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Paul Hawken is a longtime friend of CharityFocus, renowned entrepreneur, visionary environmental activist, founder of Wiser Earth and author of many books -- most recently Blessed Unrest.

Last week, he was presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters by University of Portland, when he delivered this superb commencement address.

Commencement Address to the Class of 2009 University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was 'direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.' Boy, no pressure there.

But let's begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation – but not onepeer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement.

Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don't poison the water, soil, or air, and don't let the earth get overcrowded, and don't touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food – but all that is changing.

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn’t bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn't afford to send any recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here's the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.

You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen.

Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.

There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity’s willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. "One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver’s description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.

Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown – Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood – and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, and non-governmental organizations, of companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled inhistory.

The living world is not "out there" somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. Think about this: we are the only species on this planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time than to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can’t print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it. In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe – exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a "little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven."

So I have two questions for you all: First, can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end. Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would become religious overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead the stars come out every night, and we watch television.

This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, challenging, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn’t stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn’t ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hopefulness only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.

Ashoka's Changemakers Changemakers is pioneering a transparent online community that "open sources" innovative solutions to social problems worldwide. With its focus on thematic, collaborative competitions, Changemakers has sourced over 500 high-impact action blueprints for solving social problems. It has also built an extensive library of original articles and resources on the growing citizen sector and its historic role in changing the world in positive ways. This collected knowledge serves as the foundation for Changemaker's social change community that is spreading, refining, and replicating these innovations globally.

Center for Courage & Renewal The Center for Courage & Renewal (CCR) is an educational non-profit that strengthens individuals, professions, and communities through programs that renew our spirits and reconnect who we are with what we do. The Center prepares Courage & Renewal Facilitators who offer retreats and programs that foster personal renewal, professional integrity, and vocational clarity.

CharityFocus is an all volunteer run nonprofit organization that endeavors to leverage technology for inspiring greater volunteerism and providing meaningful volunteer opportunities for all who want them.

Concord Institute This educational institute was founded in 1990 to provide post-graduate education for professionals interested in broadening the theoretical and practical scope of their work with individuals and/or groups to include the spiritual dimension and its integration with the more familiar bio-psycho-social dimensions of human experience. The programs and services of the Institute enable the professional to build on the best of his/her previous training and experience, to revise, or discard, what no longer works, and to develop the new skills necessary to render professional service to others more effective and satisfying. Different programs/services speak to the needs of different professions and settings, but all offer training in the principles and practice of holding a spiritual context for professional work.

Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View This website provides extensive information about Richard Tarnas' book, including essays, interviews, excerpts and more.

Dean Radin is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in Petaluma, CA. His work focuses on scientific research into psi phenomena.

Environment and Social Development Department at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Their approach to Environmental and Social Sustainability is a dynamic process where professionals with a wide range of expertise help clients identify and solve complex problems and find value-added opportunities in their business operations. The range of issues they cover is continually expanding to meet the emerging challenges of the global business environment.

Forum on Religion and Ecology The Forum recognizes that religions need to be in dialogue with other disciplines (e.g., science, ethics, economics, education, public policy, gender) in seeking comprehensive solutions to both global and local environmental problems.

Environmental Health Sciences a not-for-profit organization founded in 2002 to help increase public understanding of emerging scientific links between environmental exposures and human health.

The Fetzer Institute develops research and education programs that explore how love and forgiveness can effect transformation and healing for individuals and communities and are informed by both scientific rigor and spirituality.

Global Greengrants Fund Over the past 12 years, they have provided over 3,000 grants in 120 different countries. They believe that grassroots groups are a key to solving the intractable problems of poverty, powerlessness and environmental destruction.

Jacob Needleman, is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University and serves as a consultant in the fields of psychology, education, medical ethics, philanthropy, and business, and has been featured on Bill Moyers's acclaimed PBS series A World of Ideas.

Keystone seeks to influence development practice through a model of civil society accountability that requires civil society organizations to be inclusive in their engagement with stakeholders and transparent and open in their public reporting. Keystone sees accountability as a potential driver of social activity and performance rather than a constraint upon organizations.

Miami Workers Center is based in the Liberty City area of Miami, Fl. We were founded as a volunteer organization in 1999 by former union organizers Gihan Perera and Tony Romano. The Center helps working class people build grassroots organizations and develop their leadership capacity through aggressive community organizing campaigns and education programs.

On the Commons.org a project of the Tomales Bay Institute. The commons is an emerging new paradigm for understanding how groups of people can create and preserve value in more sustainable ways. Unlike the conventional market paradigm, the commons consists of a diverse set of models rooted in social norms and ecological principles. A growing number of scholars, activists and policymakers is beginning to recognize the power of the commons matrix and its importance in creating and managing resources.

Passageways Institute is dedicated to transforming the culture of classrooms, schools and districts so that the inner life of students and teachers is safe, nurtured and welcomed. By "inner life" we refer to that essential aspect of human nature that yearns for deep connection, grapples with difficult questions about meaning, and seeks a sense of purpose and genuine self-expression.

Peter Kingsley's work is to bring back to life, and make accessible again, the extraordinary mystical tradition that lies forgotten right at the roots of the western world.

Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies A growing consensus of scientists, scholars, and visionaries now recognize that the Earth community is facing an unprecedented evolutionary challenge. The ecological, political, and spiritual crisis of late modernity calls for a fundamental reorientation of our civilization, including a transformation of both our institutions and our own consciousness. The cultural historian Thomas Berry has called this task "the Great Work."

The Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness (PCC) program has been designed to help shape the intellectual, moral, and spiritual leadership necessary for meeting this historic challenge. Drawing upon some of the most powerful ideas and impulses of our philosophical, scientific, and religious traditions, the faculty has constructed an intensive multidisciplinary course of study to help accelerate students' journeys into their particular leadership roles within this work.

Ram Dass' website is a portal for Ram Dass' current teachings and activities from his home base on Maui. Within this site is Ram Dass Satsang, a subscriber-based Spiritual Community which will serve as his platform for reaching out.

The Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Based at Columbia University's College of Physicians & Surgeons, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Rosenthal Center is one of the first comprehensive programs at a major medical center to examine alternative therapies with academic focus and scientific rigor. The Rosenthal Center's mission is to contribute to the informed research and practice of complementary and alternative medicine and to foster the development of a more comprehensive and inclusive medical system.

Sandra Steingraber's website gives information about her books, media appearances, talks and articles.

Science & Environmental Health Network Since 1998, SEHN has been the leading proponent in the United States of the Precautionary Principle as a new basis for environmental and public health policy. SEHN has worked with issue driven organizations, national environmental health coalitions, municipal and state governments, and several NGO/government teams to implement precautionary policies at local and state levels. The Science and Environmental Health Network engages communities and governments in the effective application of science to protect and restore public and ecosystem health.

Tides Foundation Since 1976, Tides Foundation has provided professional and innovative services to individuals and institutions committed to accelerating positive social change through philanthropy. Tides Foundation offers donor advised funds and other grantmaking vehicles as well as professional philanthropic advice, institutional regranting services, comprehensive grants management and much more. It also creates opportunities for learning and builds community among donors and grantees committed to fairness, equality and the sustainability of this world.