The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast

This episode is a front-row seat at a masterclass in regenerative development. Mazyar Mortazavi, CEO of TAS Impact, joins us to share how his Toronto-based firm is redefining urban development by weaving community, sustainability, and impact into every project.Mazyar's journey is deeply personal—the organization's strategic plan is following his old master's thesis on anti-gentrification strategies. His interest in this was shaped by growing up in an immigrant family and witnessing firsthand the effects of gentrification in Canada's largest city. Under his leadership, TAS has evolved from a custom home builder into a trailblazing urban development company that is creating places harnessing community engagement processes most firms can't even dare to imagine.TAS is a great example that demonstrates how the process and approach are what truly shape remarkable, resilient places.———————-This podcast isn't just about ideas—it's about action. From these conversations, two organizations have emerged to bring regenerative real estate to life: Latitude Regenerative Real Estate is the world's first regenerative-focused real estate brokerage, dedicated to aligning values-driven buyers and sellers. With a strong presence in the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes regions, Latitude also supports purpose-driven developments across North America through strategic marketing and branding services. If you're looking to buy, sell, or amplify a regenerative project, Latitude is your trusted partner. Hamlet Capital is an investment and development firm committed to building resilient communities rooted in working farms. If you're developing an agrihood or conservation community, we'd love to hear from you. Together, we can turn visionary ideas into thriving, place-based investments.

