Sustainability Principles Online Dialogue

Michael Ben-Eli is an international consultant on management and organization. His work has focused on strategy development, organizational design, sustainability, and change management. He graduated from the Architectural Association in London and later received a Ph.D. from the Institute of Cybernetics at Brunel University, where he studied under Gordon Pask. He was a student and close associate of Buckminster Fuller, with whom he collaborated on projects involving research on advanced structural systems and exploration of issues related to the management of technology and world resources for the advantage of all.

Dr. Ben-Eli pioneered applications of Systems Thinking and Cybernetics in management and organization. Over the years he worked on synthesizing strategy issues in many parts of the world and in diverse institutional settings, ranging from small high technology firms to multinational enterprises, manufacturing companies, financial institutions, health care and educational organizations, government agencies, NGOs, and international multilateral organizations.

In recent years, he has been working primarily on issues related to sustainability and sustainable development. With a strong commitment to Fuller’s legacy, Michael refocused his mission on helping inspire leaders in business, government, community, and youth accelerate a peaceful, world embracing transition to a sustainable future. He is founder of Sustainability Initiatives, a network of activities established in order to facilitate transition to sustainability practices, in both the public and private sectors.

» Click here to read an interview with Michael Ben-Eli (PDF)

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Founded in 1983, The Buckminster Fuller Institute serves a global network of design science innovators working at the leading edge to "make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone".

We offer educational programs, publications, initiatives and tools to help further the design science revolution Fuller inspired. Our constituency crosses disciplinary boundaries and includes people working in the fields of the art, architecture, design, education, engineering, information technology, economics, mathematics, science, and systems theory.

» click here to visit the Buckminster Fuller Institute

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Carl Frankel is a nationally-known writer, speaker, consultant, and entrepreneur specializing in sustainable development. Frankel is currently the president of Our Community Networks, a Kingston, NY-based socially responsible enterprise. He previously served as a senior columnist for the US-based magazine green@work, as North American editor for Tomorrow Magazine, and as contributing editor to Yes! The Journal of Positive Futures. He was also the founder, editor, and publisher of Green Market Alert, a newsletter that tracked corporate environmentalism and green business strategies. He is a main author of a white paper on social enterprise, to be published by the Aspen Institute. Frankel's 1998 book, In Earth's Company: Business, Environment and the Challenge of Sustainability (New Society), has been called "the best book I have seen about the business aspects of sustainable development" (David Buzzelli, ex-co-chair, President's Council on Sustainable Development). His 2004 book, Out of the Labyrinth: Who We Are, How We Go Wrong, and What We Can Do About It, "raises the literature on sustainability to a new level," according to the ecological economist Hazel Henderson.