— Sustainability —

In a time rife with human suffering and unraveling ecosystems, ordinary people are tempted to put their heads in the sand and allow traditional world systems to continue to batter people and landscapes. Enter Collaborative Spunk: The Feisty Guide for Reviving People and Our Planet by Dr. A. Gayle Hudgens, Ph.D., and its profound message of possibility and change. We ordinary people will not only quickly grasp its simple yet elegant solution, but also cheer what it can do for us personally and for our communities.

Readers resonate with the stories, metaphors and far-reaching plan for creating more caring and livable societies. It's "an extraordinary strategy for fueling widespread sustainability," which "must be put into effect throughout the length and breadth of the industrial landscape," says Edward C. "Ned" Fritz, national award winning conservationist and environmental lawyer.

Collaborative Spunk gives readers the spark to become leaderful in their own lives and communities by applying specific tools and skills -- and then coaching others to do the same. Past approaches failed because well-intentioned people did not know what to do or how to do it. They couldn't motivate themselves and others to become the change they genuinely wanted in the world, says Dr. Hudgens. Collaborative Spunk mentors readers on these points and more: looking at the whole system -- how everything is connected -- and the bottom-up advantage of embracing diversity and self-determination.

A futurist and certified master coach, Dr. Hudgens maintains that the civilized world is on the verge of a collective nervous breakdown, as evidenced by growing numbers of exhausted people, crumbling communities, and dysfunctional institutions. These are intensifying within the context of unbridled growth in population, waste, globalization, and terrorism. And, on an equally massive scale we are sabotaging our planet's very life-support systems. Indeed, our success in the last century now threatens our quality of life, perhaps even life itself.

For us to thrive, even survive, Hudgens contends that we all need to take rapid, meaningful, and effective action. Her groundbreaking strategy synthesizes two well-established systems to help that happen: the brilliance of The Natural Step Framework, an award-winning, scientifically rigorous initiative pioneered in Sweden that has already fostered health and prosperity for thousands of communities, organizations, businesses, and individuals worldwide; and, Life Coaching, the hugely popular goal-oriented, human development technology that enables extraordinary personal success that began sweeping the U.S. and abroad in the '90s.

"This pairing, combined with my contagious and engaging Coach Five Project, offers promising prospects for humanity by exponentially speeding up the co-creation of a healthy and flourishing future," says Hudgens. "If humanity ever needed this approach, it is now."

The Coach Five Project integrates the wisdom of The Natural Step Framework and the delivery system of Life Coaching with the potential to inspire communities around the world. Local, informal coaching circles of five friends engage in salon-type dialogues, gathering for a few hours a week for several months. They explore the Framework and how to incorporate its guidelines for sustainable living into their lives and communities. Through everyday activities, they demonstrate how ordinary people can make powerful personal and local decisions that translate into better social and environmental conditions for all people. Inspired by success, these people coach new groups? and so it spreads.

Regardless of the challenge, whether it is excessive energy use in your home to gridlock on the expressway, Collaborative Spunk provides the tools for realizing sustainable outcomes. Through the innovative visioning, potential actions tested against the principles of sustainability can provide workable and effective solutions. It's a toolbox, not a cookbook: practitioners tailor solutions their unique situations.

Proving the effectiveness of the Natural Step Framework, ten years ago, every family in Sweden received a detailed explanation of the principles of creating a sustainable society. Embraced by a nation, intriguing solutions continue to emerge, like attached greenhouses for urban apartment dwellers to grow organic produce. Businesses have discovered that "going sustainable" means a big increase in their bottom lines. There is less waste, less pollution and better economies.

In the meantime, instead of waiting for our own government to step up to the sustainability plate, we can all read Collaborative Spunk and learn how to lead ourselves, and our communities to a lively, healthy sustainable future for all.

Available through SOS Press, on-line book retailers and in bookstores everywhere:

Collaborative Spunk: The Feisty Guide for Reviving People and Our Planet by Dr. A. Gayle Hudgens, Ph.D. Foreword by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, Winner of the Blue Planet Award 2000. (SOS Press: Helena, 2002) ISBN 0-9723084-0-7 (312 pages) $18.00

P.O. Box 1424, Helena, MT 59602
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