IGS in brief

The Citizens’ Initiative for an Integral Green Slovenia, founded in April 2013 by a group of distinguished Slovenian experts and lead by Dr. Darja Piciga, is a pan-Slovenian and non-partisan initiative for a wholesome life in the internationally respected community of Slovenia.

Together with the authors of the Integral Worlds approach, Professors Ronnie Lessem and Alexander Schieffer, and their Geneva-based institute Trans4m Center for Integral Development, and also drawing upon a number of internationally renowned role models, in theory and practice, a new Integral Green Slovenian Economic and Societal perspective gradually evolved and was presented in the Gower and Routledge volume Integral Green Slovenia published in June 2016.

The Initiative for an Integral Green Slovenia is based on the conviction that by building on the country’s potentials for all four integral economic paths (i.e., self-sufficient community-based economy, developmental culture-based economy, social knowledge based economy and “living” life-based economy) and fundamental values underlying its cultural heritage, we have the opportunity, in both theory and practice, to co-evolve a knowledge-and-value based economy and sustainable society that can serve as a pilot case for the integral green approach at a time when Europe is seeking to develop a smart (knowledge-based), sustainable and inclusive society and economy.

The integral theoretical framework is being applied in an original and practical way:

  • by placing fundamental values, ​​underlying the Slovenian and European cultural heritage, in the centre and as the starting point of practical policies and measures;
  • by authentically building on Slovenian culture as well as incorporating elements of neighbouring and other cultures;
  • by connecting and upgrading a number of Slovenian good practices, aligning them with (already) internationally recognised models of integral economy and sustainable development;
  • by smart integration and effective implementation of EU developmental policies based on sustainable development principles;
  • by purposely building on the paradigm of sustainable development that encompasses four dimensions (i.e., economy, environment, society, culture), with particular emphasis on values ​​of sustainability and social responsibility.

Key components of the evolving Integral Green Slovenia model are, together with a few practice cases, presented in the figure bellow.

Diagram IZS

In recent years,

  • we have upgraded the Integral Green Slovenia model by defining a sustainable vision at the center and ambitious goals for all four "worlds" (second figure) and the presentation of multiple potentials for a sustainable integral path, with a smart integration approach (third figure).
  • we also designed an integral model for the vision and potentials of the European Union: Integral Green Europe (second and third figure).
Integral Words approach - Well being
Integral Words approach - Moral core

We presented these results at several events and in various contributions, including in a series of 90 posts on the platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe: 3x30 Ideas from Integral Green Slovenia for an Integral Green Europe (available here).

Many contributions in the Slovenian language are accessible via the Slovenian website Integralna zelena Slovenija, among them a comprehensive account of the Integral Worlds approach and Integral Green Slovenia model in the context of the EU sustainability policies: 100 publications in the Integral series - With smart integration to sustainable development.