About the Earth Institutes
Are you concerned about your impact on nature and on the earth? Would you like to simplify your life while increasing your joy of living? Have you considered whether our consumer culture is sustainable? Are you ready to move beyond recycling?
The Granite Earth Institute (GEI) facilitates discussion courses in five areas: voluntary simplicity, sustainable living, deep ecology, bioregionalism, and globalization. These discussion courses utilize workbooks distributed by the Northwest Earth Institute (NWEI).
NWEI was founded by Dick and Jean Roy of Portland, Oregon. They pioneered the community outreach effort that brought to fruition workbooks for the the five study areas. The Granite Earth Institute is one of a number of Earth Institutes affiliated with NWEI.
From time to time, GEI also organizes meetings, talks, walks, and other events designed to build community among those who have taken Earth Institute courses.
You can choose to organize a discussion course in your
church, your workplace, your neighborhood, or in your men's or women's group.
You can get your friends together, or advertise in local papers. All you
need is the desire and enthusiasm to bring a group of people together around
one of the study areas. Each course meets for eight or nine sessions
(generally weekly) of one to two hours. Prior to each session members read
the workbook material for that session; this gives a common focus for discussion.
GEI provides a mentor for the first meeting. Thereafter a group functions
on its own, using a different member as facilitator each week.
