About

“All restoration is improvement, but not all improvement is restoration.”

—Storm Cunningham, The Restoration Economy, p. 49

Restoration Nation is a groundbreaking experiment in getting Americans to rethink their economy. Instead of basing the US economy on consumption, Restoration Nation envisions basing it on restoration (in its narrowest form, that means ecological restoration of lands to the best habitat possible).

At present, most environmental restoration is paid for by governments (that is, by taxpayers). The more I pondered that fact, the less clear it became how restoration on a large scale could be entrepreneurial. I started this blog to figure it out.

Here I discuss my ideas for restoring the United States to its full potential. I want to inspire people to believe that it’s possible to restore habitat all over this country (even in cities, brownfields, and other degraded landscapes), rebuild our infrastructure, fix education, practice radical conservation of energy and other resources … that’s all I can think of for now. I will also post links to articles about innovative restoration projects.

If you’re interested in restoration of the built environment, I suggest you read The Restoration Economy by Storm Cunningham.

Principles

Environmental restoration is a way of improving the economy by creating more beauty and enhancing the natural functionality of lands, whether those lands are in a city or in the countryside.

We can incorporate habitat restoration into most existing uses of lands. (Mountaintop mining…not so much.)

Increased demand for restoration will foster human ingenuity.

Steps to an Economy That Restores (A Work in Progress)

1. Zero waste. I want everything to be recycled. If it truly can’t be recycled or composted, then it should be redesigned. The more we recycle, the less we need to extract. Therefore, this step makes restoration less necessary.

2. Stop clearing land for second homes. This step also makes restoration less necessary. I wish we could stop clearing land, period, and just build things as infill development in cities or suburbs.

3. Extreme pollution control and the precautionary principle. Let’s stop using as many pollutants as we can, as soon as we can. Reducing pollution allows some ecosystems to recover on their own.

4. Companies that design their products to be made from recyclables. Starbucks, for example, uses paper cups made with 10% recycled paper. I happen to think that 10% is pathetic, and that Starbucks could be using cups made from 100% recycled paper, but I mentioned this company because Starbucks is not usually thought of as a green company. I wanted to make clear how easy it is to take this step.

5. Companies that strive to eliminate the negative environmental impacts of their products. In so doing, they affect the business practices of their suppliers. Interface modular carpet company is one example.

6. Companies that actually make a profit from restoring lands and waters. The most obvious examples are construction, landscaping, and recycling companies. If you know of other types of restoration companies, please let me know. If you’re looking for a restoration company, check under “Is This a Restoration Company?”

How Will We Do This, Exactly?

Let’s start by doing the above, and doing all of them at once, if possible.

As for the rest, I’ll keep you posted as I figure it out.

A Little Bit About Me

I live in the Denver Metro area and make my living as an editor and writer. I don’t have time to publish 5 or 10 articles a day, so I’m aiming for one per week that I find compelling.

I am not a scientist—the last biology class I had was in 1981. I have worked on about 40 restoration projects over the past 10 years, including the messy buffalograss meadow in my yard, and through Wildlands Restoration Volunteers and other organizations, have developed a keen interest in the multiple goals restoration can achieve.