On this day, just 7 days ago, I was arriving at Rancho La Puerta for the inaugural Women in Sustainability Week. Along with Project Dandelion cofounder and Executive Director, Ronda Carnegie, and other “solutionists” (a term I explain later in this newsletter), we convened there from an exhausting (and exhilarating) NYClimate week. We were ready to reflect, restore, and reimagine what is possible when we align the health of the planet with our personal well-being and that of our families.

Rancho La Puerta, a place long celebrated for its deep commitment to wellness, community, and nature was the perfect setting to learn more about what it looks like to shape a truly sustainable future for all. Set in the foothills of Mount Kuchuma just over the border from San Diego, Rancho La Puerta, itself, is a real time experience in sustainability solutions which aren't just a theory, but a practice which is made visible and tangible.

From its solar-powered energy, sustainable and local building materials, to the delicious farm-to-table meals grown in their abundant organic gardens and regenerative farm, to a state of the art water treatment plant that uses the wetlands to filter water through a thriving ecosystem of native plants, and perhaps most impactful of all, a steadfast investment in the local community of Tecate. The Ranch stands as a living model of how wellness and sustainability are inseparable and a model for how life should be everywhere.

Much gratitude to Rancho La Puerta and its extraordinary founder, Deborah Szekely, now 103 and still holding sessions with guests and her daughter, Sarah Livia Brightwood, who has led the sustainability practices and literally embodies the spirit of the place, carrying the legacy forward with such grace and generosity. Women in Sustainability week was Sarah’s idea, and I hope we can do it again as it was the rest and restore retreat we all needed and the reminder that everything we do, every choice we make can be made with love and care for each other, for the earth and for ourselves.

Again and again through the Women in Sustainability speaker presentations, we envisioned sustainability as not just a set of practices but a mindset and a movement; a commitment to think of everything we do as an act of reciprocity with the earth and with one another.

Today, I’m sharing some of the highlights of this memorable week of wellness offerings with something for everyone looking to regenerate, restore and return to our lives and work with new perspectives and ideas.

That’s the invitation that Project Dandelion accepted–to curate daily presentations, working closely with Rancho’s Roma Maxwell and trustee, Kris Biliter. Looking broadly at the concept of sustainability, we invited presentations from people we now call–solutionists. This term was coined by a sister dandelion, Solitaire Townsend. In her book The Solutionists: How Businesses Can Fix the Future, Soli defines “solutionist” as “someone whose purpose is to solve real societal or environmental problems, not merely doing sustainability as an add-on. On a podcast she says she coined the term to give a shared language and identity to changemakers. The women we heard from during this week are doing just that.

Norma Meza Ronda and myself during our session

We began, as every gathering should, by grounding ourselves in the wisdom of the land and its first caretakers. Norma Meza, a Kumeyaay elder, offered a beautiful blessing in front of the Dining Hall—calling us into presence, gratitude, and reverence for the earth beneath our feet. Her words set a tone of humility and interconnection that carried through the entire week.

In the first conversation, Ronda Carnegie and I shared the many diverse pathways for becoming a ‘solutionist’. It’s a touchstone of Project Dandelion’s work–to catalyze the collective power of women’s leadership (but not women only) who are still on the sidelines of this crisis, not because they don’t agree with the urgent need to reverse the damage to our environment, but because they don’t see a role for them in the solution making. What we offer are stories of women identifying and leading solution focused initiatives or women innovating solutions, in some instances, small scale but always impactful. We also share ways to become engaged as an advocate, beginning with talking about the challenges and/or becoming a supporter of front line solutionists.

Project Dandelion is committed as a global movement to elevate the solutions we need to a shape a better future, rather than the catastrophic one if we don’t act.

We are also committed to offering every platform possible to the women leading important global initiatives and solutions, and at our first presentation last week, invited Tzeporah Berman, founder of the Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty to talk about this very large scale initiative to enlist every country to sign a treaty to phase out and eventually end the use of the fossil fuels. The pollution of carbon emissions is a major cause of environmental related disease, death and through the extractive practices, also a major contributor to the loss of biodiversity and our natural resources. A global treaty is a bold, brave idea, and Tzeporah is both, with enough courage to lead this monumental effort. She and her team have already convinced more than a dozen countries to sign the treaty with other big news on their progress coming soon.

In another presentation during the week, we explored the impact of intergenerational activism and no better family to exemplify that than Laura Turner Seydel and Vasser Seydel–a mother/daughter who represent an entire family’s commitment to being solutionists. Laura spoke powerfully about the legacy of stewardship of the land that she learned from her father, Ted Turner, a legacy he continues to lead through the multiple ranches he owns and land he protects. Laura is deeply engaged in the regenerative practices on many of the ranches, and a long standing advocate and activist, she also serves on multiple conservation focused boards–EWG, Project Drawdown, Waterkeeper Alliance, League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Georgia Conservation Voters, the UN Foundation (UNF.org) and as a Patron of Nature with the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

At 30, Vasser leads The Oxygen Project with a mission to ignite a community of climate champions and accelerate collective action through storytelling, trainings, and campaigns. These two extraordinary sustainability leaders exemplify how values are passed across generations, and motivate others to join. As Laura’s mother in law and Vasser’s grandmother, I am both motivated and inspired in my environmental activism by both of these women, and it gives me such joy to share experiences like this week with them and to share their work with others.

