2042 Today
Young Leaders Re-Imagining Conservation
2042 Today is a training initiative, in collaboration with the Center for Diversity and the Environment, that was designed as an innovative leadership development program aimed squarely at young conservation leaders. This program augments a participant's existing skill set while providing them with the practical leadership skills needed as they engage communities and the rapidly changing American society.
In July 2012 we hosted the third annual 2042 Today Retreat and welcomed 19 participants to the Center
More and more conservationists are thinking about the exciting significance of 2042, the date one generation out when demographers predict that every metropolitan statistical area will be predominantly non-white, but few efforts are in place today to equip conservation leaders with the leadership skills to engage difference of all kinds. How does the conservation field diversify itself, and how do conservationists learn to ally themselves with and learn from other movements for change? Today’s conservation leaders, men and women in their 40s, 50s and 60s, have faced one set of challenges, those about transactional strength: buying land, changing laws, and building institutions. Leadership skills required for the next generation are as much relational as they are transactional: how will conservation be integrated – or not – into the needs and values of a changing American public?
Center for Whole Communities and Center for Diversity and the Environment have partnered to develop an innovative leadership development program aimed squarely at preparing young conservation leaders from all backgrounds and sectors to strengthen their collective work by 1) gaining the historical context that the activists and non profits from other sectors share, 2) learning the skills to engage in alliances and collaborations that are necessary for their own work to succeed in a changing America and 3) discovering the perspectives that will help them to understand how their success is fully dependent on the success of environmental and social justice advocates across the board.
Resources for 2042 Fellows:
2042 Today featured in the latest issue of the The Land Trust Alliance's "Saving Land" magazine. Read the article!
Demographic analysis of 2042 in the US, with maps, census projections.