The Alliance for Sustainability was created nearly forty years ago (1983) by visionaries from around the world with a mission to co-create sustainability on a personal, organizational, and planetary level. We’ve always defined sustainability as being ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just and humane, embodying our highest values in terms of how we treat people, animals and the planet.
As an early pioneer of the concept of sustainability, we have always rejected the notion that it means “sustaining” the existing, destructive systems that are in place. Instead, it is a life-affirming path requiring restoration, regeneration and resilience. We see it as holistically embracing and integrating all aspects of life while providing a clear yet ever-evolving North Star and vision that has never been fully realized.
We believe sustainability is a broad, welcoming umbrella that incorporates a range of powerful, cutting-edge approaches, including regeneration, restoration, resilience, circular economy, Cradle to Cradle, UN Sustainable Development Goals, Permaculture, Biomimicry, Net Zero, organic, Natural Step and so many more. Consequently, we fully support these initiatives and seek to have them become widely adopted.
We envision a healthy, just, equitable, thriving, kind and peaceful world that works for everyone, fulfills their fundamental needs and realizes our greatest dreams of sustainability.
We are a diverse, inclusive, entrepreneurial and high impact tax-exempt social enterprise co-creating, catalyzing and scaling an alliance for a healthy, equitable, thriving and kind world of sustainability from an open-hearted center of deep listening, empathy, compassion and collaboration. We are committed to the fulfillment of every person’s fundamental needs and achieving large and measurable social, economic and sustainability impact goals that can create Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Beloved Community” and the tipping points for transformation and fundamental systems change at every level.
We seek to integrate the most impactful, innovative and proven technologies, models and ways of thinking, being and partnering. By identifying strategic tipping points in our society and catalyzing impactful action, we seek to scale sustainability so it can become the norm for how we live and do business. Through dynamic, cutting-edge thought leadership, effective engagement, collaboration with key stakeholders, powerful community and movement building, successful campaigns, and growth to a sufficient size, we will achieve an effective role in the adoption of impactful policies and programs in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
We are on an ever-evolving journey to explore, embody, practice and model true sustainability. We seek to embed our co-created, comprehensive and integrative understanding of sustainability as a core operating principle in our way of thinking and culture, including every institution and policy. We will seek to do this through a combination of strategic, high impact social media, publications, speaking, and trainings, along with education, engagement, empowerment and action campaigns, projects, partnerships and movements.
We seek to engage people of all ages, backgrounds and perspectives, as well as public, private and nonprofit institutions. We will begin with the more than 50 million Americans (more than a quarter of adult Americans) who are open to, care about or practice sustainability, health, equity, kindness and related characteristics.
We have five primary areas of work that build on our nearly First Forty Years of pioneering, successful sustainability efforts that have brought about fundamental changes and laid the basis for our Next Forty:
1. Be a pioneer, thought leader, content generator, convener and champion for sustainability through publications, social media, speaking, trainings, and public and private policy while addressing those who greenwash and minimize true sustainability;
2. Inspire, inform, empower and engage all citizens to align their behavior, consumption and practices with sustainability, health, equity and kindness while encouraging them to participate in impactful action and policy;
3. Champion the shift to sustainability by all institutions, from business and government to educational and religious institutions, nonprofits, and communities;
4. Support public and private sustainability policies and campaigns by partnering with global, national, state and local organizations;
5. Build a diverse, powerful alliance of more than one million individuals and institutions that co-creates and collaborates to be a catalyst for transformation generating a tipping point for scaling sustainability, health, equity and kindness.
We hope you will join us with a free membership (www.afors.org) and get involved. Please see our Declaration of Co-Creation and Interdependence (http://afors.org/declaration-of-co-creation-and-interdependence/) and consider signing them. Also, please check out our Greenprint for Sustainability, Health, Equity and Kindness (http://afors.org/greenprint/) that lays out our values, strategies and plans.
