ILEA's Mission

The Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment (ILEA) is an environmental advocacy organization headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Like many environmental organizations, we are fundamentally motivated by a desire to save the maximum possible portion of Earth's biodiversity, and to maintain a healthy environment for humanity. ILEA contributes to this effort by using a method known as lifecycle energy analysis to help consumers make wise and meaningful choices when they purchase products, make their homes, work and travel. ILEA's Mission statement is:

Provide United States consumers with the education and tools necessary to make purchasing and lifestyle choices that work toward a sustainable global economy.

A "sustainable global economy" means an approximately constant population of human beings exchanging goods and services in a way that returns resources to the global ecosystem at the same rate it removes them. Such an economy is called "sustainable" because it can be maintained indefinitely.

A sustainable global economy is incompatible with our current reliance on fossil and radioactive fuels to generate energy, and will probably require a world population substantially smaller than the current six billion. However, ILEA recognizes that the transition to a sustainable economy will encompass several hundred years. This is why the mission statement reads "...work toward a sustainable global economy." It is a core belief at ILEA that keeping this distant but fundamental goal in mind will help humanity make the wisest environmental choices now.

"Education and tools" consists principally of information posted to this website and published in our newsletter the Leaf. (Subscribe here). ILEA also provides auxiliary education and tools including lectures, workshops, spreadsheet calculators and miscellaneous other services.

Last Modified on October 1, 2004.