William Ellis

William Ellis of Rangely, Maine, retired early from his career as a science policy consultant in agencies such as the National Science Foundation, Unesco, and The World Bank to work instead to promote the broad range of social innovations that empower people at the grass roots and promote community self-reliance. One of his positions was general coordinator of A Coalition for Self-Learning, where he drafted an online book, “Creating Learning Communities” and the white paper, “Life-Long Self-Learning.”

His ”Transnational Network for Appropriate/Alternative Technologies” or TRANET linked nearly 10,000 groups in countries rich and poor and adapted technology to local community needs. The bi-monthly newsletter TRANET kept the networkers in touch with the latest news on inventions, books, and happenings in the field. TRANET ran from 1976 to 1999 and was a compendium of abstracts from over 1000 publications, papers, projects, and people who were active in the Gaian Cultural Transition. In his post retirement years, Ellis enjoyed communicating with people on the internet and gardening in the garden his father had tended all his life. He passed away on Memorial Day in 2015, having lived a full and productive life.