Sustainability
We define sustainability as practices for the continuous health and balance of everything living in a system.
Just as cells are systems that build us, we are systems that build our lives. Developing a lifestyle that makes the world healthier takes practice.
But really, sustainability is just as much a mantra as it is a practice.
It’s the rally cry for mutually beneficial exchanges between people, and between people and nature. It’s a state of clarity and the motivation to establish and maintain fairness and equality. It’s a spark of hope for the future, that beyond sustainability we may be able to even reverse the damage dealt to the earth with regenerative practices.
Our lifestyle as human beings, the way we conduct business and the practices we have to grow food, can all be guided by nature. The following sections dig deep into the dimensions of sustainability through our experience and research.
Check back frequently for new information!
Sustainable Lifestyles Explore how to bring sustainability into your life
Self-care is your most important sustainable practice.
If you don't take care of yourself, how can you expect to take care of anyone, or anything, else? We believe that finding emotional sustainability and a true love of self motivates people to seek sustainability in the world around them.
There are many places to plug self-care into your life. The following points below are a very brief introduction. Check out our articles for more information.
Morning Rise- the time that directly follows waking up in the morning is perfect for self-care. Instead of sticking to the same humdrum routine, you can use that time to ground yourself and balance your emotions.
Working- for money, for pleasure, for sport. Working makes us move and think through obstacles and feel our accomplishments. To minimize friction while working, prioritize what your body and mind needs.
Meditating- self-care through the power of clearing the mind and shifting thoughts to reflect positive, reinforcement and love. Your mind can work for you through a process of self-discovery.
Relaxing- when the stress of living is softened by rest and fun, there is a multitude of ways to treat yourself right. Everyone is worthy of enjoying their life and taking time away from obligations and responsibilities.
Socializing- digging deep into who you are means contemplating how you interact with other people. Doing what's best for you sometimes means saying how you really feel, and being your own greatest ally.
Sustain your health by growing yourself.
You can make an incredible difference in your life by learning about biodiversity and implementing gardening practices that support a healthy ecosystem—working alongside natural processes in the world.
Spraying for pests or weeds, using synthetic fertilizers, and even monocropping are tactics that work against nature. With the right kind of strategy and an unshakable will to grow vibrant, nutrient-rich foods, you can create a garden that's not only sustainable but regenerative. The following are some aspects of gardening to keep in mind! Check out our articles at the bottom for more information.
Do Not Disturb: the soil you are working with is your friend, a friend that has hundreds of years of experience. Show trust in your soil by minimizing disturbances (tilling, amending, covering with plastics). These methods have proven to help cut time and hassle but at the cost of developing a stable ecosystem between everything living in your garden.
Keep It Positive: as a species, we're learning that our mood has a huge impact on our production—tending to plants is especially needy of a positive mindset. When we're angry at our garden's progress or we bring in a bunch of negative emotions while growing, we are quick to cut corners and handle plants without the care needed to grow healthily and bountifully.
Believe In Your Garden: There's a lot of science out there that tells you how to grow, but the most valuable information should come from your own experimentation. Don't let too much outside information convolute your intuition while growing. We are deeply connected to the rights and wrongs of growing. We flourish as gardeners when we trust our gut.
Keep your food alive, year-round.
Gardening is great during the summer with all the fresh veggies you get from it, but how do you eat well through the winter as well? There are many ways to preserve your harvest.
Storing- There are veggies like squash and potatoes and fruits like apples and persimmons that can last through the winter if stored well. Check Back for links to articles, videos and classes that can help you utilize this
Bottling- you can cut up just about any veggie or fruit and bottle it. Simply by pressure sealing bottles of fruit at home, you can have food that lasts for years. Check Back for links to articles, videos and classes that can help you utilize this
Drying- you can dry fruit, veggies, and herbs at home. You can then use them throughout the year. Check Back for links to articles, videos and classes that can help you utilize this
Pickling- You can pickle and bottle many types of veggies and some fruits to have a diversity of flavors during the winter while investing in the health of your gut. Check Back for links to articles, videos and classes that can help you utilize this
- Freezing- You can cut up fruits and veggies, create meals and sauces and freeze for later use during the winter and throughout the year. Check Back for links to articles, videos and classes that can help you utilize this
Note: Humans are naturally made to eat fresh during the summer and preserved meals, potatoes, and squash through the winter. Not having fresh salad during the winter is normal and the more you get connected to that cycle of eating the more you will notice how the body naturally works with the temperatures of the seasons.
