Natural Capital Institute

By conventional definition, this is not a movement. Movements have leaders and ideologies. You join movements, study tracts, and identify yourself with a group. You read the biography of the founder(s) or listen to them perorate on tape or in person. Movements have followers but this movement doesn't work that way. It is dispersed, inchoate and fiercely independent. There is no manifesto or doctrine, no authority to check with. Three different types of groups—environmental, social justice, and indigenous—are emerging as a global humanitarian movement arising from the bottom up. Historically social movements have arisen primarily because of injustice, inequities, and corruption. Those woes remain legion but a new condition exists that has no precedent: the planet has a life threatening disease that is marked by massive ecological degradation and rapid climate change.

—from Blessed Unrest




	WISER \| WiserEarth \| WiserBusiness \| WiserEarth Partners \| WISER Guidelines \| WISER Platform WiserEarth promotes social change by empowering the largest and fastest growing movement in the world—the hundreds of thousands of organizations within civil society that address social justice, poverty, and the environment. WiserEarth is a commercial free, community-editable site that provides tools to help these organizations find each other, collaborate, share resources and build alliances. WiserEarth is live, available to the public, and growing every day. Currently you can join the community and add a resource or an organization. Share events on the calendar or post a job opening. Connect with others through an Area of Focus portal or a discussion forum. Start and participate in a group. Give feedback and share ideas. Ask a volunteer community member for help. Find helpful answers at the FAQs. In the weeks and months to come, tools to develop regional, personal, and community hubs will be added. You will be able to personalize your home page, upload "practices in action" and participate in more robust discussion forums. You'll be able to watch live addresses, dialogue in real time, and over extended periods about particular topics of interest. Project builders, needs/resources exchanges, and a meta calendar are all tools and capabilities under development, by you, the community. Want to take a leadership role? Contact us! WiserEarth: Contains the most extensive international directory of more than 100,000 organizations based in 243 countries, sovereign islands, and territories, including contact details, geographic maps, areas of interest, and mission statements. Includes the first detailed taxonomy of the organizations within civil society. Is searchable by areas of interest, geography, type or organization, profession or pursuit (for individuals), and scope of activity. Offers users the ability to find "who is working on what and where" so that organizations can leverage their experience, knowledge, and resources. Provides funders with an information landscape of all organizations engaged in program activity in their field of interest, a helpful tool to better evaluate proposals and dockets. Posts free listings of jobs, positions, and resources for organizations, prospective employees, interns, volunteers, and students. Supports individuated calendars that notify users of any and all events in their specific geography regarding their areas of interest. Establishes the means for bioregional hubs to empower local and living economies. Facilitates free or extremely low cost VOiP communication between listed organizations in the world. Provides lists of resources including books, conferences, events, other databases, definitions, magazines, articles, podcasts, streaming audio and video, maps, research reports, and educational opportunities. Plans include incorporating an effective means for many people to give small amounts of money to organizations all over the world, broadening the global philanthropic base Have other questions about WiserEarth? Contact project director Peggy Duvette at duvette@naturalcapital.org				By conventional definition, this is not a movement. Movements have leaders and ideologies. You join movements, study tracts, and identify yourself with a group. You read the biography of the founder(s) or listen to them perorate on tape or in person. Movements have followers but this movement doesn't work that way. It is dispersed, inchoate and fiercely independent. There is no manifesto or doctrine, no authority to check with. Three different types of groups—environmental, social justice, and indigenous—are emerging as a global humanitarian movement arising from the bottom up. Historically social movements have arisen primarily because of injustice, inequities, and corruption. Those woes remain legion but a new condition exists that has no precedent: the planet has a life threatening disease that is marked by massive ecological degradation and rapid climate change. —from Blessed Unrest
					© 2008 Natural Capital Institute