Tellus Institute

{{more citations needed|date=February 2023}} {{Short description|American environmental think tank founded in 1976}} {{Infobox organization | name = Tellus Institute | image = Logo Tellus Institute.png | formation = {{start date and age|1976||}} | type = Non-profit organization | leader_title = President | leader_name = Paul Raskin | website = https://www.tellus.org/ }} The '''Tellus Institute''' is an American non-profit organization established in 1976 with the aim of bringing scientific rigor and systemic vision to critical environmental and social issues. Tellus has conducted thousands of projects throughout the world, and now focuses on the global future and how to shape it.

==Background== Tellus has partnered with hundreds of organizations, notably the Stockholm Environmental Institute, with which it coordinated programs from 1989 to 2006.<ref> Stockholm Environment Institute. "Water Evaluation and Planning: History and Credits." 2024. accessed January 14, 2024. [https://www.weap21.org/index.asp?action=219 https://www.weap21.org/index.asp?action=219].</ref> The institute has conducted more than 3,500 studies worldwide. The methodology of Tellus projects has been the development of alternative scenarios of the future in order to identify and evaluate alternative paths of action. To that end, the institute developed a widely used family of scenario planning tools, including the Long range Energy Alternatives Planning system (LEAP), which facilitates energy-environment planning; the Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP); and PoleStar, for comprehensive sustainability planning.<ref>LEAP has since been renamed the Low Emissions Analysis Platform. For more, see Stockholm Environment Institute. "Low Emissions Analysis Platform." 2023. [https://leap.sei.org/ https://leap.sei.org/]. For more on WEAP, see Stockholm Environment Institute. "Water Evaluation and Planning." 2024 [https://www.weap21.org/ https://www.weap21.org/]. For more on the PoleStar Project, see Tellus Institute. "PoleStar Project." 2023. [https://polestarproject.org/index.html https://polestarproject.org/index.html]. </ref>

==Research and programs== The question of the long-range global future theme has increasingly dominated Tellus’s work since the 1980s. In particular, the institute was active in developing integrated approaches and methods for exploring alternative climate change and sustainable development scenarios. Toward that end, Tellus convened the international and interdisciplinary Global Scenario Group to examine global scenarios for the twenty-first century, work that has been relied on in various UN reports and futures studies.<ref>Hunt D. V. L., D. R. Lombardi, S. Atkinson, A. R. G. Barber, M. Barnes, C. T. Boyko, J. Brown, J. Bryson, D. Butler, S. Caputo, M. Caserio, R. Coles, R. F. D. Cooper, R. Farmani, M. Gaterell, J. Hale, C. Hales, C. N. Hewitt, L. Jankovic, I. Jefferson, J. Leach, A. R. MacKenzie, F. A. Memon, J. P. Sadler, C. Weingaertner, J. D. Whyatt, and C. D. F. Rogers. 2012. "Scenario Archetypes: Converging Rather than Diverging Themes." ''Sustainability'' 4, no. 4: 740-772.</ref>

Building on this legacy, the institute has reframed its mission, focusing on research, scholarship, and network-building for advancing a just and sustainable planetary civilization. This “Great Transition” would entail a fundamental shift in human values and the ways we produce, consume, and live.<ref>Raskin, Paul, Tariq Banuri, Gilberto Gallopín, Pablo Gutman, Al Hammond, Robert Kates, and Rob Swart. ''Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead''. Boston: Stockholm Environment Institute, 2002. Available at [http://www.greattransition.org/gt-essay http://www.greattransition.org/gt-essay].</ref>

==Further reading== *Raskin, Paul, Tariq Banuri, Gilberto Gallopín, Pablo Gutman, Al Hammond, Robert Kates, and Rob Swart. ''Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead''. Boston: Stockholm Environment Institute, 2002. Available at http://www.greattransition.org/gt-essay. *Gerst, Michael, Paul Raskin, and Johan Rockström. "Contours of a Resilient Global Future." ''Sustainability'' 6, no. 1 (2014): 123-135, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/1/123. *Raskin, Paul, Christi Electris, and Rich Rosen. "The Century Ahead: Searching for Sustainability." ''Sustainability'' 2, no. 8 (2010): 2626-2651, https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/8/2626. *Raskin, Paul. ''Journey to Earthland: The Great Transition to Planetary Civilization.'' Boston: Tellus Institute, 2016. [https://greattransition.org/publication/journey-to-earthland https://greattransition.org/publication/journey-to-earthland].

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://www.tellus.org/ Tellus Institute] * [http://www.greattransition.org Great Transition Initiative] * [http://www.gsg.org/ Global Scenario Group] * [http://www.corporation2020.org/ Corporation 20/20] * [http://www.sei-international.org/ Stockholm Environment Institute] * [http://www.sei-us.org/ Stockholm Environment Institute-US] * [http://www.polestarproject.org/ Information on PoleStar sustainability planning software] * [http://www.weap21.org/ Information on WEAP water planning software]

Category:Environmental organizations based in Massachusetts Category:Sustainability organizations Category:Global economic research Category:Non-profit organizations based in Boston Category:Futures studies organizations Category:1976 establishments