Tre' Cates is an entrepreneur and regenerative thought leader with over 25 years of experience. His work focuses on the importance of building healthy, regenerative organizational environments that support long-term goals without compromising the integrity of society or the environment. As the former COO of the Savory Institute, Tre' played a key role in shaping regenerative agriculture around the globe. For the past decade, he has served as director of nRhythm, which strives to bring life to the systems that connect us all. Tre' is focused now on developing a methodology and approach that brings a life-centered approach to organizations and institutions. In this episode, Tre' and host Neal discuss the principles of regenerative design and explore how they can be applied to many aspects of work and life beyond just agriculture, including in real estate. Tre' discusses his work with nRhythm, and how modern economic systems disincentivize putting life at the center of many of our institutions and organizations. Tre' and Neal also discusses organizations that are succeeding at holding life at the center of their work. For more information about Tre' and his work, visit nRhythm.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Blake Jones is a founder of several cooperative enterprises, including Namaste Solar and Kachuwa Impact Fund. He's a pioneer in his marrying of the cooperative model and impact investing. Kachuwa Impact Fund is democratically owned and operated by its members. They invest in companies that have a positive impact on the environment and society, and real estate that does the same—such as organic farms and affordable housing. They invest in Main Street as opposed to Wall Street, and impact is their number one priority with financial return being second. In this episode, Blake and show host Neal discuss Blake's journey from working in the oil and gas industry to shifting his interest to renewable energy, and eventually becoming fascinated by the cooperative enterprise model. They dive into the concept of impact cooperative investment funds, discussing how these funds differ from traditional investment models and why they are essential for supporting mission-driven enterprises and real estate. It's a fairly new concept and Blake shares details of how the fund works in practice—how they vet potential investments and investors, how they approach liquidity and patience, and how members' voting power is not tied to their investment amount. Blake shares valuable insights from his experience with Kachuwa and other cooperative enterprise, as well as some valuable tips for anyone interested in impact investing cooperatives. For more information about Blake and his work, visit Kachuwa Impact Fund. ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Kris Maher is an architect and developer. For over 20 years, she's worked for the Rancho Mission Viejo community in Orange County, California, where she is currently senior vice president of community development. The master planned community lies on a former cattle ranch, and currently they are developing a 23,000 acre entitlement that will have 14,000 homes in six non-contiguous villages. Almost three-quarters of that land will remain open space surrounding the villages. Kris leads urban planning and community design, with the natural, preserved landscape at the heart of her efforts. “The land is our brand,” she says. In this episode, Kris and show host Neal explore her life journey from a mechanical drafting class in high school to becoming a pivotal figure in community development. They trace the history of Rancho Mission Viejo from the 1800s when it was a cattle ranch, to the 60s when the owning families decided to develop a master planned community, to today as it continues to grow with new homes and an emphasis on the land in the age of the agrihood. They discuss the variety of amenities at Rancho Mission Viejo, including the community farm where residents can volunteer and pick up produce, and the horses who live on site and have captured the hearts of the community. Kris shares insights into the intricacies of marketing to different generations, the challenges of dealing with rising insurance costs in light of wildfire risk, the creative solutions they've employed for water efficiency, and the general obstacles of greenfield development and creating affordable housing. For more information about Kris and her work, visit ranchomissionviejo.com.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Jenny Andersson is a regenerative strategist and educator, and the founder of the Really Regenerative Centre in the UK. With over 30 years of experience working alongside brands, organizations, and communities to inspire sustainable and regenerative initiatives, Jenny believes in "harnessing the power of the collective intelligence of organizations and communities to create visions for the future they want." She believes the world has undergone profound shifts—more billionaires than ever, microplastic pollution, ill soil health—and people are sensing it consciously and unconsciously. They are ready for change. But real change, including creating regional and regenerative economies, requires not only contemplating all dimensions of our society, it requires looking closely at oneself, one's own relationships, and ways of thinking.In this episode, Jenny and host Neal explore her journey from international development in Tanzania to founding the Really Regenerative Centre, from her current home in West Sussex. They discuss her experiences in brand strategy helping major businesses develop environmental initiatives, her battle with stage four lymphoma, and her deep dive into regenerative practices which she calls her “informal PhD.” Jenny shares insights into her work with the Really Regenerative Centre, which brings people together to learn about the essence of regeneration and inspire them to make the change they know is possible. It supports local resilience and transforms extractive economies into regenerative ones. Neal and Jenny highlight the importance of right relationships, community engagement, and systemic thinking in creating lasting change. They also discuss the necessity of funding for experimentation, the potential of regionalizing economics, and the challenges of “fixing the plane while it's still flying”—i.e., making change within complex adaptive systems. For more information about Jenny and her work, visit reallyregenerative.org.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Emily Niehaus is a former mayor and a leader in both affordable housing and education. She is the founder of Community Rebuilds, a nonprofit that constructs affordable straw bale homes, and more recently, she's also the founder of Heron School, a micro-school for gifted neurodiverse students. In between those ventures, she found the time to be the mayor of Moab, Utah, where she was able to advocate for housing policy with a larger platform. Throughout her impressive, varied career, she has been driven by purpose and a “doer” attitude, she says “if I see something that needs fixing, I just try to fix it."Emily and show host Neal explore Emily's journey from Ohio to her “forever home” in Utah, where she started off as a park ranger at Bryce Canyon before settling down in Moab. She followed her passions, working at a community theater and as a social worker, before she became a loan officer as a pathway to getting into creating affordable housing. They talk about her innovative nonprofit, Community Rebuilds, which she founded as a way to replace outdated trailer homes with sustainable straw bale homes for families in need. They also dive into her term as the mayor of Moab, where she promoted affordable housing and learned valuable lessons about political will and community engagement. Finally, they discuss her most recent venture, Heron School, which was inspired by Emily's son, a gifted learner on the autism spectrum. The school operates on a profit-for-purpose model, with the support of the neighboring Sunflower Hill Inn, which Emily also owns. For more information about Emily and her work, visit heronschool.com and communityrebuilds.org.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Jacob Deva Racusin is a natural building designer, builder, and educator. He is a longtime leader in the field of sustainable building and the co-founder of New Frameworks, a worker-owned cooperative committed to a “kinder sort of building.” Using natural materials such as native hardwood, clay, and stone, they are developing data-driven and scalable solutions for cost-effective, non-toxic, plant based building that can substantially impact our urgent ecological and health crises. Starting as a young person in the punk rock scene, Jacob got involved early on with forward thinking movements around sustainable agriculture and building, and he hasn't looked back. Now, he is hopeful that the world is catching up and that healthy, natural building is poised to be a major solution to our global environmental crisis.  In this episode, Jacob and show host Neal explore Jacob's early transition from organic agriculture to pioneering sustainable building practices, highlighting his work in natural building and his path to becoming an advocate for ecological building materials. They delve into Jacob's innovative approach to construction, his early experiences with straw bale homes, his formative experience with Yestermorrow Design School, and his contribution to the BEAM tool with Builders for Climate Action. They also discuss the challenges of integrating sustainable and natural building practices into the mainstream, as well as the potential to encourage widespread adoption, especially as the world looks for ways to cut carbon emissions. For more information about his work, visit newframeworks.com (and follow them on IG) or buildersforclimateaction.org. ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Paul Rabinovitch is an impact investor, sustainable developer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Net Positive Capital, a fund that seeks to build a channel for capital to flow into net positive real estate. He has decades of experience investing in healthy vibrant places and his career is built on the principle that social benefit and profit are not mutually exclusive. He's been on the leading edge of the impact investing movement in the United States and is hopeful that the rest of the investment community is finally ready to catch up. Recently he put his years of wisdom and knowledge into a book, Investment Opportunities in Decarbonizing Real Estate, and launched his fund to put that knowledge into action. Paul and show host Neal trace Paul's life journey and most formative professional and personal experiences. They discuss the influence of his mother, an architect who gave him an appreciation for the beauty of buildings and neighborhoods, as well as his early work with Nature Conservancy, where he learned about the biology of mature plant communities and how they relate to urban communities. They dive into his time as a brownfield developer and his experience managing a personal fund for an influential matriarch with a firm commitment to impact investing. Finally, they discuss Paul's newly established fund as well as the state of impact investing the U.S. and abroad, and some of the obstacles to growth. For more information about Paul and his work, follow him on LinkedIn or download his book for free here. ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Sean McLean is a visionary in the field of regenerative development. He is a managing partner of MPact Collective, an impact real estate development firm that takes an innovative, long-term approach toward place-based investing. Sean believes that the best way to build a resilient community is to spend months there full-time learning the issues and addressing them in a sustainable way, working on the scale of decades rather than years. He's creating opportunities to support underserved and underinvested communities that offer impressive returns that can compete with and even exceed those of traditional real estate developments. Sean and show host Neal talk about Sean's formative years in Nassau County, “the birthplace of the American suburb;” his education, which taught him about the history and psychology of real estate; and his early years in the real estate industry. Eventually, Sean had an epiphany that the frustrating rules and regulations that prevented more meaningful development could be challenged and improved, and he set about doing that. They discuss his more recent work creating innovative zoning codes and entitlement processes, his transition into regenerative development with MPact Collective, and their efforts to promote economic resiliency and climate-smart growth through their investments. They also dive into the critical role of deep community involvement in the development process and the challenge of attracting traditional investors to buy in to their projects. For more information visit mpactcollective.com.