Robert Gilman
Template:Short description Template:AI-generated Robert C. Gilman (born 1945) is a thinker on sustainability who, along with his late wife Diane Gilman, has researched and written about ecovillages.<ref>Connie Koenenn, “Robert Gilman: Cast Lot With the Planet,” Los Angeles Times (Mar. 30, 1990).</ref> The Gilmans’ work was important in giving definition to the ecovillage movement and shaping the direction of the Global Ecovillage Network.<ref>Sky Blue, “Ecovillages and the FIC,” Foundation for Intentional Community (May 24 2016).</ref> In 1991, the Gilmans co-authored Eco-Villages and Sustainable Communities, a seminal study of ecovillages for Gaia Trust.<ref>Sky Blue, “Ecovillages and the FIC,” Foundation for Intentional Community (May 24, 2016).</ref>
Also in 1991, Gilman, who was publisher of the magazine In Context, wrote an article entitled “The Eco-village Challenge” that set out a definition of an ecovillage as a:
- human-scale
- full-featured settlement
- in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world
- in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future. <ref>“The Eco-village Challenge”, In Context (Summer 1991).</ref> <ref>EarthTalk, “What Are ‘Eco-Villages’?”, Scientific American (Dec. 22 2008).</ref>
This definition was to become the standard definition on which the ecovillage movement was founded and is still considered by many to be the most authoritative.<ref>EarthTalk, “What Are ‘Eco-Villages’?”, Scientific American (Dec. 22 2008); Sky Blue, “Ecovillages and the FIC,” Foundation for Intentional Community (May 24, 2016).</ref>
From astrophysics to global sustainability
Gilman's academic training is in astrophysics. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967 with a bachelor's in astronomy. He received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Princeton University in 1969.<ref>Association for Behavior Analysis International, “41st Annual Convention Program” (San Antonio 2015) (speaker biography of Robert C. Gilman).</ref> Gilman has taught and conducted research at the University of Minnesota, the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and was a research associate at NASA's Institute for Space Studies.<ref>Association for Behavior Analysis International, “41st Annual Convention Program” (San Antonio 2015) (speaker biography of Robert C. Gilman).</ref>
Another phase of Gilman's life began in the mid 1970s when he decided that "the stars could wait, but the planet couldn't."<ref>Koenenn 1990.</ref> He turned his attention to the study of global sustainability, futures research and strategies for positive cultural change. He and Diane designed and built their own solar home in 1975.<ref>Connie Koenenn, “Robert Gilman: Cast Lot With the Planet,” Los Angeles Times (Mar. 30, 1990).</ref> In 1979, they founded the Context Institute, one of the earliest NGOs to focus on sustainability.<ref>Connie Koenenn, “Robert Gilman: Cast Lot With the Planet,” Los Angeles Times (Mar. 30, 1990).</ref>
In Context magazine
The institute launched In Context: A Quarterly of Humane Sustainable Culture in 1983, with Gilman as editor.<ref>Koenenn 1990.</ref> The journal won the Utne Reader Alternative Press Award for “Best Coverage of Emerging Issues” in 1991 and 1994.<ref>Team Higher Ground, “Thought Leaders – Meaning in the Workplace” (Jan. 18 2019).</ref>
Global Action Plan and GEN
In 1989–92 Gilman co-developed the **Global Action Plan Household EcoTeam Program**, an early behavior-change model that organized neighbors into teams to cut household waste, water, and energy use;<ref>Global Action Plan International, “EcoTeams Overview” (archived 2023).</ref> the model was later adopted nationwide in the Netherlands and other countries.<ref>Medium, Reinhabiting the Village, Inhabiting the Future by Robert Gilman (Oct. 12, 2018).</ref>
Building on their Gaia Trust study, Robert and Diane helped convene the 1995 Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities conference at Findhorn, Scotland, which formally launched the Global Ecovillage Network.<ref>Janet Shaw, “Eco-villages and Sustainable Communities Conference 1995,” Celebrating One Incredible Family (accessed 18 May 2025).</ref> Gilman later spent three years living in Winslow Cohousing on Bainbridge Island, Washington, to test ecovillage principles firsthand.<ref>Medium, 2018.</ref>
Recent initiatives
Since 2016 Gilman has led Bright Future Now, an online six-week course and alumni network that trains change-makers in what he calls the transition from an “Empire Era” to a “Planetary Era.”<ref>Bright Future Now, “About the Course” (retrieved 19 May 2025).</ref> He continues to speak internationally on regenerative design and cultural evolution, including at Pakhuis de Zwijger’s “Regenerative Design” forum in Amsterdam (2023)<ref>“Regenerative Design,” Pakhuis de Zwijger programme (30 Jan 2023).</ref> and in Vicki Robin’s 2020 *CoVida Conversations* interview series.<ref>Vicki Robin, “CoVida Conversation with Robert Gilman” (Apr. 2020).</ref>
Diane Gilman
Diane Gilman (1945–1998) was a painter, potter and writer, co-founded the Context Institute, co-authored the 1991 Gaia Trust report, and served as initial coordinator of GEN after the 1995 Findhorn conference.<ref>Shaw 1995.</ref>