Everything You Need to Know About The Biophilic Leadership Summit

Jennifer (0s): Hey Monica, how are you today? 

Monica (2s): I’m great. Hi, Jennifer. How are you? 

Jennifer (4s): I'm good. We have a very special guest on our episode today, 

Monica (8s): Who is it? 

Jennifer (13s): It's our amazing producer Katrina, and I'm so thankful that she's with us to really dive into first of all, why she's at Serenbe and why she is a part of the Biophilic Summit. 

Monica (23s): Right. We're going to learn about all the speakers at the Biophilic Summit and sort of what people can expect. It's sort of a, a little taster of the summit. Some of these people have been on the podcast in the past, but there'll be talking about different topics and you, the listener can then engage with them with a Q and A, and really ask questions as well as we'll have some breakout sessions. But yeah, Jennifer and I are really excited to participate October 11th and 12th. Biophilic Leadership Summit, and Katrina's going to give us the lowdown on why we should all attend. 

Jennifer (1m): Exactly. 

Monica (1m 1s): It's going to be easy. You can sit on your couch at home and learn great things about biophilia. 

Jennifer (1m 4s): Yeah, exactly. All right. I guess we should get to the episode. 

Monica (1m 9s): Great. Let's do it. Hey Jennifer. 

Jennifer (1m 18s): Hey Monica. 

Monica (1m 19s): How are you today? 

Jennifer (1m 20s): Great. It’s a beautiful fall day in New York City. How are you? 

Monica (1m 22s): It’s good. It's cooling off here too. We have a special guest today. 

Jennifer (1m 28s): I cannot wait to talk to our very special guests. It's kind of a little behind the scenes for us, isn't it? 

Monica (1m 30s): It is a little behind the scenes. You're going to get behind the scenes on the Biophilic Institute and the Leadership Summit, which is a week from today. When this is dropping, it's going to be October 11th and 12th, and we have Katrina Ernie and Katrina just got married. 

Jennifer (1m 49s): Congratulations, congratulations 

Monica (1m 50s): And welcome to the podcast. Katrina is usually behind the scenes. She is our producer and she runs the Biophilic Leadership Summit. So we're bringing her in to get a little behind the scenes of like what is going to happen next week. And why should we be showing up to that virtual summit? 

Jennifer (2m 11s): Exactly

Katrina (2m 12s): Let me tell you. So the Biophilic Leadership Summit is this really cool event historically, where people have come to Serenbe all of these leaders in the biophilic movement and given presentations and had breakout discussions and networking opportunities all around this growing field. And it's been this opportunity for them to really connect with each other, to meet new people for students to meet with them. And so my background with the biophilic leadership summit is I came on in literally March of 2020, perfect, perfect timing, perfect timing to put, to basically lead the Summit, which was supposed to happen in April of 2020. 

And of course we ended up having to cancel and we pushed to this year hoping that we would be able to have the summit in person. And of course the Delta variant had other plans. So we, we quickly pivoted to virtual, which I think will end up being great because we've gotten a lot of people from all over the country that probably wouldn't have otherwise been able to come. So really what happens with, or what will happen at the virtual summit is we'll have a series of speakers who are going to be discussing land use and infrastructure. 

Our theme is land and water. And basically they're just going to talk about all of these applications of biophilia, how we can really scale biophilia from something that's sort of small and to something that we use every day in urban spaces throughout the country and throughout the world. 

Monica (4m 01s): I love it. Yeah. I just get excited. Cause Katrina you've been like such a driving force for us behind the scenes to get such great guests on our podcast. And some of these guests are going to be at the summit as well. Correct? Like virtually and in person, correct? 

Katrina (4m 15s): Yes. So, well, it's all virtual, but we've got some really exciting people who people who have been listening to the podcast will definitely recognize. So we have Bill Browning, he was our guest on episode number two. He is the co-founder of Terrapin Bright Green, which is a green building consultancy. And he's like, he's like the expert on biophilic design, biophilic design principles. 

Why we feel so good when we're in spaces that have been designed with these principles in mind.

