POPULUS hosts new and tough conversations that lead to decision making and action.

The purpose of this work is to shepherd individual, community, corporate and organizational conversations and decision making into a new era where the following are front and center:

• Pragmatic purpose
• Community health
• Fiscal and economic responsibility
• Environmental responsibility
• Cultural responsibility
• Public conversation

In accomplishing the above, the following principles guide POPULUS work:

• Look after self
• Look after others
• Look after place

About the Name POPULUS

Populus is the genus of the poplar and aspen trees, the tree with the widest geographic distribution in Canada and North America.

The characteristics of populus also exist in communities:

• Things are not always as they appear.  What appears to be one tree is only part of a much larger organism – the whole stand, and one of Earth’s largest living organisms
• Our roots and connections to each other are not always apparent, much like the roots that connect each “tree”
• The separation between the individual and the community is not as easy as one might think
• The poplar tree is a very tough species that withstands significant challenges to its changing environment
• Poplar will thrive in almost any environment
• The poplar tree is a key part of our natural ecosystem and demonstrates how everything is connected within our communities;
• Poplar is a pioneer species – the first species to appear after a disturbance such as fire or logging
• To people, poplar trees are often described as “messy” – the leaves, the shoots everywhere, the sticky buds.  This too is representative of community.  Confusion and “messyness” abounds.  Things pop up everywhere
• Populus is the latin derivative of the word “populace” – the people of a place.  The people for whom POPULUS will work and whom POPULUS will support as they create place…