Gaia Foundation

The Gaia Foundation of Western Australia is part of the international Gaia Movement of individuals and groups which share concerns with living more sustainably on the Earth, which was inspired by the Gaia hypothesis of James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis, and is attempting to bring AbOUT the Great Turning from our contemporary wasteful and consumeristic Industrial Growth Civilisation to the needed Life Sustaining Culture of the future. The members of the foundation share three objectives

  • personal growth - commitment to your own healing and empowerment
  • community building - strengthening the communities of which you are a part
  • service to the Earth - enhancing the wellbeing and flourishing of all life

The Foundation was co-founded in 1987 by John Croft and Vivienne Elanta, and a small group of committed activists came together to organise its first projects. Championing the Experiential Deep Ecological approach of John Seed and Joanna Macy by 1990 the Foundation adopted the intention "to lovingly empower ourselves and others to know oneness with Gaia, the living Earth, through taking couraggeous and joyous action, now".

Early Developments

The Gaia Foundation's first project was a series of information evenings promoting materials on "Rural Resettlement" that had been produced by Dr Patricia Sherwood of Edith Cowan University for the Australian Association for Suustainable Communities (AASC), in which Croft and Sherwood had been earlier co-founders. From there they joined with the Peace Education Foundation for 4 years helping to organise a series of workshops called Pathways to the Fuuture, aimed to deel with teenage depression and pessimism.

The Foundation with the Institute for Cultural Affairs then organised Seminars with Dr Jean Houston, in Sacred Psychology and championed the development of the Greens Western Australia.

Its work

Over the years of its operation, the Foundation has supported and engaged in more than 611 projects. Examples of its work includes

1. Holding actions in DeFence of all Beings of the Earth

  1. . Climate Change and Air Pollution Projects
  2. . Action in Forestry Campaigning and Tree Planting.
  3. . Ecosystem Recovery Project (eg. Frog Ponds in Gardens)
  4. . Support to Native Flora and Fauna (eg. Support to Bird Hospital)
  5. . Refugee Action and Human Rights Projects
  6. . Anti-War Activities
  7. . Indigenous Peoples’ Projects
  8. . Anti-Nuclear activity (eg. Gaia Pilgrimage)
  9. . Globalisation and Free Trade Issues
  10. . General Activist Support

2. Building the New Institutions for a Life Sustaining World

  1. . Eco Village Projects
  2. . Strawbale Building and Alternative Housing
  3. . Gaia, LETSystems and Alternative Economics
  4. . Renewable Energy Projects
  5. . Food Cooperatives, City and Community Supported Agriculture
  6. . Transport action
  7. . Water Conservation initiatives
  8. . Support to Alternative Education (eg. Learning Telegraph)
  9. . Wholistic Health and Healing Activities
  10. . Gaia General Community Building Projects - organisation development

3. Shifting Consciousness to a Gaian or Planetary Awareness

  1. . Gaia Youth & Intergenerational Projects (eg Pathways to the Future)
  2. . Deep Ecology Training for the Great Turning (eg. Seeds for the Future)
  3. . Re-Earthing Training & other Ecotherapies
  4. . Enlarging the Self: Gaia Work with Spiritual Psychology.
  5. . Heart Politics, AVP, Restorative Justice and NVDA
  6. . Personal Growth Courses and Activities of various kinds
  7. . Planit Project - Earth Charter Dissemination
  8. . Earth Voices, books, tapes and videos
  9. . Gaia Libraries (Margaret River, Perth, elsewhere?)
  10. . Gaia Talks and Presentations, Displays and Stalls

4. Gaia Foundation Project Support Projects

  1. . Dragon Dreaming Training - theory and practice of how to run outrageously successful projects
  2. . Other Great Turning Training, building a world that works
  3. . Gaia House - Gaia Aid
  4. . Vivienne Elanta Memorial Trust Fund for Activism
  5. . Vivienne Elanta Yummy Book Fund
  6. . Participatory Strategic Planning for Individual or Group Gaia Projects
  7. . Radical Philanthropy and Alternative Fundraising
  8. . Gaia Web Page & list server management
  9. . Gaia Related Publications
  10. . Project Support, Supervision and Evaluation