Northwest Earth Institute

The Northwest Earth Institute is a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon.[1] Northwest Earth Institute was started in 1993 by native Oregonians Jeanne and Dick Roy, and it currently develops and implements programs designed to motivate individuals and organizations to take action toward a sustainable future.[2][3] Their most successful program is a series of ten self-facilitated discussion courses to be used by small groups that address various topics related to the environment and sustainable living.

Northwest Earth Institute
Founded1993
FounderJeanne Roy and Dick Roy
Location
  • Portland, Oregon USA
Key people
Mike Mercer (Executive Director)
Websitenwei.org

History

Northwest Earth Institute was founded in 1993 by Dick and Jeanne Roy with $45,000 in start-up grants and thirteen volunteers with the goal of "taking earth-centered programs into mainstream workplaces."[4] Prior to Northwest Earth Institute, Dick had worked as a corporate lawyer since 1970 and Jeanne as an activist on air quality and solid waste issues. In 1993, Dick resigned from his job as a lawyer to volunteer full-time with Jeanne.

Deep Ecology was the first implemented program and included a discussion course and manual on the topic of deep ecology. The institute also started offering a Home Eco-Party Program and the Oregon High School Earth Club Program. The Northwest Earth Institute discontinued the Earth Club Program due to a lack of funding.

As of December 2014, over 160,000 people have participated in NWEI discussion courses throughout North America.

  • Voluntary Simplicity
  • Discovering a Sense of Place
  • Reconnecting with Earth
  • Sustainable Systems at Work
  • Hungry for Change: Food, Ethics, and Sustainability
  • A World of Health: Connecting People, Place, and Planet

Partners and affiliated organizations

EcoChallenge

Every October, NWEI challenges people across the world to choose one action to reduce their environmental impact and stick with it for two weeks. Individuals and teams choose a category—water, trash, energy, food, or transportation.

In 2009, the Northwest Earth Institute held its inaugural EcoChallenge, and the event has grown since then. The EcoChallenge is open to people from around the world. Its mission is to help people connect with their communities and take action. The EcoChallenge has garnered recent attention, most notably in higher education, as university professors have increasingly incorporated the event into their curricula, and corporations such as Ecova's EcoChallenge team, have grown their involvement to over 250 employees.

References
  1. "Northwest Earth Institute | Living Sustainably | NWEI".
  2. "OnEarth Stories".
  3. Greene, Stephen G. "Learning to Make Do with Less." The Chronicle of Philanthropy XII.22 (2000): 1+.
  4. "404 Page - Ecochallenge.org". ecochallenge.org. Retrieved 2022-12-18. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
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