Bob Doppelt

Bob Doppelt is the coordinator of the International Transformational Resilience Coalition (ITRC). He is trained in both counseling psychology (M.S.) and environmental science (M.S. Recreation and Park Management), and has combined the two fields throughout his career. In addition, he is trained in systems dynamics (systems thinking), and is a long-time mindfulness teacher and a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Instructor. Due to his many years of work, in 2015 Bob was named one the world’s “50 Most Talented Social Innovators” by the World CRS Congress.

Early in his career Bob worked at the Lane County, Oregon, Juvenile Department as a delinquency prevention and family therapist.

He then founded and for 10 years directed the Pacific Rivers Council. In that role Bob led the campaign that led to what continues to be the largest river protection act in U.S. history, the 1988 Oregon Omnibus National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. He also led the effort that created the Aquatic Ecosystem Conservation Strategy that the Clinton Administration adopted for federal lands across the Pacific Northwest. In addition, he led the efforts that established the Watershed Council movement that now brings non-profit, public, private landowners and residents together to plan conservation efforts in river basins throughout Oregon and many other states nationwide.

In 1996 Bob established The Resource Innovation Group (TRIG), which until 2002 was affiliated with the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University, where Bob also taught Systems Thinking. In this role he led the efforts that, for the first time, formally engaged the State’s of Washington and Oregon in ecological sustainability. He also proposed and managed the development of the first-ever State of the Environment Report for the State of Oregon (Oregon Progress Board), and helped to establish the State of Oregon Sustainability Board. He also consulted with private and non-profit firms in the U.S. and internationally on how to change their systems, products, and services to become more ecologically sustainable.

TRIG moved its affiliation to the University of Oregon in 2003 and remained there until 2018. During most of that period Bob directed the UO Climate Leadership Initiative (CLI) in the Institute for a Sustainable Environment. CLI was one of the first programs in the U.S. that helped states, counties, and cities nationwide design climate mitigation and adaptation programs and policies. Under his direction, for instance, played a leadership role in creating the U.S. climate adaptation and resilience movement by organizing the SE Florida Climate Resilience Compact, hosting the Climate Access climate communications program, establishing the American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP), and helping numerous states, counties, and cities develop their first climate adaptation plans. From 2003 until 2018 Bob also taught Systems Thinking and Global Warming Policy in the UO Department of Planning, Public Policy, and Management.

Through his work on climate adaptation that Bob realized that the mental health and psychosocial impacts of the climate crisis were not being addressed. This led him in 2013 to organized the International Transformational Resilience Coalition (ITRC), which is now led by a national steering committee composed of 20-plus leaders representing major resiliency, health, faith, and other organizations, as well as local steering committees in different parts of the U.S. The ITRC now has partners in the mental health, resilience, climate, disaster response, faith, and other professionals working to build psychological and psychosocial resilience for the traumas and toxic stresses generated by climate change in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other nations worldwide.