Cooking is an act of love.
There's an incredible amount of freedom to be gained from cooking. When you do it yourself, you control what goes into your body and the impact your meals have on the world.
Cooking can feel intimidating for some and exciting for others. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming to cook for every meal. So take it slow and cook for yourself and others sustainably. Here are a few tips to help you find more excitement and ease in cooking.
Big Batch Cooking- cooking one large meal can last the entire week or be mixed to make other unique meals. Check back for links to videos and classes that can help you utilize this
Cook and Freeze- if you have time and a desire to cook on let's say, Sunday, but other days are too busy, then cook a few meals in one day and freeze them to make an easy, quick-pull method to cooking whenever you need to keep things fast and easy. Check back for links to videos and classes that can help you utilize this
Cooperative Cooking- everyone in the family can learn to cook. This is a skill that should be utilized by everyone. Just because you are a bad cook does not mean you should stop cooking. Practice makes perfect. Learn from your mistakes, have others join you and make something better next time. Check back for links to videos and classes that can help you utilize this
Intuitive Cooking- listen to yourself. What do you desire to cook? Your intuition could give you meal options you never even thought of. Check back for intuitive cooking classes and videos
Note: Each person is different. If you have a family pick and choose the tips that help your family function the best in your home. Allowing each person to get the self-care needed.
If you are single living or cooking alone, large meals and freezer meals are great! Make a large meal one night, freeze or refrigerate the leftovers, and use on a day you don't feel like cooking.
Zero waste is a practice of caring for everything living.
A forest doesn’t create waste, everything is reused, repurposed, or transformed. And yet, human systems create a massive amount of waste. It’s time for that to change.
Living a zero-waste lifestyle isn't for the faint of heart. But, it also shouldn't feel impossible. Below are some quick-hitting ways to go zero-waste. Check out our articles for more information.
Shop With Care- buy fresh produce from a farmer's market near you, or otherwise from stores that don't wrap their food unnecessarily. Resist products with packaging made of non-recyclable materials.
Reuse & Repurpose- keep your eyes open for quality products so that they can stand the test of time and be reused as much as possible. The tools that you value most will probably be tools that you've repurposed.
Become DIY- many of the products available to people can be made at home—it's just less convenient, and so, many people have been conditioned to buy before they try. Start off with easy things like home cleaners.
Share With Others- whether you made too many DIY creations or you've amassed too many clothes, giving away your things to people in need turns your would-be waste into someone else's treasure.
Advocate- join groups in your area and connect the dots between politics and personal sustainability. Fight for more access to products and food that are zero-waste friendly. Raise up the stores and brands that are already advocating.
Check back for more information!
Sustainable Earth
Explore how the earth approaches collaboration and design
Earth is packed with self-contained sustainable ecosystems.
An ecosystem is a cycle of mutually beneficial exchanges between all living organisms in an area. It is sustainable without us—we can either contribute to the cycle or resist it.
We've made a list below of three relevant ecosystems and some quick facts for each. Check out our articles for more information.
Forests- teeming with life and offering thousands of interconnected processes of sustainability, forests are ecosystems with many stories to tell. In forest ecosystems, life is at play from deep beneath the earth to the highest canopies. Trees in a forest provide a foundation for many of the natural processes between all living organisms.
Grasslands- covering about 10% of the world, grassland ecosystems are perfect places for grazing animals. Much of the symbiosis of grasslands rely on animals and their consumption of plants (grasses, tubers, herbs) so that they offer rich nutrients to predators or to have it recycle directly back into the earth when they die.
Freshwater- inclusive of lakes, ponds and rivers, freshwater ecosystems include species of animals that utilize the natural flow of water and consume the tiny algae that grow all around them. These ecosystems become polluted by the carrying of toxic waste (mad-made chemicals) by rainfall.
