About Us

Mission and Vision

OneEarth Living is a nonprofit ‘think-and-do tank’ advancing sustainable everyday living around the world. We do this through bold partnerships and warm-hearted collaboration.

Our Story →

Our Impact →

We envision a world where everyone is able to live thriving, healthy lives within the ecological means of our one Earth.

Our Strategy

OneEarth Living acts as a catalyst for one-planet living.

Our guiding principles

• Systems perspective: We live in a web of connections to people and places around the world that sustain our lifestyles and societies. We take a big-picture systems view, focused on leverage informed by how interrelationships and interdependence form a complex, dynamic whole. 

• Diversity, equity and inclusion: We engage a diversity of people and perspectives, fostering an environment in which all people are valued, respected and included, and where policies and practices create inclusive opportunities, resources, access and support.

• Listening and learning: We ask challenging questions and hear and centre different perspectives, including from leading communities. We adopt a mode of discovery, embrace failure and risks, listen to the system and adapt.

• Building on existing work and creating new: We elevate and amplify existing work and frameworks and create new innovative narratives and programs where we see opportunities.

• Positive, playful and joyful: We are inspired by endless human imagination and bring creativity and a nurturing presence to the hard journey to advance one Earth living.

Our story

OneEarth Living (then One Earth) was launched in 2006 at the World Urban Forum in Vancouver, Canada and established as a nonprofit society in 2007. The five founders are two sisters – Dagmar and Vanessa Timmer – joining forces with Tobi Reyes, Emmanuel Prinet and Bill Rees (inventor of the ‘ecological footprint’ concept). 

2006–2016

In our first decade, we contributed to the creation and development of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 on sustainable consumption and production. We also hosted We Canada, a nationwide, youth-led campaign that served as a voice for Canadians for sustainable development. 

We convened governments, civil society, business and researchers in strategic networks. Together, we adopted a systems approach to identify and work on high-impact solutions to advance sustainable consumption and production. Our work on cities began. We advanced the ‘new economy’ that works for people and the planet. We gathered creatives to imagine sustainable futures. 

2017-present

Now in our second decade, we focus our work on conscious consumption and lifestyles solutions for climate, justice and nature. We base our work in science and take fresh creative approaches to advancing sustainable ways of living, test and experiment on the ground, and work with others to create the futures we want.

Our impact

OneEarth Living’s reach and achievements include:

• We provide global leadership on sustainable consumption and production and on lifestyles and education, including through the United Nations and other international networks.
• As community builders, we engage 175+ sustainable living organizations and collaborations in our trusted network across a diversity of sectors – public, private, education and civil society.
• We implement United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 on sustainable consumption and production.
• We have engaged more than 100 cities globally on sustainable consumption and lifestyles, reaching half a billion urban citizens.
• We build the capacity of young leaders.
• We have produced numerous reports, visuals, case studies, toolkits and other resources, which have been translated and used globally.
• We incubated two nonprofits – The Binners Project and the Share Reuse Repair Initiative – that are now independent, vibrant and impactful.
• We have created five successful, scalable programs and tools to advance one Earth living.