Summary

The Seres Institute is a research, education, and cultural exchange organization for the promotion of ecologically and socially sustainable communities based on traditional East Asian systems.

Background

Historically, the longest surviving cultures have been those built around solid, family-centered agrarian communities. Prominent among these is the 3000-year-old Chinese and Korean cultures. Established in its traditional form by King Wen of Zhou in China and Tangun in Korea, the village system allowed East Asia a long history of relative peace and prosperity. It fuelled the arts and sciences, and maintained social order despite numerous political takeovers and natural disasters.

Over the last two hundred years, the West has slowly emerged from its agricultural origins to an industrial, consumerist, largely city dwelling population. East Asia, in its quest for modernization and global influence, is making the same change but in only thirty years. However, the West and East Asia are increasingly finding that mass urbanization is generally unsustainable from both environmental and sociological/psychological perspectives, and need to adapt to face the multiplying challenges.

In recognition of these needs, the Seres Institute was founded in 2009 to research ways in which the principles that supported thousands of years of village life can be used to create sustainability and stability in modern Western and East Asian communities. The Seres Institute differs from many other organizations in its unique use of ethnography, history, and agriculture to address the challenges of modern urbanization.

The Seres Institute is more than just a consultancy, think-tank or education forum, with plans to not only to address the cultural problems urbanization, but to also assist third-world countries develop prosperous sustainable communities based off of both Eastern and Western models. While we function primarily in an educating and consultative role, we also personally involve ourselves in cultural exchange, creative projects, communication facilitation, and in all aspects of human education.

Mission Statement

The Seres Institute is committed to studying, applying, and communicating ways in which the ancient village principles of social harmony, environmental conservation, and sustainable community can address the challenges of global society.