In this issue: Planetary Boundaries / ISSP Course / Compass Schools to Launch Fall 2009
UPDATE: The Planetary Boundaries paper, formally “A Safe Operation Space for Humanity,” was published in Nature in September 2009. Here is the direct link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7263/full/461472a.html
There have been moments in the history of the sustainability movement when things crystallized, and a new concept came into common usage: “Limits to Growth” was born in 1972, “Sustainable Development” in 1987, “Ecological Footprint” in 1992 … even “Climate Change” is such a concept (though it emerged in a slower, more gradual way during the ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s). These ideas are the intellectual touchstones of sustainability work.
What is a “Planetary Boundary”? The concept is explained here, in a short notice posted on the Center’s website. It basically means an ecological point of no return. Cross this threshold, and the climate system, or ocean, or nutrient cycle will simply cease to function in the way that we depend on it.
Or, as the notations on the old, pre-Columbus maps used to say, “Beyond this point, there be dragons.”
Start watching for this term, “Planetary Boundaries,” to start showing up more and more … first in the scientific, then the sustainability, and then the mainstream press. Widely-read sustainability blogs like WorldChanging have already picked up on it. Many others will be talking about it in terms of
- Climate change
- Stratospheric ozone depletion
- Ocean acidification
- Nutrient input to oceans (phosphorous)
- Aerosols in the atmosphere (influencing climate change)
- Interfering with the global nitrogen cycle
- Terrestrial land use (especially deforestation)
- Freshwater consumption
… and other issues. “Planetary Boundaries” is not really a new idea — the book “Limits to Growth” was talking about this four decades ago — but it is very specific, where “Limits” was more general. Decades ago, scientists could see that at some point, we would bump up against boundaries in the Earth’s ability to support our frenzied levels of unsustainable industrial activity. Today, scientists observe that we are already doing that — and they can even measure how close we are to the edge, or (as in the case of atmospheric carbon dioxide) beyond it.
Readers of The ISIS Agreement know that we are in a literal race against time, with sustainability innovation close on the heels of unsustainable activity. Planetary Boundaries are what define the Finish Line: we have to finish, and win, the race before crossing those boundaries. And we can.
That was certainly the feeling that I had after completing our first-ever Master Class in Sustainability Change Agentry, here in Stockholm. Both the participants and the faculty, who worked so hard to climb the mountain of knowledge, skill-building, and personal development change agentry requires, left me inspired and more hopeful than ever. You’ll be hearing more about this in the future, and about a new array of workshops we are offering under the banner of our ISIS Academy.
Here are two specific opportunities: a four-week, online telecourse with me, focused the ISIS Method and sustainability change agentry, in partnership with the International Society for Sustainability Professionals (ISSP); and the launch of our Compass Schools program with a first-ever train-the-trainer workshop, in Thailand. We have a fantastic faculty for that one. Read on to get more information.
In the meantime, be on the lookout for Planetary Boundaries. And stay on the winning side.
PS: You can get alerted to new posts on our website by subscribing (via RSS) to the pages and topics you are most interested in. Go to www.AtKisson.com for more info.
|
Practical Tools & Methods for Change Agents: An ISSP Professional Development Course
Over four weeks in October, Alan AtKisson will be leading a web-based telecourse as part of the core curriculum of the International Society of Sustainability Practitioners. This course will “guide practitioners through the jungle of sustainability techniques and change processes, and help them learn when and how to apply them successfully.” Using selected readings, exercises, e-forums and webinars, you will get thoroughly introduced to the ISIS Method, and learn how to pick the right tool for the job, in any sustainability change effort. Non-members of ISSP can take this course for US$ 325; members pay only $250. Either way, it’s a great deal, and it is open to anyone, in any part of the world, with access to a computer, the internet, and a telephone. Click here to read more, and to register for this course. Questions? Please click here to send us an email. |
|
Becoming a Compass School: A Train-the-Trainer Workshop in Thailand
Our new Compass Schools program — designed to support schools through a whole-system approach to sustainability in curriculum, administration, and community relations — is attracting a lot of interest. To get things moving moving quickly, we have decided to run a special workshop, for people interested in how to lead schools through the Compass Schools process. Especially if you are working on education and school sustainability in Asia, please come to our first-ever Compass Schools workshop, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Taught by a team of four very experienced education professionals, this workshop promises to be dynamic, inspiring, and empowering. Click here to read more about the Compass Schools workshop … |
|
Green Offices and Sustainability Reporting … ISIS Continues to Spread her Wings in Asia
AtKisson Asia (which is also known as Systainability Asia) has been getting more and more requests to help governmental offices go green, using our ISIS Accelerator tools. Next month, Senior Associate Robert Steele will lead a Green Office workshop for a Thai government ministry. And on October 7-8, he will lead a workshop on sustainability reporting in Jakarta (this one is open to registrants - write to us for more information). |
|
ISIS Accelerator Intensive in the San Francisco Bay Area, 16-17 November 2009
If you have been waiting to learn the ISIS approach and you live on the West Coast of the United States, here is your chance! This November 16-17 the ISIS Academy is partnering with Sustainable Silicon Valley for a two-day Intensive. Join Alan AtKisson and colleagues for a fast-paced, experiential training on the use of Compass, Pyramid, Amoeba and StrateSphere. We have, as always, kept the price reasonable while increasing the content (and probably the speed!) of this extraordinary learning opportunity. Only 50 spaces! So sign up early … |
Things we’ve heard or read that seem to sum it all up …
We come here because we too feel a responsibility for the human community. To preserve and develop a human quality of life is the common responsibility of us all. It is not fitting that those concerned with the various aspects of the human be alienated from each other. Both you and ourselves represent forces too profound and aim at objectives too significant for either of us to succeed completely without the assistance of the other. The urgency of our work impels us to get on with our common task lest a new period of disaster erupt over the Earth.
“I am not someone who uses the word ‘transformation’ lightly. But I have to say, this course was transformational for me.”
- Participant in the ISIS Academy Master Class 2009, August 2009
Thank you for reading this issue of WaveFront. Please write to us with ideas, suggestions, comments.
