Think Tank

After nearly two decades of assembling some of the most cutting-edge ideas and research, hosting conferences for deeper inquiries, and publishing reports, a book, and quarterly newsletters, Praxis is ready to reactivate the think tank. Refashioning it as a People’s Think Tank is a way of crowd-sourcing ideas that will engage academics as well as activists, footnoted papers as well as in-the-field reports. Since Praxis means the process by which a theory is enacted or realized, we are casting a wide net in seeking solutions to the challenges facing us at the beginning of the 21st century. The goal is to create educational materials and actions plans. To date, the Praxis Think Tank has hosted an invitational conference on the Sixth Extinction, published a book, published an evaluation on the results from a conference on democracy and civic participation, and published a report on the first seven Mondragón seminars. The purpose of the People’s Think Tank is to provide an environment for deep inquiry, sharing of information, generating new ideas, networking among thinkers and activists, create action plans and, above all, to value common sense!

In February 2012, The Praxis Think Tank published the pamphlet “Whose Freedom: Deconstructing Libertarianism.” It is available on this website. After publishing the pamphlet, the authors went to work on an expanded version and created a book, Uncivil LIberties: Deoncstructing Libertarianism. The book added two authors. They include Ben Boyce, Nick Colby, Ph.D., Gus di Zerega, Ph.D., Julianne Maurseth, Ph.D., Barry Spector, and Georgia Kelly.

In early 2018, the Praxis Think Tank morphed into the Praxis People’s Think Tank. The idea is to find wisdom from a wide breadth of society — from academic researchers to people working in communities, from elected officials to people leading movements in the streets and lobbying for justice, environmental and economic sustainability and peace. For information on our current program, please visit our Culture & Mythos page.

The book is available on this website: Click Here
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THE MONDRAGON SERIES Participants of the Praxis Seminar at the Mondragon Cooperatives in Spain are giving presentations on what they learned from the world’s largest consortium of worker-owned businesses. The ongoing events in this series are posted on the Events Page of this website. Praxis has a recurring seminar/tour at the Mondragon Cooperatives and a relationship with Mondragon University. To view a video presentation on the Mondragon Cooperatives by Praxis founder, Georgia Kelly, please click on the link here: Mondragon presentation.

Praxis Peace Institute has published a 67-page report on the results from the seminars organized at the Mondragón Cooperatives. It includes essays and interviews from participants that demonstrate how Mondragón ideas and business models have been implemented at home. Proceeds from the sale of this report support the Mondragón Scholarship Fund. Click this link to purcahse report.

Praxis Think Tank Project ‘The Sixth Extinction Round Table to Avert the Loss of Biodiversity” Novenber 30 to December 3, 2006
Berkeley, CA Summary of Rountable Meeting (Microsoft Word document) Click here for Picasa Photo Gallery This invitational meeting was co-sponsored by the Sustainable Planet Committee of theThreshold Foundation and the Praxis Think Tank. The purpose of the meeting was to create a campaign to address the issue of Mass Species Extinction in social and cultural contexts. Our goal is to raise awareness regarding the urgency of species extinction and to create a strategy that will cut through the de facto denial surrounding species extinction. In addition to leading scientists in the field, we invited experts in media, marketing, language framing, the recovery movement, and religious leaders. A summary of this roundtable meeting is available by clicking on the above Word document.

List of Participants (in alphabetical order)

Joshua Arnow, Buckminster Fuller Institute
William Brangham, Producer with NOW, weekly PBS TV news magazine
John Briscoe, Development Director, National Council of Churches
Cassnadra Carmichael, Eco-Jusitce Coordinator, National Council of Churches
Tim Cermak, M.D., Pioneer and Specialist in Addiction and Recovery
Kevin Danaher, Co-founder of Global Exchange and the Green Festival, San Francisco
Gay Dillingham, Earthstone International and Threshold Foundation
Jim Fournier, Biomass Energy Corporation, Threshold Foundation, and Round Table committee member
Louis Fox, Free Range Graphics, filmmaker
Jonathan Frieman, Center for Corporate Policy, Threshold Foundation, and Round Table committee member
Kathleen Frith, Center for Health and Global Environment, Harvard Medical School
Jay Golden, Free Range Graphics, filmmaker
Healy Hamilton, Research Associate Center for Biodiversity research and Information at California Academy of
Sciences, San Francisco
Thom Hartmann, popular talk show radio host on Air America and author of several books, including Unequal Protection and Screwed: The Undeclared War against the Middle Class
Sandra Hay, Unseen Pictures, film and TV producer, Board member of Praxis Peace Institute
Matthew Hoffman, One Earth Art, Council of Species, a community art project to raise awareness regarding species extinctions
Georgia Kelly, Founder/Director of Praxis Peace Institute, Round Table committee member
George Lakoff, Professor of cognitive science at University of California, Berkeley, author of Whose Freedom and Moral Politics, and Senior researcher for the Rockridge Institute, a progressive think tank
Troy Lush, Co-founder of the 11 Days of Global Unity; Board member of We, the World
Jerry Mander, Founder of International Forum on Globalization and Senior Fellow of Public Media Center
Mark McDonough, Time Banks USA and Threshold Foundation
Charles McGlashin, Marin County Supervisor
Margo McKnight, Executive Director of Wildlands Project, Florida
Joanie Misrack, Threshold Foundation, Pathways to Peace, and Round Table committee member
Scott Mullins, The Hive Advertising company
Stuart Pimm, Professor of Conservation Ecology, Environmental Sciences, and Policy division, Duke University;
Research and Exploration at National Geographic
Michael Soule, Professor emeritus in Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
Faye Straus, Firedoll Foundation
David Ulansey, Professor of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at California Institute of Integral Studies
Chera Van Burg, Executive Director, Species Alliance, Professor of Psychology at Skidmore College, filmmaker.
Jeffrey Wise, Policy Director, National Environmental Trust, Washington —————————————————————————————————

Korten Study Guide In April 2005, Praxis Peace Institute launched study and think tank groups to augment the events, workshops, and conferences that have been its educational focus. Study and Think Tank groups formed following presentations and workshops by George Lakoff, Richard Tarnas, Rabbi Michael Lerner, and David Korten.

One group submitted content for the workbook accompanying David Korten’s new book, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community. The workbook is available above as a PDF file.