Tag: environment

creativity

Magic Awaits: Life and Career Lessons from Death Valley’s Superbloom

Christa Avampato
California wildflower superbloom. Photo by Mason Field on Unsplash

Death Valley is the hottest, driest, and lowest place in North America. Most of the time, it looks like a barren, windswept land. Unforgiving. Hopeless. On the surface, it looks as if nothing could ever survive here. In line with its name, dead.

And yet, out of sight, millions of tiny seeds, bits of magic, lie in wait for just the right conditions to fulfill their potential. Patiently, they track rainfall, temperature, and wind. They have one shot to show us what they can do so they wait for the odds to be ever in their favor.

November 2025 – January 2026 set the stage for them to shine. In those months, a year’s worth of rain fell. The record rains leached salts from the soil and that triggered massive germination. The temperatures were exceptionally mild without becoming scorching hot. A mild winter and early spring temperatures gave the seeds the exact level of warmth they needed without burning them. The winds were calm, allowing the seeds to anchor themselves and root into the soil at their earliest growth stage rather than being blown away.

The patience of the seeds was rewarded, and so were we. The 2026 superbloom of wild flowers in Death Valley was the most significant in a decade, and on par with those in 2016, 2005, and 1998. Desert Gold, Poppy, Verbena, Golden Evening Primrose, and Purple Phacelia bloomed in such density that they looked like swaths of color rather than individuals flowers. The monotonous, dry land of Death Valley was transformed into a thing of beauty that rivals, and I would argue exceeds, any work of human art.

Bees buzz. Hummingbirds hover. A light wind carries the perfume of the flowers. Sights, sounds, and scents for sore eyes, weary souls, and hearts that need to be made whole in a way that only nature can provide. It will not last forever, and will be gone all too soon. But while it’s here, in all its blooming glory, we revel in it.

The Togetherhood Takeaway
Long after the flowers wilt and Death Valley fades back to its seemingly empty landscape, we can carry the superbloom’s lessons into our lives, communities, and careers.

We don’t do anything alone
The context and environment in which we find ourselves impacts our growth and progress. I’m obsessed with settings and orchestration. It’s my favorite thing to work on. How can I create the conditions to thrive, for myself and for others? How can I help us all to grow together?

Timing matters
We are so quick to judge our own efforts and the efforts of others as if we solely control how successful something is. While we have control over our own efforts, we do not own the results. That is a difficult lesson for creators of any kind to learn and accept. It’s why I spend a lot of time and effort on creating environments and ecosystems where the people I work with can become the best versions of themselves. Some of our experiments work right out of the gate. Some of them don’t. And many times, our successes and failures are truly a matter of timing. The good news is we can always learn and try again. Improvement, no matter where we start, is a continuous process.

Quiet work is foundational
It’s healthy to take a break, regroup, reflect, and come back stronger and more well-rested, and perhaps in a totally different form. Just because someone isn’t showing off what they’re doing doesn’t mean they aren’t building something worthy. In a world that is addicted to social media and recording every single moment for public consumption, there’s a profound sense of peace to be found in doing work in our own space without outside distractions. We don’t need to accept that all eyes have to be on us all the time. Underground work has immense value. We can choose the time to bloom when it’s right for us.

creativity

The Blueprint of Return: What Rewilding Teaches Us About Community

Christa Avampato
Naval Cemetery Landscape. Brooklyn, New York. From Landezine International Landscape Award. https://landezine-award.com/naval-cemetery-landscape-3/

March 20th marks the spring equinox and World Rewilding Day. Around the globe, conservationists and community leaders are celebrating this year’s theme: Choose Our Future.

We often operate under the assumption that we have to engineer our way out of every crisis. We build concrete seawalls to stop flooding and pour chemicals into the soil to force crops to grow. But the rewilding movement offers a radically different approach to leadership and resilience. It suggests that nature already holds the solutions. When we step back, relinquish a little control, and restore the natural balance, the ecosystem heals itself.

We can see this extraordinary transformation happening right now across diverse landscapes and communities.

