Lynne Twist is conducting an interview from the Vancouver, British Columbia airport on a Saturday night. Next, she’s flying to the Amazon rainforest with a group of movers and shakers to support indigenous people in a David and Goliath battle to prevent their land from oil extraction.
These are some of many ways the author, activist and former leader of the Hunger Project is staying true to a pledge she made many years ago to live a committed life.
“I just really got that I could live a life of absolute total commitment, and I could make a difference with my life,” says Twist.
It was conversations with Buckminster Fuller, a 20th century inventor and visionary, who inspired Twist with his radical ideas about the power of human creativity and the need to move from a “you or me” to a “you and me” perspective.
Since her initial pact to do everything she can to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually-fulfilling and socially-just human presence on the planet, Twist has made waves across the globe, from preserving more than 1.8 million acres of Amazon rainforest as co-founder of the Pachamama Alliance to writing The Soul of Money, which has empowered countless individuals and organizations to find peace and sufficiency in their relationship with money and the money culture.
She’s worked alongside Mother Theresa, Desmond Tutu, even attending Nelson Mandela’s inauguration, all as a result of living a life of meaning.
“I never could have planned that,” says Twist, on adventures that now include working with women Nobel Peace Prize laureates to end violence against women and girls.
While the notion of one individual making a difference was once a radical idea, Twist says transformation is taking place. People are more connected than ever before, which is leading to unprecedented breakthroughs, from America electing its first African American president to the Arab Spring and Occupy movements.
“The world is waking up to the critical times of which we are living, and that individuals make a difference, that working together and collaboration is way more powerful than competition, and that we all have a responsibility to future generations and to one another unlike any generation that has lived before us,” she says.
Lynne and her husband Bill Twist are being honored by SVN as Visionary Social Entrepreneurs.
Lynne credits Social Venture Network (SVN) for creating a movement bound by what she says is human beings’ greatest attribute — courage.
She says for more than 20 years, SVN has fostered a space for boldness and risk-taking, with many people sticking their neck out to break ground, forging a path for bigger companies to follow.
“What’s not in crisis is people working with people to change the world,” she says.
“So, I think things are absolutely awesome. And I know the problems are huge but the problems aren’t too big for the ingenuity, innovation, brilliance, heart and commitment of the human family.”