Humanity is of the earth, but not always for it.
Human systems have a powerful effect on the world. But unfortunately, they have caused a lot of harm, especially to our relationship with the earth.
Without retreading common knowledge, we'd like to feature information that is known but rarely discussed. We have a short list of unsustainable practices and their effects in the world. Check out our articles for more information.
Demand For Convenience- large industries cause the most pollution by using cheap, unsustainable materials in their products or harmful energy sources in their production. However, supply follows demand, and the general public still demands cheap products that make their lives more convenient.
Screen Addiction- for many people, they spend much of their day working on their computer and scrolling through the internet on their phone. Modern technology is a marvel of human ingenuity, but it is taking our focus away from our environment. The longer we disconnect from the physical world around us the easier it becomes for us to disregard the ills of the earth.
Nature is the greatest designer on earth.
The natural world has found a solution to almost every problem that people have, or could have. Biomimicry is a natural approach to personal and industrial design.
There's a huge potential for biomimicry as a powerful approach to making the world sustainable. With the right materials and creative thinking, the future of innovation can take a natural approach. Below, we have a brief introduction to some biomimicry designs. Check out our articles for more information.
Sustainable Business
Explore how you can promote sustainability in your business
A balanced and successful business has an unshakable commitment to people's needs.
Not just customer needs, but the needs of everyone involved. Workers need financial stability and to feel connected to their work. Customers need to be treated like human beings that dream of living in a better world. Partners need to feel aligned to the same cause.
Traditional business practices aren’t sustainable for anyone. Below, we offer some information on better business (not as usual) practices. Check out our articles for more information.
Harmonize Goals- everyone working at a company is simultaneously taking on company goals and their own personal goals. Unhealthy stress at work is usually borne from the friction caused by those goals not aligning. Keeping them in alignment means less turnover and more productivity.
Fulfill Needs- "needs" consider our physical and emotional health while "wants" can be the consequence of manipulation or create illusionary suffering if not satisfied. Giving people quality products and access to becoming healthy and happy should always be among your highest goals.
Prioritize Refinement- instead of prioritizing growth in business, since bigger doesn’t always mean better, prioritizing refinement is an approach that allows businesses to grow sustainably. When business leaders constantly refine processes and engagements, they can grow while maintaining their positive impact in the world.
Seek Change- while profit is necessary in keeping a business alive, it should never shake away the motivation to change or inspire the world. We are transitioning to a time in history when people choose to buy from businesses that care, those that focus on people and the earth instead of wealth and power.
Connections in business should be more than skin deep.
In nature, mutualism between animals and plants can create a sustainable system that allows everyone involved to thrive. We can do the same in business by approaching connections with the priority of creating emotionally sustainable and mutually beneficial exchanges.
Animals and plants of all shapes and sizes come together to leverage their strengths and maximize their overall quality of life. Below, you'll find ways human beings can create natural connections inspired by mutualism in nature. Check out our articles for more information.
Common Goal- joining the right groups, attending the right events and catching the attention of like-minded people can help you build a team to tackle a common goal. With a diverse group of people, anything is possible.
Trash/Treasure Dynamic- our world is subjective, and that means someone’s trash is another’s treasure. Sustainability in nature relies on a cycle of waste and consumption. There is a huge potential to mimic that process in our society to diminish waste and maximize solidarity.
Projector/Generator Dynamic- everyone has skills that come natural to them. Some people are better at inspiring others to create, while others are better at creating. There are many combinations of people working together that brings out the highest potential of each.
Events have the power to create stronger communities.
There’s no better way to engage people than throwing an event. It’s a moment that can promote a business’s sustainability efforts, rally employees around internal change, and celebrate any accomplishments.
The information below will get you started down the path towards planning and throwing an amazing event for incredible people. Check out our articles for more information.
Check The Pulse- use surveys, internally for company-wide events or externally for public events, to gauge what people get excited about. Using information from a survey can start a planning process that takes into consideration the words of potential attendees.
Create A Platform- use your event to lift up people that have something to say. Whether it’s an intern at your company or someone found online with knowledge relevant to your event, you can give new and powerful voices a curious and engaging audience.