The Affric Highlands In the central Highlands of Scotland, a groundbreaking, community-led coalition is leading the largest rewilding project in the United Kingdom. For centuries, intensive grazing and logging severely depleted the region, fragmenting the ancient Caledonian pinewoods.

Instead of forcing a heavily engineered recovery, the Affric Highlands project focuses on natural regeneration across 200,000 hectares of land. A diverse group of local landowners, businesses, and volunteers work together to remove barriers and simply allow native birch, rowan, and alder to reclaim the bare hillsides. As the trees return, so do the red squirrels, golden eagles, and black grouse. They are proving that large-scale nature recovery works best when deeply rooted in local collaboration, creating a landscape where both the wildlife and the rural economy thrive together.

The Naval Cemetery Landscape Rewilding does not require thousands of acres; it happens in the densest urban environments. Right here in Brooklyn, a forgotten piece of history recently experienced a profound ecological rebirth. For almost a century, a plot of land at the Brooklyn Navy Yard served as a hospital burial ground before the military decommissioned it.

Instead of paving it over for commercial development, the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative transformed the site into the Naval Cemetery Landscape. They planted a 1.8-acre meadow teeming with over fifty native plant species like milkweed, asters, and switchgrass. Today, this formerly restricted land is a public haven buzzing with native bees, moths, and migratory birds. A raised wooden boardwalk allows visitors to experience the vibrant ecosystem without disturbing the soil. By bringing abundant life to a space that memorializes the dead, the community created a powerful sanctuary honoring the cycles of nature.

The Saw Mill River Daylighting In Yonkers, New York, city planners buried the Saw Mill River under a concrete parking lot in the 1920s. For nearly a century, the waterway vanished from the community. Recently, a coalition of residents and environmentalists championed a daylighting project to tear up the concrete and bring the river back to the surface.

Today, a thriving aquatic ecosystem runs right through the downtown plaza. American eels, snapping turtles, and migratory birds returned almost immediately. Uncovering the river revitalized the local economy and proved that removing artificial barriers allows life to rush back in with incredible speed.

The Snowchange Cooperative In Finland, decades of industrial peat mining severely damaged the boreal forests and wetlands. A network of local villages and Indigenous Sámi communities formed the Snowchange Cooperative to buy back the degraded land and restore it.

They block the old drainage ditches and allow the water to flood the peatlands once again. This simple act creates vital habitats for nesting birds and traps massive amounts of carbon. They combine traditional ecological knowledge with modern science, showing that the people who live closest to the land are often its most effective healers.

Green Forests Work Across the Appalachian region of the United States, legacy coal mining left behind millions of acres of compacted, barren land. Traditional reclamation simply planted non-native grasses, creating ecological dead zones.

An organization called Green Forests Work takes a completely different approach. They use heavy machinery to deliberately rip up the compacted earth, loosening the soil so water can penetrate. Then, volunteers plant native hardwood trees like American chestnut and oak. By breaking up the hardened surface, they allow a diverse, native forest ecosystem to replace an extractive wasteland.

The Togetherhood Takeaway Rewilding is more than an ecological strategy; it is a mindset for community building.

When we look at our own neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our creative projects, we often try to force outcomes. We exhaust ourselves trying to micromanage every detail. Rewilding teaches us to focus on the environment instead. When we cultivate healthy soil, encourage diversity, and remove the toxic barriers, we do not have to force growth. It happens naturally.

This spring, consider how you can rewild your own life. Plant native species in your window box. Support local ecosystem restoration projects. If you have a lawn, let it grow wild and free – better for you and better for the planet. Give yourself permission to grow, thrive, and create joy even in times of difficulty. Save room in your life for the unexpected and the not-yet-imagined. Be a joiner and link arms with those around you. Nature teaches us that when we uplift others, we create the conditions for everyone to rise together.

creativity

The Power of Local: How Community Energy Builds Global Resilience

Christa Avampato
Sunset Park Solar project at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Photo from Working Power: https://www.workingpower.com/case-studies/sunset-park-solar-upro

The news cycle frequently reminds us how fragile our extractive energy systems truly are. When we rely on distant supply chains and volatile markets to power our homes, a disruption on the other side of the world immediately impacts our local stability. We tether our daily lives to global anxieties.

