HISTORY
The Canadian Earth Institute is affiliated with the Northwest Earth Institute which is recognized as a national leader in developing innovative programs that empower individuals and organizations to protect the earth. These programs emphasize individual responsibility, the importance of a supportive community, and the dual need to walk lightly on and to take action for the earth. By reaching out to people in their workplace, home, faith center, neighborhood, and community, CEI provides easy access to tools for individual and cultural change.
History of the Canadian Earth Institute
In 1995, a local Victoria environmental leader by the name of Jackie Robson, attended a Deep Ecology conference in the U.S. She heard one of the founders of the North West Earth Institute, Dick Roy, talking about the work of the organization and was inspired to bring the discussion courses to Victoria. Dick Roy was agreeable to having these courses offered in Victoria, because the bioregion of the city is so similar to that of Portland, Oregon. Offering the courses in Victoria would also serve as an international test-case for spreading the concepts outside of the United States.
In the winter of 1995-96, Jackie and a small group of other committed volunteers began promoting, organizing and delivering study circles in Deep Ecology, Voluntary Simplicity and Bioregionalism in the Greater Victoria area. Interested people were reached via advertisements in local newspapers, information booths at local events such as Earth Day and local summer markets, and by word-of-mouth. Between 1996 and 2002. 600 individuals had participated in these discussion circles.
During this period of time, a Victoria Chapter Steering Committee was formed. In addition, Henri Lock, the chaplain at the University of Victoria Interfaith Chaplaincy was instrumental in bringing the discussion circles to the university, reaching several hundred more people, many of whom were students.
Several problems were encountered with bringing the material for the discussion circles up from NWEI. The copyright permissions, which had been obtained by NWEI for the discussion guides, were really for use in the U.S. In addition, the cost of the study guides was getting to be prohibitively high as a result of the Canada/U.S. exchange rate and delivery and custom expenses. In addition, NWEI resources were being stretched as a result of the unforeseen and overwhelming demand for resources in Victoria.
In the spring of 2000, Beth Cruise decided to take on the project of setting up a Canadian Network, which would become an International Representative of the Earth Institute Network, publishing course materials and coordinating efforts to spread the discussion circles further in Victoria and eventually across the country. After much hard work on the part of Beth and many other individuals, a detailed planning proposal was submitted to the North West Earth Institute.
The Canadian Earth Institute Board of Directors had its first meeting on June 25, 2003. The Canadian Earth Institute was officially granted Federal Incorporation on July 21, 2004. Seed funding for this new Earth Institute was generously provided by the Leisure Recreation Group.
Throughout the long, involved process of setting up CEI, discussion circles continued to be organized and offered locally. In November, 2005, an application for Charitable Tax Status was submitted to the Federal Government. Numerous volunteers are currently involved in work relating to obtaining copyright permissions for the Canadian publications.
As stated earlier, the Canadian Earth Institute is an International Representative of the Earth Institute Network of the Northwest Earth Institute, which was the founding body of the Earth Institute concepts and course materials. NWEI is recognized as a national leader in developing innovative programs that empower individuals and organizations to protect the earth. A short account of the NWEI history follows.
NWEI: A MODEST BEGINNING
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The Northwest Earth Institute story begins with the vision of lifelong Oregonians Jeanne and Dick Roy. While Dick practiced corporate law from 1970 to 1993, Jeanne worked as an activist in Oregon on air quality and solid waste issues. Then on October 1, 1993, Dick resigned from Stoel Rives to join her as a full-time volunteer. They formed NWEI as a vehicle for their work.
With start-up grants of $45,000, and 13 volunteers from Dick’s law firm, the Roys had a limited goal for NWEI: to be a pioneer in taking earth-centered programs into mainstream workplaces. As an outreach tool to explore personal values and attitudes, the Roys had developed a discussion course on Exploring Deep Ecology. During the first year, 97 discussion groups were formed.
