Environmental problems are cultural problems. Groundwork offers place-based education for shifting paradigms, building the skills, knowledge, and relationships needed for cultural shifts.
ground•work /ˈɡroun(d)wərk/ — noun: preliminary or foundational work
Rising to meet the challenges posed by climate change, ecological decline, and environmental injustice requires more than new technologies and policies. Changes to economies, political systems, and infrastructure must come in tandem with changes to values, attitudes, and practices. At Groundwork, we work to shift the foundations of the ways we understand ourselves and our place in the world, in order to work towards more just and sustainable shared futures for a time beyond our own.
Building sustainable culture takes time.
At Groundwork, we believe that a long view and a slow approach is necessary to create deep, lasting change. We see our work as just the beginning of a process: planting seeds of a sustainable culture that takes time to grow.
Featured Program: Human & Natural Ecologies of Colorado
Deepen your relationship with the land.
Camp in the mountains for 3-7 days, stepping into a new relationship with the ecosystems of Western Colorado. Blending observation, plant identification, and knowledge of traditional wild food systems you’ll learn to read the landscape: where water hides, where soil and rock types affect the plants, how to predict which edible plants will grow in a given place.
Groundwork’s Programs
Summer Food Systems Fellowship
Learn to nourish an unraveling world.
Young people are inheriting a world in crisis. Today, “the good life” is not about living in reciprocity with the landscapes that nourish us. This fellowship is for people seeking an alternative. Join us to develop the skills and practices to live otherwise.
Fall Colorado River Fellowship
Come home to your watershed.
Follow the Colorado River Basin from the headwaters to the desert, exploring what it means to be develop a good relationship with the source of life in an aridifying region.
Human & Natural Ecologies of Colorado
Deepen your relationship with the land.
Step into a new relationship with the ecosystems of Western Colorado. Blending observation, plant identification, and knowledge of traditional wild food systems you’ll learn to read the landscape: where water hides, where soil and rock types affect the plants, how to predict which edible plants will grow in a given place.
Groundwork’s Publications
Bite-Sized Books
There are plenty of overwhelming 400-page tomes on climate change and ecological decline. We need to communicate in a way that is includes and inspires more people. Bite-Sized Books are tiny, simple publications written that make climate change more accessible.
Podcasts
Climate change is not just about greenhouse gases, technology, policy, and renewable energy. Groundwork’s podcasts explore climate change and ecological decline a relational problems rooted deeply in our culture and the ways we see our world.
Email Newsletters
Groundwork publishes monthly newsletters featuring organizational updates and resources for environmental work. Our long-form quarterly newsletter, The Winnowing Tray, features essays and resources on the role of cultural shift in creating a livable future.
Our Sponsors
Our Partners
The Lamborn Foundation
Farm Equipment Donors
