Nature
How do we help preserve nature?
Introduction
When you think of nature, what comes to mind? Nature is all around us, present in every outdoor space, and holds meaning for each of us in different ways. To truly protect our planet, we need to shift our mindset to value and respect all of it.
Our partner, Climate Stories Project, amplifies voices from around the world, sharing personal experiences of climate change. Through these stories, we can learn, connect, and take meaningful action to protect both nature and the communities it supports.
Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designer, writer, and educator
What Does Nature Mean to You?
One of the biggest challenges in our relationship with nature is that we often value land only for its economic worth. We’re all familiar with terms like “capital” and “value” when it comes to money, but what about natural capital? This refers to the Earth’s stock of natural assets—geology, soil, air, water, living organisms, and more. These resources form the foundation of our economy, yet the connection between the environment and economic systems is often overlooked.
Our current economic model tends to prioritize profit over people and the planet. However, approaches like true cost accounting are shifting this by considering environmental, climate, biodiversity, and public health impacts when assessing the real cost of a product. Additionally, many companies are adopting the circular economy, which aims to reduce waste, keep materials in use, and regenerate natural systems. Although crucial for addressing climate change, only 8.6 percent of the global economy is currently circular.
While systemic change takes time, we have the power to support brands that prioritize sustainability. Our partner, Everyone, uses nature to create safe, non-toxic products, including hand sanitizer made from renewable biofuel sourced from beets, trees, and other natural resources.
Revaluing nature’s role in the economy is one step, but we also need to rethink our legal relationship with the natural world. It’s time to recognize that nature itself deserves rights and legal protection.
How Can We Reconnect with Nature?
When we recognize that we depend on ecosystems, rather than dominate them, we start to see nature as deserving its own rights—just like human rights. Over the past decade, countries have been pioneering the “Rights of Nature” movement. Ecuador, the first nation to grant legal rights to nature in 2008, has seen Indigenous communities leading the way in defending these rights. Leaders like Mariluz Canaquiri Murayari, president of the organization Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana, have helped protect Ecuador’s Los Cedros forest. As she explains, “We must recognize that there are living beings that cannot defend themselves—and it is thanks to these beings that we have air, water, and life.”
While granting rights to nature might seem like a new legal idea, it’s not. Indigenous peoples around the world have long understood that nature deserves protection. Valuing ecosystems as we value human life is only ‘innovative’ within the framework of modern Western political systems.
How Can We Be Inspired by Nature?
Nature holds the answers to many of our environmental challenges. Biomimicry—the science of emulating nature’s designs and processes—offers regenerative solutions that can address these issues.
Many everyday inventions come from biomimicry. In the 1940s, George de Mestral created Velcro after observing how burrs stuck to his clothes and his dog’s fur with tiny hooks. In the 1990s, Japanese engineers modeled a bullet train after the beak of a kingfisher, reducing noise and energy use. More recently, scientists designed flexible bionic arms by studying the movements of elephant trunks.
Our partners at the Biomimicry Institute advocate for biomimicry as a regenerative solution, bridging the gap between biology and design. Biomimicry provides practical solutions across industries, offering a powerful way to reconnect with nature and build a sustainable future for both people and the planet.
As you continue your environmental journey, rethinking your relationship with nature is a key step.
PARTNERS
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Explore More About Nature
To deepen your connection with nature and broaden your understanding, we’ve gathered a selection of resources. These tools will guide you toward actionable insights and new perspectives on nature and sustainability.
CHALLENGES
Many companies are using their influence to drive positive global change through for-profit models. One impactful way they’re doing this is by becoming Certified B Corporations. B Corps work to reduce inequality, fight poverty, protect the environment, strengthen communities, and create meaningful jobs with dignity and purpose. They embrace a triple bottom line, focusing on benefits for people, the planet, and the economy.
Granting legal rights to nature might seem like a distant goal, but recent years have seen advocates and governments make real progress. Could you see yourself working to advance environmental law and make the rights of nature a reality? This is just one of many impactful career paths open to you!
Reconnecting with nature is where biomimicry begins. The Biomimicry Institute defines (Re)connection as “acknowledgement that humans and our activities are not separate from nature, but are a part of nature, affecting and affected by all other organisms within Earth’s interconnected systems. As a practice, reconnecting with nature encourages us to observe and spend time in nature to better understand how life works so that we may more effectively appreciate and emulate biological strategies in our designs.”
PRIZES
Up to 10 Greener and 10 Greenest outstanding submissions will be selected as winners.
Each Greener Winner will receive:
Each Greenest Winner will receive:
