions within the EU commission. This resulted in reports to regional meetings, Marrakech meetings and the CSD. The role of the Task Force is to engage, exemplify, enable and encourage relevant stakeholders in the Marrakech process to work on sustainable lifestyles by assembling results and examples from ongoing work on sustainable consumption and to support the implementation of projects at the regional and/or sub-regional and national level. The Task Force will take into consideration the north/south perspective and the three dimensions of sustainable consumption (economic, environmental and social).
http://esa.un.org/marrakechprocess/tfsuslifestyles.shtml

United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) – 2009, 2010, 2011

One Earth Policy Director Emmanuel Prinet is the official nongovernmental organization (NGO) representative on the Canadian delegation for the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (2010-2011).

United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012

One Earth Associate Aleksandra is the civil society network coordinator for Canada for Rio + 20, on behalf of the Canadian Environmental Network.
http://www.uncsd2012.org/

Ecological Footprint

One Earth founding fellow and Director, Bill Rees, developed the Ecological Footprint, which is now being used around the world as a tool for highlighting natural resource use and its impacts. Read more about Ecological Footprint analysis.

Sustainability Productions

One Earth believes in the transformative power of video. One Earth is a partner in Sustainability Productions, which provides high quality short films showing vignettes of sustainability in action. The seven videos in the series to date provide a hands-on perspective on initiatives that cities have taken to reduce their footprint while enhancing quality of life. One of the videos is about Bill Rees, and outlines the Ecological Footprint approach and what it means in terms of societal choices ahead.

World Café at Worldchanging Careers Conference

The 2009 World Changing Careers conference engaged 250 youth and adult professions who want to design a sustainable future through their career path, and define the green jobs movement in Canada. The conference brought together the best minds, the brightest ideas, leaders of today, and visionaries of tomorrow to provide participants with the opportunity to learn skills and ideas to drive the world in an exciting new direction and identify the inside track on the jobs of the future. Speakers included George Lakoff, Janine Benyus, and David Orr. Senior Associate, Nicole and Vanessa convened the closing World Café on lessons learned and next steps for the participants in the conference. The World Café is a conversational process based on a set of integrated design principles that reveal a deeper living network pattern through which we co-evolve our collective future.
http://www.theworldcafe.com/what.htm

Eco-Strata Guide

The Eco-Strata Guide is a resource for reducing the ecological footprint of existing multi-family dwellings in Metro Vancouver, particularly as a result of economies of scale. The project is focused on the opportunities for advancing sustainability, particularly as a result of economies of scale. The practical guidebook (and website) assists strata councils, cooperatives, developers and management companies. Partners include the Condominium Home Owners’ Association (CHOA), the Lighthouse Sustainable Building Centre with funding from the Real Estate Foundation of BC. Download the guide (PDF, 3.8MB) and dialogue at www.eco-strata.com. It was launched in 2009. For more information, contact Emmanuel Prinet.

Actor and Activity Map

One Earth produced a North American Actor & Activity Map on Sustainable Consumption and Production, as a project for Industry Canada. It is a detailed report that maps out actors and activities in Canada and the USA engaged in advancing SCP. It explores production and consumption as a system, identifies some of the key communities of practice already engaged in this field in North America, and provides recommendations to the Government of Canada on its possible roles to promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production. You can download the PDF here.