But true energy independence looks entirely different. It comes from making nature an ally.

When we build symbiotic systems that harness the sun and the wind, we stop relying on extraction and start cultivating true resilience. Renewable energy does more than lower carbon emissions; it insulates our communities from global market shocks. The sun does not care about international borders, and the wind does not respond to market panic. They simply provide.

Across the country, communities are already proving that the best way to weather a global storm is to build a strong local energy ecosystem.

Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Right in our own backyard in Brooklyn, a grassroots organization called UPROSE is transforming the industrial waterfront. They spearheaded the creation of New York City’s first cooperatively owned community solar project on the roof of the Brooklyn Army Terminal. This massive solar array—a system that links hundreds of individual solar panels together so they function as one unified power plant—provides discounted, clean energy to approximately 150 local households and small businesses. Instead of traditional corporate ownership, UPROSE and the developer Working Power co-own the system alongside the community. They direct the revenue generated by the array into a community wealth fund, allowing residents to finance additional local projects based on their own priorities. This structure empowers Sunset Park residents to vote on spending the profits, such as funding additional local solar initiatives. Instead of waiting for top-down solutions, the neighborhood is building its own climate resiliency and keeping the economic benefits firmly rooted in the community.

Shungnak, Alaska

Inside the Arctic Circle, the remote Iñupiat village of Shungnak historically relied entirely on shipped-in diesel fuel to run its generators. This dependence made energy incredibly expensive (sometimes as much as $15 per gallon) and vulnerable to supply chain issues. Recently, the community installed a hybrid microgrid featuring a 225-kilowatt solar array and an advanced 384-kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate battery system. These batteries are grid-forming, meaning they seamlessly take over the electrical load without a flicker. They provide a safer, longer-lasting alternative to standard lithium-ion options. This technology allows the village to completely shut off its diesel engines for hours at a time during the long summer days. The community has recorded stretches of up to 11 straight hours running purely on solar and battery power. The system saves the community 15,000 to 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually. This translates to well over $125,000 in savings each year, bringing true energy independence and resilience to the region. This project won Solar Builder Magazine’s Project of the Year Award.

Buffalo, New York

Upstate in Buffalo, New York, a non-profit called PUSH Buffalo transformed a vacant 1927 public school building into a thriving community hub. The renovated School 77 now houses 30 affordable senior apartments, a neighborhood gymnasium, and a local theater company. They installed a 64-kilowatt community-owned solar array on the roof to supply energy to the local grid. PUSH Buffalo offers the resulting energy credits directly to the buildings low-income tenants at a steeply discounted rate compared to the standard utility company. Furthermore, the tenants engage in a participatory budgeting process to decide exactly how to spend any excess revenue generated by the system. While they initially lacked the funding for battery storage, PUSH Buffalo actively plans to add this capacity. This future upgrade will officially turn School 77 into a microgrid and resiliency hub during extreme weather conditions.

The Togetherhood Takeaway These communities are not just changing how they get their power; they are fundamentally changing their relationship with the natural world. They are moving from an extractive model that leaves them vulnerable, to a symbiotic model that makes them remarkably strong.

When we make nature our ally, we stop being passive consumers of a fragile global market and start becoming active builders of a resilient local ecosystem that benefits all beings who call it home.

Taking Action in Your Own Ecosystem Building a resilient local grid starts with small, deliberate steps, and you do not need to own a roof to participate. Here are four ways to start cultivating energy independence in your own community right now:

  • Find a Community Solar Farm: Platforms like EnergySage allow you to enter your zip code and find local solar arrays looking for subscribers. You simply connect your utility account and start powering your home with local sun, often at a discount.
  • Join a Solar Co-op: Organizations like Solar United Neighbors help neighborhoods band together to bulk-purchase solar installations, driving down costs and building collective community power.
  • Support Energy Democracy: Groups like WE ACT for Environmental Justice and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance provide incredible blueprints for advocating for equitable energy policies in your city.
  • Advocate Locally: Connect with local chapters of the Climate Reality Project to organize around local infrastructure changes and demand clean energy investments from your elected officials.
creativity

Breathe Like a Bird (Without Growing Wings)

Christa Avampato
The Golden Tanager, a yellow bird flying in a bright blue sky with wings outstretched.
The Golden Tanager, a high-flying bird native to the Andes Mountains in South America. Photo by Bird Bird on Unsplash.