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Analise Roland is an impact entrepreneur, neuroscientist, and movement leader in the field of regenerative development. She is the CEO of Anura, a real estate fund that aims to generate financial, social, and environmental returns. She has a deep belief that developments based on regenerative principles can produce substantial returns that benefit the investor, but also the local community and natural environment. With this mindset, we can foster a regenerative economy and a system of regenerative capitalism, that challenges the extractive capitalism which has dominated our era. Analise and show host Neal explore her diverse background, from her childhood spent in the Montana countryside, to her academic pursuits studying neuroscience at Brown University, to her early entrepreneurial ventures in sustainable farming and development. They talk about her experience investing, and communicating the advantages of regenerative economies to traditional investors. They also delve into her current work, including the hospitality fund which, through its various projects will support local communities and environmental projects, through the bioregional hub model. For more information about her work, visit anura.earth.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Neal and Alissa Collins are partners in business and life, and are co-founders of Latitude Regenerative Real Estate. As Neal recently passed the milestone of publishing the 100th episode of the Regenerative Real Estate Podcast, he and Alissa thought now was a great time for some reflection. Four years after starting the podcast and starting to build the field of Regenerative Real Estate, Neal and Alissa have accumulated a wealth of knowledge from guests and have enjoyed building a community of like-minded change agents. That learning has fed into their own business and profoundly influenced their efforts at feeding the “quadruple bottom line”—people, planet, profit, and purpose. Alissa and show host Neal discuss the lessons they have learned in 100 episodes of the podcast, including the inspiring authenticity of their guests and their varied efforts. And they explain the recent evolution of their business, as they shift their focus from real estate to ambitious purpose-driven projects. They detail two of those projects, including building an agrihood near Vancouver, British Columbia, which includes a sustainable fishery, and restoring an historical oceanfront lodge and inn overlooking the Olympic Mountains in Washington. Both projects center community, connection to land, and regenerative practices—and care carry exciting challenges around raising capital. To learn more, visit chooselatitude.com. ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Doug Davis is a conservation-based real estate developer, self-proclaimed adrenaline junky, and co-founder of The Farm at Okefenokee. It is a legacy project that Doug plans to work on for decades to come, one that combines development and conservation. The Farm is on 705 acres near Folkston, Georgia, and will ultimately have 250 sustainably-built cabins among crop fields and farm animals that will produce high-quality food for its residents. The development is based on principles of regenerative agriculture, conservation, and a belief that a vibrant community needs “body heat”—people interacting in a lively way with each other and the land. Doug and show host Neal talk about Doug's youth as a “hellion” obsessed with the outdoors, and they detail some of his great adventures surfing, hunting, and hiking. They trace his career path which began in construction, then progressed into engineering and finally development. Doug's foundational love for nature has always informed his work, especially his conservation mitigation bank projects, which restore large wetlands to their pre-industrial state. They also discuss Doug's journey launching The Farm and his and his team's big plans for its future, which includes a restaurant, extensive regenerative farming, community events and classes, a swimming pond and dog park, and a series of small “villages,” each consisting of 25 cabins. You can follow along with Doug's journey of living at The Farm and continuing to develop it on his Instagram and The Farm's Instagram. You can also check out okefarm.com for more information. ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Lindsay Baker is a movement leader, author, and podcast host. Currently, she is the CEO of the International Living Future Institute, and her path there has been surprising and impressive. She started her career working at the US Green Building Council developing early standards for LEED, subsequently she was a researcher at UC Berkley, global head of sustainability at WeWork, member of Google's Real Estate Sustainability Team, and co-founder of a smart buildings company. Throughout her winding career, she has been driven not by a desire to have a particular role but by a desire to effect as much change as possible at the intersection of buildings, climate, and human health. She seeks positions where she can access “levers for disproportionate change,” where she can make a major impact. Lindsay and show host Neal trace Lindsay's mission-focused upbringing and professional career, including her childhood in Atlanta, formative years in college, and first job working on the LEED certification. They talk about her experience in Silicon Valley, at Google and WeWork, exploring her philosophy behind enacting change most effectively. They also touch on her current position at the International Living Future Institute, her experiences leading the organization through a period of significant change, including the pandemic and social justice movements, and the group's future goals. For more information about her current work, visit living-future.org.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Greg Hale is an expert on high performance and carbon-neutral buildings. He is one of the developers behind the Catskill Project, a 90-acre carbon-neutral community in upstate New York with homes designed to all passive house standards. The community, which is envisioned to eventually have 25 homes, sees itself as exemplifying the “future of living.” Greg has long been a forward thinker in the area of carbon neutral construction, and the Catskills Project is the culmination of a lifetime of environmentalism and sustainable development. Greg and show host Neal discuss Greg's path to starting a passive house community, from his formative years in the Adirondacks to his time working as a real estate lawyer. They also explore Greg's decade-plus experience working for the government of New York State, including at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). There, he was a part of the force behind some progressive environmental policies that aim to make New York carbon neutral by 2050. Finally, they dive into Greg's current efforts with the Catskills Project, the challenges that come with building and marketing a passive house community, and their end vision for the 90-acre site.  For more information about the Catskills Project, visit thecatskillproject.com.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Peter Block is an author, organizational development consultant, and citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio. Among other books, he has written Flawless Consulting, Stewardship, The Answer to How Is Yes, Community, The Abundant Community, and An Other Kingdom. His work has centered around reclaiming our humanity in the relentless modern world. He has a deep belief in the central role that place and our relationship to it plays in our life—our happiness and our health. Peter and show host Neal discuss Peter's career from one of his earliest and most formative sparks of inspiration, as a graduate student thinking about how groups work together. In the conversation, they explore how our spaces and dominate cultural narratives can divide us, and how they can be shifted to bring us together. Peter also shares his approach to designing effective community meetings that bring the public into the process of development in a way that is measured, inclusive, and productive. He also talks about some of the projects and developments that are giving him hope, such as dividend housing and pocket neighborhoods. To learn more about Peter Block's work, visit PeterBlock.com. ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Nathan Helbach is a sustainable developer and the CEO of The Neutral Project. When he was in school working on a degree in sustainability, he came up with the idea to build carbon-neutral developments. Today, with The Neutral Project, he is working to make that dream a reality. Key to reducing the embodied carbon in these buildings was moving away from steel and concrete to mass timber. Currently, Nathan is behind the construction of what will be the tallest mass timber building in the world. Nathan and show host Neal discuss Nathan's path to starting The Neutral Project, including his childhood experience helping his father with small projects in Madison and then in his early 20s, working for a traditional developer on hundreds of traditional stick frame buildings. Once Nathan got the idea to start a business dedicated to carbon-neutral construction, he started working against the inertia of routine and tradition. He had to learn how to acquire and build with mass timber, as well as follow passive house principles. Finally, they touch on the exciting future of The Neutral Project and the many developments they have in the works. To learn more, check out theneutralproject.com.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Brandon Welch is the co-founder and CEO of Mad Capital, an investment fund dedicated to helping farmers transition from conventional to regenerative and organic agriculture. Brandon knew he wanted to do something to make a positive impact on society and the environment, and he found that the world of finance was the most powerful way for him to do so.  Conventional practices are so deeply ingrained in the culture of agriculture and business of farms, that it takes a big leap of faith and lots of support for farmers to make the switch to adopt more regenerative practices. Welch and Mad Capital connect farmers that are willing to evolve with those that that want to invest in regeneration. Brandon and show host Neal discuss Brandon's love for outdoor adventure and how a cross country camping trip led him to an internship at Hunter Lovins' Natural Capitalism Solutions. They trace his path to staring Mad Capital and raising millions of dollars to provide famers with funding to switch from conventional to organic agriculture. They touch on the obstacles to inspiring change in an old industry that's done things the same way for generations, as well as the creative solutions that connect investors wanting to make a difference in our food system with farmers open to a change. To learn more about Brandon's work, visit MadCapital.com. ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Mark Lakeman is an architect, placemaker, and urban planner.  He is the founder and design director of Communitecture, and the co-founder of both the City Repair Project and Village Building Convergence.  He believes that public spaces play a foundational role in human society. However with relatively recent colonial systems they have been subdued and replaced by a grid system that connects cars and commerce but not so much people. Now, he is working to revive them by breaking through the cultural inertia and bureaucracy that works to maintain the status quo. Mark and show host Neal discuss the profound impact that Mark's parents had on him—one an urban planner and the other a researcher studying public spaces in ancient cities. After a few years working in traditional architecture firms, he became disillusioned with their values and traveled the world learning how contemporary indigenous villages were organized. Since then, he's been committed to turning Portland into a place full of lively communal spaces and town squares through placemaking activities—like Little Free Libraries, a concept that he helped create himself. For more on Mark's work, visit communitecture.net, cityrepair.org,  and villagebuildingconvergence.com.And check out our Latitude spotlights highlighted at the top of the episode. Latitude Change Agent spotlight: Mark Voss Ecosystem Directory partner spotlight: EcoNest Architecture and Paula Baker Laport's new book "Prescriptions for a Healthy House" ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

