Is PLAN Right for You?

Before filling out an application for Member status, please consider whether you are well aligned to the network. Note also the automatically-approved Subscriber application as an alternative.

PLAN Membership may be a good fit for you if:

  1. You are an active scholar; an academic appointment and/or a record of scholarly output tend to satisfy this criterion;
  2. You are aligned to the 10 Foundational Principles of PLAN (please review carefully);
  3. You sense that human civilization is fast approaching a critical junction whose resolution demands changes to our mental models of culture at least as much as technological solutions;
  4. You see issues like climate change and resource scarcity—albeit complex—as symptoms of the larger phenomenon of ecological overshoot;
  5. You think that our predicament calls for a re-evaluation of the role of humans in a finite biophysical world: that we are not masters of the planet;
  6. You worry that a paradigm promoting growth, placing unlimited faith in technology, and seeking short term “gains” for humans to the exclusion of ecosystem health and biodiversity will not lead to success;
  7. You are interested in exploring approaches to human activity that could conceivably work for the very long term.

PLAN’s purview is broad enough to require collective thought and exploration from every discipline, even if those disciplines do not currently devote much attention to such issues.  The power of PLAN is in the union of otherwise disconnected fields.  Imagining a viable future will require elements of humanities, social sciences, science/technology, and professional pursuits without being dominated by any one of these areas.  Therefore, PLAN is a place to branch out: to make connections and explore a frontier of new directions not currently well represented in scholarly pursuits.

For information on PLAN activities (past, present, future), see our annual reports.

One last step before beginning the application: please review the PLAN Code of Conduct. You will be asked to verify your agreement in the application process.

Ready to sign up? Then please take time to fill out the PLAN Member Application. We will endeavor to review your application within a few weeks.