Last week we looked at why our dogs are sensitive to toxins. This week, we look up. Why birds are the most efficient breathers on Earth—and what they can teach us about stress, stamina, and clearing the air.

Last week, I wrote about how our dogs act as “biological sentinels” in our homes. Because they live on the floor and groom their fur, they are often the first to show the effects of the invisible toxins in our home environment.

But there is another biological sentinel we have relied on for centuries: The canary in the coal mine.

We often use that phrase to describe a warning sign. But have you ever stopped to ask why the canary dies first?

It isn’t just because they are small. It’s because they are superior breathers.

As I was digging into the research on environmental health last week, I learned that birds extract significantly more oxygen from the air than mammals do. While that makes them more vulnerable to pollution, it also makes them athletes of the sky.

The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is renowned for its ability to fly directly over the Himalayas during its biannual migration between Central Asia and India, with sightings recorded at altitudes exceeding 28,000 feet, nearly reaching the peak of Mount Everest. The air is so thin at that altitude that it would kill a human. Birds can not only survive but can exert themselves that high in the air because of the unique way they process breath.

Since February is often a month where we feel stifled by the cold of winter (especially this year!), I wondered: Can we learn to breathe like a bird?

The Science: The Circle vs. The Tide

The difference comes down to flow.

Humans breathe like the tide. We have a tidal breath system. We breathe air into an enclosed sac (our lungs), and then we have to push it back out the same way it came in. The problem? We are terrible at emptying the tank. We often leave “stale” air trapped in the bottom of our lungs, mixing fresh oxygen with old carbon dioxide. It’s inefficient.

Birds breathe in a circle. Birds have a system of air sacs that act like bellows. They push air through their lungs in one continuous direction.

  • When a bird inhales, it gets fresh oxygen.
  • The Mind-Blowing Part: When a bird exhales, it moves stored air from a rear sac into the lungs, meaning it gets fresh oxygen again.

They get oxygen on the inhale and the exhale. They never stop fueling the engine.

(If you want to see this in action, watch this 2-minute animation. It completely changed how I visualize breath: https://youtu.be/_NnBgM41jp0)

How Can We Adapt the Breath of a Bird: Focus on the Exhale

We cannot physically grow air sacs (unfortunately). But we can mimic the bird’s efficiency by changing one simple habit.

Most of us are shallow breathers. When we are stressed, we take tiny sips of air, leaving that stale air stagnant in our lungs.

To breathe like a bird, we don’t only need to inhale more; we need to exhale more.

Try this Biomimicry-inspired Bird Breath:

  1. Empty the Tank: Instead of just letting your breath go, actively push the air out until your lungs feel completely empty. Squeeze the abs. Get rid of the “tidal” leftovers.
  2. The Recoil: Once you are truly empty, your body will naturally reflexively gasp for a deep, full breath of fresh air.
  3. Repeat: By focusing on the out, the in takes care of itself.

Nature designed birds to never waste a breath. We might not be able to fly over the Himalayas, but by clearing out the stale air, we can definitely navigate our day with a little more altitude.

creativity

Why We Need Chill Hours (According to an Apple Tree, a Squirrel, and a Bear)

Christa Avampato
Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash

We feel guilty for being tired in January. But for apple trees, squirrels, and bears doing nothing is the most productive thing they do all year.

I grew up on an apple farm in New York State’s Hudson Valley.

Because of that, my relationship with winter is a little different than most. To the casual observer, an apple orchard in January looks unproductive. The branches are bare, the ground is frozen, and it appears that nothing is happening.

But if you ask a farmer, they’ll tell you January is one of the most critical months of the year. It’s the month that decides the harvest.