David Leon is the Co-Founder & Executive Director at Farmer's Footprint and Drew Dumsch is the President & CEO of The Ecology School. They are both inspiring leaders in the regenerative movement and have taken innovative approaches to funding their projects. Although the topics of profit and capital can make many in the regenerative world queasy, the reality is that funding is a foundational element to most ambitious initiatives. And just like how society's ideas about food production and community can be revolutionized with the ideals of regeneration, so can its ideas about capital and financing.This is the first in a series of Capital Conversations that will dive deep into the state of capital in the regenerative space. It was recorded this summer in front of a live audience at the Regenerative Real Estate Gathering at the bucolic River Bend Farm in Saco, Maine. Show host Neal, David, and Drew discuss the formation of their respective regenerative endeavors: Farmer's Footprint, a nonprofit "creative agency" for farmers, and The Ecology School, which has hosted over 100,000 participants in programs that aim to promote an appreciate for nature and the environment. David talks about how to approach profitability and financial sustainability as a nonprofit, and Drew explains how his group raised $14 million to bring The Ecology School to River Bend Farm through a creative combination of loans and capital campaigns. For more information, visit theecologyschool.org and farmersfootprint.us.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

David Todd is a longtime designer, green living innovator, and realtor. Now he is Partner and Co-Head of Community at Latitude Regenerative Real Estate. He began practicing regenerative real estate in Portland many years before that phrase entered anyone's vocabulary and he's passionate about bringing like-minded people together to accomplish big things. Now, he lives in Kingston, New York, where he is continuing his mission to empower agents and real estate professionals to be catalysts for healing our relationship to home, place, and planet.David and show host Neal discuss David's long and winding path to eventually working with Latitude Regenerative Real Estate. Never one to take the conventional route, David started his career as a teacher before pivoting to real estate where he created his own title: “Eco Design Consultant & REALTOR.” In Portland, he helped convene a group of regenerative minded professionals and practitioners from a variety of fields to create the Green Home Forum, which launched a sustainable planning and building movement. Now, he's inspired by the great momentum nationwide to create new living systems connected to place and community. You can learn more about his work at chooselatitude.com/davidtodd.———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Mel Meagher is the founder of Unfold Development, a values-driven design and development studio specializing in regenerative thinking. After spending a decade working in a more conventional real estate setting, Mel realized just how disconnected humans have become from our environment–in particular, the harmful impact that our built environments, materials and construction practices have on the earth and on our health. Mel and show host Neal discuss how Mel's career led them to completely rethink real estate development, as well as their inspirations behind founding Unfold. Mel details Unfold's current projects, and how they and their team are bringing intention to every step of the process to restore, reconnect, and reinterpret our built environment. They also discuss how to unite partners in real estate development so they feel connected to the larger project and purpose, and retain their passion for the work. For more information about Unfold Development, visit unfolddevelopment.com. ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Jacob Waddell is the president of the Hemp Building Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to researching and promoting healthy and sustainable building practices. The way we construct our built environment has been a major cause of today's most pressing environmental and health problems. Moving away from conventional construction materials to those that are more natural is a promising solution that's only now starting to catch on in the U.S. Jacob and show host Neil discuss Jacob's path to working with hemp, including his time studying material science and working with plastics before he had a revelation that he should dedicate his life to the environment. It was at that time that he discovered hempcrete—a construction material made by mixing hemp stalks and lime as a binder. They also dive into the environmental, health, and sustainability benefits of hemp building materials, including how it can be “carbon-negative,” improve indoor air quality, and improve soil quality. Now the challenge is making hemp construction mainstream and affordable, so everyone can share in its benefits. For more information about Jacob's work, visit hempbuildinginstitute.org.At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.

