DesignShift Practice Session: From Resource to Relationship
In August 2026, we hosted a DesignShifts event exploring how we can shift from seeing nature as a resource to seeing nature as a relationship.
This event was a collaboration between Grow to Soil and Athanasios (Thanasis) Christopoulos — a biologist practicing emotional biomimicry to build regenerative relationships.
For generations, we have been taught to see the earth as a collection of resources. Timber. Water. Minerals. Land. Even the language we use reinforces this story: natural “resources,” suggest the living world exists for us to use, own, and extract from.
We inherit a lot of ideas about nature, that it is separate, that it is merciless, that it needs saving. These narratives shape us unintentionally and carry deep ramifications for the kinds of worlds we are creating. But when we look closer, we see a different story — one where nature is not a resource to be exploited, but rather the most important relationship of our species. It has always defined our lives, provided us with the gifts to exist on this planet and calmed our hearts in times of turmoil.
We have always been part of a larger web of life. Maybe we just need to re-member?
Session reflection and observations
This was a gathering to re-member our relationship with nature. Not only as an intellectual act, but as a practice of bringing ourselves back into the living world. While remembering is about retrieving information, re-membering is about reconnecting with what has been fragmented, forgotten, or separated.
We moved through breakout groups, large group reflections, and interactive activities. In community, we learned from each other, from the emotions in our bodies, and more than anything, we learned from nature.
Someone told us about Chalk landscapes: one of the rarest and most biodiverse freshwater habitats on Earth. Some told as story about perserving their grandparents. We carry generational experiences. The old shapes something new.
In the midst of sharing the beauty of nature we were also reminded of the human destruction that is currently happening. Someone shares the frustration and grief around how we neglect to re-member nature when it comes to war conflict. Israel's war against Hezbollah in south Lebanon has poisoned soil and destroyed valuable ecosystems for generations to come but it’s rarely mentioned in the climate debate.
Tensions
My favorite part of these session is how they give space to these tensions to co-exist. We can carry grief and frustration while also expanding our capacity for hope. Composting and Creating are not opposites. They support each other.
We wove together words from the signup form to create a collective poem. A creation that encapsulates all of our wishes for the future coming together into a shared dream of the relationship we want to embody. You gifted us the feelings and now we are gifting them back to you
Small steps towards a different relationship
We ended the session by collecting different ideas for how we can start shifting now. The simple, everyday activities we think can support us in the shift from seeing nature as a resource to nurturing nature as a relationship. This was the starting point as we carry these ideas with us into what’s next.
If you would like to hear more ideas for activities that can nurture our relationship with nature, we are launching Nature Dates. Nature Dates is a field guide for re-membering our relationship with nature.
It features simple prompts, reflections, and activities that can be done alone or together, inviting people to slow down, pay attention, and cultivate a deeper relationship with the living world. Whether it's spending thirty minutes watching an ant, going on a weekly nature date, listening to the soundscape of a forest, or noticing flowers growing through cracks in the pavement, each practice offers a small way to reconnect with nature in everyday life.
Future events and tools
Nature Dates — Simple practices for re-membering our relationship with nature
Designing Otherwise — An experiential, practice-based cohort for composting the dominant design practices we’ve inherited and seeding new possibilities.
Lessons from nature: What's emotional biomimicry? An event in August.
The Nature Relationship Spectrum: An assessment to establish your relationship to nature.
