Vanessa Timmer

Vanessa Timmer is co-founder and Executive Director of One Earth, a nonprofit ‘think and do’ tank based in Vancouver, Canada, whose mission is to transform production and consumption patterns locally, nationally and internationally to be sustainable, healthy and just within the limits of living systems. She weaves together sustainability with systems thinking, and believes that envisioning sustainable futures is a powerful draw for social change. One Earth works with local to global partners to highlight the links between who we are, what we buy, where we live, what we make, what we trade, and how we live together. One Earth is working towards North American leadership in this area on systemic change, with partners including The Story of Stuff Project and The Sustainability Funders, and, on the policy front, with the Canadian and US Government, the United Nations, private sector, media, academia, and civil society. One Earth is leading the New Economies theme of the Canada-wide Cities for People initiative taking collaborative action to create more resilient and livable cities. Locally, she advises the City and Metro Vancouver and promotes eco-industrial networking regionally. Vanessa is also an Associate with the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government on innovation and global public goods. She is asked to speak on social change, leadership, systems thinking and sustainability, and teaches courses on these topics at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Simon Fraser University, Metro Vancouver and the International Institute for Sustainable Development.