Applied frameworks and systems thinking integrating economic progress, environmental preservation, and structural equity.
Finding solutions to improve people's lives through simultaneous attention to the three E's of sustainability:
Actively preserving and enhancing ecological systems.
Ecological VitalityFostering efficient, short-term and long-term market-based prosperity.
Market ResilienceEmbedding equity so gains from environmental and economic progress are more fairly distributed.
Structural FairnessIntegrating regional networks and flavor-focused agricultural breeding for robust food systems and resilient agricultural designs.
Soil health and carbon sequestration workflows.
Soil RegenerationFlavor-forward culinary crop innovation.
Resilient YieldsHuman-scale, sustainable built environments.
Low FootprintFrom biologist Janine Benyus's 1997 book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, advanced by the non-profit Biomimicry Institute: learn from 3.8 billion years of evolution — ask how nature solves it, then emulate the strategy. The AskNature database catalogues those strategies. biomimicry.org ↗
Study nature's forms, processes, and systems, then imitate them to solve human problems.
Nature's DesignsJudge a design against nature's standard: what works, what is appropriate, what lasts.
Ecological StandardValue nature for what can be learned from it, not only for what can be extracted.
Learn, Don't TakeFrom the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (founded 2010): an economic system that eliminates waste and pollution, circulates products and materials at their highest value, and regenerates nature — mapped in the butterfly diagram of technical and biological cycles. ellenmacarthurfoundation.org ↗
Design waste and pollution out from the start, instead of cleaning up after.
Design Out WasteKeep products and materials in use at their highest value, for as long as possible.
Highest Value, Longest UseShift from extraction to practices that rebuild soils, ecosystems, and biodiversity.
Nature PositiveDeveloped by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings across design, construction, and operations.
Optimizing operational energy performance.
Carbon ReductionIndoor and outdoor water use reduction.
Resource StewardshipSustainable sourcing and air quality.
Human HealthA rigorous, voluntary international standard for energy efficiency in a building, drastically reducing its ecological footprint by maintaining an ultra-low heating and cooling demand.
Continuous insulation and thermal bridge-free design.
Extreme EfficiencyRigorous blower-door testing for envelope sealing.
Draft-Free ComfortContinuous mechanical ventilation with HRV/ERV.
Fresh Indoor AirFrom William McDonough and Michael Braungart's 2002 book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, administered by the non-profit Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute: it certifies products and materials — not buildings — at Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum. Certified products can contribute points toward LEED certification. c2ccertified.org ↗
Every chemical screened for safety to people and the environment.
Safe ChemistryDesigned for reuse, repair, and return to biological or technical cycles.
Designed for Next UseClean energy in manufacturing, with emissions and carbon managed.
Low-Carbon MakingWater and soil protected at the factory and through the supply chain.
Resource StewardshipFair labor conditions and human rights across the operation.
Fair Labor