Pathways
History
Reports
Forums
The Garrison Institute’s Pathways to Planetary Health initiative works at the intersection of scientific inquiry, contemplative practice, and systems change to generate innovative solutions to environmental challenges. We build on over 20 years of experience developing practical, scalable solutions to pressing social and environmental challenges.
The Pathways to Planetary Health approach is relational and systems based. We recognize that the well-being of people and the well-being of Earth are deeply interconnected. Our work leverages transformative change in order to view problems with new orientations, link insights from science with practical action, and ultimately integrate human and natural systems.
What we do and how we do it
Research – Pathways to Planetary Health seeks to build shared understanding among fields and inform thoughtful, transformative action through interdisciplinary research. Our page on Reports includes our latest publications.
Convenings and Facilitation – Pathways to Planetary Health convenes cross-sector roundtables, retreats, and symposia for stakeholders to build emerging fields, forge new partnerships, and catalyze networks for meaningful collaborative action toward planetary health. Our page on Reports includes summaries from many of the convenings we host at the Garrison Institute.
Insightful Dialogues – Pathways to Planetary Health hosts thought-provoking discussions with leading scholars, change makers, contemplative teachers, and collaborators to create insight through dialogue and engage with the wider community. Our page on Forums includes summaries and recordings from online conversations, plus creative written pieces exploring new terrain.
Pathways Advisory Council
The Pathways Advisory Council brings together a group of leaders from academia, business, government, and NGOs with global and regional perspectives who guide the Pathways initiative.
- Alexa Sutton Lawrence, PhD
- Gus Speth, JD
- Jonathan F.P. Rose, MRP
- Melanie Goodchild, PhD
- Peter Senge, PhD
- Mary Evelyn Tucker, PhD
Pathways to Planetary Health Supporters and Partners
Pathways to Planetary Health is made possible by the generosity of our sponsors and by donors like you. Organizations that have been supporting Pathways’ work since 2023 include:
- The Christopher Reynolds Foundation
- The William T. Grant Foundation
- The NoVo Foundation
- The Rockefeller Foundation
- The BESS Family Foundation
- The Lostand Foundation
Partners have included the United Nations Development Program’s Conscious Food Systems Alliance, Ulnooweg Education Centre, The Planetary Health Alliance, the Well-Being Economies Alliance (WEAll), and Earth4All
Contact Us
To explore partnership opportunities or learn about ways to support our work, please contact Stephen Posner, Director of the Pathways to Planetary Health initiative, at stephen@garrisoninstitute.org.
Jonathan F.P. Rose (left) and Monica Gagliano (right) at the Pathways to Planetary Health: Ethics in the Age of the Anthropocene Symposium, March 2020
Read
Apprenticing to the Wild
Lessons on Presence, Eldership, & Resilience with Kurt Hoelting & Stephen Posner On July 16, 2025, the Garrison Institute hosted an online forum with author and Zen practitioner Kurt...
“A solutions-oriented, transdisciplinary field and social movement focused on understanding and addressing the impacts of human disruptions to Earth’s natural systems on human health and all life on Earth.”
The Four Pathways
Biodiversity Stewardship
Biodiversity is the ecological foundation of planetary health. The extraordinary variety and complexity of interdependent life on Earth generates adaptability and resilience. We partner with communities, NGOs, companies, and governments to evaluate and elevate biodiversity.
Ecological Cultures
Regenerative Economies
We explore emerging economic systems that center on planetary health and align the wellbeing of financial systems, people, communities, and planet. Regenerative economies align our systems for determining and directing value with nature.
Common Good
The Commons is a recognition of shared responsibility across peoples, species, and generations. A Common Good ethic involves inclusion, inter-being, and mutuality. Value systems oriented to the Commons treat every element—from organisms in the soil to humanity itself—with reverence, respect, and care.