What

DISSOLVING PERCEIVED BOUNDARIES BETWEEN NATURE & CULTURE

Flourishing Diversity works to strengthen existing and emerging restorative cultures by supporting people to protect and deeply connect with the land on which they dwell and the multi-species communities they share these spaces with.

The events we produce, the narratives we amplify and the relationships we nurture seek to grow our capacities to nourish our living places and in turn be nourished by them.

We aim to embolden people to challenge degenerative worldviews that are guided by domination, exploitation and individualism and instead embody regenerative worldviews that are guided by reciprocity, responsibility and respect. Together we can seed and shape a diversity of cultures that nurture a flourishing world.

Why

FLOURISHING ECOSYSTEMS DEPEND ON VIBRANT CULTURES

The Indigenous writer and activist Pat McCabe says, “humanity has a self-esteem problem”. The global ecological crisis has convinced many people that humans are incompatible with a thriving living world. However, throughout history, communities around the planet have existed and continue to exist in reciprocal relationship with their living places. This coevolution has created a living tapestry of diverse cultures entwined with their ecosystems.

Today, globalisation, neocolonialism and unregulated capitalism are driving the further erasure and suppression of this diversity of cultures. Language loss is an indicator of this. Every fortnight, the final words of an ancient tongue are spoken and a language disappears, carrying with it generations of collective wisdom and knowledge of how to care for and be part of a place. Cultural diversity and biodiversity are entwined; when we lose cultures connected to place, biodiversity follows. This weakens our collective capacity to care for the Earth.

By embracing and upholding diversity of all forms, we can turn the tide on the global ecological crisis. By strengthening both our own cultural connections to place and those around the world, collectively we can weave a rich tapestry of cultures that enables our diverse living places and the planet to thrive.

How

DEEP COLLABORATIONS

Flourishing Diversity is rooted within Synchronicity Earth. With a shared mission to champion a diversity of responses to our current environmental crises, we combine our knowledge, strengths, and networks to bring the values of Flourishing Diversity to the conservation sector and beyond.

CREATE SPACES

We create spaces that bring together a diversity of perspectives and worldviews. Our regular We As Nature events use storytelling as a tool to grow individual capacities to deeply connect with living places. Our Listening Sessions facilitate conversations between influential figures, such as Indigenous leaders, policymakers, conservationists and environmental justice activists, and open a forum for the wisdom of place-based cultures to be heard and the harms of homogenised, exploitative cultures to be discussed and challenged. 

In the long term, this work advocates for social and societal systems to respect and uphold our vibrant cultures and flourishing ecosystems. It aspires to shift unhealthy power dynamics and help lay the ground for communities and cultures that are in close relationship with their living places to be included in decision-making processes within all sectors of societies.

SHIFT NARRATIVES

Our work amplifies narratives that inspire a deep connection between humans and our living places. We identify, unpick and challenge narratives that disconnect us from the living world and that perpetuate the systemic drivers of cultural erasure and homogenisation.

In the long term, our work grows the collective understanding that local communities hold the accumulated knowledge and lived experience of how to best care for their living places. With this understanding, we invite people to deeply embody their role within their ecosystems and collaborate in making and shaping place-based cultures.

STRENGTHEN NETWORKS

We actively nurture and grow connections between diverse cultures, sectors and audiences, linking people together and facilitating mutual learning, collective imagination and cross-cultural collaboration.

In the long term, this dynamic ever-evolving network of relations and alliances enables perspectives to coalesce, knowledge and resources to flow, and movements to strengthen and bring forth systemic change. 

Who

Flourishing Diversity was co-founded by Jessica Sweidan and Jerome Lewis. We work within Synchronicity Earth, a conservation charity addressing overlooked and underfunded conservation priorities, protecting and restoring nature in some of Earth’s most wildlife-rich but highly threatened regions.

WIDER ECOSYSTEM

We have had the privilege to work alongside an evolving ecosystem of individuals, communities, organisations and institutions, including Indigenous and traditional leaders and representatives, environmental and social justice activists and organisations from around the world. Our collaborators include: