Biodiversity:

The variety of species in a particular habitat or ecosystem.  A community that is higher in its biodiversity is often more resilient and is better equipped to handle disaster or negative change. Diversity in a human community is important too, since it can foster open minds and provide a wealthy reservoir of resources and knowledge.

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Biocultural Diversity:

This is defined by Luisa Maffi as “the diversity of life in all its manifestations: biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated (and possibly coevolved) within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.” This concept recognizes that the diversity of life is made up of a multitude of various plants and animal species, habitats and ecosystems, and human cultures and languages. More information here.

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Collective Impact:

Collective Impact is a framework to solve socially entrenched and complex problems, such as unsustainable wicked problems. It is an innovative and structured approach to making collaboration work across government, business, philanthropy, non-profit organisations and citizens to arrive at a common agenda and achieve significant and lasting social change. More information here.

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Dialogue:

"Dialogue is intended to be an engaging and inclusive conversation for all participants, and is based on an understanding that everyone in the room is coming from a different background, and will have different interests and views. The goal of dialogue is to create a space where these can be expressed, and where participants can actively listen to each other and learn something new. [...] Dialogue ultimately provides a space to bring together diverse viewpoints, explore these differences, and work towards understanding them better." (source)

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Placemaking:

The overarching idea of designing a physical place in order to facilitate the health, happiness, and connectedness of a community. Placemaking recognizes that the built environment directly influences its inhabitants. We can co-create our cities to benefit both humans and non-humans.

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Stewardship:

The act of connecting with a space or an idea and actively caring for it. Environmental stewardship often looks like a person of group of people (paid or not) donating time or money in order to preserve the natural world (whether this is removing invasive species, doing monthly bird counts, or planting trees).

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Systems Thinking:

A holistic mindset in which we appreciate the world and each of its processes as an intricate system. Systems thinking understands that one action can have consequences at some other part of the system and at some other time. When we think in terms of connectedness and context, then we can propagate positive actions.

i.e. – an ecosystem, a food system (where does your food come from? where will it end up? how much waste and energy was produced to create and dispose of it/its wrappings?)

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“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
-John Muir

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Transformative Learning:

The process by which we transform problematic frames of reference (mindsets, habits of mind, meaning perspectives) – sets of assumption and expectation – to make them more inclusive, discriminating, open, reflective, and emotionally able to change. (Jack Mezirow).

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Tsawalk:

A Nuu-chah-nulth concept that means “everything is connected, everything is one” that I came to know by reading “Principles of Tsawalk: An Indigenous Approach to Global Crisis" by E. Richard Atleo.