The Tellus Institute is an American non-profit organization established in 1976 with the aim of bringing scientific rigor and systemic vision to critical environmental and social issues. Tellus has conducted thousands of projects throughout the world, and now focuses on the global future and how to shape it.
Background
The Tellus Institute was founded as a non-profit research organization in 1976 by
Paul Raskin
Paul Raskin is the founding President of the Tellus Institute, which has conducted over 3,500 research and policy projects throughout the world on environmental issues, resource planning, scenario analysis, and sustainable development. His research ...
and colleagues to conduct research on resource and environmental policy. Initially called Energy Systems Research Group (ESRG), the institute adopted its current name in 1990 to reflect its expanding focus on social-ecological systems from local to global levels (Tellus was the name of the Roman Earth Goddess).
Tellus has partnered with hundreds of organizations, notably the
Stockholm Environmental Institute, with which it coordinated programs from 1989 to 2006. The institute has conducted more than 3,500 studies worldwide. The methodology of Tellus projects has been the development of alternative scenarios of the future in order to identify and evaluate alternative paths of action. To that end, the institute developed a widely-used family of scenario planning tools, including the Long range Energy Alternatives Planning system (LEAP), which facilitates energy-environment planning; the Water Evaluation and Planning System (
WEAP); and PoleStar, for comprehensive sustainability planning. The aim for the projects is to bring an integrated perspective on issues such as energy, water, sustainable communities, corporate responsibility, and climate change.
Research and programs
The question of the long-range global future theme has increasingly dominated Tellus’s work since the 1980s. In particular, the institute was active in developing integrated approaches and methods for exploring alternative climate change and sustainable development scenarios. Toward that end, Tellus convened the international and interdisciplinary
Global Scenario Group
The Global Scenario Group (GSG) was an international, interdisciplinary body convened in 1995 by the Tellus Institute and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) to develop scenarios for world development in the twenty-first century. Further deve ...
to examine global scenarios for the twenty-first century, work that has been relied on in various UN reports and futures studies.
Building on this legacy, the institute has reframed its mission, focusing on research, scholarship, and network-building for advancing a just and sustainable planetary civilization. This “Great Transition” would entail a fundamental shift in human values and the ways we produce, consume, and live.
[Raskin, Paul, Tariq Banuri, Gilberto Gallopín, Pablo Gutman, Al Hammond, Robert Kates, and Rob Swart. ''Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead''. Boston: Stockholm Environment Institute, 2002. Available at http://www.greattransition.org/gt-essay.] The key is balancing the rights of current generations, future generations, and the wider community of life. Realizing this depends on generating viable, attainable visions of another world, cultivating a sense of global citizenship, and engaging in collective action for systemic change.
The institute’s flagship project is the
Great Transition Initiative
Great Transition is used by the Great Transition Initiative and its predecessor, the Global Scenario Group (GSG), to describe a vision of a just and sustainable global future. The term was originally coined by Kenneth E. Boulding in ''The Meaning ...
(GTI), which furthers the critical exploration of concepts, strategies, and visions for a transition to a future of enriched lives, human solidarity, and a resilient biosphere. GTI activities include an online journal of ideas and an international network of more than 1,000 scholars and activists from 50 countries. The aim of the project is to enhance scholarly discourse and public awareness of global challenges, and to build an international community of thinkers and doers concerned with shaping a desirable global transformation.
Further reading
*Raskin, Paul, Tariq Banuri, Gilberto Gallopín, Pablo Gutman, Al Hammond, Robert Kates, and Rob Swart. ''Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead''. Boston: Stockholm Environment Institute, 2002. Available at http://www.greattransition.org/gt-essay.
*Gerst, Michael, Paul Raskin, and Johan Rockström. "Contours of a Resilient Global Future." ''Sustainability'' 6, no. 1 (2014): 123-135, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/1/123.
*Raskin, Paul, Christi Electris, and Rich Rosen. "The Century Ahead: Searching for Sustainability." ''Sustainability'' 2, no. 8 (2010): 2626-2651, https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/8/2626.
*Raskin, Paul, Tariq Banuri, Gilberto Gallopín, Pablo Gutman, Al Hammond, Robert Kates, and Rob Swart. ''Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead''. Boston: Stockholm Environment Institute, 2002. Available at http://www.greattransition.org/gt-essay.
See also
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Sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
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Globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
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Global Reporting Initiative
The Global Reporting Initiative (known as GRI) is an international independent standards organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate their impacts on issues such as climate change, human righ ...
*
Paul Raskin
Paul Raskin is the founding President of the Tellus Institute, which has conducted over 3,500 research and policy projects throughout the world on environmental issues, resource planning, scenario analysis, and sustainable development. His research ...
*
Great Transition
Great Transition is used by the Great Transition Initiative and its predecessor, the Global Scenario Group (GSG), to describe a vision of a just and sustainable global future. The term was originally coined by Kenneth E. Boulding in ''The Meaning ...
*
Scenario analysis
Scenario planning, scenario thinking, scenario analysis, scenario prediction and the scenario method all describe a strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and gener ...
*
Global Scenario Group
The Global Scenario Group (GSG) was an international, interdisciplinary body convened in 1995 by the Tellus Institute and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) to develop scenarios for world development in the twenty-first century. Further deve ...
References
External links
Tellus InstituteGreat Transition InitiativeGlobal Scenario GroupBoston Scenarios ProjectCorporation 20/20Stockholm Environment InstituteStockholm Environment Institute-USInformation on PoleStar sustainability planning softwareInformation on WEAP water planning softwareInformation on LEAP energy and environmental planning software
{{Authority control
Environmental organizations based in Massachusetts
Sustainability organizations
Global economic research
Non-profit organizations based in Boston
Futures studies organizations