Writings from the Field

The Root is my first collection of writing. These essays are a distillation of my academic writing in environmental science and urban planning, focusing on resilience and regenerative systems design, rewritten for everyday reading. They come out of years of study in two programs:

• Undergraduate: a self-designed degree in Regenerative Community Development, with coursework at Ithaca College, The Ohio State University, Duke University / Organization for Tropical Studies (Costa Rica), and Prescott College.
• Graduate: MA in City Resilience Design and Management, UIC Barcelona.

They are also the topics I care about most. How land heals. How communities hold together when systems fail. What we put on our bodies and in our mouths. Why being outside makes us feel human again. These ideas sit underneath everything Selva Tierra makes, from the paintings to the tattoos to the shirts.

The essays are grouped in four parts. Each one builds on the last, so if you are new here, start at Part I.

The two words everything else is built on. What regenerative actually means, and why resilience is an ecological idea before it is a personal one.

No. 1
Regenerative vs Sustainable: Why the Difference Could Change Everything
Sustaining a degraded system changes nothing. Regeneration is the step past it. No. 2
What Is Resilience? The Ecological Truth Behind the Most Misunderstood Word of Our Time
Not a motivational poster. A pattern living systems use to survive, and one we can build.

Reflect on Part I and join the conversation →

Putting the foundations into material form. The fibers against our skin, and the plant that could clothe, house, and feed communities while pulling carbon from the air.

No. 3
How Natural Fiber Clothing Improves Your Health
Why what you wear matters more than you think. No. 4
Hemp Is Not a Drug. It Is a Climate Solution.
What ancient civilizations knew, and what scientists and farmers are rediscovering now.

Reflect on Part II and join the conversation →

A three part series. How the global food system was built, what happens when it collapses, and why the United States should be paying attention.

No. 5
How Corporate Agriculture Captured the World's Food Supply
From a 1944 conference room to the food on your plate, and what we can do about it. No. 6
Two Nations, Two Responses: What North Korea and Cuba Teach Us About Food System Collapse
Same crisis in 1990. One starved, one rebuilt from the ground up. No. 7
The United States Is Next: Why Our Food System Is More Fragile Than We Think
And how to build something better before it fails.

Reflect on Part III and join the conversation →

Where it all lands: the human nervous system, and what happens to us when we lose touch with the living world.

No. 8
Nature Is the Medicine: The Ecological Roots of Mental Health
We are not broken. We are living systems in a depleted environment.

Reflect on Part IV and join the conversation →

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More essays are on the way, and poetry and other kinds of writing will live here too. Questions, pushback, or a topic you want covered? Reach out.

Stay connected. Stay wild.