What will it take to build the future we want? In September 2011, over 50 leaders from around the world convened at Ecotrust in Portland to share stories of challenges and hope for building a resilient future.

Zoning for People and Fish: Tools for Marine Spatial Planning - Spatial planning is gaining momentum as the most effective means to protect sensitive marine ecosystems around the world. Since 2001, Ecotrust has worked with state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and fishing communities to offer integrated ecological and economic assessments of fishery policy and marine conservation. Learn more: http://www.ecotrust.org/ocean/.

Jim Manion, Janeen Comenote, Allen Pinkham, Sr., A. Brian Wallace, and Patricia L. Whitefoot speak about their vision for hope.

12/3/09 — Ecotrust today recognized five of the Wests most innovative indigenous leaders for their efforts to improve conditions in their communities. The recipients were selected by a panel of tribal leaders, and their efforts span the areas of youth advocacy, education, renewable energy, cultural restoration and scholarship.

The Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award has quietly become one of the preeminent programs honoring and supporting tribal, First Nation, and Alaska Native leaders in the West. Tribes and First Nations are more than an ethnic or minority demographic; they are nations and representative governments, major land owners, committed co-managers in natural resources, and they are major drivers of local and regional economies. Tribes, First Nations, and Alaska Natives hold long-range vision, sustainable societal values and a history of the land and marine and terrestrial ecosystems that provide a sense of place in the growing global economy.

A trailer for a 10 minute video on the Ecotrust belief that building local, living communities is the way to save the economy and the environment at the same time. The film shares the stories of analysts, professors, bankers, students, entrepreneurs and architects, and their movement toward a new economic model of recovery and sustainability.

This and other programs are available on EarthSayers as well as the EcoTrust Website and on their YouTube Channel.