Jennifer (4m 51s): When you look up the word biophilic design you'd like, I think Bill Browning is right there. 

Katrina (5m): It's just articles about Bill Browning. I mean, truly like he is the expert. So he is someone who I'm really excited to hear speak. And he's going to be talking about basically how you, how you scale biophilia from, you know, a room in your house all the way to, you know, urban planning and major cities. So he will be really exciting. Another, another person who will be speaking as Drew Lanham, who, so excited about yeah, he was incredible. 

He is a professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson and has written extensively all about the intersection of race and nature and how ethnicity sort of informs how we view nature. He wrote that incredible article Nine Rules for the Black Bird Watcher and his book, the Homeplace, which was just, you know yeah. 

Monica (5m 56s): Which I believe that Tim Beatley recommended to us. Right. Who's the director of Five Public Cities Project who's on our board and Drew was incredible. 

Katrina (6m 10s): Yeah. Yeah. He was a Tim recommendation. So thank you, Tim. 

Jennifer (6m 12s): Like it was hard, we couldn’t stop talking to him next. I remember. We were like, okay, we had to stop the podcast. It's going over, but I could talk to him all day. So I'm excited that he's going to be a speaker this year. 

Katrina (6m 25s): Yes definitely.  

Monica (6m 40s): And Katrina, all of the speakers, we're going to be able to have sort of a Q and A, and have some engagement with the audience after each of their talks. So it's not just, you know, watching them or listening to them, but we really get to sort of dig into their topics and ask questions and really learn from them. Because I think of this summit as a very educational, you know, not only for, you know, the sort of policymaker or city planners or students, but for the general public, you know, even though these topics may sound a little wonky, I think they're super important because as you know, all of us always talk like we need biophilia to sort of really be embraced by the general public to think about how we're going to move forward, to get to a net zero future. 

We have to honor and like, love and understand how nature is integrated in our lives. So I'm super excited that you're, everybody that you've curated for this summit. So who else do we have?

Katrina (7m 22s): Thank you. Okay. Well, so next up, and I actually think that this sort of goes to what you were just talking about, but we have Jacqueline Patterson from the NAACP, she's their senior director of climate and environmental justice. We had an incredible episode with her just talking about the intersections of all these different social issues and how climate is essentially a threat multiplier for all of these different issues. So kind of to your point, Monica, like the, the theme is really land use and infrastructure and scaling these principles. 

But I think when you have people like Jacqui and Drew, who are sort of part of the conversation, you can just see how all of these social systems sort of work together and how everything, it all impacts each other. And it is so intersectional that when, you know, when you're talking about green building, that's great, but like, what are the social implications of that? You know? And so I think, I think it is cool to have all of these people in conversation with one another on these various topics. 

So the other person, oh, sorry. The other person who our listeners might recognize is Jeff Katch from Rodale. So he'll be speaking about regenerative agriculture and how we can scale regenerative ag, regenerative agriculture, nationwide, which I think is something that people are typically very skeptical about. And his point is sort of that we shouldn't be that this is the future and this is the way it's going. 

And it really has the ability to heal. Some of the worst problems in our society is just making the shift to a regenerative model. So he'll be, he'll be great. Yeah. 

Monica (9m 18s): Jeff is amazing. And he has a really incredible story, his own personal story, how he got here. I don't know if he'll share that, but I, I feel like he may have shared a little bit of that on our podcast, but you know, John Piotti is also going to be here. I saw on the list, who's the president of American Farmland Trust. So it's such a phenomenal bookend with Jeff because we have to save the land. Right. We have to protect it in order to get regenerative farming on top of it. And one of the things that I've been, you know, right. Like, like reading about so much is sort of land, land sinks, like how we, how land can be a carbon, you know, sink. 

And we all know how important it is to sort of not only, you know, stop releasing carbon, but also how do we like, sequester it? And both of those things, American Farmland Trust and Rodale are both, you know, at the forefront of making those. I don't know if that's like the term they would use, but like the IPC, like land sinks are super, super important of like, how do we have healthy soil? And it starts with conserving the land, right? Protecting the land. 

