Effective strategies for responsible stewardship of our natural resources can’t be made in a vacuum.  It’s easy to get consensus among people of like minds, but it has little or no power beyond the sound of the participants' voices.  Real change comes out of the uncomfortable and challenging laboratory of competing interests and perspectives.

Sustainable solutions must fulfill the demands of a competitive profit-driven marketplace, respect the delicate balance and limitations of our natural resources and environment, recognize the financial constraints of the average citizen and serve the greater public good.  Such solutions can come only from an environment of collaboration; our individual perspectives and capabilities are limited and insufficient.

Collaboration between divergent interests starts with a clearly defined shared vision that is broad and valuable enough to hit the sweet spot of benefit for all stakeholders, compelling them to come together to accomplish it.  The heart of the vision must be preserved as it is translated into goals, actions and measurements of success.  And, there must be a trusted, vested and impartial entity to facilitate the process from beginning to end.

Green Legacies was formed in July 2008 to be that trusted, vested and impartial entity.  Our Articles of Incorporation put it this way:

"...to facilitate the development and management of public/private collaborative projects designed to advance the integration and application of environmentally sustainable values and practices in communities throughout Colorado and the United States, through education, research and communication for and between property owners and developers, business and civic leaders, public policy makers and other community leadership and stakeholders, which in turn, will help citizens to enjoy a higher quality of life;"