Duane Elgin Speaker Profile
internationally recognized speaker, author, and social visionary who looks beneath the surface turbulence of our times to explore the deeper trends that are transforming our world. His books include The Living Universe, Promise Ahead, and Awakening Earth. In 2006, he received the international Goi Peace Award in recognition of his contribution to a global "vision, consciousness, and lifestyle" that fosters a "more sustainable and spiritual culture."
MEET DUANE ELGINDuane Elgin is an internationally recognized speaker, author and social visionary. For more than three decades, he has defined the cutting edge in consciousness research, in the ecology movement and in future studies. Duane Elgin pioneered the “Voluntary Simplicity” movement with his now classic first book of the same name. Duane Elgin looks beneath the surface turbulence of our times to explore the deeper trends that are transforming our world, examining how momentous “adversity trends” (such as climate change) are meeting equally momentous “opportunity trends” (such as the global communications revolution) and what the implications of such a convergence may hold. Duane Elgin’s books include: The Living Universe: Where Are We? Who Are We? Where Are We Going? Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity’s Future, Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich and Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness. With Joseph Campbell and other scholars he co-authored the book Changing Images of Man. In addition, Duane Elgin has contributed chapters to sixteen books, and has published more than seventy articles. For more than thirty years, Duane Elgin has been speaking and writing in four major areas: the big picture of humanity’s evolutionary journey at this pivotal time in history, more sustainable and satisfying ways of living, media accountability for an empowered citizenry and society, and the convergence of science with the world’s wisdom traditions and their shared views of a living universe. In the early 1970s, Duane Elgin worked as a senior staff member of a joint Presidential-Congressional Commission on the American Future. He then worked as a senior social scientist with the think-tank SRI International where he co-authored numerous long-range, futures studies, such as:Anticipating Future National and Global Problems (for the President’s Science Advisor), Alternative Futures for Environmental Policy (for the Environmental Protection Agency), The Future of the Automobile (for the Ford Motor Co.), and Limits to the Management of Large, Complex Systems (for the President’s Science Advisor). Duane Elgin has an MBA from the Wharton Business School, an MA in economic history from the University of Pennsylvania, and an honorary Doctor of Philosophy for work in “ecological and spiritual transformation” from the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco. In 2005, Duane Elgin received the Japanese “Goi International Peace Award” in recognition of his contribution to a “global vision, consciousness, and lifestyle” that fosters a “more sustainable and spiritual culture.” As a speaker, Duane Elgin has given more than 300 keynotes and workshops with audiences ranging from business executives and civic groups to churches and college students. For the past three years, he has been the executive director of a project that has brought together more than a dozen “Great Transition Stories” that offer new cultural narratives for our collective imagination and that can serve help guide us toward a sustainable and meaningful future. He is now developing a growing number of collaborations with organizations in business, film and media, colleges and universities, and more. He brings an engaging, conversational approach to his presentations, which audiences often describe as “absolutely captivating” and that they “inspire our deepest thinking.” Over the past twenty twenty-five years, Duane Elgin has co-founded three non-profit organizations concerned with media accountability and citizen empowerment. SUGGESTED KEYNOTES
Great Transition Stories: How can we describe this time of planetary transition in ways that are universally understood? There may be no greater challenge in building a promising future than discovering compelling stories that draw us together in co-creating that future. Instead of a time of despair, this can be a time of conscious transition; and there are deep narratives that can serve as beacons of hope and guide us toward a more promising future. This draws from Duane Elgin's book Awakening Earth as well as Changing Images of Man, a book I co-authored with Joseph Campbell and others. It also builds on his work as the director of the Great Transition Stories website and project. Sustainable and Thriving Life-Ways for the Future : How can we live with greater material balance? What do life-ways of sustainable prosperity look like? What new skills will be needed for building this new future and what old skills will have to be remembered? What is the role of community in building this new foundation for the future? These themes are found in Duane Elgin's books Voluntary Simplicity and Promise Ahead. Green Business and New Consumer Values in a World of Rapid Change: This talk and facilitated audience conversation explores themes ranging from the life stage of the human family to how unprecedented “adversity trends” (such as climate change) are meeting equally unprecedented “opportunity trends” (such as the communications revolution), and how this, in turn, is producing a pivotal time in human history. Duane further considers what we can do in our personal, professional, and civic lives to build a more promising future. Grounded in more than 35 years of work, the “tipping point talk” provides a big picture perspective for understanding the enormous waves of change that are sweeping the world. The World At The Tipping Point -- A Hopeful View of Our Future: This talk and facilitated audience conversation explores themes ranging from the life stage of the human family to how unprecedented “adversity trends” (such as climate change) are meeting equally unprecedented “opportunity trends” (such as the communications revolution), and how this, in turn, is producing a pivotal time in human history. Duane further considers what we can do in our personal, professional, and civic lives to build a more promising future. Grounded in more than 35 years of work, the “tipping point talk” provides a big picture perspective for understanding the enormous waves of change that are sweeping the world. Moving Toward Simplicity, Sustainability, and Community: This keynote and/or workshop explores “cool lifestyles for our hot world.” Duane also looks at changing values as well as new forms of community that are emerging in response to climate change, energy shortages, and more. He presents a promising view of a future of simplicity and community. We Live In a Living Universe: A stunning view of the universe and our evolutionary journey within it is emerging from the combined wisdom of science and spirituality. In this talk, Duane explores these two threads and how they are converging with profound implications for humanity’s sense of identity, life-purpose, and understanding for the nature of the universe that is our home. OUR WORLD IN TRANSITION: What lies ahead—disaster or renewal? We live in a time of growing urgency. Economic breakdowns, climate change, energy shortages, and more fill the headlines. We know the world is changing but in what ways? What are the “adversity trends” and “opportunity trends” that are converging at this time and what are the alternative outcomes? Are there “big picture” perspectives that can help us make sense out of these challenging times? Can we see a bigger story being played out? What skills and talents are important to develop in these challenging times? This talk draws primarily upon my books Promise Ahead and Awakening Earth. MOVING FROM THE RAT RACE TO THE HUMAN RACE: Cool lifestyles for a hot planet Lily Tomlin summarized the modern dilemma when she said that, “the problem with the rat race is that, even if you win, you’re still a rat.” Duane asserts that a growing number of people are saying they are not interested in winning the rat race but rather in joining the human race—with a higher quality of life. What does a more balanced and sustainable way of living look like? There is no “cookbook for sustainable lifestyles” with all of the answers, so how are people freshly inventing their lives? How are people shifting how they view the world, themselves, and the human journey as an integral part of changing lifestyles? In what ways is community vital to a future of sustainable prosperity? This talk draws upon the just released and fully revised edition of my book, Voluntary Simplicity. Media Accountability & Citizen Empowerment: Citizens and communities face the “perfect storm” of a world systems crisis due to climate change, shortages of oil, and more. The conversation of democracy needs to match the seriousness of the challenges we confront. In a grass-roots, trans-partisan movement, citizens can create a new level of conversation for democracy and communicate our way into a more sustainable and meaningful future.
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“Duane Elgin totally engaged more than 2,000 green building professionals in a spirited dialog about the future, and in the process began conversations between individuals that spilled over into the conference halls. Duane’s strength is ‘speaking with,’ instead of ‘talking to.’ Participants were empowered to be part of an ongoing dialog about our mutual future. As chair of the world’s largest green building conference, I can say that Duane’s impact was immediate, profound and likely to be lasting on our industry.” |
