The NWEI courses provide employees with the peer solidarity sometimes necessary to instigate environmental business practices. To engage people in the workplace, NWEI has developed three discussion courses, with a 150-page book for each. Deep Ecology and Related Topics, a nine-session course introduced in 1993, addresses core values and how they affect the earth. Voluntary Simplicity, a seven-session course introduced in 1994, focuses on values and habits promoted by the economy that distract us in our daily lives. Each session is structured to honor the Earth and empower participants.
Participants learn from each other as they confront their values, attitudes, and habits.
For example, a woman who loves to kayak took her group through a mental visualization of kayaking alone through a wilderness setting. The courses have been offered in a dozen cities and towns in Oregon and Washington. About 80 percent of those completing an evaluation say the course changed their lives. There's an integrity that comes with that. It's where I've been needing to be and didn't realize it.