Two Social Venture Network (SVN)  members are being recognized for helping lead a global shift to create a world that is sustainable, just, and thriving for all beings.
For their work in the Amazon and across the globe, Lynne and Bill Twist are being inducted into the Social Venture Network Hall of Fame as Visionary Social Entrepreneurs. Bill and Lynne are among 25 SVN members who will be honored during the network’s Hall of Fame celebration in New York City on November 13th.

Bill and Lynne co-founded the Pachamama Alliance in 1995, after an historic meeting with the Achuar people, a remote tribe living in the Amazon rainforest. The organization has helped preserve 1.8 million acres of Amazon rainforest by empowering indigenous people to advocate for the protection of their land, not just for themselves but for the future of all life on Earth.
Since first developing their workshops in 2005, Lynne says thousands of volunteers in more than 70 countries have participated, as people are waking up to their responsibility. Lynne says they educate participants on the environmental, social, economic, and spiritual crises affecting humankind, helping people move from guilt to action.

“The picture is pretty confronting," Lynne says. "People move from what I will call denial up to despair. That sounds terrible, but it is up. Going from numb to despair means you really start to face the crises you’re living in."

From feelings of sadness, despair, and anger, the workshop challenges participants to rethink “unconscious, unexamined assumptions,” such as throwing things away — where is away? — to discover their own responsibility in bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, socially-just and spiritually-fulfilling world.
                       "It's not a burden, but a huge opportunity."

“People come out of the symposium and they change their jobs, they change the energy systems in their house, they reduce their garbage, they start visiting people in prisons, they start including new people in their circle of friends,” says Lynne.

“It’s not a burden but a huge opportunity to make a difference with the life that you’re living, and ennoble your life by making choices that are so inspired, so responsible, so filled with a commitment to future generations that you live a life of profound meaning.”

Bravo!! Lynne and Bill Twist!

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