As we come upon the end of the year, it seems natural to share our reflections on one of the highlights of the year – our annual Grant Partner Gathering that took place this past October at the beautiful Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma, CA.

About 45 people, including 14 current grant partners, former grant partners, and allies gathered “to pause” for three days.

As ITP’s hallmark creative “pause”, the gathering is now the second ‘pause’ grant partners are offered. The retreat welcomes allies from business, education and non-profit sectors to help our growing community share resources, learning, and networks. » Read More

The Bureau of Linguistical Reality is a public participatory art work established by Alicia Escott and Heidi Quante recognizing a collective loss for words to describe phenomena and emotions our species is experiencing as our world rapidly changes due to climate change and other anthropogenic changes and events. At The Bureau of Linguistical Reality we work with others to examine the disconnects that we are all experiencing as the world around us rapidly changes. The Mission of The Bureau is to create new words to understand and bridge these disconnects.

 We use the words we create through these conversations as points of connectivity to initiate or further conversations around topics that are currently difficult to discuss or even conceptualize— but essential to have as we move forward.

Join us at Bioneers or at the Invoking the Pause annual Grant Partner Gathering where will will set up our Mobile Field Office to work with you to explore the ways our language is failing to accurately describe the world around us and together create neologisms that seek to identify and correct these gaps.  

Reinhard Hohlwein is an environmental scientist and consultant.

At the fall Invoking the Pause retreat in Sonoma, I had the great privilege and pleasure of being in the company of a group of exceptional and dedicated people who are bringing their creative best to the great challenge of our time. Being at the Westerbeke Ranch for the retreat was both invigorating and essential, because if you care about human response to the challenges of climate change, you not only want, but need to be in a place like this with people who are passionate, motivated, creative, still learning, still students. » Read More

Rebecca Patton is a conservationist and Vice President/Board Member of Wildlife Conservation Network. 

I was honored to have been part of the recent Invoking the Pause retreat, which brought together individuals applying their talents in creative ways to the issue of climate change, with an emphasis on the power of collaboration.  We embraced a version of "The Hero's Journey", a beautiful framework that made our 24 hours together one of meaning and growth.
 
Since traditional approaches to creating a collective commitment to deal with climate change have been insufficient, the emphasis of ITP Grant Partners has been around social change, coming at communication and influence through visual arts, non-traditional advocacy and community engagement models. » Read More

Invoking the Pause’s Multi-generational Commitment to Community

In October 2011, I had the life-changing opportunity to meet Maggie Kaplan, the creator of Invoking the Pause, at a lunch following a plenary keynote speech I had just given at the Bioneers Annual Summit.  That fateful day my life was about to be singularly and profoundly transformed by a conversation about collaboration. » Read More

In looking back 8 years to the origins of ITP, I continue to be inspired by how my twin visions:  (i)offering a pause in busy professionals’ lives in a place of natural beauty for reflection and development of initiatives about some aspects of climate change combined with (ii) the power of working collaboratively and even among cross-disciplines -- continue to be validated in work on this enormous planetary issue.  » Read More

The two-day ITP retreat was a very wonderful way to connect to a large network of really outstanding people from many different fields and backgrounds in a beautiful location in Sonoma.

Most grants partners we have worked with require a post-grant report. The ITP method offered a more interesting opportunity to actually spend several days with all the other ITP grant recipients and mentors in order to share findings and make presentations to over 40 collaborators and leaders, with follow-up discussions.  » Read More

Intro by Maggie Kaplan, Founder/Executive Director Invoking the Pause:  Last week, on October 26-27th, Invoking the Pause brought together almost 40 people at the Westerbeke Ranch for its first ever 2-day Gathering!  In addition to  current 2015 ITP and "Seeding Possibilities" Grant Partners attending, several "outsider allies" from various business and non-profit organizations were invited to add some flavorful additions to the diverse group of grant partners.  

We inaugurated a theme for the first time, too -- Joseph Campbell's  "S/hero's Journey", a 12 step process, which all of us undertook individually and collectively. 

Starting in ordinary reality with " meeting and greeting"  each other on the first afternoon through a series of fun exercises, we followed the "call to adventure" culminating in a festive evening at the outdoor firepit -- complete with s'mores, music and singing.  The next morning, we "crossed the threshold" into challenges and ordeals, which eventually leading to our return at the end of the day with the "elixir" of inspiration and renewal for the dedicated efforts of so many working to make significant contributions in the field of climate change/disruption!  

One of our "outsider allies" William Shutkin, President and CEO of the Presidio Graduate School of Sustainability, was  moved to write the following blog: 

My Presidio Graduate School colleague Ryan Cabinte and I had the pleasure of attending the Fall 2015 Invoking the Pause Retreat in Sonoma last week as ITP “Allies.” True to form, the event was a welcome opportunity for me and Ryan to take some time out of our usual schedules to gather with inspiring people, engage in thoughtful conversations and return to our day-to-day routines refreshed and reinvigorated. » Read More