Katrina (10m 25s): Well, and protecting farmers. I mean, they're really like kind of the same or two sides of the same coin in a way. So I think it'll be you're right. It will be really interesting to hear them sort of in conversation with each other. 

Monica (10m 38s): Well, and we had John's, you know, American Farmland Trust Beth was on the VP of programs and talks about the programs and female farmers and sort of the work that she's doing. But it'll be really interesting to, to hear from John, like what their big goals are, because you know, the statistics of how much farm land we lose every day is like, kind of like mind blowing really. 

Jennifer (10m 58s): Yeah. Like really shocked me because I didn't realize the real massiveness of like, oh, I had no idea. We were losing so much farmland every day. So like, but she like brought it back to like, how can we then protect a farmer, which I love. So these conversations are so very moving and helps us, I think, move the needle to this biophilic movement that we're always talking about. 

Katrina (11m 40s): Absolutely. 

Jennifer (11m 42s): Yup. Monica, what were you going to say? Sorry, I interrupted you. 

Monica (11m 45s): No, I love to hear, keep going Katrina. 

Katrina (13m 20s): All right. Well, so those are the, those are the guests that I think our listeners, by being more familiar with, we also have Alfred Vick, AKA Alfie, who is a professor of Environmental Ethics at the University of Georgia. He is really interesting. He's a lead certified architect who also works pretty extensively on Native American studies. So his research really focuses on green infrastructure and sustainable design, but he also integrates like native plant communities and native American ethnobotany into his work. 

And I think that's really going to be the focus of what he talks about and his presentation on Monday the 11th, which is actually Indigenous Peoples Day. So that, it's very exciting that we have him on our schedule that day. 

Monica (14m 16s): Yeah, no, I think that's great. And, you know, immediately when we realized that it was going to be on the 11th and 12th, and that was Indigenous Persons Day, we, you know, we were like, oh my God, we have to have Alfie talk and talk about the importance and really bringing that back up to the forefront because we can learn so much from the native Americans on how they honored the land and resources. 

Katrina (14m 37s): Yes that's traditional knowledge. I think it's so important. And to have, I think someone who can really speak to the architecture and the infrastructure side of things, but with this lens of traditional ecological knowledge, I mean, that's sort of incredible. I'm super excited about that. Yeah. So we also have a Nina Marie Lister. She is a professor and the graduate graduate director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University, which is in Toronto, Canada. 

And she's also the director of their ecological design lab. And that's basically, I mean, I think of it, you know, and she can, she can correct me if I'm wrong. I think of it a little bit like a think tank where they are really like looking at strategies and practices that will solve sort of sustainability issues within cities and then sort of how we can rethink and implement these strategies in order to have sort of an improved relationship with nature in cities. 

How, how do we think about nature within these dense urban spaces? That's sort of what she is focusing on. So she's going to be great, really interesting.

Robin Grassinger. He is a senior scientist at the San Francisco estuary Institute, which again, I think of as another sort of one of these think tanks, but it's like, it's comprised of like all these scientists who really are working in their own way to define environmental problems and then advance public debate through science and supporting solutions that support the environment, support sustainable, urban planning. 

His focus is really on how do we reintegrate natural processes within city landscapes? So these landscapes that have been heavily modified by people, like how do we it's already happened, right. So how do we sort of reintegrate nature into the city? It's not about, oh, I'm going to take this undeveloped plot of land and I'm going to map a perfectly sustainable city. It's like, well, we already have these cities. So how do we make them. 

Jennifer (16m 59s): I can’t wait for that. Because as I'm looking out my window in New York City, how do we then implement those programs to make us more, not just green, but more understanding of the natural landscape that is here or wherever, and how does that impact each and every one of us and how do we then grow awareness around that? And Monica was going to, I interrupted you once again. 

