About Us
What Is EFI®
The Environic Foundation International® is a research and education foundation incorporated in1970 as a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization as described in section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States. EFI is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
Mission
Our mission is to empower people to move from destructive to constructive social, economic and environmental practices by providing education that develops their capacity to create more equitable, healthy and sustainable societies.
What we do
Since 2002, EFI has been researching global, regional and local sustainability issues and approaches to address them. Based on that research we develop and provide educational programs, resources and learning tools for higher education and business that develops individuals' understanding of the social, economic and environmental challenges and their personal capacity to create strategies to address them.
To date, our programs have been used at undergraduate, graduate and professional education levels in the United States and Africa for individuals in business, environmental studies, natural sciences, life sciences, art, health care, government, agriculture, engineering and community development.
Why we do what we do
There are multiple, parallel challenges confronting our world today.
Globally, cultural groups are becoming more adversarial, the gap between
rich and poor is widening and the natural environment is deteriorating. The
growth of the human population from 7 billion today to 9 billion by 2050
is accelerating these increasing cultural tensions, income disparities and
rates of natural resource consumption.
To reverse these trends and support the earth's growing population,
improve living standards and preserve the natural resource base on which
we all depend will require a 400% to 1000% improvement in how effectively
we use the resources we have. Global change on that scale over several
decades will take innovation on an unprecedented scale and require
rethinking and reinventing every aspect of how we live and work.
For higher education and business, that means providing education and training that develops recognition and understanding of the challenges and empowers individuals to be prepared with the skills and knowledge to tackle them.
Working with the United Nations Environment Programme and higher education institutions, EFI has created an internationally reviewed, classroom-tested, trans-disciplinary four-step process that develops creative, problem-solving capacity in individuals in all disciplines and professions to tackle sustainability challenges.
The outcome is a corps of individuals who:
- Understand sustainability issues and their inter-relationships;
- Recognize sustainability challenges and the opportunities for innovation that they create;
- Create and apply effective strategies to address the challenges.
Environic Matrix
Whether local or global, critical social, economic and environmental challenges we face fall into twenty-five, inter-related issue categories. For all people, they are, or are becoming, the issues that determine quality of life on the planet.
Sustainable Societies
EFI's Sustainable Societies program provides college and university students, businesses, government officials and non-governmenta organizations with a process for learning about the full array of social, economic and environmental challenges in their regions and areas of operations and develops their capacity to address them.