Known as The Long Run, our philosophy is an approach to life geared at acting today for a better tomorrow. The Long Run is the flagship initiative of the Zeitz Foundation, built around The Long Run Destinations, but reaching out, into every aspect of our day-to-day life. For more, see www.thelongrun.com
Our Keys: At the Zeitz Foundation, we strive to be Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative in all that we do, in the best interests of our World.
Fair means Balanced: to see both sides, and to resist the pressures that try to push us into extreme ways of thinking or working or living. It also means to be open to all, and to refuse to discriminate against people or make judgements about them based on their gender, race, religion, political persuasion, sexual preference, or way of life. And being Fair means listening as much as you talk, and giving back as much as you take.
Honest means Sincere: not faking it, walking the walk as much as you talk the talk. It means putting your money or your time or your energy where your mouth is. And being Honest means admitting your mistakes, and owning up to your responsibilities – something that applies to companies as much as it does to individuals.
Positive means Constructive: building things – and people – up, not breaking them down. It means suggesting rather than criticizing, and working for a solution rather than just complaining. It means supporting others when they try, encouraging them when they fail, and celebrating with them when they succeed. It means We Can, more often than We Can’t.
Creative means Imaginative: thinking outside the box, of course. Being Creative means finding a way around a problem, rather than just stopping when the walls are too high. It means looking at new ways, listening to new ideas and trying new strategies. It means striving for the most innovative solution because just being good enough isn’t ever good enough, when we’re talking about the future. It means having dreams, and then making those dreams real things, in the real world.
Vision:The vision of the Zeitz Foundation is of an ecosphere – our planet and all of its life-sustaining regions – maintained in the healthiest possible state, with the major contribution to that health coming from people making sustainable choices.
Mission:The mission of the Foundation is to create and support sustainable, ecologically and socially responsible projects and destinations around the world to achieve long-lasting impact and sustainability through the holistic balance of conservation, community, culture and commerce (the 4Cs) in privately managed areas.
Home Movie: Today, it is clear that we are at a crossroads. Never before has it been more apparent that if we don’t change direction soon, and dramatically, it may be too late. The complexity of the challenges facing our world today can be both overwhelming and paralyzing—for us as individuals, and for our governments and institutions as well.
But we think this is the key: finding solutions that work by harnessing the power of one—one individual, one family, one community, one company, one nation at a time—all working for the common cause of a better world.
We cannot escape our responsibility by waiting for governments to do this for us. Real and viable sustainability begins when we recognize that we all have a role to play as contributors to positive change.
The HOME movie, by Zeitz Foundation Friend, Yann Arthus-Betrand, encapsulates our thoughts. Watch it on the Zeitz Foundation You Tube Channel.
