Environmental Issues Workshops

Blackstone Ranch Institute is developing a series of gatherings with major organizations dealing with critical environmental issues. The first was in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Institute in November 2006. It brought together for the first time sustainability directors from more than 30 city governments around the country. The occasion was seen by a number of participants as the first step toward a national urban sustainability network of municipal governments. It led to the formation of Green Cities California, a statewide network of city sustainability directors who are using it to guide action on a number of environmental initiatives, and a national civic education campaign on climate change mitigation initiated by the Seattle Office of Sustainability and the Environment.

Since then the institute has co-sponsored key strategic dialogs across major social sectors that are vital to the inception or breakout stages of major social innovation. Among the more significant initiatives have been the development of a scientifically and technically sound system to map and measure global carbon stocks, a campaign to seriously reduce the volume of junk mail in North America as a way to limit the harvesting of old growth forests in Western Canada, and an early effort to make regional development of a fossil free energy plan in southern California part of the larger national conversation about our energy future.

The institute will continue to support innovative collaborations across a broad array of environmental interest areas in 2008.

Environmental Education and Eco-Retreat Center

Through the Institute, the ranch offers retreat facilities for corporations, non-profits, government, academia, public organizations, and others who wish to address environmental issues and to experience nature and ranch life. Participants gather to share ideas and perspectives, to learn from one other, and to collaborate in future action. The ranch offers an ambiance that enhances private reflection, personal growth, and renewal.

The Institute also offers environmental education programs for youth and adults, and talented individuals from Taos and elsewhere offer workshops to Blackstone Ranch Institute program participants and to the Taos community.