We have a tendency in our culture to treat rest as a sign of weakness—or at best, a reward you get only after you’ve burned out. But nature has a different rulebook. She doesn’t ask herself to earn her rest. In the wild, winter isn’t a pause button; it’s an active biological process of repair.

If you’re feeling slow, foggy, or tired this week, I have good news: there’s nothing wrong with you. In fact, you’re doing everything right according to nature. You are just wintering.

Here are three examples of how nature uses the cold to build the future—and how we can adopt a few pages of her playbook.

1. The Apple Tree: Counting the Cold

On the farm, nature and farmers alike live by a concept called “Chill Hours.”

We tend to think trees just “shut off” when the temperature drops. In reality, they’re actively counting. Apple trees have a strict biological requirement to endure a specific number of hours (usually 800 to 1,000) between 32° and 45°F (0° and 7°C.)

If they don’t get those hours—if the winter is too warm or too short—the hormone that suppresses blooming won’t break down. They literally cannot produce fruit in the spring unless they have rested enough in the winter.

The lesson? The productivity of the harvest is biologically impossible without the stillness of the winter. You aren’t losing time by resting; you’re banking your Chill Hours for when the light and warmth of spring return.

2. The Arctic Ground Squirrel: Renovating the Brain

If you’ve felt a bit of “brain fog” lately, you’re in good company.

When the Arctic Ground Squirrel hibernates, their body temperature drops below freezing, and they essentially disconnects their neural pathways. Their brain synapses wither and retract—like pruning a tree—to save energy.

This sounds destructive, but it’s actually a renovation. Research shows that when they wake up, their brains undergo a massive “regrowth” phase. They regenerate those connections stronger and more efficient than before, similar to how muscle fibers when broken down by exercise knit themselves back together when we rest to become stronger.

The brain fog isn’t a failure; it’s a remodel. Sometimes the brain needs to disconnect to clear the clutter and build new pathways for the year ahead.

3. The Black Bear: The Miracle Healers

Finally, there’s the bear. We know they enter a deep sleep in the winter, but what happens while they sleep is the real miracle.

Research from the University of Minnesota found a stunning capability in hibernating black bears: they are super-healers. If a bear goes into hibernation with a wound, the bear will heal faster and with less scarring during their dormant state than they would during the active summer months.

Even with a metabolism running at a fraction of normal speed, their immune system shifts into a specialized repair mode.

It’s a powerful reminder: We heal best when we rest.

A Permission Slip for January

If nature—in all her wisdom and efficiency—requires a season of dormancy to prepare for fruit, rewire the brain, and heal wounds, why do we think we are exempt? Why do we insist on pushing through when what we really need is the sleep and rest that will help us be better versions of ourselves in the long-run? Sleep and rest are powerful tools. Use them. Appreciate them. Luxuriate in them. Your future self will thank you.

So, if you’re struggling to get into high gear this winter, stop. Take a nap. Read a book. Laugh with friends. Eat nourishing food. Breathe. Let the ground freeze knowing you’re giving yourself your necessary Chill Hours. Spring will be here soon enough. Don’t rush it. Rest.

creativity

The West Coast Has Underwater Forests. NYC Could Have Underwater Farms.

Christa Avampato
Sugar kelp can grow in the waters around NYC, and thrives during the cold winter months

I recently read a fascinating piece in Smithsonian Magazine about the “underwater forests” returning to life off the coast of California. It details the restoration of Giant Kelp—towering, 100-foot strands that form cathedrals of biodiversity, sequester carbon, and shelter marine life.

It’s an inspiring success story of ecological recovery. But as I read about the Chumash people and marine biologists working together in the Pacific, I couldn’t help but ask a question closer to home: Could we apply this to the waters of New York City?

The answer is a resounding yes—but it looks a little different here. And it’s already beginning.

Different Coast, Different Kelp

In California, the focus is on restoration: bringing back wild Giant Kelp forests that have been decimated by urchins and climate change.

In New York and the broader Northeast, our opportunity lies in regenerative ocean farming. We don’t have the deep-water Giant Kelp; we have Sugar Kelp (Saccharina latissima). This golden-brown algae is shorter, but it is a powerhouse. It thrives in our cold winter waters—growing rapidly when most marine life is dormant—and acts as a “scrubbing brush” for our harbors.

