Designers of Paradise with Erik Van Lennep

It started with the wisdom of a four-year-old and has led to a quest to support and spawn regenerative communities.  In this conversation with Designers of Paradise host Erik Van Lennep real estate investor and community designer, Chad Thiessen explains how his relationship with his son directed him on his current path, where he came from, and what he's learning along the way. Chad describes his experiences - good and bad - in real estate development and how he's realized he wants to build regenerative communities, places for healing. He distinguishes his ideas from eco-villages and how to work in other countries yet avoid colonialization. He emphasizes the importance of scaffolding to support learning and money as a tool. 

Crann Mór, from Gaelic, means "Big Tree" and Kevin Maher, founder of CrannMor Advisors is thinking big about trees. Partnering with permaculture designer and author Mark Shepard to create CrannMor Advisors, Kevin helps farmers be more successful financially while also improving the ecosystem with an emphasis on agroforestry. In this conversation with Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep, Kevin explains how they are looking for early adopters willing to a longer term perspective on "return" that will enable investment in tree crops.

More than 25 years ago, Jeff Goebel started working with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to help improve finances from their timber management program. Over time,

Regenerative community practitioner and eco-architect Duncan Crowley shares a fascinating and inspiring overview of his evolving work as a community facilitator where architecture moves to city planning, then community design, opening the way for community organizing and activism.

Why do we talk about two degrees Celsius when we think in Fahrenheit? How do we get past fear and move to learning? How do we think bigger, act now, work together? These are the kind of questions Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep discussed with Sarah Harrison and Marc O’Brien of creative studio, […]

“They showed up with a truck full of what looked like the remains of a campfire. It even smelled like a campfire.” During a series of field trials Peltz realized that carbonized wood can help revitalize dramatically degraded land. “Stuff would grow on mine sites where nothing had grown for 100 years.” Christopher Peltz tells […]

H.O.P.E. – “Helping Other People Eat”. The vision came while Julie’s husband Rich was a homeless teenager, wondering why it was so hard to find food. He kept thinking if people knew how to grow their own food, there would be so much less hunger. Many years later a work related concussion required a home […]

People know something is going on. “Global Weirding” : all the snow, the tornadoes in strange places, bigger hurricanes, disappearing salmon … With so much evidence, so much urgency, why do we stay in ‘avoidance’ mode? What can we do about it? That was the topic when Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep spoke […]

What if we know what needs to be done … but need help making it happen? Should we focus on urgency and fear or joy and connecting? What about the suffering that is happening right now? How does self-forgiveness and observation fit in? And what about those kitchen gardens? In this episode Designers of Paradise […]

Are we in the midst of a creativity crisis? How can we reclaim our Imaginative capacities? Could better care and feeding of our hippocampus help us move forward?   In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with his long-time colleague, social entrepreneur and author, Rob Hopkins.  Rob is founder of both Transition Town […]

How can we restore soil health, while locking away ever greater quantities of atmospheric CO2? An ancient method rediscovered in Amazonian soils has led to a proliferation of research over the last few decades. ‘Biochar’ is complex enough to satisfy the nerdiest soil scientists, yet basic enough that it can scale from back yard production […]

In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Anna Luberoff, Garden Programs Manager at Community Grows. Community Grows‘ mission is to “cultivate healthy youth through growing gardens in low-income, diverse communities.” Over the past decade they have helped renovate and maintain parks and gardens in the Western Addition neighborhood of San […]

In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Russell Wallack, Ecological Designer and Regenerative Business Consultant at Terra Genesis International. Russell describes his path from The Conway School (where he originally met Erik), how his focus evolved from social justice broadly to food justice specifically, and how a fortunate meeting with […]

In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Joshua Tosteson who is an impact investor and system change catalyst. Josh describes how he took a detour from college that led to a walkabout in Australia where he discovered Tagari Farm and Bill Mollison, the “father of permaculture”, and a fascination for […]

In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Eric Becker, Partner and Portfolio Manager at Clean Yield Asset Management. Eric was also a founding member of the Slow Money movement and is a founding board member of Soil4Climate. Eric describes the business of Clean Yield, managing investments for high net worth […]

In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Jesse McDougall who, with his wife Cally, run Studio Hill, a regenerative farm in Vermont. Jesse tells a love story that leads to him becoming a farmer. It is a gravely field he walks with tragedy, angst, learning, and eventual conquest. After acquiring […]

In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Stephen and Gloria Decater of Live Power Community Farm in Covelo, CA. They have been managing the farm for 45 years and during that time helped to pioneer CSA’s, implemented an innovative agricultural agricultural easement, and been committed to being fossil fuel free, […]

In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Kevin Doyle Jones who is, among other roles, one of the organizers of next month’s Regenerative Economics conference in San Francisco – Regen18. (Disclosure: RASA is a partner on this event – use this link to get 30% off your tickets.) The conversation […]

In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with co-founder and Chairman of Iroquois Valley Farms, Stephen Rivard. Not the “usual suspect” for working in either funding or real estate, nor farming itself, Steve is a doctor who used to run an emergency room. He describes the epiphany he had around food […]

“Relationship is the Key”   Food is so much more than “just food”. This week Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep explores the concept of food sovereignty with Simone Senogles of the Ojibwe nation and the Indigenous Environmental Network. Erik and Simone discuss the meaning of “food sovereignty”, its relationship to power, control and trauma; the […]

In this inspiring episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Life Educator, Wanda Stewart of Oakland California. Wanda is a social innovator, community builder and garden activist. She runs garden-based education programs for schools in Oakland California. Erik and Wanda talk about Wanda’s path from starting to garden as a hobby, inspired […]

Erik talks with Emily Oakley of Three Springs Farm in Oklahoma about her farm, farmer-to-farmer exchanges, organic certification, and food as a bridge to understanding.

Peter and Erik's discussion moves from stories about telling stories to the story and science mix needed to explain the potential of healthy soil and the repercussions of new soil management approaches.

This is the first episode, the teaser, for the podcast series "Designers of Paradise with Erik van Lennep". Please listen, subscribe, and tell your colleagues.