What if the solutions to our most pressing climate challenges already exist, and the real work is finding the positive deviants and understanding where scaling is possible? We set out on a single mission: to identify positive deviants around the world and learn how their frontline solutions can be scaled responsibly.
Positive deviance is a proven problem-solving approach that focuses on identifying solutions that already work within communities facing extreme challenges. For us, this concept serves as our compass, applied specifically to climate change, conservation, and environmental resilience. Across the world, in places experiencing collapsing fisheries, rising seas, biodiversity loss, and disrupted ecosystems, there are always individuals and teams succeeding against the odds. These positive deviants are not seeing more funding or are more powerful than others. Instead, they are guided by deep local knowledge, lived experience, and a willingness to think differently about their relationship with the environment. From seaweed farmers restoring degraded coastlines and coral gardeners rebuilding reefs, to youth leaders protecting estuaries, these outliers are developing real-world climate solutions rooted in place. Their work demonstrates what climate resilience looks like in practice. Our mission is to find these positive deviants, learn from their approaches, and amplify their models so others can adapt and responsibly scale what works. By focusing on the positives, these deviants help shift the climate narrative from inevitability and loss to action and direction. We move away from only spotlighting what's broken to instead focusing on the people proving a more resilient future is already possible.
Based on the Positive Deviance Collaborative research work & theory of change.
the "edges of earth" explained
What do we mean when we say we work on the edges of Earth? We're not referring only to remote or hard-to-reach places. For us, the edges are overlooked spaces where climate and conservation challenges are most visible and solutions are already emerging. These edges can exist anywhere: in coastal communities facing rising seas, in cities adapting to heat and flooding, along inland rivers and lakes under pressure, or in remote ecosystems on the frontlines of environmental change. We focus on places and communities that are often under-resourced, underrepresented, or totally misunderstood, where nature-based innovation is happening outside the spotlight. Our work is about discovering these edges, connecting with the people who know them best, and sharing stories of their impact. Whether in dense urban centers or isolated landscapes, we surface solutions that prove meaningful climate progress is not limited by geography. It's happening everywhere.
seven core impact areas
We seek out those devoting their lives to seven core impact areas, and we help them bring their work to global stages. By elevating their voices, they help to humanize the climate crisis, unearth what's at stake and share their solutions.
see them on the map →