Sugar Kelp absorbs carbon dioxide (fighting ocean acidification) and, crucially for NYC, it soaks up excess nitrogen from urban runoff, which is the main driver of harmful algae blooms.

We aren’t just “restoring” nature here; we are building a blue economy. Here are the local pioneers turning this idea into reality right now.

1. The Indigenous Lead: Shinnecock Kelp Farmers

Just as the Chumash people are leading efforts in California, the Shinnecock Indian Nation is leading the way on Long Island. The Shinnecock Kelp Farmers are a multi-generational collective of Indigenous women leveraging thousands of years of traditional ecological knowledge to heal the water.

They have established the first Indigenous-owned kelp farm on the East Coast in Shinnecock Bay. Their work proves that kelp isn’t just a crop; it’s a tool for sovereignty and survival, actively filtering the waters that sustain their community.

2. The Science: It Works in the East River

You might think kelp needs pristine, open ocean to survive. Think again.

Researchers Dr. Christopher Gobler and Mike Doall from Stony Brook University have been running pilot studies to see if kelp could survive the urban waters of the East River. The results were surprising: the kelp didn’t just survive; in some cases, it grew better in the nutrient-rich waters of the harbor than in cleaner, deeper waters. This suggests that NYC’s “working waterfront” could double as a biological filtration system.

3. The Pioneers: Breaking the Regulatory Barrier

The technology exists, but the permits have been the hard part. The industry is so new that New York State didn’t have a regulatory framework for it until very recently.

In 2023, Violet Cove Oyster Co., led by former WNBA star Susan Wicks, secured the first-ever commercial permit to grow kelp in New York state waters (Moriches Bay). It took years of advocacy to get there. Her success paves the way for oyster farmers across the region to become “multitrophic” farmers—growing shellfish and seaweed together to maximize the environmental benefit.

The Vision for a “Blue” NYC

Organizations like GreenWave are already training the next generation of ocean farmers, with a goal of creating thousands of jobs. Imagine a future where the New York harbor isn’t just a transit lane for ferries and cargo, but a grid of regenerative farms.

These farms would provide local food, sustainable fertilizer, and bioplastics, all while cleaning the water and capturing carbon.

California’s underwater forests are a reminder of nature’s resilience. NYC’s underwater farms could be a testament to our innovation. The seeds (or rather, the spores) have been planted. Now, we just need to support the regulations and organizations that will let them grow.

creativity

🍎40,000 Pounds of Produce in 1 Morning. This is How We Fight Food Waste AND Food Insecurity in NYC

Christa Avampato
Our team of volunteers at last week’s City Harvest repack event

The Repack: What Happens When a Community Shows Up

Last week, I was deeply moved by the incredible generosity and hard work of the volunteers at City Harvest. We were there because of the enormous, urgent need created by current economic pressures and the fallout of the government shutdown, which is impacting vital food assistance programs for New Yorkers.

Together, we accomplished something phenomenal:

  • We helped repack 40,000 pounds of bulk fresh produce into 7,710 household-sized bags—the second-highest number of bags ever packed at the City Harvest Food Rescue Center since 2022!
  • This food is critical right now as City Harvest ramps up to serve neighborhoods with the highest populations of SNAP recipients. They expect to distribute over 1 million more pounds of food this November than they did last November.

We showed up and showed out, and it was a joy to be part of this community effort, even though I wish it wasn’t necessary.

The NYC Food Insecurity Crisis is Real

The need for this emergency support is stark, especially as the government shutdown has delayed or complicated critical aid. Our fellow workers, friends, and neighbors are struggling to put food on the table.

  • In New York City, approximately 1.73 million residents receive SNAP benefits. That’s 1 in 5 New Yorkers.
  • In Brooklyn alone (where I live and where City Harvest has its headquarters), that number is over 700,000. That’s 1 in 4 Brooklyn residents.

This work with City Harvest is personal to me because I grew up food insecure and my family received government-backed public assistance including WIC funding and at my school I was part of the free lunch program. As an adult who climbed out of that situation though education, hard work, and the generosity of these supportive government programs, giving back means a lot to me.