Greg Peterson is a green-living innovator, educator, and podcast host. His life vision, which has guided him for more than 30 years, is "I am the person on the planet responsible for transforming our global food system." Greg was introduced to permaculture in the 1990s and was quickly inspired to spread its basic ideals of sustainability and working with nature. In 2001, Greg created the Urban Farm, a real world environmental showcase home in Phoenix, Arizona, where people could learn about permaculture principles and see first hand how they can be applied to homes. Greg and show host Neal discuss Greg's fateful path into permaculture, including a confluence of events in 1991 that would change his life forever and the challenges he faced in brining permaculture to the mainstream decades before it really caught on. They also discuss the basic tenets of permaculture, how to learn about your land by observing it closely, and how you can build an abundant urban garden over years and decades with patience. Finally, they talk about Greg's move to a farm in North Carolina and how he picked the perfect stewards for his Urban Farm in Phoenix. To learn more about Greg's work and to see a schedule for regular Zoom classes on food-growing, visit urbanfarm.org. Also, to listen to Greg's podcast, search for The Urban Farm Podcast in your favorite podcast platform. 

Scott Snodgrass is an entrepreneur, farmer, and land developer. He's started a number of businesses, including Edible Earth Resources, a productive landscapes company; Agmenity, a community farm developer; and most recently Meristem Communities, a real estate development firm focusing on "places for people." He and his business partner Clayton Garrett are working on their first big community project near Houston, called Indigo. Scott and show host Neal discuss Scott's path to "places for people"-focused real estate, including how he first stumbled into farming after coffee growers in Nicaragua asked him for help with their crops.  They touch on Scott's various business ventures, including starting one of the first big edible landscaping companies in the United States and how he was introduced to development through various projects with his community farm company. They also get into the details around his ambitious Indigo project, a 235 acre community near Houston that will have over 650 homes, a walkable "commons" area with businesses, over 40 acres of farmland with vegetables and animals, wastewater reuse irrigation, a solar-powered battery for backup power, and ecological habitats for migratory birds. To learn more about Scott's work with Agmenity, visit agmenity.com. To learn more about Meristem Communities visit meristemcommunities.com, and to learn more about Indigo, visit www.indigocommunity.com. 

James Ehrlich is a technology and media entrepreneur. He's the founder of ReGen Villages, a tech-driven company that seeks to design regenerative communities focused on food, water, energy, and circular waste management.  He's also the director of compassionate sustainability at Stanford University's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research.  James uses his lifetime of experience with video games, television story-telling, and tech to create engaging software that can help people build resilient and integrated villages that make the best use of their unique land.James and show host Neal discuss how James background in media set the stage for his current work with regenerative villages. He was in the middle of the transition from cartridge to CD-ROM gaming, as well as the burgeoning farm-to-table and organic food scenes in the 90s and 2000s. They discuss how ReGen Villages was formed at Stanford and how it seeks to harness AI and machine learning to support the creation of regenerative communities that can provide health and abundance to people all over the world.  To learn more about Jame's work, visit regenvillages.com.

Matt Morley is a Europe-based biophilic designer, entrepreneur, and podcaster. He is the founder of Biofilico and Biofit Health & Fitness, and the host of the Green Healthy Places podcast. He's passionate about biophilic, healthy spaces and finding and bringing together other people leading innovative initiatives in the world of sustainability—which he gets to do with his podcast.  As this interview is also being published on Matt's podcast, he and show host Neal interview each other. They both talk about their background and what led them into a life of fusing entrepreneurship and sustainability. They talk about how change on a small scale can have a domino effect and they discuss how their experiences podcasting and talking to others in the field have effected them. For more on Matt's work, visit biofilico.com and mattmorley.net/podcastand, where you can find his podcast. 

Tres Crow is a writer, artist, and designer. He's the president of Roots Down, an environmental education firm dedicated to helping governments, non-profits, and communities transform their expensive, labor-intensive green areas into productive urban landscapes. Tres and his colleagues at Roots Down argue that, with the right education, landscapers can change their practices, save money and make landscapes more sustainable.Show host Neal and Tres discuss how the landscaping industry has largely been left out of larger conversations about sustainability and regeneration. Tres dispels the misconception that ecological landscaping costs more than traditional landscaping, and he describes how productive urban landscapes, when maintained properly, can flourish for decades. Plus, Tres explains solutions that would decrease landscaping's negative environmental impacts, cut costs, and create beautiful, long-lasting landscapes for communities to enjoy. To learn more about Roots Down, visit rootsdownga.com or the Roots Down app. 

Jay Standish is an entrepreneur and co-founder of OpenDoor Coliving. For nearly ten years with that company, he was a pioneer in the business of professionally-run community housing. OpenDoor started by leasing a single home and eventually came to operate over 400 units in three states. In December of 2022, Jay and his business partner Ben Provan closed the business after a challenging, but successful run. Jay and show host Neal discuss Jay's first major experiences with nature and the outdoors—40 day canoe expeditions in Canada that he did as a teenager. Since then, Jay has loved the feeling of being a part of a group working together and he sought to give people that experience when he launched OpenDoor Coliving, and began renting out rooms in mansions in the Bay Area. They discuss the many benefits of communal living and the many challenges the business presented: raising capital, managing community members' relationships, and designing the ideal coliving space. For more information about Jay's work, visit jaystandish.com.

