What’s Next: Learn. Understand. Love. Protect. Repeat. ∞

“People protect what they love, they love what they understand and they understand what they are taught.”

—Jacques Cousteau

---

Let’s understand the world we live in, to better serve the world we live in. 

Grow Ensemble has been and continues to be about learning. Learning to understand the world we live in. Because, as Jacques Cousteau says, we understand what we’ve learned, and we love what we understand. 

And most importantly, we protect what we love. 

And I think this is likewise, what Paul Hawken touches on when he says the most important thing we can do, to leave the world a better place than we found it, is to find out where we live. 

By learning about all that’s around us — the flora, the fauna, the people, the natural ebbs and flows to the way the planet and people operate and change and adapt…

We learn more, we understand more, we love more, and we act more. 

Grow Ensemble is and will continue to be about an insatiable drive to learn about and understand the world we all inhabit. 

This, is the who, what, why, & how of building a better world, as we often say here.  

And this is so, more and more of us are inspired and reinspired to fall in love with the planet and people living on it, so we can together repeatedly, harness the courage to act to protect, to preserve and to make things better. 

To even know what’s better. 

And yeah, that might not on it’s face seem unique, or appear remarkable…but I think what differentiates what together we’re exploring here, comes from how we arrive at the material, the stories, and the people we speak with. It’s in our intent and our hopes for a particular outcome. 

It’s who YOU are. It’s who I am. 

The thing is, the absolutely wonderful thing is, I know, that you reading this, you listening to this, you watching this, you are someone who feels not just a desire to use your physical and mental capacities to leave the world better than you found it, you (like me, like my wife Annie) feel an obligation to do so. 

We arrive at the topics of sustainable business, regenerative agriculture, or purpose-driven work not seeking personal gain, or an opportunity to extract profit, but rather a genuine and authentic purpose of understanding how this fits in with a vision forward to make the world a more sustainable and equitable place for all.

See, I know you, like me understand that if we’re to find ways to live more sustainably, more equitably, it’s not just about the THINGS we do, as importantly it’s about the things we believe and the things we value.

Can we believe that the way we live our lives, run our economies, and organize our communities, can be restorative and regenerative just by their nature? 

Can we in fact truly and authentically value the planet and the people living on it more than power, profits, or GDP, and make systemic and institutional changes that reflect that? 

Can we come to believe, understand, and value that we cannot and do not live separately from nature, but rather, as part of it?

Can we corral the courage within ourselves, within all of us, to believe that “just the way it is” only remains as such for as long as we let it. 

I think to confidently answer in the affirmative to all those questions, we have to learn. We have to learn what’s possible, to believe in and build what’s possible. 

And together, here at Grow Ensemble, here with The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, that’s what we’re doing—learning what’s possible, to understand what’s possible. 

To create a future we love, to create a vision for the future we feel the courage to build. 

But, we must pay attention. Pay attention to what matters. Because distractions are aplenty. Do we colonize Mars? Or, do we restore and regenerate the planet we have? 

Do we seek to build the next billion-dollar company fighting climate change? Or, do we find the wisdom in scaling to depth, not breadth?

Here at Grow Ensemble, and myself here with The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, we see our role as guides. 

Not necessarily as a guide that can tell you where to go, because we can’t. We aren’t living in an Ecotopia. And the world as it is, surely isn’t just, equal, or fair. It hasn’t been done before. 

But rather, we’re here as guides to point to what we must pay attention to, what we should look out for. 

Because nuance is everywhere. There are many different paths we can take, some (many) get us through up to the summit, and others will not. 

So yes, on its face, we’re going to talk about sustainability and social impact. We’re going to talk about renewable energy, we’re going to talk about sustainable, equitable city development, we’re going to talk about the many wonders of trees, and the billions of microbes beneath our feet. 

But, with those dives, we’re going to talk about and extract what matters. What are the principles, ideas, and wisdom we can take with us here as we continue on our journey to a better, more sustainable, more equitable world, for all. 

What can we add to our packs, keep in our back pocket, or share to help others around us? 

Because we cannot always expect our trail to be clear, well-marked, or even visible at all.

As Martin Luther King Jr. reminded everyone, the arc of the moral universe bends in our favor, but that timeline is long and not without great challenge or confusion for what the next step forward might be. 

And so together here, at Grow Ensemble, and our podcast moving forward, let’s continue to explore where we go from here. One step after another. 

Learning about the who, what, why, & how of building a better world. 

Because again, the more we know, the more we understand, the more we can all do together. 

If you’ve been around for a while, thanks as always, so grateful to have had you reading, listening, or watching, and if you’re new here excited to have you join along for the ride. 

New episodes, essays, and videos all dealing in the realm of the possible, coming.  

Stay tuned. ✌️

-Cory 

Founder, Grow Ensemble

---

---