THE WORD SPREADS
Demand for the discussion course quickly spread beyond Portland and the workplace. As participants completed the course, many asked, "What’s next?" This prompted a team of talented volunteers to develop NWEI’s highly acclaimed course on Voluntary Simplicity as a second offering.
In 1995, word about NWEI programs spread rapidly throughout the Northwest and groups of volunteers offering NWEI programs emerged in many communities. Today NWEI volunteers are active in many Northwest communities. Over the years, 58 Northwest communities have been involved.
Many workplace discussion groups expressed a strong interest in continuing to meet and develop practices to better align their workplaces with the needs of the earth. To this end, NWEI developed a program to create and support "green teams," which promote solid waste and energy reduction and the use of earth-friendly products in workplaces.
After receiving many requests from around the country for its programs, NWEI started a pilot program for transporting the work in 1996. NWEI remained a Northwest organization, but allowed programs to be tested in several communities outside the Northwest.
Responding to demand from discussion course participants for more programs, NWEI developed a third discussion course, Discovering a Sense of Place. In the meantime, NWEI volunteers experimented with other ways for discussion groups to continue. For example, a number of course groups continued to work together on ways to reduce personal impact on the earth through support groups, while others held regular work parties at each other’s homes
A NATURAL STEP FOR NWEI
As NWEI increased its work with businesses in the Northwest, The Natural Step, a sustainability tool from Sweden, was brought to the United States by Paul Hawken, author of ECOLOGY OF COMMERCE. Developed by Sweden’s leading cancer researcher, Dr. Karl Henrik-Robert, The Natural Step can be used to train employees and serve as a compass for decision-making in the workplace. With the endorsement of Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, NWEI introduced TNS to the Northwest through three one-day conferences. NWEI then formed the Oregon Natural Step Network, an affiliation of individuals and organizations interested in the potential of TNS. By 2002, this project had grown so large that NWEI spun it off into a separate nonprofit.
In early 1997, NWEI’s first "sister," the Great Plains Earth Institute, opened an office in Wichita, Kansas, to replicate NWEI’s programs in its region. Representatives of five regions met in Wichita in April 1997, which led to the formation of the National Earth Institute Network, an affiliation of autonomous organizations around the country that seek to offer programs developed by NWEI.
LOCAL INNOVATOR AND NATIONAL CATALYST
In 1998, in advance of the WTO meetings in Seattle, NWEI formed a task force on economic globalization as a means to educate the public about implications of free trade. Out of that task force, a new discussion course was developed, Globalization and Its Critics.
In 1999, NWEI developed a program to organize groups of immediate neighbors to develop projects to protect local ecosystems, reduce their collective impact on the earth, and otherwise strengthen the fabric of the neighborhood. The Neighborhood Sense of Place Program was tested in 50 Portland neighborhoods with very positive results.
NWEI formed a team of investment advisors in 2001 to explore means by which one might invest with two goals in mind: (1) obtaining a reasonable return on an investment and (2) protecting or doing least harm to natural systems of the earth. Out of that initiative the Sustainable Investment Institute was formed to educate investment advisors and institutional investors.
To test the potential of its programs in a confined bio region, in 2003 NWEI began development of the Puget Sound Earth Institute Network in Washington. Building on chapters in Olympia and Port Townsend, and an active steering committee in Seattle, this bio regional network will share resources, conduct joint training, and support the formation of earth institute initiatives in six to eight Puget Sound communities.
For a description of NWEI/CEI discussion courses, click here.
NWEI: AN AGENT FOR CULTURAL CHANGE
As communities throughout the United States discovered NWEI’s work and the significant effect of these programs, NWEI came to be seen as a leading agent for change in Western culture. A cover article of the Chronicle of Philanthropy identified several national non-profits working to decrease consumption and its resulting environmental impacts. NWEI was among the non-profit leaders featured by the Chronicle.
The Canadian Earth Institute supports the commitment of individuals who seek to protect the earth.
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