Jo Petroni is an architect based in rural France, and she is the founder of Permarchitecture. She believes in "listening to your land," which is a way to observe the land where we live and build with curiosity and humility—and ultimately reconnect with nature. Jo is also an illustrator and climate change communicator. She is a co-creator of and contributor to the Carbon Almanac and she has an "Epistolary" of letters to imaginary friends published on Substack. Jo and show host Neal discussed how Jo aspired to be an architect since she was a young child, the adventurous path that led her to her current home in medieval village in France, and how she built her business over Zoom meetings while living as a digital nomad. They go in depth about Jo's approach to architecture—incorporating sustainability and regenerative principles—and how to design while maintaining a deep connection to place. They also talk about the challenges of implementing regenerative and permaculture principles, and the importance of public communication about sustainability. To learn more about Jo Petroni's work, visit permarchitechture.net or check out her blog at jopetroni.substack.com.

Michael D. Ham is an entrepreneur and the co-founder and president of Wild Orchard Regenerative Teas and RePure. He sees the pandemic as culturally transformative and believes that now is the time to move beyond "sustainable" and "net-zero" to "regenerative" and "net-positive." With his tea company, he wants to make the highest quality tea available, grown on a regenerative farm and free of all the toxins that contaminate industrial produced teas. And with his new venture, RePure, he wants to provide an in-home "OS" that can monitor the air, water, and light health of our indoor spaces. Michael and show host Neal discuss Michael's upbringing with immigrant parents from South Korea and how he eventually found his way to starting the first company to offer regenerative organic certified teas.  They also discuss the importance of creating healthy indoor environments—where we spend 90% of our time—which is the focus of Michael's newest venture RePure. They talk about the risks of EMFs, the public's current level of understanding when it comes to healthy indoor environments, and the challenges of starting a business in an emerging industry. Find out more at wildorchard.com and repure.io.

Dorn Cox is a regenerative farmer, technologist, and the research director for the Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment in Freeport, Maine. He is the author of The Great Regeneration: Ecological Agriculture, Open-Source Technology, and a Radical Vision of Hope. Dorn believes that technology's incredible ability to distribute information at little to no cost holds immense power to change our relationship to the environment for the better. By harnessing the power of open source technology, regenerative solutions can spread at a global scale. Show host Neal and Dorn talk about his family's multi-generation farming tradition and his decade-long foray into international finance and technology. Today, Dorn sees himself in the context of the long human history of sharing knowledge and wisdom about agriculture and our connection to the land. He says that the same tools of technology that have been used to extract from and damage the environment, can be used to tell a different story and create a culture shift that embraces regeneration. For more about Cox's work, check out his new book. 

Hillarie Maddox is an entrepreneur, homesteader, and the creator of Black Girl Country Living—a magazine and podcast. Her work is all about helping people "return home to Mama Nature," through media, storytelling, and re-wilding experiences. Moving to the country and growing food during the pandemic was a life-changing experience for her and her family, and now she wants to give that to others.Hillarie and show host Neal discuss their shared home of Whidbey Island in Puget Sound and how Hillarie's family adjusted to life there during the pandemic. They discuss how empowering it's been for Hillarie, as a Black woman, to claim and celebrate her family's historical connection to farming and the land, and how BIPOC people sometimes feel unsafe recreating in rural areas. For more information about Hillarie's work, visit blackgirlcountryliving.com.For more information about Latitude Regenerative Real Estate's upcoming annual gathering, visit chooselatitude.com/gathering.

Hunter Lovins is an environmentalist and author, the co-founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, president of Natural Capitalism Solutions, and managing partner of NOW Partners. For decades, she has worked with communities and companies to encourage them to implement regenerative solutions that are not only sustainable but profitable. She is the author of many books, including Factor 4: Doubling Wealth - Halving Resource Use and Least Cost Energy, Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, and A Finer Future: Creating an Economy in Service to Life.Show host Neal and Hunter discuss her family upbringing, which brought her into close and casual contact with legendary activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez. They talked about her career journey, including her time in law school and extensive studies of economics, which set the stage for her influential ideas about the pitfalls of capitalism. They also discussed how citizens and government can shape our economic system into one that is better for people and the planet, today and into the future. For more information about Hunter's work, visit the websites for NOW Partners and Natural Capitalism Solutions.

Alissa Collins is the co-founder of Latitude Regenerative Real Estate, alongside her husband, show host Neal. On this special episode of the podcast, Neal and Alissa tell their own life story,  which culminates in their development of regenerative real estate: an approach to the built environment that considers health and wellness, sustainability, ecology, community, and spirit. Alissa and Neal discuss their separate childhoods in Alaska and Louisiana, where they both developed a deep connection to nature. After they met, they embarked on a global adventure which took them to India and the Maldives where they learned about the value of culture, community, and spirit of place. Once they returned to the U.S., they pivoted from service work into real estate, hoping to find financial freedom. Within a few years, they'd built a large property management company in Portland, but felt it was lacking their deeper values. After a period of introspection, they composted much of their former business and started Latitude Regenerative Real Estate. Now, they are focused on providing affordable housing, connecting people with the planet, and bringing them into community. Find out more at chooselatitude.com.

Steve Beshara is a developer, entrepreneur, and designer. He is the founder of Vista Growth, which does place-branding, community design, and strategic planning.  Beshara loves to be innovative, on the edge of the frontier, and he believes that community-planning magic can come from charettes, meetings where a diverse group of people come together to brain storm freely. Steve and show host Neal discuss Steve's upbringing, how he learned how to see all sides of an issue from his parents and how he learned to love nature as a child. They also discuss his insights into creating ripe environments for group creativity as well his role in establishing the first net-zero energy home in Serenbe.  For more information about Beshara's work, visit www.vistagrowth.com.

