Crystal: [00:00:00] I’m Crystal DiMichele, and welcome to the Forces for Nature show. Do you find yourself overwhelmed with all the doom and gloom you hear of these days? Do you feel like you, as just one person, can’t really make a difference? Forces for Nature cuts through that negativity. In each episode, I interview someone who is working to make the world more sustainable and humane.

Join me in learning from them and get empowered to take action so that you, too, can become a force for nature.

Welcome to another episode of the Forces for Nature EarthX Conference Series, where I bring you [00:00:45] behind the scenes of my experiences during that week, and up close and personal with some of the incredible presenters. When we think of home, we often picture comfort, safety, and a sense of belonging. But what if our homes could also actively contribute to healing the planet?

In this episode, I speak with Eric Amyad, co founder of ISO House, Olizoy, and Regen Earth Studio, who is reimagining what it means to build a home and a community. Eric’s companies tackle one of the largest contributors to environmental impact, the construction and operation of homes. Did you know that over 40 percent of materials used in traditional home construction go to waste?

Or that most homes expose us to harmful [00:01:30] chemicals through materials like paint and drywall? Eric is not just designing homes that minimize harm, but exploring ways our homes can regenerate the planet. At ESO House, Eric and his team are creating closed looped homes that produce their own food, water, and energy, while using natural, waste diverted materials.

These homes are built with biomimetic principles. Drawing inspiration from nature’s design, like the Fibonacci spiral, to create spaces that are as beautiful as they are functional. Meanwhile, Olizoy is redefining how communities are built by focusing on accessibility rather than affordability.

Empowering residents with [00:02:15] ownership over communal assets like schools and grocery stores. And at Regen Earth Studio, Eric mentors and supports projects worldwide to build communities that align with regenerative principles. In our conversation, we explore the environmental impact of traditional homes, the exciting technologies behind Eric’s vision, and practical advice for making your own existing home more sustainable.

This episode is an invitation to rethink how we live, individually and collectively. And to imagine a future where our homes and communities don’t just shelter us, but actively contribute to a healthier planet.[00:03:00]

Eric, thank you so much for joining me on the Forces for Nature podcast. It’s so great to have you.

Eric: It’s certainly my pleasure to be here. Thanks.

Crystal: So I’m really excited to talk to you today because I really want to buy a home. And I want the land, I want to plant native plants for pollinators and, and do all that.

But I’m plagued by the guilt of building a home just because the footprint that a home has. So that’s why I’m really excited to talk to you today because I feel like you have found some solutions to have a lighter footprint within your home. So let’s start with what kind of footprint does a home have in the built environment?

Why is this something to consider? [00:03:45]

Eric: Yeah, I’m going to back up for just a moment and address your And to address your intention that we’ve, we’ve found the solution or even a solution, I believe that we’re exploring what the solutions could be. Great. And I think it’s important to state that too, because I’m the first to state that we are trying to figure this out.

It’s certainly a work in progress. What’s unique about what we’re doing is an uncompromising value or set of values to do our best. To not only conserve, but to regenerate our planet. And that requires a myriad of rabbit hole dives and rebuilding principles and beliefs, etc, etc. I think the, not that I think, my perspective [00:04:30] Initially was to, well, it’s just an observation that homes could be much more than they were, which led to understandings of waste and home construction, which is excessive.

40 percent more than 40 percent of the materials that generally go into home construction are our waste, so we can almost build for every two homes, one other home that is thrown in the garbage. Um, I’m not being overly specific with the numbers. I don’t have them in front of me. But I’m being actually, I’m being conservative, I’m being conservative, it’s, it’s a little worse than what I’m reporting.

So that was certainly one of them. That comes from a background of having a father who’s a home builder, a general contractor, an observation as a kid, more importantly as an adult as well, which jogged the [00:05:15] memory of the giant piles of rubbish anytime my dad would build a house. The use of materials being unhealthy.

I think it’s, there’s a sharp contrast between the intention of building homes for people and the lack of availability of building healthy homes for people. I think it’s one thing to provide shelter. It protects us from an element, weather, but it also exposes us to other elements, chemicals, VOCs, etc. So that’s certainly a part of it.

The biggest part of it was just simply. Diving into the possible that at a home, our residences could be much more than they are to us today. And that started with my, my last endeavor, one of my last endeavors in the vertical farming or controlled environment [00:06:00] agricultural space. Is that I was producing food for my family in my house year round in Canada, where I’m from, and now I’m talking just about the food aspect of it, but that’s where it started for me, was, first of all, let’s make a healthier home, then the exploration of what is a healthier home or what can a healthier home be, and then what can we do with a healthier home, which started with the conversation of food, and then we started wrapping our minds around how we can feed people with their homes, inside and outside.

The conversation then was, well, if we’re going to do food, we might as well look at the water problem as well. So how do we create homes that not only collect but produce or create potable drinking water?

Crystal: Because that’s a huge problem now. There are areas that aren’t being developed because of water. [00:06:45]

Eric: For sure.

And yeah, which leads to a lack of agriculture in the region, which leads to more food distribution issues and food sovereignty issues, spiraling effects and all these systems. So for us, it was food and then water and then energy and waste management and everything was a big rabbit hole that we slipped into.

But it led to what we’re building now. So again, the intention now is to be uncompromising. In our intentions, our perspectives of building the world’s healthiest, most sustainable, and potentially regenerative home. I say potentially because it’s our intention, but we haven’t proven it yet. We hope to do that soon.

Crystal: Okay. There are so many directions I want to go in. So what, well, [00:07:30] what does this healthier home look like? Paint a picture for me.

Eric: Sure. From an aesthetic perspective, we start with, we’re looking at wellness and health in general. We’re implementing principles, technologies, and solutions that can do no harm, at least.

Right? So we don’t have the answers yet, which is what I stated earlier. So if it can’t hurt, why not try it? So the first thing was creating a home that uses Biomimetics or biophilia, the imitation or emulation of nature to bring health to families. Sacred geometry as well, so in using or exploring biophilia, um, we came across the golden ratio or the Fibonacci spiral, which some people are [00:08:15] familiar with, which purports to bring health to people.

So the house is curvilinear, the first model of three that we’re bringing to the market. The first one has a round roof, or rounded roof, if anybody knows what the Fibonacci spiral looks like, or the golden ratio.

Crystal: And why is that important?

Eric: Well, for many reasons. One, it is believed to create healthy environments for people and plants.

It’s a natural form. It’s also efficient and complicated for manufacturing purposes that we’ve solved that at this point, but now efficient for snow load shedding and water capture purposes for solar gains because of the integrated solar roof that we’ve got in the home. So to not dwell just on the shape, I’ll also state that it’s moving [00:09:00] away entirely from VOCs, so having a no volatile organic compounds in the house, which is.

It’s terribly prevalent now. Where

Crystal: do you find them?

Eric: Everywhere. Your sofa, your carpet, your wallpaper, your paint, your drywall, chemically treated timbers where they’re used. The list goes on and on. Not to mention of course cleaning compounds and consumables in the home afterwards. So, The second task, beyond the shape or aesthetic of the house, was to remove all of those things.

So now we present ourselves, or present to the market, a home that has zero POCs. And there are others that are doing this, I must say. We are striving for carbon smart certification, among other things, like passive and well, certifications, lead [00:09:45] certifications. But back to the health of the materials, beyond having no chemicals in the home, Um, we’re also looking at sourcing the materials.

So where do those healthy materials come from? Um, we want to use only natural materials, meaning stone, steel, glass, and wood. Um, steel is questionable. That’s a whole other topic of conversation because eco steel or green steel is just emerging and that’s questionable still, but we’re working on that. Um, we’re choosing to use steel in our frames right now because of its robustness and its longevity.

It can be a multi generational home if it’s done properly. Um, not that wood cannot. Um, but we also want to mitigate against the risk of environmental concerns or threats like hurricanes and wildfires and tornadoes and floods. So a steel [00:10:30] frame allows us to build a very robust home. That is structurally engineered beyond most required standards in the United States and globally.

So a very strong home that can last more than one generation. And then of course, well, not of course, pardon me, but wood as an example is prevalent throughout this first model. Loop is what it’s called. Say

Crystal: that again and again.

Eric: Loop. Loop is the name of the first model of home that we’re releasing. This curvilinear home that uses golden ratio.

Uh, wood is everywhere, the ceiling, the floors, the walls, um, the decks, the facade, um, but it’s all 100 percent waste diverted materials. So we’re not cutting down trees to build our homes, we’re tapping into the North American supply of any source of wood that we can find. We’re not doing that, we’re partnered with a company that does this, and we intend [00:11:15] to be the world’s first fully waste diverted, at least wood source, home at loop.

Um, so. Good. Yeah, we’re using specifically red oak at this time because it’s the most available. Waste diverted material in terms of wood, but that’s just another example. So again, sparing no intentions anyway, and our practices of design and manufacturing to bring the cleanest and most conscious materials we can to the market.

Another great example is our countertops are made of recycled paper. So a lot of unique things like that, that they’re in the market. You just need to know where to find them and you need to be willing to adopt those types of materials. So. Beyond that, we’re building resiliency and autonomy and self sufficiency into the model.

Our, one of our [00:12:00] taglines, which is hidden away a little bit because we don’t have it at the forefront of our campaigns, is imagined for Mars, built for Earth. So we’ve designed this home to be entirely closed loop system. So it, not only does it not require sewer, septic, water, or energy coming to or from the house, It also, um, requires no on site construction.

It creates, not only collects, but creates potable drinking water. It grows food out of its walls, inside and outside of the house. It uses, of course, renewable energy like solar and wind, geothermal where necessary or possible. It eliminates human waste from the bathroom and the kitchen. It’s truly a closed loop system.

So we’re, we’re really trying to get Five to 10 years ahead at this point, because that’s [00:12:45] how we should be developing new systems and products. At this point, we shouldn’t be looking at what we did 10 years ago, other than to learn from our errors to build things better. So now we’re thinking, or we’re trying to think of where we’ll be.

Again, five to 10 years from now, and I’m hoping that it will be biomimetic and generative.

Crystal: This all sounds too good to be true. Is it in practice or is it still just a theory?

Eric: Uh, yeah, yes and no. So the answer to that is, yeah, because I want

Crystal: one,

Eric: you can get in line. Um, so, uh, and we’re only talking of one of the three companies that I’m at the helm of right now.

Um, so Eshow, the one that we’re talking about now, the Holmes, the systems that we’re integrating and or creating. Are in the market or at [00:13:30] least have adaptations or different types of, of that technology implemented in the market currently. So we’re not entirely reinventing the wheel. We are improving upon it where we can looking at efficiencies, energy use, simple, graspable things that we can do right now for the release of this home.

And we are innovating with technologies that don’t exist on the market yet. So we have an R and D arm at Eshow that is creating new things that I won’t discuss just yet. But those aren’t being implemented in the first home. We’ve got enough of the technology stack that we need to deliver all the things that I’ve just mentioned.

Without cause for concern of failure, because we’re partnered with technologies that we’re integrating and or improving upon in partnership. So the answer is yes, they’re in the market, but they’re in the [00:14:15] market in bits and pieces here and there. We’ve just assembled them in this manner.

Crystal: Do you have full homes assembled, or?

Eric: Literally this quarter is when we start manufacturing, so we’re getting close. Yeah, so we opened a quiet or private presale funnel just a few weeks ago, so very recently. And we found ourselves quickly into a year to a year and a quarter of manufacturing backlog potentially without even launching to the public yet.

So I don’t know. I think it will be like everybody else. We’re not, this is not exclusive to us in terms of the demand. Obviously housing is in demand everywhere around the world in this conversation here in North America, in particular in the United States. So everybody is getting in line to buy housing that resonates with them, whether it be affordability, [00:15:00] accessibility, environmental concerns, regenerative, et cetera, et cetera.

So we’re, we’re among a sea of others. We’re just doing things to the degree that we are. So that’s our differentiator. So we’re trying to leap ahead of everybody on the generative and biomimetic side of things, the sustainable side of things. So I expect that we’ll be just as busy as everybody else.

Crystal: Yeah.

And will you start putting these homes in a particular area or do you foresee that they can eventually be anywhere?

Eric: Not we’ve, yeah, we’ve, that’s a great question. Um, without getting into technicalities of it and based on the journey of my last startup, which also built structures, modular structures, but not housing.

We’ve designed this similarly. So the same processes and principles as my last startup. To be placed anywhere in the world, it [00:15:45] seems not far fetched necessarily, but I’m assuming people want to know more. What do you mean you can put it anywhere? But that’s the reality of it. And what allows us to do that is the closed loop nature of what we’re doing.

Super high and ultra efficient insulation, meaning it can be in the Arctic or Alaska, but it can also survive in Panama or Florida. So the homes will be anywhere around the world, based on how we’ve engineered and designed them. But our first homes, we’re not entirely sure yet. There’s a bit of a struggle for Q placement right now for our first private customers that we’ve invited to get into Q.

But right now we’re looking at demand in North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Colorado, Arizona, Canada, etc. Five, five states and two provinces [00:16:30] who are jockeying to be first in queue. We haven’t officially allowed anybody to get in queue yet. We’re trying to weigh the options internally in terms of what is the best value add for us at this moment.

Where’s the best place to place the first home from a marketing and access perspective, essentially. So. I hope that answers that question.

Crystal: Yes. Yes. And taking a step back from these new home builds, if somebody already has a home or an apartment and they want to be more sustainable within that home, do you offer those options as well?

Eric: Mm hmm. Yeah. And people can find that on our website at Eshow as well. It’s called Revive. program that we’ve created and it allows for retrofitting or infill, there are different words for it, uh, of existing [00:17:15] spaces, whether it be a school or somebody’s home, they, the individual consumer has access to the full technology and service stack that we have for loops homes.

So if you see it in the loop, like a grow wall or a gray water recycling system or the solar panels, et cetera, et cetera, you can get it for your existing home. We’re actually doing that currently. And that’s how we’re generating revenues and paying the bills right now is we’re doing retrofit installs at this time.

So

Crystal: you So you can, now, now you can get at least those products to make your home more sustainable. Oh, that’s exciting. That’s good to know. How affordable is all this?

Eric: Great question. The answer, the answer in all honesty is that it’s, it’s not if we’re using the word affordable. So we, I’ll use an analogy that’s probably overused, at least out of my lips, but this, we’re [00:18:00] Roadster moment.

To use that analogy, we are building one of the most advanced from a sustainable or beyond sustainable perspective homes in the world, modular, prefabricated, et cetera, et cetera. It costs a lot of money to have that deep technology stack and the capability of this home, so it’s not inexpensive. I certainly wouldn’t categorize it as affordable across the United States of America.

It depends on the market that you’re in. If you’re In Aspen, Colorado, for example, it’s affordable. It’s actually very inexpensive. If you’re somewhere in the boroughs of New York or in Detroit or somewhere else, where housing is more of a challenge, I would say even in other places in Colorado, it becomes less affordable.

That’s not our focus currently. We do have a pathway to affordable homes. We actually started [00:18:45] the process of reverse engineering our tech stack to make it more affordable. But what we’re doing instead for the time being is actually trying to rewrite the conversations or change the dialogue around affordability.

I think there are a lot of fallacies in that conversation, and I think the tools that we have in place today, as well meaning as they are, actually provide a lot of challenges and hurdles to most families, like deed restricted homes, which is a whole nother conversation, but is an affordability tool. It actually forces families and individuals to compromise too much of their lifestyles and their freedom to actually make the home affordable.

It becomes affordable from a dollars and cents perspective. But forces people into situations socially and community wise that aren’t necessarily always to benefit of that family So [00:19:30] what we’re doing at one of my other companies Olazoi is to rewrite the socio economic framework of building and owning homes So removing the debt around mortgage, for example, so that homes then become accessible instead of affordable Sounds silly, like semantics a little bit, but there’s a big difference.

So if I can remove the burden or concern of the sticker price of the home per square foot, and just for, for now in our limited time say it, it doesn’t matter how much it costs, you can have it. That’s kind of what we’re doing at that company. So we’re entirely removing the debt burden of home ownership and community access by rewriting the social constructs of community of that company.

So Olazoi [00:20:15] does two things. It serves clients who are building community as a real estate developer, simply stated. Most people know what that does. Essentially it’s from real estate transaction management, helping somebody find the land or helping them close on the purchase of land to construction management, handling all the Making sure that the thing, the community or the play space project gets built to in cutting making sure that the community is effectively ready to receive its first leaseholders or home buyers or whatever the Business plan might hold for that project.

So we’re serving clients in that way, but only through the same principles and values that I’ve already espoused in this conversation. So biomimetics, regenerative, beyond sustainable, certainly community based values, which is a whole [00:21:00] nother hours long conversation, but. So Olozoy does that, but Olozoy is also building its own portfolio of projects.

So while we’re helping other people build their dreams, their communities, we are also building a portfolio of opportunities. So an example is we’re, we’re getting ready to acquire almost 1400 acres of land in the state of Colorado to build a 360 home community replete with all the amenities of a town.

So we’re basically building a new town in Colorado. That will be off grid, that will be self reliant, that will be autonomous, that will be self governed, that will provide equity of all the community assets to its community members. So, if you were to move to that community and or buy a home in the community, you would not only own your asset, the home, [00:21:45] but you would also own equity in the school, the grocery store, the holistic wellness clinic, the transportation system, et cetera, et cetera.

So, that’s it. The second side of Olozoi’s coin, if you will, and then I did mention earlier that we’re working in the process of building physical spaces, the infrastructure, trying to redefine, not necessarily redefine, but to, I guess, to redefine what community means again from a socioeconomic perspective.

So lowering the hurdles of affordability, actually, we don’t use the word affordability at all at Olazoi or the Regener Studio, if people subscribe to that portion of the studio, again, making it more affordable and just at a high level, what I will say, which will probably prompt many more questions from the listeners and or yourself, think of it as a membership or a [00:22:30] cooperative, so rather than buying the house, You’re buying a key to the city, and the key to the city provides you not only your home in this instance for this first project on one to three acres in the Colorado Rockies, but also provides you access to the wellness clinic, to the grocery store, to education for yourself and your children, to daycare, et cetera, et cetera.

And right now the numbers are looking comfortably. I’ll be conservative in this conversation for now. That the cost of being a cooperative member in the community is including all of those assets. So getting your dental and your eye care, getting your holistic wellness deal, your doctor. Your education, et cetera, et cetera, is still less than the market value of just a mortgage in that same community.

Crystal: How is that [00:23:15] possible? Homes have gotten so expensive. Why is there this disconnect?

Eric: Yeah, so I’m going to preface this by repeating what I said earlier. We’re still in the process of ironing it all out. The first phase of this new community that we hope to build and, or the adoption of those principles and values by one of our projects at the RegenerStudio.

Will help us iron it all out. Um, right now on paper, it makes great sense. And the reason why is because we’re providing equity to all stakeholders in the community. And so if somebody would conventionally. Invest in a community, and I’m, this is super high level, I’ll require much more information. Yeah,

Crystal: and we’re, we’re, we’re totally going off track, I’m just, now I’m like, curious.

I’ll just,

Eric: I’ll just say is distribute [00:24:00] equity to all stakeholders, and I’ll just name them very quickly. There’s the investor, or what we call the patron, who would invest in the development of that entire town, for example. There’s all of the community members such as yourself, so if you were to move to that community you would then acquire equity and shareholder rights or voting rights for all of the businesses in the community and all the infrastructure in the community, again from tourism to groceries, etc.

The rights of nature, or the voice of nature, is given a seat at the table as well, so that money goes back into rehabilitating the bioregion that the community is built within. Then indigenous inclusivity. So we welcome indigenous community members to also be equity stakeholders in that community. They are welcome to come and live in the community if they’d like, which has subsets of community within the community [00:24:45] and to generate equity from the community.

Um, and then lastly, periphery community members. So municipalities, local governments, the utility, et cetera, this is a big bone of contention for most people because they say, why would you give utility company equity in your community if you don’t need to. Utilities for your community. And this is again, very high level talk on all this.

And I’ve exercised this in town halls. I’ve sat at the table with utility companies and local council or, or government before I even explained to them what I’ve just explained to you here very briefly, which of course it goes into much deeper dialogue with them. Is the opposition of building off grid, generally unsustainable, autonomous, resilient, scares people because they lose access to revenues, lose access to control.[00:25:30]

The greatest way to remove opposition is to welcome to the table, to have a voice. So, in doing so, we get rid of the NIMBYs, we get rid of the local government opposition, we get rid of the lobbyists for the utilities, because they then get to generate revenues shared within the community. By participating in different ways.

And I can, that’s a whole nother subset again. So we, we have expectations of what they will then do with their, with their revenue from this community, as an example. And I’ll just say at a high level, it needs to be aligned with what we’re doing in the community. So building more community, building more access to food, to shelter, et cetera.

So anyway, that’s a whole new thing.

Crystal: Okay. Okay. This is, well, I was just curious, this got us off track. [00:26:15] What kind of challenges are you facing in getting this scaled up or off the ground and scaled up?

Eric: Conceivable challenge that building something at community and city scale might face, so everything. The biggest one though, is honestly building bridges.

As an example, when we start having conversations around building communities that are, and I don’t use the word sovereign, it’s not on our marketing materials, but that’s. It allows people to visualize or at least feel intuitively what we’re going after. It’s not sovereign states. We don’t want to be separate of the United States of America.

It’s not like that. It’s the ability to be self reliant, be autonomous, to stand on your own two feet as a community in the times that you most need to do so. So it’s not excluding everybody else around you. It’s including them for sure. [00:27:00] Welcome them to your school, welcome them to feast on the food that you grow in your community, et cetera.

But it also states that in those, uh, situations in society, like food distribution model breakdowns, COVID was a great example. The ability to not only feed yourself, but feed adjacent communities using food as an example. So when we talk about that, some of the tools that we need to use, particularly over time, are new tools that don’t really exist yet, or they exist but they’re fringe, like decentralized finance models or blockchain tokens, those sorts of things.

So I would say that that’s the first hurdle, is having a conversation with what is mostly conventional finance models in the world today, like banks or other lenders, because the, as [00:27:45] you might imagine, building a town is not inexpensive. Um, So explaining to them how we will build a bridge to or from their conventional financial models into economic sovereignty for the community while allowing them to still benefit and gain financially.

It’s a complicated conversation. It usually goes very well, but it certainly requires explanation, uh, usually over multiple conversations. Um, so that’s the first hurdle is building a bridge for the money. They’re the old money and then our new money to, to, to state that again at a high level. Uh, secondly is, and most importantly is conceiving what.

And who the social and cultural fabric of a community is. That’s the most important part. It’s easy to build something with sticks and [00:28:30] stones. It’s near impossible, but not, um, entirely, to have a durable, healthy, happy, engaged community over time. And I can’t even begin to scratch the surface on the complexity of those conversations.

So again, it’s important. Borrowing money to build a town, sounds daunting. It is. Having a conversation around who is going to live there, how they’re going to live there, how they’re going to engage not only with each other, but the land and these new economic and social models that we’re discussing is beyond mind boggling.

But we’re attempting to take care of that.

Crystal: This autonomy that these homes and eventually towns offer are also good for [00:29:15] resilience because, for example, when huge, um. Huge, what am I trying to say when he’s huge?

Eric: Well, a climate disaster would be appropriate. Climate

Crystal: disasters come through, thank you. People are cut off from the utilities and people are cut off from getting food and all these things.

So you’re building a resilience into these homes that the current climate crisis is creating a need for.

Eric: Yeah, I mean, and we certainly won’t get into the debate of, you know, what is climate change and all those things, let’s just say that it’s becoming more challenging to be a human being on this planet in the last 10 years, increasingly so.

And statistics are stating that it’s become more difficult over the next decade. So we’re certainly building. And

Crystal: we have all of the creature comforts. [00:30:00] Like it’s those creatures outdoors that don’t have that. So it’s even more difficult for them.

Eric: Yeah, that’s a whole nother thing too. I agree just at a, again, at a high level or simple talk is it’s becoming increasingly difficult to exist within our creature comforts when the lights go out.

It’s an example, right? Everything from working at home to raising children to paying your bills and keeping the refrigerator on, it’s becoming more and more daunting for us and not everybody. There are some of us who aren’t really touched by that yet, but there are certainly, or certainly is a growing population around the world who it’s, I mean, without getting into the details, a great example of what you’re referring to, I believe, would be, Community in Florida, was it last year or the year before, was hit by a hurricane, [00:30:45] the whole region actually, and there was one community and only one community on the entire grid in that area that still had power because they actually weren’t part of the grid.

They were all powered by solar. So that was, in my point, or in my case, a shining beacon of the intention of what we’re trying to do is to build resiliency, to use the word that you’ve mentioned, and it’s certainly throughout our, our marketing materials to use, to use that word, our ethos, and even in Revive, the home retrofit program, um, What we provide to our clients is a resiliency review.

We help build a roadmap to, to resiliency, to autonomy and self-sufficiency with, with revive by meeting them where they’re at and providing ’em the tools, education and support along their journey so that they can become resilient with the existing home that they have.

Crystal: And is that available anywhere [00:31:30] or where do you offer that service?

Eric: We’re looking to grow really quick. We actually just raised a little bit of money. It’s all, we’re celebrating that right now to accelerate our efforts right now. We’re in the Roaring Fork Valley where I live and where we started in Colorado. So near Aspen and area, we just launched in Denver, Colorado, literally two weeks ago, our, our first, Clients, uh, home is being retrofitted in approximately two or three weeks.

Thank you. And then we’re going from there. We have a team being built in Colorado Springs right now. So we’re trying to cover the greatest population on the front range in Colorado and around Denver. We have a team being built in and out of Los Angeles and California. So we have intentions to grow there.

And without listing the whole list, we expect to be in six cities nationwide by the end of this year. So that’ll be our [00:32:15] start for 2024.

Crystal: Wow. Okay. Okay. For the listener though, that is not in any of those areas, what can they do if they want to make their home more sustainable?

Eric: Oh boy, yeah, a lot of things.

I don’t even know where to start. So I’m going to say first of all, education. And education doesn’t necessarily mean looking external of or outside of the home. Understand what you’re dealing with currently, because a lot of us don’t. We don’t know where our food comes from. We don’t understand what we’re ingesting or what we’re living in.

We don’t understand where our water supply is from, or what’s in our water supply, and It sounds really daunting, but really there are only five touch points for us to address initially, at a high [00:33:00] level again. One is, in no particular order, energy, water, food, wellness, and air, or air quality, air conditioning, HVAC, that kind of stuff.

So, I think the first step would be to understand what you’re living in and what you’re dealing with first, to then be able to pinpoint the areas of concern. So, first of all, let’s talk to water for a moment. If you’re on a well or a shared well in your community and you have water quality issues or water pressure issues or just water access issues, which is becoming increasingly common in North America and around the world, because water tables are being depleted, because agricultural volumes and home residential, uh, volumes Uh, use is going up, uh, dramatically or drastically, um, knowing what you [00:33:45] need to do there first.

And I, I don’t want to provide specific solutions because we can talk to that for an hour or two. But I would say again, go back to and understand where your water supply is. Is your water healthy? First of all, it’s free or really inexpensive to have your water tested at home. And I’m talking 15 to 25 typically, which only needs to be done every year to three years, depending on what your water quality base is.

Start with that stuff. What are you ingesting? What are your children growing up in? What’s the carpet made of that your kids are rolling around in, that your labradoodle is playing on all day? If there are underlying markers of malaise or unwellness in the home, like rashes or coughs or lethargy or It goes on and on.

I’m saying somewhat obvious things, but most of most of early, maybe not necessarily. [00:34:30] Most of those things start with what’s happening at home, what we’re consuming our stress levels. And at this, I can go everywhere. But that’s what revive looks at. It’s not just it. It’s not just, do you need solar panels?

That’s such an easy, low hanging fruit thing, but that’s not even really where we need to go typically. We have clients who call us to order solar panels and a battery or a wind turbine for the house or whatever, and we provide a resiliency review with their permission, which is essentially a home audit.

And we can then backpedal and, and point out issues of water quality or poor insulation or new windows that need to be replaced because as exciting as it might be to get those incentives and install solar panels on your roof, there could be a toxic issue in your home like mold that needs to be addressed first.

So what’s the [00:35:15] point of a solar panel if you’re going to get sick because you have mold in your basement or your attic? So it’s, I would say the word to embrace in this conversation on this topic is a holistic perspective. of what your current ecosystem is. And for most of us, in this instance, it’s your home.

So take a look at where you’re living and find out if there are any issues. Pay attention first of all, because a lot of us are so busy with life, me included, soccer practice for the kids and starting a business and

Crystal: Or three.

Eric: Or three. Uh, yeah. So if that’s okay, I would say that’s a great place to start, is to know what you have to deal with to begin with.

Crystal: That’s a really great suggestion. This has been fascinating. Thank you so much for joining me, Eric. And thank you for all you’re doing. You’re making a difference.

Eric: Certainly trying. Thank you.[00:36:00]

Crystal: Since our chat at EarthX last year, Eric continues to make great progress on his initiatives. Some significant updates include closing a small investment round and adding California and Oregon to the states that their retrofit program, Revive, operates in, and in just a couple of weeks, they will begin manufacturing homes.

You’ll be able to see a studio model at this year’s EarthX conference. I can’t wait. Our homes can be so much more than just the places we sleep and store our belongings. They can be a reflection of our values, a tool for regeneration, and even a vehicle for positive change in the world. Eric’s [00:36:45] vision challenges us to think beyond the walls of our houses.

What if we saw our homes not as static shelters, but as living, breathing systems designed to nourish us? connect us, and sustain the planet. Whether it’s choosing healthier, sustainable materials for renovations, installing renewable energy solutions, or simply becoming more mindful of how our daily choices impact the environment, every small step matters.

But beyond the bricks and mortar, lies something even more vital, community. As Eric highlighted, the strength of our neighborhoods and the relationships we build within them are as essential as the buildings themselves. When we come together, sharing [00:37:30] resources, supporting one another, and collaborating for a common good, we unlock the potential to create resilient, thriving communities.

And a sense of community and belonging has also proven to be beneficial for our mental well being. So here’s something to reflect on. What role do you want your home to play in your life and in the planet’s future? And how can you cultivate stronger connections in your community to help make those changes possible?

Whether you’re planning a new project, retrofitting your current dwelling, or simply re evaluating how you live. Every choice you make is a chance to contribute to something bigger and better for all of us.

Don’t forget to go to forcesfornature. [00:38:15] com and sign up to receive emailed show notes, action tips, and a free checklist to help you start taking practical actions today. Do you know someone else who would enjoy this episode? I would be so grateful if you would share it with them. Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook at Becoming Forces for Nature, and let me know what actions you have been taking.

Adopting just one habit could be a game changer, because imagine if a million people also adopted that. What difference for the world are you going to make today?