Monica (17m 21s): No, no, that's okay. This is a conversation between all of us. I think I recall that Robin had really worked on an advise on the restoration strategies, I think for the San Francisco bay, the Sacramento and San Juan queen Delta, and then the urban landscapes of Google's campuses. And then also a bunch of rivers throughout California, which obviously is really interesting to me cause that's where I grew up. And so that whole area I'm sort of fascinated to sort of hear what's going on out in San Francisco as a former. 

Katrina (17m 53s): Yeah. San Francisco would be a great case study because I feel like they, it's really a city that's putting some of these, some of these things into practice. I mean, I, I'm just thinking about Tim's episode where he said San Francisco was the first city to like mandate glass that's safe for birds so that they're really like thinking about these things and integrating them. So yeah. I'm excited to hear more about San Francisco. 

Monica (18m 22s): Yeah. I feel like these big cities, I'm at one of the leadership summits that we had in person a few years back we had, and I'm not sure what her title was, but I think she was running like city planning for Washington DC. And I learned from her, and again, some of this may, our audience may know already, but you know, it had the most green roofs of any city, I think it's like required. And so, you know, when cities set policy, you know, it can not only educate everybody that it's possible. It can also bring the price down by, you know, expanding the solutions and then, you know, obviously demonstration. And so I'm super excited to hear from Robin about, you know, the work that he's done and, and probably ask some questions of how it can scale to other cities, because that really is the big theme, right? How do we scale biophilic solutions? And that's something that we try and get to the heart of, you know, with the podcast, but the summit, the annual summit is so exciting because like the people who were really out there doing it, we can dig in and everybody can learn from them. 

And, and speaking of, I feel like you also have a really great guy out of the UK who works on nature capital, which I'd love you to explain. 

Katrina (19m 39s): Yes. So Nick Grayson, he is the climate change and sustainability manager for the Birmingham city council. It's Birmingham, UK, not Birmingham, Alabama. And he, he, yeah, I think he is really sort of an expert on this concept of nature capital, which is really quantifying how implementing more nature, more resiliency, reintegrating nature into the city, the way that it can really bring down costs for a city government. 

So I think, you know, I don't, I don't think this was him, but I read an article about London and London, I think has really good tree cover. And again, I mean, London's a wealthy city, so we can look at like wealthy cities versus cities with fewer resources, but they have really good tree cover. And there was a study that was like, their tree cover saved them like a billion pounds on energy costs. Wow. Like these, like these things, aren't just sort of valuable for their own sake. 

I mean, they are like, but they're not nice to have, it's not an amenity. Like it has a real, tangible benefits. 

Monica (21m 4s): Well, well, and Jennifer, you were just listening to somebody yesterday. Was it talking about DNA and epigenetics? Thank you. Tell us a little bit about that. 

Jennifer (21m 17s): Spaces and places Dr. Carmona was speaking about this and he was a former general surgeons, surgeon general, sorry. My words are backwards today. But he was talking about how, you know, pet places are beautiful. Like you just say Katrina like, oh wow, this is really pretty. But when we are in a place like a home or an office, or when we're in a space that structure, the things around us actually affect our, our genes. 

So we're all living organisms when we are in touch with nature. So it all has an impact on our genes. So, yes. Okay. Well, it's pretty, but oh my gosh, I feel good. So when you feel good in a space, it changes our immune system. It balances our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. And we are in a different place in our bodies and our genes, our receptors to all that around us. And it makes us well or unwell. And it's just like, oh my God. You're, of course. So again, Katrina, like you were saying, like, this can be great for those with means and money. 

So how do we then bring that to places that need that and how do we preach that into low-income places and how do we then get society into a place where we are more ethical in how we build structures and knowing that we are completely surrounded by places that can make us well or unwell. And it's, it's really, it's all about nature. It's just, it's kind of mind blowing when you think about it. Okay. 

Monica (22m 46s): Yeah. And everybody should be able to have access to it. So that's part of it, right. I think, you know, cities are really the number one place right now to think about it because so many people live in cities and there, people more and more people are flocking to cities. And even though, you know, there's been this sort of like exit from cities or at least the media is covering it that way. And we're seeing that, you know, people are coming to, you know, suburbs or exurbs and rural, which I think is huge, but the majority of people are still living in cities. 