Jim Gale is the founder and chief storyteller of Food Forest Abundance, an organization that aims to provide people with freedom and independence through food forests. After selling his successful real estate company and retiring at 35, Jim thought he would relax for his remaining years. But after he had children, he started thinking obsessively about the future of humanity and came to a revelation: the solution to our society's biggest problems is permaculture. Jim and show host Neal discuss how Jim started a real estate company in his mother's basement which reached over $1 billion in revenue in less than four years. And they discuss how he's more recently applied the problem-solving tenacity that made him successful in business to permaculture. A lifelong lover of nature, Jim's passion for permaculture is infectious. He sees it not only as a way to improve our health and environment, but also as a way to gain freedom and community. To learn more about Jim's work, visit foodforestabundancemn.com.

Hiroko Yamamoto is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the College of Architecture at the University of Utah and runs the DesignBuildUTAH program. The program allows students from around the world to live in the Navajo Nation in Utah to design and build affordable homes using green build techniques. The homes are designed in accordance with Navajo culture and use local materials in a way that is cost effective and harmonious with the surrounding landscape.On this episode, show host Neal Collins is joined by Hiroko and two of her students, Maja Tacchi and Tom Mckean. They join Neal from their construction site, where they have been building a home for months. They detail how they designed the home, which includes a greenhouse and water catchment system, and they discuss the importance of immersing themselves in the Navajo community and cultural practices. They also discuss how valuable this hands-on experience is and how it has inspired their hopes for their future.  To learn more about the program and to see photos of its homes visit its website . And to donate, reach out to Hiroko at hiroko@arch.utah.edu.

Katie McCamant is an author, architect, and the co-creator of the term "cohousing"—a  community of private homes clustered around shared communal spaces. In the 1980s, she and Charles Durrett published the authoritative book on the subject, Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves. McCamant is now focused on promoting cohousing communities across the United States by working with individuals interesting in living in them and supporting professionals like developers and architects interested in building them. Katie and show host Neal discuss how Katie discovered cohousing as a student in Denmark and became inspired to bring the concept across the Atlantic. They also discuss the benefits to living in a cohousing community—how they create a tight-knit group where everybody knows each other and are willing to help out in a moment's notice, and how they make living sustainably easier through collective action. They also discuss ways that cohousing can be promoted throughout the country, especially by educating more everyday people and developers about its benefits. To learn more about Katie's work, visit www.cohousing-solutions.com.

Daron Joffe, a.k.a. Farmer D, is a farmer, designer, and ambitious field-builder promoting the idea of agrihoods and conservation-focused land development. He is the author of Citizen Farmers: The Biodynamic Way to Grow Healthy Food, Build Thriving Communities, and Give Back to the Earth, and the leader of Farmer D, an organization that creates agrihoods by collaborating with developers, nonprofits, and governments. He believes in the "village" model, where housing development is clustered, while large swaths of surrounding land is conserved for nature and agriculture. Farmer D and show host Neal are joined by Latitude Regenerative Real Estate change agent, Soraya Schneider. They discuss Farmer D's path to farming and agrihood-building, which included him dropping out of college twice and a surprise meeting with a monk. They also dive into how Farmer D tackles big projects, carefully studying a place's particular cultural and ecological nature and dealing with large governmental and nonprofit institutions, and they explore how he is taking on the monumental task of creating a new field of knowledge around agrihoods. To learn more about Farmer D's work, check out farmerd.com. 

Julie Brunner is the housing director at OPAL, a community land trust on Orcas Island in Washington state. Julie has worked in the field of affordable housing since the mid-90s and today OPAL is responsible for housing 200 families on an island with a population of just 5,000. Over the years, both through hot and cold real estate markets, they've found innovative ways to finance and offer housing, both through home ownership and renting. Julie and show host Neal discuss the mechanics of community land trusts, the huge benefits to those housed through the program, and the important differences between offering properties to own and to rent. A former economics major, Julie explains how America's housing crisis is not simply a supply issue and she details how OPAL has managed to offer financial security to people on an island with some of Washington's highest property values and lowest wages. To learn more about her work, check out the OPAL website as well as the Grounded Solutions Network, where she teaches courses on community land trusts. 

Peter Scialla is the Chief Operating Officer and President of Delos, a company that is infusing wellness into real estate. We spend 90% of our time indoors and increasingly scientific research has shown that our indoor environment has a major impact on our health. Delos is working to make buildings healthier by improving the air, light, and drinkable water within them. Peter and show host Neal discuss Peter's background on Wall Street, where both he and his brother Paul worked for Goldman Sachs. They realized that as a wellness revolution was taking over markets across the world, there remained an opportunity with the world's largest asset class—real estate. They've worked with top researchers at institutions like the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic to create indoor environments that can profoundly improve our health just by spending time in them. To see more of Peter's work, visit delos.com. 

Ian McSweeney is the director of Agrarian Trust, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support land access for the next generation of farmers. He believes that we need to create a new story about how land ownership works in our society, innovating new and more just ways for people of all walks of life to have access to land. Ian and show host Neal discuss their shared background working as social workers, their shared frustration by the rigid systems that can act as impediments to progress, and how big changes can come to those systems from social movements that start small but over time inspire exponentially growing numbers of people. Ian talks about how many farmers, especially those of color,  have a disadvantage in accessing land and how Agrarian Trust is working to correct that injustice. See more of Ian's work at www.agrariantrust.org. 

David Rust is the founder and CEO of Sagra, an agro-tourism company that works with farms across the country. He believes that a trip to a regenerative farm can be a revelation for people, inspiring them to shift the way they shop, eat, and see the environment. David and show host Neal discuss the path that led to founding Sagra, including David's time at Lyft during its meteoric rise. They also touch on David's upbringing and his family's experience with farms in Europe, where agro-tourism is common. And they dissect the Sagra business model, which is all about bringing people and farms together to promote a public appreciation for regenerative agriculture and support the farms themselves. For information about the company and the experiences they offer, visit sagrafarms.com.

