AlterNet: Paul Hawken: How to Stop Our Political and Economic Systems From Stealing Our Future:
I estimate today that there are between one and two million organizations in the world that are addressing social justice and the environment, human rights and ecological restoration. It’s not only the largest movement in the world, it is so large compared to any other thing that exists or has existed, that there is really no second place. And I think the reason we don’t see it as a movement is because it is so different from anything we’ve seen before. We see movements as ideological, as starting in some center and spreading out from that place, as having leaders that we look to for inspiration, and who then manage and guide.
At the same time, most movements have wanted to amalgamate power to themselves in some form or another. They’ve looked at concentrations of power and said, “We want some.” But this movement is very different. It’s not ideological, it’s based on ideas. Ideologies constrain and dictate what you can and cannot do.
The important work of ngos and non-profit orgs could be even more effective by providing an even playing ground and networking forum for orgs to demonstrate the work they are doing and to discover groups working in any field.
This is one of the purposes of WiserEarth.org, a project initiated by Paul Hawken
Its the combined energy, creativity and teamwork of all these organizations (more than 100,000 listed) and people working in diverse fields that we need. It’s not just one particular issue like climate change that we need to focus on. Or just a few major international organizations that need the spotlight… but all the many hundreds of thousands of organizations as well, who are working to create the conditions for life on this planet.