So how do we make cities more livable? And I think it's going to be really interesting to hear from Nick about that. 

Jennifer (23m 26s): Can I, can I put something in there too? Like I said, by 2050, 70% of the population will be living in large-scale cities, 2050, 70% of people will be living in cities, man, we've got to do something about that. We have to, we have to fix. 

Katrina (23m 41s): Well you know and it can't just be, you know, these wealthy pockets with beautiful tree-lined streets, you know, it has to be, I mean, it has to be something we integrate throughout the entire landscape. And I think, you know, I think we, we all want to say, well, like nature, how do you put a dollar value on it? Like, it's just so intrinsically good. But I think if it's something where I think if you can prove that, that these strategies are saving you a lot of money in the long term I mean, I think that that really gets people to pay attention. 

Jennifer (24m 17s): And it helps our mental health so much more. 

Monica (24m 20s): And I don't know if I've mentioned it before, maybe off, off the podcast, but I read a really great book. I'm in a climate book club, I'm on clubhouse on Saturdays and Mark Carney wrote an amazing book called value and it's sort of a play on value, meaning like our values, like what do we value? And then putting a dollar amount on those things. And one of the great examples that he gave in the book was he's like, you know, why do we value Amazon the company, not to pick on them, but I will, you know, more than we value the Amazon rainforest. 

Like we don't value the rainforest until we tear all the trees down and now we're using it to, you know, grow crops or graze cattle, and we've actually denuded it and we've taken the value away, but only then do we place a value on it after we've kind of like destroyed it, which I thought was a really, for me at least like really like flipped a switch in my head of yikes. So how do we, so, so that that's just a book recommendation. 

Katrina (25m 27s): No, and I mean, like speaking of Amazon and again, like not to pick on them too much, but I think so many of our issues have to do with short-term thinking. So we value Amazon, because like I can order something on Amazon and I can get it tomorrow, you know, but I think if we would think about these things in longer terms and sort of in generational terms, I think Tim Beatley, again, as someone who really talked to us about this and his episode, we would be so much better off. And I think so many of our speakers at the summit are really thinking about the long term. 

Monica (26m 7s): So, so Katrina, the other thing is there's going to be some breakout sessions, right? And I don't know, some of those are being finalized. Some might be sort of crowdsourced from the attendees. So, you know, we really encourage sign up for the virtual it's, we tried to make it really affordable. What are the prices Katrina? 

Katrina (26m 30s): So the regular rate is $120. If you are affiliated with a nonprofit organization, that rate goes down to $95. And then for students, the rate is 50. Okay. 

Monica (26m 45s): Right. And we're going to do a podcast code too, right. We're going to do Biophilic Solutions and you can get it for, I think almost 40% off at $75. Anybody who listens gets a special opportunity and, and do it because, you know, we'll probably be asking you questions before and during the summit to see what kind of deeper conversations you want to have. And there will be an opportunity each day to do that. Anything else you want to share or, 

Katrina (27m 16s): Yeah, I mean, I think just the breakout sessions, like we are really trying to retain that networking piece of the in-person summit. I mean, we are really keeping our fingers crossed for in-person next year, but I think the breakouts are a great way to really engage one-on-one with some of these top, top thinkers in the field of biophilia. 

Monica (26m 42s): And the system we're using is going to have chats and a way to engage. And there's going to be like a, what, what is the virtual like, room that they've created? And I don't know. So it'll be a lot of fun. And I just think it's an amazing opportunity where we were a little worried, cause we love the in-person it's so intimate and we get to take walks and be outdoors and, you know, be in nature at Serenbe, but I think that this is actually going to be an opportunity to reach more people. 

And as you made a point, like, you know, maybe, you know, Nick wouldn't have been able to come over from the UK, you know, due to everything that's going on, but now, or, and, or individuals. So we're super excited. Tell your friends, join us. It's going to be a lot of fun, October 11th and 12th, and use the code biophilic solutions. And you can go to both of our websites, the podcast and my biophilic Institute and the biophilic leadership website and put it the show notes. 

