Grifen Hope

Grifen Hope was born in New Zealand in 1976 and grew up in an alternative community. Immersed in patterns of sustainability, he developed a repertoire of basic values, knowledge and skills for living simply and designing resilient systems. As a teenager, Grifen discovered permaculture and later began exploring regenerative design with an international community of people with a shared vision for a different future.

After completing a degree in Resource and Environmental Planning from Massey University, Grifen shifted away from his formal career pathway, opting instead to apply his planning skills through the Taranaki Environmental Education Trust. Grifen learned his trade here and began practicing as a teacher, designer and facilitator for sustainability.

In 2007, Grifen traveled to Chile with his partner, Javiera Carrión, another Gaia University regional organizer. Together they realized that an opportunity existed to hasten the development of the Transition Movement in Latin America. As they looked around for support to develop a regional center of the Permaculture Master Plan, Gaia University emerged as a viable option for: developing competency in Literacy for Sustainability, attaining a masters degree in Integrative Ecosocial Design and helping to develop the center they had envisioned.

Thanks to the support of Gaia University, among others, a center for the Great Reskilling called Ecoescuela El Manzano is alive and well in Chile today – a living school that represents Gaia University, The Permaculture Research Institute and Transition Towns. It is now possible to find accelerated learning pathways for resilience in Chile through which people can develop the competencies needed to get themselves and their communities through the transition, thus avoiding a seemingly inevitable collapse. You can read more about Grifen and his projects here.

Gaia University has enabled me to sharpen my skills as a regenerative designer. With the support of an international community, a project is developing that is my own living thesis of permaculture practice. This began by asking, 'How can I act in a way that empowers others to organize for sustainability?'

My role in the world has been clarified and a long term pathway begun – one that is already enabling me to realize my dreams. I am emerging as a practiced sustainability professional, collaborating with a learning community of leaders, from local to global, to bring a new world into being.