Every week at the Rancho La Puerta, guests are invited to walk the 2 miles to the Ranch’s organic gardens and farm where we see the food, learn more about the regenerative practices that make the food so delicious and healthy. After a delicious breakfast on site, and someone very much at home in this setting, we heard from Jamilia Norman of Patchwork City Farms here in Atlanta. Farmer J, as she’s known on Homegrown, you can watch the series on HBOMax

Jamila reminds us that sustainability begins in the soil and in our local communities. She shared her experience of building change from the ground up, with small farms, stitching together a ‘patchwork’ of regen farms that are offering organic, healthy food to many Atlanta communities. And Jamilla exhibits the joy that comes from feeding people healthy food! As one committed woman, changing the way food is grown, distributed and made available, she raises up the possibilities for each of us to consider doing our part…in small gardens, perhaps, and certainly in the ways we select, purchase and consume food.

Through their very popular, interactive session’s, Environmental Working Group (EWG.org), Jocelyn Lyle and her colleague Kristine Gardner, along with Solutionist Gay Browne, gave us guidelines for making healthier choices in products we use everyday for cleaning our homes and even for applying to our bodies. EWG.org offers research data on products and ways to easily assess their levels of toxicity and help us make healthier and safer choices for ourselves and our families. Their sessions made it clear that sustainability begins at home, one conscious choice as a consumer at a time. I suggest that we all visit EWG.org to check the safety of our homes and bodies. I checked my skin care and cleaning products and had to discard most…and even as an environmentally focused consumer, I could do better–and intend to follow their guidelines going forward.

In another session focused also on personal wellbeing connected to planet health, Gay Browne deepened the conversation with a powerful call on living with a green heart, which is also the title of her book. This phrase beautifully captures the alignment of personal wellness with planetary care. She reminded us that when we care for our own bodies and homes, we extend that care to the Earth itself.

Intention is important and so is being informed about how our individual actions connect to important global initiatives. Amanda Ellis’s powerful presentation, ‘Innovation to Action to Impact: WE Empower UN SDG Challenge’ made the case so clear of how the many ways that the nature and climate crisis intersects with and impacts gender, racial and geographical inequities. The United Nations set forth 17 goals, referred to as SDG’s–Sustainability Development Goals) that respond to the urgent need to shape a more equitable, climate safe and peaceful future. So far, few countries have achieved the goal’s targets, but becoming more aware of the interconnectedness of all the impacts helps us evaluate local policies and politics as well as national leaders.. Amanda’s session was a masterclass in understanding the important role of women’s leadership and imperative for all of us to consider every individual choice we make as consumers and as citizens as an opportunity to be a solutionists, solving for that better future the SDG’s are intended to deliver.

We were also honored to have on this inaugural Women in Sustainability agenda, the globally respected, deeply inspiring indigenous youth leader, Xiye Bastida. She shared her journey from the Otomi-Toltec community of central Mexico, exemplifying at every step the indigenous wisdom that guided her from age 15 to be a frontline protector of Mother Earth. We need to listen to and trust that wisdom now more than ever, remembering with reverence and gratitude for the caretaking of the world’s critical ecosystems for centuries by indigenous communities worldwide. Xiye’s insights challenge us to reimagine sustainability not as a goal, but as a way of being in relationship with nature, with one another, and with purposeful engagement of the leadership that indigenous leaders bring to all the work towards a healthier, more sustainable future. You can learn more about Re-Earth Initiative here.

Along with the learning from our Solutionists, we also had inspiring music…as all retreats for body and spirit must have! Musician Amber Rubarth held us spellbound in the beautiful web of storytelling that is rooted in her songs. In multiple performances, she shared a deep connection that became, in many ways, the emotional heart of this gathering. Her melodies reminded us that art, like activism, can open new pathways to healing and hope. Amber has an ongoing series, Cover Crop Offerings, a project that she says “blends music, storytelling, and environmental consciousness. Much like an NPR ‘Tiny Desk Concert meets an Anthony Bourdain style journey,”. Amber’s work explores culture and community through an environmental and feminine lens, celebrating our interconnection. Each song in her series is offered as a kind of “cover crop”.

In a powerful presentation that closed out our week, well known solutionist across many sectors–finance, farming, food, community, culture and more– Kat Taylor challenged us to test the boundaries of what can be done and must be done. She shared a “solution list”

Good Money-reforming finance and banking
Good Food-transforming agriculture and food systems
Good Energy-creating renewable and equitable energy systems

She also spotlighted women who are already building regenerative and/or equitable futures:

Jillian Hishaw, agricultural attorney and founder of F.A.R.M.S., advancing land justice and economic equity for Black farmers.
Pandora Thomas, founder of EARTHseed Farms, teaching regenerative design through the lens of cultural resilience.
Konda Mason, co-founder of Jubilee Justice, demonstrating racial healing and soil regeneration through cooperative rice farming.
Zakiya Harris, artist and founder of Hack the Hood and Blukiss, channeling creativity and innovation as tools for climate solutions.

Kaitlin Archambault, sustainability designer and strategist, transforming complex climate goals into visual pathways for change.

Camilia Chavez, seeks to empower historically disenfranchised communities with the training and skills to make transformational changes in their communities.

Pandora Thomas, Jillian Hishaw, Camilia Chavez, Kaitlin Archambault, Kat Taylor, Zakiyah Harris, Konda Mason, Sarah Livia Brightwood

As I reflect on this week at Rancho La Puerta, I’m reminded that transformation often begins in community, in circles of trust and shared purpose. Each woman here brought her story, her solution and her spark. Together, we lit a fire that I know will continue to grow.

A fire ignited from one truth that was shared by all our presenters at Rancho La Puerta: Sustainability isn’t a destination—it’s a journey of learning, a daily practice of care for the earth, for ourselves, for one another, and for a better future we are shaping together.