So I don't know, come join us. Right? Yeah. So Katrina, I wanted to ask you, because we're going to play this on Sandy stories as well, that podcast and that podcast, we typically do a deep dive with residents to find out how they got to Serenbe, what they're doing now. You know, what their favorite things are. So I'm going to ask you a quick little question because not only do you run the summit and produce our podcast and do all the social for it, but you're a resident of Serenbe so tell us just like real quick, how you got to Serenbe and what's your Serenbe story? 

Katrina (29m 23s): Okay. So I started coming to Serenbe like four years ago because my now husband, as of less than a week ago, was living here when we met. And I, I had been here one time when Serenbe was brand new and I just, you know, I did not have the vision. I thought I was like, what is this place? So he told me he lived there and I was like, okay, that's interesting. You know, I'll come. I had a lot of friends being like, oh my God, you'll love it. The restaurants are great. You have to go. And I got here and I was like, this place is amazing. So then, you know, we like, we got more serious and we were kind of back and forth for a while. And then in early 2020, I started working for Serenbe marketing and just doing all kinds of things, managing different social accounts, really just trying to help out where I can. But one of the things that I started doing was working on the biophilic institutes and managing the social, running the summit, producing the podcast, which has been so much fun. 

It's one of my favorite parts of my job. And I love it. I mean, I love working on biophilia and just becoming more familiar with biophilia. 

Monica (30m 45s): And you guys live in the modern neighborhood and you guys had what we call these amazing little homes called the shotguns. But then you guys built a cottage. So was that like kind of a fun process or it was 

Katrina (30m 59s): So much fun. So we actually went under contract on the house that we live in now on the day we were supposed to get married in 2020. So we kind of felt like it was meant to be, and the shotgun, the shotgun was great. We loved our shotgun, but we just have a little bit more space here in our new house. And we're both working from home now. So it's kind of nice to be able to go into another room, get some work done. 

You've probably, I was actually came into the, into our bedroom today to record this because George is a very loud phone talker. I was nervous you'd be able to hear him in the background the whole time. 

Monica (31m 50s): I love it. Well, the other question I, I always ask our, Steve and I ask at the end of our interviews with residents is what is one like sort of tip or that you would tell somebody who's never been to Serenbe who's coming down. What would you sort of say, oh, you've got to do this or don't, don't miss this thing. 

Katrina (32m 13s): Oh, wow. That's a great question. I don't know if I could narrow it down to one thing. I mean, I think I would put together an itinerary almost. No, I'm like I've had those days where I'm like, this is the perfect day. Where I’ll go to the farmer's market on a Saturday and then kind of wonder Daisy and grab a coffee and then trip to the shops and then like walk on the trails to go home. And it's just sort of like the perfect morning in a lot of ways. 

And yeah, I mean, I guess just sort of bringing it back to biophilia in a way. I never, I never had a concept of that until I moved here. And it's something that I felt really instinctively even before I was really familiar with the concept itself and sort of the science behind it. Like I just started spending more time here and walking on the trails and spending more time outside and I notice how much better I felt when I was here. And then I would be sad when I had to be back in Atlanta. 

And then, and then I started working here and started doing some work with the Biophilic Institute and I was like, there you go. Yeah. It all makes sense. Yeah. I would say, come on a Saturday morning, farmer's market, coffee, brunch, shopping that sort of a perfect morning.  

Monica (33m 38s): I love it. All right. Well, thanks. Thanks so much Katrina for joining us, this has been great.

Katrina  (33m 44s): Yeah, thanks so much for having me, so fun. 

Jennifer (33m 45s): Katrina I'm so excited to just have you talk to us about like, why we should go, what we should look forward to. And I love your enthusiasm because you're a part of Serenbe and I just, you know, getting to know you in the past year, plus I'm excited to see your excitement for why we need more biophilic solutions. So thanks for being a part of the team. 

Katrina (34m 7s): Thank you, Jennifer. 

Monica (34m 8s): All right. Bye guys. See you at the summit.