Vision

Humanity is in a wise relationship with the Environment and the economies people create.

Mission

Every day we are expanding the skills and self-sustaining capacity of organizations to apply a 2-eyed seeing, holistic approach to cumulative effects assessment, planning, monitoring and decision-making for lands, waters, and communities today and for future generations.

Being In Wise Relationship With the Environment and the Economies we Create

The Environment nourishes people and people create economies. This is a dependent relationship. It is our choice whether our economies regenerate or deplete the environment.

Demand for natural resource development and transportation networks will continue to increase. Human population is forecasted to increase. Per capita consumption is expected to increase. But natural capital is finite.

We know how to evaluate the benefits and costs of individual new project proposals. But this is no longer enough. In order to fulfill our responsibility to take care of the environment and to ensure sustainability for our children and their children, we must take a holistic cumulative effects approach to making decisions today.

Assessing the cumulative effects of ALL new proposed land and marine projects in combination with all other human land use activities, natural disturbance and now climate change over meaningful time and space - requires 2 key elements:

• a holistic systems dynamics approach, and
• Utilizing two ways of knowing; Indigenous Wisdom and contemporary science

Indigenous people are uniquely suited for a 2-eyed seeing, holistic approach to cumulative effects assessment, planning, monitoring and decision-making in their lands, waters and communities. The more this increases the more all of humanity will benefit by being in a wiser relationship with the Environment and the economies we create. And that's why we created the RavenWater Learning Circle.

How We Do It

We start with the understanding that everything is connected. Then together we follow a unique, structured curriculum specially designed and tested by Indigenous communities interested in expanding their land and water guardians, earthkeepers and  supporting individuals who want to expand their cumulative effects career and become a practitioner.

Why It Works; We’re Different

• We answer the why
  • Cumulative Effects is complex and dynamic. The secret to unleashing your creativity to find better solutions others can’t or haven’t seen is to align your personal priorities and purpose with your work.  We help you do that.
• We bushwack  
  
  • We go off the beaten trail together to find innovative, creative, and better answers to the complex challenges of cumulative effects. 
• We use 2-eyed seeing
  • We help you use Indigenous Knowledge and western contemporary science 
  • We know you are the best at applying your cultural knowledge 
• We go on the land and listen
  • We have respect for ‘all our relations’ and understand our responsibilities as caretakers
• We don’t just tick boxes
  • We are focused on long-term legacy and partnership, not short-term project approvals
• We like circles more than A to B
  • We understand that the environment nourishes people and people create economies, and that this is a dependent relationship. We explore systems dynamics and seek to develop regenerating economies, not depleting ones.
• We prioritize Indigenous centered applicants
  • Our top priority is increasing Indigenous capacity for cumulative effects assessment, planning, monitoring and decision-making
  • We don’t suffer from shifting baseline syndrome. We use estimates of conditions in the pre-European Contact era as the baseline because that is when the dominant systems were resilient and stable for thousands of years.  Other time markers are useful reference points.
• We want you to do the assessments
  • We are invested in you as a long-term partner and are intentional about helping you build self-sustaining capacity.
• We fly like Raven
  • High above the mountains to see the big picture and down low at treetop where we can see through the forest. 
  • When you see this way, you will be wildly optimistic about our future.