Why City Harvest is a Game-Changer (A Two-Part Solution)

City Harvest doesn’t just feed people; it’s a massive champion for the environment, tackling the staggering problem of food waste head-on.

From City Harvest

How You Can Be Part of the Solution

The work we did last week is ongoing. Join the City Harvest family!

This work isn’t just about charity; it’s about Togetherhood. Let’s continue to show up for our community and ensure that healthy, quality food goes to tables, not landfills.

Click to volunteer, donate, and advocate. I hope to see you at a future City Harvest event!

Mural at the City Harvest HQ in Brooklyn, NYC
Mural at the City Harvest HQ in Brooklyn, NYC
creativity

Beyond Extraction: How Janine Benyus Reveals Nature’s Universal Patterns for a Thriving Future

Christa Avampato

In a recent episode of The Common Good from the Garrison Institute, science writer and Biomimicry Institute co-founder Janine Benyus joined host Jonathan F.P. Rose for an illuminating conversation. The topic was profound yet elegantly simple: uncovering “nature’s universals” — the deep, time-tested design patterns that silently guide all living systems, and how we can apply them to the human world.

Benyus, the pioneer behind the biomimicry movement, anchors her work on a single, powerful biological truth: Life creates conditions conducive to life.

This isn’t a romantic notion; it’s a design principle. Over billions of years, successful natural systems — from the vastness of a forest canopy to the complexity of a coral reef — have learned to thrive not through competition and extraction, but through cooperation, self-organization, and elegant networked intelligence. These are the strategies that generate abundance without consuming the system that supports them. When we look at nature, we are looking at a master class in sustainability, efficiency, and resilience.

The Blueprint for Human Innovation

The conversation moved beyond mere observation to practical application, identifying core natural principles that can and must guide human industry and ethics. Two standout concepts for redesigning our civilization are:

  1. Right-Sizing: In nature, nothing is over-engineered. Organisms do what is necessary, but no more, often using modularity and local resources to solve problems. Benyus challenges us to abandon the modern human impulse for massive, centralized, and often brittle systems. Instead, we should mimic nature’s local, tailored, and efficient solutions.
  2. Distributed Abundance: Nature’s design is fundamentally anti-monopoly. Resources and solutions are distributed — sunlight, nutrients, and water flow through a network, ensuring that the health of the whole system supports the success of individual parts. Applying this principle to economic and social systems means designing for local self-sufficiency and ensuring resources are abundant and regenerative for all, rather than concentrated at the top.

A Call for Biological Literacy

Ultimately, the episode serves as a powerful call to re-embrace our own biological literacy. For too long, Benyus contends, Western culture has viewed the world — and our place in it — as a collection of separate parts to be managed and exploited. This mindset has dictated our industrial processes, our economic models, and even our spiritual disconnection from the living planet.

The discussion highlights that re-embracing these universal patterns is not just about engineering better products; it’s about reshaping our culture and spirituality. By learning from life’s inherent genius, we move toward a worldview where we recognize the world as a single, living, interdependent whole. The greatest innovation of the next century will be applying nature’s wisdom to create human systems that are as beautiful, cooperative, and conducive to life as a thriving ecosystem.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can all embrace nature’s principles to live our best lives and also care for the planet. What do you think?

creativity

Head, Heart, and Hands: The Great Triumvirate of Change

Christa Avampato
Image created by Christa Avampato.

I just attended Dr. Katharine Hayhoe’s Climate Week NYC talk at the American Museum of Natural History, and it was the most empowering climate message I’ve ever heard. It reframes the entire discussion around three simple ideas: Head, Heart, and Hands.

A research-backed truth: Dr. Hayhoe shared that most people in this country and in the world (~60% on both counts) are worried about climate change. We, the worried, don’t need more doom and damning data to get us concerned because we’re already there.

The challenge: Even though we’re worried, we aren’t taking enough action to alleviate our worry because we don’t know what to do about it.

The solution: Sync up our head, heart, and hands – what I’m calling the great triumvirate of change – and sync with others.

