Bridges of Collaboration and Exchange

Academy Fellow, Kim Kita, is Director of Special Projects and Partnerships with Colorado State University (CSU), where she leads CSU’s work in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Kim co-wrote an article in the Journal of Sustainability Education (JSE) with biologist, educator, and researcher, Aines Castro Prieto. We’ve added a sneak-peak below. To read the full article, visit the JSE website, which serves […]

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Focus on a Fellow: Beth Heller

Beth Fetterley Heller is (former) Senior Director of Education and Strategic Planning at the Urban Ecology Center. Since 2000, Beth has led the growth of urban environmental and sustainable education opportunities for youth and adults in Milwaukee, WI. Starting with a single classroom in a double-wide trailer, hosting 6000 students for nature-based field trips annually, her programs now run out […]

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Acknowledging who we are

This blog is written by Academy Fellow, Jane Rabinowicz. Jane works to advance food sovereignty and community leadership at local, regional, national, and international levels. She currently serves as Executive Director of USC Canada, one of Canada’s longest-standing and progressive international collaboration organizations.

Following International Women’s Day, I have been reflecting on lineage.

I have always felt the weight of lineage. This has […]

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The Future of Food in Healthcare

The following blog post is written by our Academy Fellow, Beth Hunter. Beth is Program Director at the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, where she has worked since 2010, focusing primarily on the Sustainable Food Systems initiative.

My heart is SO full.

We have just launched Nourish, an initiative on the future of food and health care focused on a two-year program for 25 […]

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Academy co-Founder launches new book

Academy co-Founder, Ken Leinbach, is the author of a new book called Urban Ecology: a Natural Way to Transform Kids, Parks, Cities, and the World.

As Executive Director of the Urban Ecology Center, Ken shares the story of how the center was started, and describes its growth into three vibrant Milwaukee branches. The Urban Ecology Center provides year-round educational programs for kids, families […]

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A Journey of Discovery into Reconciliation Ignites Deeply-felt Change

Hosted by Reconciliation Canada in partnership with the Academy for Systems Change, the Reconciliation Leadership Learning Experience (RLLE) convened about 18 people representing a diverse group of leaders – national Indigenous leaders, key network influencers and advisors as well as Reconciliation Canada ambassadors, community partners, funding partners, and facilitators. The highly participatory gathering is part of an effort to cultivate and […]

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Collaborating for our Collective Future

“Courage is simply doing whatever is needed in pursuit of the vision.” – Peter Senge

We are honored to announce that the Academy for Systems Change and the Donella Meadows Institute will begin the process of uniting visions and assets to accelerate our potential for collective impact and transformative change. Following months of exploration and dialogue, we have discovered countless connections […]

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The Dawn of System Leadership

The Stanford Social Innovation Review Winter 2014 edition feature article “The Dawn of System Leadership” by Peter Senge, Hal Hamilton and John Kania describes the need for “system leaders” – those who catalyze collective leadership, to address society’s most intractable problems. The magazine also features a supplement article, “System Leaders for Sustainable Food”, by Hal Hamilton. […]

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Joe Hsueh talks to the Guardian

Joe Hsueh, one of the founding members of the Academy recently sat down to talk to Marc Gunther of the Guardian.

art and science
of systems change
“To make underlying systems more sustainable, it takes both tools and
compassion”, says SecondMuse’s Joe Hsueh

‘Until recently, the momentum driving US businesses toward greater sustainability came from big, influential companies: GE with its ecomagination campaign, Walmart […]

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Systemic Change Map – One way of looking at systems change

Systemic Change Map
How might we understand the process of supporting necessary, visionary change? This map by our colleague Joe Hsueh provides one way of thinking (and a set of assumptions) about how change can be made possible. It is of course a simplification, but the key things to pay attention to here are the circular nature of learning and adapting […]

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