Mission and Values Newsletter

Vision and History

Purpose:

One Sky promotes sustainable living globally.

Vision:

An environmentally sustainable and socially just world.

Mission:

One Sky seeks to make a significant difference in the next five years by:

• Radicalizing Canadian perspectives and shifting worldviews
• Developing capacity of change agents
• Playing an inspiring role and promoting solutions to the world’s overwhelming challenges
• Providing practical solutions where human security and the environment interface
• Effectively networking and creating partnerships within and across sectors
• Working in areas with ecological integrity

Values:

At One Sky, it is our belief that we need to be active on the ground to be able to walk into the halls of policy making, and to know existing policy to be able to leverage implementing changes at the grassroots. At One Sky, we also believe that the way we treat each other along the path toward change is integral to our success. Regardless of what environmental issue we are working on, we are always striving to live our values and are committed to:

Courage/Raising the bar:

- acting proactively and with intention
- working in difficult places (such as Nigeria, Sierra Leone and out of northern BC)
- taking risks by trying new ways of working
- being bold and willing to enter new terrain

Inspiring:

- promoting solutions
- creating patterns of change
- being a small but significant difference
- remaining hopeful despite working on tough issues in tough places

Learning/mentorship:

- enabling others in their work through intentional leadership
- life-long learning
- engaging in shared visioning
- providing opportunities for transformational change
- serving as a catalyst for personal growth and change
- raising awareness and enhancing sustainable livelihoods

World centric/Respect:
- showing respect for people, nature and all living things
- keeping in mind we all live under ‘one sky’
- working as “we”

Collaboration:
- working in global partnerships
- using strategic networking
- developing multiple leadership

History:
Mike Simpson founded One Sky to foster a global perspective on environmental and social issues with a particular emphasis on the links between the developing world and Canada. One Sky explores and promotes practical solutions and appropriate technologies for our environmental, social and economic challenges.
We started One Sky in the year 2000 in Smithers, BC to form an international partnership with Sierra Leone. We’d been inspired by the partnership work of the Gaia project of the Sierra Club of BC, by the hands-on approach of the Fallsbrook Centre in New Brunswick, by the successful youth outreach of Lifecycles in Victoria, BC and by the philosophy of the Centre for Appropriate Technology in El Salvador. A visit to Sierra Leone in June and July, 2000 started the process and One Sky has continued ever since.