Well, that’s all well and good, but how do we do that? Dr. Hayhoe’s advice: Get clear about what we care about, how climate change will impact what we care about, find others who care about what we care about, and start talking!

Here’s our action plan:

Head: Define Your Why. Clearly identify exactly why you’re worried. Finish this sentence: “I care about climate because I care about…” How is your personal well-being, favorite place, or dearest value already being affected by climate change? Keep it simple, personal, and jargon-free.

Heart: Connect to Community. Now that you know what you care about, find communities, groups, and individuals who share that passion and are also affected by climate change.

Hands: Turn Conversation into Action. Get in touch with those communities and start talking about your shared worries and values. That act of conversation and connection will lead to meaningful, collaborative action or project to protect what you care about.

Climate change will affect everything everywhere all at once. It is a global issue, and no one will escape it so no matter what you care about, it will be impacted and there are communities of people who care about it, too. Let’s dive into an example from my personal life to see this action plan come to life.

An example:

Head: I’m worried about climate change because I love New York City. Since most of our city is at or near sea level, we will be subject to serious impacts from sea level rise, and we have a lot of issues now with rain flooding the streets and subways – our main modes of transportation. We also have a lot of people living in a small amount of space so there is a lot of pollution that impacts our health and well-being, and often crowds out green space, which is causing more heat, dirtier air, and health issues.

Heart: I love this city, and I do believe we can make it greener, cleaner, and healthier for all beings who live here – people, pets, wildlife, and plants. I want to find other people who also care about nature in NYC.

Hands: I run a live storytelling game show called NYC’s Secrets & Lies all about the secret history of NYC. This month, I decided to make the show all about stories related in nature in NYC and applied to have it become an official Climate Week NYC event. They accepted it (hooray!). I found a terrific venue – a hidden theater inside Port Authority Bus Terminal (a great tie into the transportation issues impacted by climate change here in NYC!) We had a wonderful cast of storytellers who were enthusiastic about the topic and told a wide range of stories. I also invited Josh Otero from the Natural Areas Conservancy to be our special guest to talk about all of the amazing work they do to make NYC greener and healthier. We had a sold-out show with a waitlist of 33 people, and all of the stories talked about interesting aspects of the history of nature in NYC. We had so much fun, and it was a great way to get the message out there! This show gave me a place to put my worries about climate change and turn them into action with others. I’m planning to do more of these shows – stay tuned!  

Our climate anxiety is reaching new heights and as Dr. Hayhoe explained, the way to use that anxiety for good is through stories. Storytelling is about conversations. Every great idea, every meaningful action, every ounce of change – it all begins with a conversation. Get out there, start talking, and see what change you can create with others.

creativity

The Climate Film Festival Storytelling Collective

Christa Avampato

I’m really happy to have joined a new collective created by Climate Film Festival that’s bringing together sustainability professionals with filmmakers to raise the bar on and expand opportunities for climate storytelling. As someone who has one foot in each of these worlds, I’m so excited to be part of this new professional group and to help craft and fund these stories that drive action.

Yesterday I went to the Essex Market coffee hour for our first in-person event and attended an excellent panel about climate documentary making. As someone who studied how to use storytelling to drive more climate investment from family offices, I felt like I was in just the right place at just the right time because financing was a key part of the conversation. I heard a number of filmmakers talk about the challenge of finding financing for their climate films, especially with the current situation in D.C.

What filmmakers need to consider is that private funders don’t want to just fund a movie. They want to fund systemic change, especially when it comes to protecting and restoring the health of the planet. Filmmakers need to show how their films, and the platforms and supports they are building around their films, will get viewers to engage in creating meaningful change. That change needs to be measured and reported on.

Is that asking more from filmmakers? Yes. Is it asking them to be skilled business people, entrepreneurs, and community leaders on top of their filmmaking expertise and beyond the creation of the film? Yes. Isn’t making a movie already a Herculean task? Yes. Is that a challenge? Yes. It’s also today’s funding reality.

You aren’t just making a movie, not anymore. You’re building a movement, and that movement is what’s fundable with a movie being one cornerstone of many.