Imagine a day when the world comes together to solve challenges as an integrated sector. We bring together public and private sectors in fusion centers to dissect problems, develop holistic innovations, and create change that addresses the root causes of our most pressing challenges using our combined resources, reach, and capacity. Diverse perspectives give way to breakthrough innovations. Strategies and missions are aligned across sector boundaries. Assumptions and biases are dismantled, and invisible walls and barriers are torn down.
Living activism is collaborative change for social and environmental good, and the recognition that the two are inseparable. To tackle a global challenge such as hunger will require an alliance of private and public sectors to examine every angle, every symptom, and every contributing factor and identify unique and innovative strategies to tackle it at every level in a coordinated approach.
Volunteer programs are one way in which these cross-sector partnerships are forming. Corporations, government entities, and nonprofit sectors are uniting to support causes that align with their missions to create a bigger impact together than is possible as single entities. Living activism is embracing the fact that we are all connected to each other and to our planet, and regardless of which sector we work in, we share common values and goals as human beings. Embracing those values and partnering to make a difference is living activism.
A hot topic in industry is Corporate Social Responsibility, and the concept that private industry needs to have a Triple Bottom Line – People, Planet, and Profit. I would expand the responsibility from private industry to all sectors public and private. While public sectors may not strive for profits, they should be concerned with both people and planet despite whether their missions are related to human services or environmental protection, because the two are interconnected. Living activism is considering the impacts of any decision in any sector, for people and the planet, before taking action. Acknowledging our interconnectedness with each other and with nature and striving to leave a positive footprint is living activism.
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals are an example of creating shared goals that can unite all sectors toward a common purpose. These goals embody living activism. Living activism is partnering across the world to 1)eradicate extreme poverty, 2)achieve universal primary education, 3) promote gender equality and empower women, 4) reduce child mortality, 5) improve material health, 6) combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and other diseases, 7) ensure environmental sustainability, and 8) global partnership for development. Each of these goals is interrelated with the others so the achievement of one means the achievement of others. Likewise, the neglect of one is the neglect of others. Living activism is recognizing the complexity of our existence in this world, the interrelatedness of our beings, and the ripple effects of our actions and inactions, and creating value with each step we take through purposeful intention toward our shared social and environmental existence.