Develop Activities- people retain more information when they are actively engaged in learning. The most successful events give people moments to roll their sleeves up and participate in solo or group activities. Make your event memorable and productive.
Keep It Personal- people love parties because they get to have fun with friends or meet new people. An event of any kind should prioritize fun, levity and connection. Plan on giving people time to meet and time to enjoy themselves amidst any learning moments.
Sustainable Growing Practices
Explore how utilize sustainable growing practices
Did you know growing can be easy?
Here are some tips:
Think Incrementally: "little-by-little" is a powerful mantra for learning, growing and adapting to change.
Till Less- there are always ways to eliminate a till process and leave the soil alone so that it can do the job it was meant to. Light tilling can be a productive first step, but no-till strategies bring out the best results. The goal is to get your garden or farm easily functioning in a no-till structure—it takes time and a commitment to your garden's/farm's highest potential.
Avoid Extractable Nutrients- adding extractable nutrients to the soil can leach into water systems and cause imbalances in your ecosytem. Instead, grow your soil naturally. Nutrients and organic matter can be added with cover cropping. Nutrients can also be drawn up from deep in the earth, so trust your soil strategy, mycelium and soil biology to bring you the nutrients your soil needs.
Love Your "Pests"- some insects and animals can damage your crops, but nature is layered and comes equipped with predators to take care of them without impeding on the health of an ecosystem. You should love "pests" because they are an invitation to developing a diverse and rich ecosystem. Trust in your ability to help balance your farm or garden. All you need to do is look for imbalances and work to correct them naturally.
Diversify!- while considering all aspects of your ecosystem, grow a variety of plants for maximum impact For example, attracting ladybugs will control the population of aphids, and if you have gophers you can plant hedges for snakes. The healthiest plants grow with other companion plants because they balance nutrients in the soil and boost each other's growing capabilities.
Grow Cover Crops- not only can they manage weeds, but they help boost the nutrient exchange in your soil. There are different types of cover crops, many are small and manageable so that all you need to do is plant, wait and harvest.
Minimize Waste- use and reuse what you have and recycle what you don't use. Compost to build nutrients in the soil. Use grey water cleaning techniques in your plant irrigation.
Be Optimistic- when there is problem there is always a solution.
Why are ecosystems and healthy, living soils, so important?
They hold a cycle of mutually beneficial exchange and have the potential for sustaining that cycle without human help.
Let us paint a picture: You invest in the practice of growing your soil, you build a permaculture inspired food forest and you create an effective ecosystem. Then an emergency arises and you have to leave your farm for a few months, or even years. You come back and.... your entire farm is still alive, healthy, producing and living! Many people believe that that would be impossible. There would be pests, disease, lack of irrigation maintenance, etc. Well, the forest doesn't need a single human to survive. Disease and pests are naturally handled by biological diversity. So by building your growing practices with the inspiration of thousands of years of tested and proven practices that nature's forests present, you can have a farm that doesn't desperately need you but rather thrives and grows while you reap the results. That's what regenerative farming is all about!
Spraying for pests and weeds, using synthetic fertilizers, and even mono-cropping, works against nature.
You can make an incredible difference in the world by gaining the knowledge and implementing soil practices that support healthy ecosystems, sustainable practices, and biological diversity. How? By supporting ecosystems that then support plants, bees, people, and animals. An ecosystems sustainability relies on healthy soil as a foundational component.
Working against natural processes can be detrimental to the interconnected relationship of an ecosystem. No matter what the norm is in culture, and no matter the convenience factor of any practice, we believe that deep down every human being wants to be a positive force in the world—for themselves and others.
We understand that the stresses of life can get in the way, and balancing an ecosystem can be daunting, but that is why we are here! To demand something new, to inspire growing regenerative soil, to support the people desiring to be sustainable in their lives and growing efforts, and to uncover a reality where lifestyle choices can make a huge impact to the health of our world.
Check out our articles for more information.
List of Sustainable Farms & Businesses
Check out some sustainable farms growing healthy crops
Farms:
Businesses: