Walk The Walk

One of the largest discussions in the US today is about the effect climate change is having on our world and how we as humans can help. At Serenbe, Steve Nygren was working on the solution before we understood the full scope of the problems.

“Seeing a bulldozer disrupt our rural paradise in the early 2000s made me realize urban sprawl was heading our way,” said Steve. “Developing Serenbe was a way to show how a neighborhood could – and should – be built, but it was also selfish in that I wanted to protect my family’s backyard.”

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That may seem overzealous, but a recent report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change points out that large-scale agriculture, deforestation and industrialization has caused greenhouse gases to rise, increasingly warming the earth.

Serenbe combats this by building densely around an organic and regenerative farm, not over-clearing trees when building those homes or structures, maintaining streams and creeks natural ways and using bioswales and creating one of the first natural wastewater treatment systems in the Southeast United States. All this rolls up into the mission to preserve of 70% of Serenbe’s – and the larger Chattahoochee Hills’ – acres of green space.

Top it off with EarthCraft certified buildings, geothermal heating and cooling and recycling and composting from households to restaurants and you have a Biophilic Model of building that Serenbe has pioneered.

“[Society] has been building places that remove us from [nature and community] for the last several decades” said Steve in a recent Fast Company article. “We’re building a place that celebrates the human connection to each other and nature”

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Learn more about the Biophilic Model and movement at The Biophilic Leadership Summit, April 7, 2019. Register at biophilicsummit.com.