The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast

Do you feel like you have untapped potential to be an actor for positive change in this world? Then maybe you should consider becoming a Regenerative Practitioner.In this evocative and insightful interview, Pamela Mang of the Regenesis Institute shares her story and how her life experiences shaped her understanding of the role that humans can have in the co-evolution of our planet where all life can thrive.As a world renown organization that has been instrumental in the conception and spread of Regenerative development, the Regenesis Institute believes that human beings have the potential to nourish and support the myriad ecological systems that we touch–and that realizing this potential is a pathway to restoring the health and abundance of our cultures and economies. In order to make this a reality she says, we must commit ourselves to a process of inquiring into and deeply honoring the unique socio-ecological identities of our places.This conversation with host Neal Collins explores the potential that also lies within the real estate industry and how there is a place to raise the consciousness of how we dwell. In order to realize this potential, one must first commit to first working on one's inner self in order to make an impact on the outer world. While the changes we seek to make may loom large, Pamela suggests that it can come quite rapidly once the cultural will is there.———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe

Instead of looking for hope, look for action. That is what resonates with the story of Dan Miller, the founder of the regenerative agriculture crowdfunding platform Steward.Combining his background in the creation of one of the world's first crowdfunding platforms for real estate, Fundrise, with his passion for regenerative agriculture, Dan Miller set his sights on helping farmers and food producers get access to necessary financing. Steward now helps to decommodify food while giving people like you the ability to invest in their local food chain while earning a healthy return.With an emphasis on regenerative agriculture, Dan and the Steward team see themselves as providing a critical but missing piece in the regenerative agriculture movement--access to funding. The platform is now adding an even more robust suite of tools to help farmers with ancillary business services like branding, packaging, bookkeeping, and grant writing.This episode is a testament to how there is a role for everyone in a regenerative future, and that it will take all types of people from farmers to financiers to change the culture, springboard biodiversity, nourish the people, and sequester carbon.———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe

"It's not about the product, it's about the process."This is the mantra that Adam Sgrenci extols when he talks about applying regenerative values and principals to the field of construction management. Adam's work as the co-founder of the Center for Infrastructure and Society often put him in project management roles to help advance large-scale regenerative projects around the globe.Working for clients doesn't always mean you get the latitude to test out new ideas though. In January of 2021, Adam found a house in the Bay Area that showed signs of potential. The house and land were sick, however, and needed someone like Adam, as most buyers would have scraped the house and started over. Adam and his wife decided this was going to be the site of their new home. Instead of hiring a bulldozer to first level the site, Adam called in a permaculturalist. From there he set off doing what would best be described as a Regenervention: a detailed process of looking at the whole, being mindful of the materials and resources that went into and out of the site, and integrating the community into the project.As the real estate and construction industry is looking for ways to embrace sustainability, reduce waste, and be more equitable, Adam is helping to pioneer a new path that is surely unlike any other construction project in the world. Through this project Adam is not only addressing sustainability and building community, but also developing the capacity of everyone who is part of the process.———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe

The infrastructure that our society is built upon is large and complex. Outside of roads, bridges, and buildings the we can see, much of the infrastructure is out of sight. We know that there is an electrical grid, sewer systems with waste water treatment plants, and hundreds of thousands of fiber optic cables, but most people don't know how it all works.That's where Steven Baumgartner of Baumgartner Urban Systems Strategy (BUSS) sees tremendous opportunity. Steven advocates for a more community-centric model to demystify large, opaque infrastructure  projects so we can have a system that is more participatory, close-looped, and equitable.Steven has coined the term "deinfrastructure" to describe this novel approach. He believes that urban systems such as energy, water, mobility, technology and food need to be continually re-examined, re-engineered, and re-imagined, especially in today’s world as we navigate coinciding and colliding crises (a global pandemic, systemic racial injustices, economic uncertainties and our immediate climate change challenge). He believes that there are bold, elegant solutions that bridge the built and natural environments that can strengthen our neighborhoods, build economic prosperity and ensure health and wellness- all while working in concert with (not against) our natural systems.To read more about his deinfrastructuring work check out an Urban Land Institute article that Steven wrote in June 2021.———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe

Imagine a deep ecological  thinker that lives in the breathtaking Spanish Pyrenees in a 700 year old hand-built house that captures all of its own energy from the sun, harvests all the water it needs from the rain, and invites nature into the heart of the home.That is Emmanuel Pauwels. Emmanuel is a Regenerative Practitioner through and through. From the way that he designs buildings to the regenerative leadership he instills in Green Living Projects, a European-based consultancy that he founded in 2009. Emmanuel is part soothsayer, part philosopher and on this interview helps to expand our awareness of how we can evolve not just real estate design and construction of individual home sites, but the entire development process so that the built environment can enable all life on this planet to co-evolve.By providing frameworks like the Five Capitals, Emmanuel uses his real life experience to talk about how all forms of capital (natural, social, physical, financial, and human) need a return. He lets constraints guide the creativity and showcases how capital can be interchanged to continue to propel a project forward.If you are looking for ways to help move beyond the sustainability paradigm of doing less bad, Emmanuel Pauwels is someone that must be on your radar.———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe

What if real estate could be used as a force for good, rather than further degradation?It is no secret that the infrastructure our civilization is built upon is outdated, extractive, and harmful to our health and the environment. Buildings account for nearly 40% of all energy consumed globally and are notorious for wanton waste.One person that has answered that question is Aaron Fairchild, co-founder and CEO of Green Canopy. Aaron's background seeking to do good and make an impact has roots dating to his time spent in Peace Corps and in the banking and the alternative energy sectors.In 2008, Aaron and his co-founder Sam created Green Canopy in Seattle to see if they could create a better, healthier, greener homes. What started as deep retrofits morphed into net zero infill developments of single family and multifamily homes and communities.Aaron and his team take a unique approach to green development and see scaling as an opportunity to drive change. With each energy efficient and healthy home they bring to the market they set a high water mark for other builders and developers to aim towards. During the company's existence they've seen 7-8% of new homes have sustainable features to now over 50% in the Seattle area.Green Canopy brings a level of sophistication not commonly seen in the green building space. Their model has attracted investors that are seeking to do good with their funds while still returning a healthy profit. Their for-profit ventures also enable them to provide affordable housing options and work with community-based and socially justice organizations like Nehemiah Initiative Seattle and Habitat for Humanity.This is a great podcast episode for those that are interested in the green building field and real estate professionals. Aaron has some incredible life lessons and take-aways that help to illuminate how one can make an impact in their lives, careers, and with their money. ———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe

When the Living Building Challenge was first conceived in the early 2000's many people had their doubts. Lauded as the world's most rigorous and aspirational green building standard, the challenge was deemed almost impossible. And in many places illegal.Living Buildings have design and performance imperatives like the building needing to produce more energy than it consumes; all the water used is harvested on-site; materials come from local sources and are non-toxic; the project makes a positive and equitable contribution in the community; agriculture is cultivated; and waste is seen as a resource with no sewer connection.But what about an entire community based on those same set of green building standards? That's where Matthew Grocoff comes in. He is a founding member of THRIVE Collaborative that is one of a few developers in the world to attempt a Living Community Challenge.On this episode Matthew talks about how his background buying and retrofitting a turn of the century house to be Net Zero for energy and water helped lead him into his current endeavor of developing Veridian at County Farm.Veridian is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the US  and will be an all-electric, mixed-income, integrated community with trails, gardens, woods, and playgrounds. Multiple building types are slated to be developed that meshes several different progressive urban forms that will definitely help put this community on the map.———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe

In an ever changing and complex world, the real estate industry must change. The change needs to come from all levels: from designers and architects, builders and developers, planners and policy makers. This is especially true for real estate agents.The residential real estate industry has been pushing out repetitive platitudes for a long time. Agents tout that they can help a buyer find their dream home; or they promise a homeowner that they can help sell a property for the most amount of money in the least amount of time. But how many real estate agents talk about lowering operating costs? Or creating comfortable, resilient, and healthy home environments?Craig Foley, the Chief Sustainability Officer for LAER Realty Partners and the team leader at REthink 39 of Boston, Massachusetts, has been working at the forefront of this change for more than a decade. What he first saw as an opportunity to work with buyers and sellers that were more environmentally motivated turned into an obligation the more he saw the threat of climate change.Craig’s team, REthink39, is devoted to lowering the 39% of U.S. energy consumption attributed to the built environment and believe they can be part of a solution with every transaction closed. Their work has helped to forge the way to how high performance homes get valued, and how buyers can help update properties to be more energy efficient.Through his work, Craig has been active with the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) through its Sustainability Advisory Group and currently serves on Fannie Mae's Energy Advisory Council and Freddie Mac's Energy Efficiency Task Force. ———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe

For twenty-two years The Ecology School has been teaching people how to tune into and read the pattern language of nature. The school aims to transform how people think about science, food, the environment, and themselves through joyful, hands-on learning for all ages. They approach the science of ecology through wide-eyed, hands-on exploration of the ecosystems outside their doors, making nature’s lessons memorable with play, humor, and games, and applicable with real life models of sustainable farming and living.Co-founder Drew Dumsch is a leading environmental educator that is passionate about addressing the large, complex issues we face today through ecological education. He has led an entrepreneurial career that has exposed him to not just outdoor education, but also green building, agroforestry, organizational management, and development.Set in a pristine location on the Saco River in Southern Maine, The Ecology School’s innovative River Bend Farm campus lives and breathes a sustainable culture. The campus is one of the first sites in the world to become Living Community Challenge certified through the International Living Future Institute, and they are showcasing groundbreaking ways of growing food and conserving energy to lead by example that humans can thrive while nourishing the ecosystems we inhabit. River Bend Farm’s forest, fields, and streams allows people to explore specific plants, animals, organisms and their habitats, providing a rich understanding of how living and non-living factors affect one another over time in every ecosystem. River Bend Farm opens our eyes to what’s possible while reimagining the future in real time.———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe

On this tiny spec we call home in the universe, matter is neither created nor destroyed. Every living thing is created from the Earth. Death and life are the two sides of the same coin. They are both constant and infinite, yet we experience them as finite.For the entirely of our species and those that we evolved from, our bodies have been nourished from the earth, and then returned to the earth. An eloquent quote from the Christian bible in the book of Genesis 3:19 sums this up with the passage, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."Yet, by a cultural practice in the West, we are not returning to the earth any longer. We are pumped full of toxic preservatives, put into a resource-intensive casket made of wood, metal, plastic, and chemicals, lowered into a cement-lined grave, and then covered with soil in a field marked by tombstones for time-memorial. This practice is neither sustainable, nor natural.In this episode of The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast, Jodie Buller from The White Eagle Memorial Preserve at Ekone Ranch talks about natural burials and how it enables the stewardship of both land and souls. It is one of only a few wilderness cemeteries in the U.S. and is designated a conservation burial ground by the Green Burial Council.This is a moving and beautiful conversation that will help us all remember what is means to be alive; to be human; and how we can remember our role in the evolutionary process of Life even when we have passed on.———————-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. Get full access to The Regenerative Real Estate Newsletter at regenerativerealestate.substack.com/subscribe