Jesse Savou is the founder of the BlueBarrel Rainwater Catchment System. Her company offers people across the United States the opportunity to restore the natural hydrological  cycle that modern developments and hard pavements have disrupted. They provide a kit with all the parts and instructions that anyone can use to build their own system.  And, most critically, they connect customers with suppliers of recycled blue barrels used to store rainwater. Jesse and show host Neal discuss her path to starting BlueBarrel, including a false start in the corporate world which did not share her values, a formative experience in the AmeriCorps program, and a chance encounter with surplus 55 gallon blue drums sitting on a farm in Sonoma County, California. With so much attention placed on decarbonization, electrification, and energy efficiency, Jesse's company is placing a spotlight on an essential, and sometimes forgotten aspect of sustainability—water. For more information, visit bluebarrelsystems.com.

Izumi Tanaka is a green realtor, podcast host, and change agent with Latitude Regenerative Real Estate.  Izumi moved to the U.S. from Japan when she was 21 years old and for her whole life has used ikigai as a driving force—a Japanese concept that's often associated with the intersection of a four part Venn diagram: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. In her work, she combines mindful living with the built environment in an effort to create thriving communities healthy for both people and the environment. Izumi discusses the long road that led her to working with show host Neal at Latitude—from her background in documentary film making and photography, to green real estate. Neal and Izumi put their minds together to dive deeper into the meaning of regenerative real estate and how it can make a difference in an industry largely fixated on money. Check out Izumi's podcast at homegreenhomes.com and see more of her work at izumitanaka.com.

John Kamp is an urban and landscape designer with PRAIRIEFORM and the co-author of the book Dream, Play, Build. For the sake of the environment and our own happiness, it is essential that we design urban spaces thoughtfully—and that requires honest input from community members. For this purpose, John and his colleagues have innovated new ways to do community meetings that minimize conflict and stress, and encourage creativity and play. John and show host Neal discuss John's younger days starting a design firm in his parents' basement, his breakthrough with the idea of an irrigation-free yard, and the immense importance of using the senses to unlock joy and creativity. John has always been inspired by the visceral effect of a beautiful city or landscape and uses that experience as a guide in his work.  See more of his work at prairieform.com.

Hannah Lewis is a writer interested in conservation and the intersection of sociology and sustainable agriculture. Her most recent book, Mini-Forest Revolution, is about planting dense forests that can sequester carbon, increase biodiversity, address urban heat, and bring communities together. In this episode, Hannah and show host Neal discuss her academic background and the path that led her to discover the Miyawaki Method. This is the subject of Hannah's recent book and she explains how even small, 200 square yard forests can have huge benefits, such as linking wilderness areas together and improving water retention.  See more of Hannah's work at her website, www.hannahlewis.org. 

Dylan Lamar is  an architect, developer, and the founder of the firm Cultivate.  He believes that affordability is an essential part of sustainability and he is on a mission to address America's housing crisis. Dylan's new mantra is "form follows finance" and he is particularly interested in housing cooperatives as a way to de-commodify the housing market and provide sustainable living to more people.In this episode, Dylan and show host Neal discuss Dylan's path to sustainable architecture and passive homes, the current challenges with the housing market, the history of housing cooperatives,  and the trade offs between cost and sustainability. It also dives deep into how Dylan was able to develop a housing cooperative that allowed people to have ownership of a beautiful home in Springfield, Oregon for just $10,000 up front and $800 per month. See more of Dylan's work at www.cultivateplace.com. 

Dani Baker is an author and the owner of Cross Island Farms, an idyllic edible forest in upstate New York that attracts visitors and volunteers from across the country. For most of her adult life, Dani was a clinical psychologist—but ever since she was a kid, farming was in the back of her mind. When she retired, she bought her farm on Wellesley Island, took a community class about permaculture, and became tirelessly dedicated to creating the beautiful and fruitful food forest she has today. We talked about Dani's long and winding path to where she is now, how she learned about permaculture proactively by reading books and trying and failing, and how writing her recent book, The Home Scale Forest Garden: How to Plan, Plant, and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape, is the fulfillment of a lifelong goal. To learn more about Dani and her work, check out CrossIslandFarms.com. 

Jasmine Takanikos is an international branding specialist and principal of Brand Human. She believes that marketing should be less about words and amplifying a message, and more about providing exceptional service. Her career and life experience has led her to a deep appreciation for mindfulness and living with nature and that led her to regenerative real estate. Jasmine and host Neal Collins spoke about how her childhood on Whidbey Island shaped her into the person she is today, how the pandemic has forced us all to re-evaluate our priorities, and how she understands land stewardship and our responsibility to our environment and community. Jasmine is a client of ours at Latitude Regenerative Real Estate and we also spoke about Saratoga House—the magical property she is selling now on Whidbey Island. I was excited to speak with Jasmine and share our conversation because her expertise in branding and personal experience being drawn to regenerative real estate lends invaluable insight into one of the most common questions I get: "What is regenerative real estate?" See more of Jasmine's work at www.brandhumanmethod.com.

Sarah Susanka is an architect, prolific author, and visionary thinker credited with starting the tiny house movement. She's changed the way huge amounts of people see the world, but she insists the way to create change is by thinking small and attending to the everyday challenges you see in front of you. I talked to Sarah with a co-host, returning podcast guest Ross Chaplin—creator of “pocket neighborhoods.” This was an incredible opportunity to speak with two highly influential figures in architecture and design who both see their work as being in service to humanity and wellbeing. We spoke about how they were both deeply influenced by the work of Christopher Alexander and his book A Pattern Language, the importance of building with love, the authenticity of designing for human well-being, and how to create change that truly shifts culture. To learn more about Sarah's ideas and work, visit susanka.com and watch her TEDx talk.