I used to come home from peace building trips to places like Bosnia or the Middle East and say to my friends, ‘Bosnia R Us.’ They would either look at me as if I were totally strange, or quickly change the subject. No one wanted to talk about the fact that polarization in the national discourse, intolerance of differences, the glorification of violence, a reliance on force for solving disputes, the inability to heal the historical legacy of festering wounds, ethnocentrism, and an economy heavily reliant on building a military arsenal – characteristics we can easily identify as being ‘the problem over there’ – are also all too easily descriptive of our own society. From that, I came to the realization that what is needed for ‘Peace on Earth’ to be more than a holiday greeting card sentiment is for there to be a transformation in this country from a culture of violence to a culture of peace. I determined to turn my attention to fostering that shift, and this company was born. As a business, it stands on two legs: the belief in the need for a peace economy, and the belief that everyone can be a peacebuilder, making a difference in their own lives and in the world. The Need for a Peace Economy The company was, from its beginning in 2000, deliberately created as a for-profit entity. Many raised questions about that: how could peace be for profit? It’s ‘supposed’ to be an altruistic pursuit, not a money-making one (as if the two are mutually exclusive), isn’t it? Yet just as our current culture of violence in grounded in an economy heavily dependent on the manufacture and sales of weapons, and of violence as entertainment, so a true culture of peace needs to be grounded in a visible and viable economic sector where the manufacture and sale of goods and services support peace, peacebuilding, and nonviolent conflict resolution at every level of society – from our families to our schools, our communities, our nation, and our world. (Click here to read more about A Call for a Peace Economy.) The Peace Company is proud to create jobs, support entrepreneurship, engage in trade and commerce, and otherwise be a model of a conscious business for social change. We fully intend to make a good profit for our family of shareholders, so we can demonstrate that peace is a viable basis for business. But we are not only for profit - through our Peace Dividend program, we donate 5% of our profits yearly to support peacebuilding efforts at home and abroad, and are always finding new ways to grow our philanthropic presence in the non-profit peace sector. Everyone Can be a Peacebuilder Our primary social change strategy is to encourage people to give the gift of peace. Our first (and still best-selling) product is The Peace Book: 108 Simple Ways to Make a More Peaceful World. The goal of this book is to put the basic principles and everyday practices of peacebuilding into the hands of as many people as possible. For that reason, the book is distributed through The Great Peace Give-Away, where people buy it by the boxful at a reasonable cost, and give it away to friends and family. Over 52,000 copies of the book have been distributed through this informal, grass-roots networking process. Our ultimate goal is 3 million copies, for a critical mass shift in our cultural norms. In 2003, we changed the name of the company from PeaceTech to The Peace Company, and decided to go all out to become a well-known brand in the marketplace, serving the peacebuilding community – meaning anyone who wants more peace in their lives and in the world and is willing to do something about it – with the best quality products and services available. The Peace Company is a brand new adventure; we are young and we are growing. We invite you to grow along with us, helping us evolve by letting us know how we can best serve you in your journey through the world of peace. Please contact us with your ideas, suggestions, questions, or stories about how you, too, are working for a more peaceful world. And check our website from time to time, to see what new and exciting products, programs, and opportunities we’ve added. As you read more about The Peace Company below, and explore our beautiful website, I hope you will find yourself motivated to believe that you too can make a difference, and be part of this great social experiment in making peace the way we live! Together, we can make the building of a culture of peace a dream come true. Thank you! Louise Diamond, CEO May Peace Prevail on Earth!