The Book: Hope for Life on Our Planet

What does it take to imagine—and invest in—a future we’ll be proud to pass on?

Hope for Life on Our Planet: Inspiration for Seven Generations is a global anthology of essays, reflections, and calls to action from more than sixty contributors: Nobel laureates, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, indigenous leaders, philosophers, and policymakers.

Edited by Osvald Bjelland, this book is not just a collection of perspectives—it is a living initiative. It aims to reframe how we think about time, responsibility, and our shared human story. From war and climate collapse to mental health and cultural renewal, the voices in this book share one common conviction: hope must be brought into action.

Guided by the principle of seventh-generation stewardship—an idea rooted in Indigenous wisdom—the book encourages us to act as ancestors, not just inhabitants of the present. What we do today echoes into the lives of those who come long after us.

Hope is not naïve. It is strategic. And this book is its invitation.

By Óscar Arias Sánchez
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Former President of Costa Rica

With hope, the sails of our hearts can be unfurled and we can be filled with the gifts of clarity, faith, and wisdom from God. It begins with knowing that hope is a birthright and stretches to heights beyond our imagining.

As President of Costa Rica, Óscar Arias Sánchez challenged a region torn by war with a vision grounded in peace, hope, and courage. Against all odds, he united Central American leaders behind a peace plan that brought lasting change—transforming despair into dialogue, violence into vision.

In his foreword to Hope for Life on Our Planet, he reminds us: “Hope must be more than sentiment—it must be action.”

Hope is not optimism. Hope is strategic. It unlocks origination, directs decisions, and collectively shapes life on our planet.

This initiative was shaped on the land where Osvald Bjelland’s family has lived for generations. From a small Norwegian farm to global boardrooms, Osvald has worked to bridge business, ethics, and long-term thinking.

Through The Origination Foundation, he now facilitates smaller and bigger communities of originators – people who will shape the next era.

The community is driven by imagination, courage, and promising investments for the long term.

The book is structured around seven parts of human hope – spanning justice, nature, health, culture, innovation, leadership, and spirituality. These themes also guide the larger initiative.

Each part contains essays, interviews, and reflections that stretch from Iranian prison cells to Wall Street boardrooms, from Arctic expeditions to underground art movements.

1. Hope Begins – stories of resilience, survival and inner strength
2. About Hope – psychological, philosophical and spiritual roots
3. Investing in Hope – capital, leadership, and responsible growth
4. Empowering Hope – legislation, policy and collective change
5. Hacking Hope – regenerative nature and generative technology
6. Hope in Body and Soul – healing trauma, restoring balance
7. Culture of Hope – music, poetry, architecture, and creative futures