April 12, 2011
An advisory group of Compression Thinkers met this past weekend in Chicago. They formally decided to form a Compression Institute and form beta versions of local learning groups in several cities. A beta group is already underway in Indianapolis.
It’s time to move Compression from interesting concepts to pragmatic patterns of thinking to organize work to attack all our multiple problems at once: limited resources, environmental dangers, human unrest because their personal prospects seem to be limited – and of course, the need to remain financially viable doing this.
A structure for the Compression Institute is starting to jell. It has two main thrusts. One is an initiative to advance the thinking and create guidelines for leaders moving themselves and their work organizations toward Compression Thinking. The second is a network of local learning groups who will share actual experiences – testing the ideas in practice.
Legally, the Compression Institute will be a 501(c)3. Contributions will be tax exempt. Money is needed to get the Institute running, including its learning network groups, but the intent is that within a few years, make the entire effort become self-funding.
For now, the Compression Institute will have the form of a foundation with participative activity but with neither corporate nor individual memberships. Therefore it won’t resemble either a professional association or a trade group. The idea is to make it an instigator of change that can partner with any existing organizations willing to share in its mission.
Right now that mission is to promote actions that could catalyze pragmatic action to move toward that tough, arbitrary, and idealistic goal of Compression: By 2040 globally improve the quality of life to an industrial society equivalent using no more than half the energy and half the virgin raw materials as in the year 2000, and reducing known toxic releases to zero. And for now, the goals are to develop guidelines for working organizations who want to take action, and to form local learning groups of them so that they can learn from each other.
We have a steering committee. We have a board of advisors in formation. And we have people who have indicated that they want to be Compression Thinkers. We welcome all who seek pragmatic ways to attain ideal objectives, and will work to widen the circle of involvement.
Steering Committee (have done most of the organization work so far):
Jack Ward
Dave Veech
Jason McVay
Mark Ippolito
Bob Thompson
John Wallner
Wayne Lindholm
Paul Davis
This newsletter will feature news about the Compression Institute as it develops, including information on how you can become involved. To start we’re looking for qualified people interested in facilitating local learning groups.