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Tellus Institute

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The Tellus Institute is a non-profit research and policy organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its mission is to advance the transition to a sustainable, equitable, and humane global civilization. The Tellus Institute was founded in 1976 by Paul Raskin, Richard Rosen, Stephen Bernow, John Stutz, and David Nichols. Paul Raskin is the president of Tellus.

Research

The Tellus Institute conducts research projects and produces reports on topics such as energy, water, sustainable communities, corporate social responsibility, and climate change. These reports have been commissioned from various government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and corporations. Some examples of Tellus reports are The Bottom Line on Kyoto: Economic Benefits of Canadian Action and Plastic Lumber in Landscaping Applications.

Tellus' research specializes in the application of quantitative analysis to the development of possible future scenarios. These scenarios in turn aid decision-making strategies for implementing policies or development. Because of Tellus’ mission to promote a sustainable, equitable, and humane global civilization, its research often surveys the interplay of environmental, social, and economic factors, as well as the global effects of regional decisions.

Tools

Tellus developed and uses a series of software programs in its research. These programs were designed for strategic planning and scenario analysis, allowing the user to create, evaluate, and compare alternative futures based on current data and hypothetical trends. LEAP software facilitates energy-environment planning; WEAP, water planning; WastePlan, solid waste planning; DSTAIR, anti-corruption analysis; and PoleStar, sustainability planning.

"Great Transition"

In addition to client-based research, Tellus works to advance a vision of the future it calls the “Great Transition.” The Great Transition is a scenario developed by Tellus in which society experiences a paradigm shift in its values—materialism and consumerism are replaced by individual fulfillment and sufficiency for all. According to Tellus, these new values, coupled with a global sense of citizenship and reinvigorated community involvement, steer the earth towards a sustainable future—a Great Transition.

A Great Transition future is defined by ways of production, levels of consumption, and lifestyle choices that balance the rights of those living today with those of future generations.

Publications

In 2002 Tellus Institute, with Stockholm Environment Institute and the Global scenario group, published Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead. This essay posits that humanity is entering the Planetary Phase of Civilization. After a brief overview of the historic roots of this new era of history, the authors outline three scenarios based on results from PoleStar analyses: Conventional Worlds, Barbarization, and Great Transitions. Conventional Worlds are likely to emerge if business continues as usual, with market forces and reactive policies maintaining the status quo. Barbarization is likely to occur if present institutions break down, resulting in conflict and increased social division. A Great Transition is likely if a sense of global citizenship results in a worldwide shift towards values of sufficiency, sustainability, and equity.

In 2006 Tellus Institute, through the Great Transition Initiative (GTI), presented a series of essays that supplement the original Great Transition essay. Each of these pieces focused on a subject integral to the occurrence of a Great Transition. The topics covered were politics and institutions, regional economies, corporate redesign, international trade, security, technology, values, well-being, feminism, sustainable cities, climate change, ecosystem, and global citizens movement. These essays were authored by various members of the GTI. The series also includes two essays authored by Paul Raskin that tie these topics into a narrative of how a Great Transition might come to be.

This series of essays describing the frontiers of a Great Transition, along with the original Great Transition essay, comprises the 16-part Great Transition Initiative Paper Series.

Subsidiary Working Groups

In its effort to promote the transition to a just and sustainable society, the Tellus Institute launched several subsidiary working groups:

The Global Scenario Group (GSG) was convened in 1995 in order to compile a set of possible scenarios for global development in the twenty-first century. Its goal was to identify a sustainable and equitable future within this set of scenarios and to isolate the policies, actions, and human choices required to achieve this scenario. Its findings indicated that an environmentally sustainable, socially equitable future was possible; the GSG termed this future the Great Transition. The GSG’s work culminated with the 2002 publication of Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead. Paul Raskin led the GSG, which consisted of more than 20 environmental scholars from throughout the globe.

Scenarios developed by the GSG have informed the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Environmental Outlook series, as well as other international and national vision studies.

The Great Transition Initiative (GTI) was formed in 2003 to re-channel the momentum of the GSG. Its mandate is to continue scenario development, disseminate the Great Transition vision to a larger audience, and build a network of GTI members. The GTI coordinating unit consists of Paul Raskin, Orion Kriegman, Tariq Banuri, and Allen White.

Corporation 20/20’s mission is to develop and advocate the redesign of corporations so that business is guided by social purpose as well as financial gain. Co-founded in 2004 by Allen White, Vice President of Tellus, and Marjorie Kelly, former Editor of Business Ethics magazine, Corporation 20/20 hosts a forum of leading thinkers, practitioners, and advocates who work to construct alternate visions of the corporate structure, which it then disseminates into the corporate community. Allen White also co-founded the Global Reporting Initiative, an organization that seeks to make corporate reporting on economic, environmental, and social performance as universally accepted as present-day financial reporting.

Boston Scenario Project was initiated in 2005 as a process for developing local scenarios for the Boston metropolitan region that mirror the global-scale scenarios described in the Great Transition essay. The project seeks to reconcile worldwide effects with local actions in order to envision a future of sustainability, pluralism, justice, and global responsibility for the Boston region, which would also contribute to worldwide sustainability and equity. The Boston Scenario Project is coordinated by James Goldstein, Tellus Senior Fellow.

http://www.tellus.org/ Tellus Institute website
http://www.gtinitiative.org/ Great Transition Initiative website
http://www.gsg.org/ Global Scenario Group website
http://www.bostonscenarios.org/ Boston Scenarios Project website
http://www.corporation2020.org/ Corporation 20/20 website
http://www.sei.se/ Stockholm Environment Institute website
http://www.seib.org/ Stockholm Environment Institute US website
http://www.polestarproject.org/ Information on PoleStar sustainability planning software
http://www.dstair.org/ Information on DSTAIR anti-corruption software
http://www.weap21.org/ Information on WEAP water planning software
http://www.energycommunity.org/ Information on WEAP energy and environmental software

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