Greetings like-minded nature advocates,

Our Projects

As Earth Day is celebrated around the globe, I am grateful for the combined gifts of indigenous people’s wisdom and the technology that allows them to share that wisdom with me. As I read this passage from Braiding Sweetgrass, written in 2018, I recall comments from COVID-era articles and social posts by people writing about their relationships with plants. I imagine Kimmer reading some of those same articles, smiling, and saying to herself “Ah yes, it is nice to have this more widely understood”.

In April, thanks to our Supporters, we wrote and submitted a grant in support of GPGB’s Reconnecting Design with Nature project. This project is the conversion of our existing credentialed continuing education courses to a video format that gives building professionals access to our courses online and on-demand. Using the existing PowerPoint course format as the foundation, we’re creating a SCORM-compliant version. SCORM is a popular format that meets the standards for eLearning software interoperability. This standardization allows us to collaborate with our credentialing organizations and deliver to their members this important information about biophilic design’s ability to create healthier, more productive spaces for building occupants.

We’re working with the terrific team at Cantilever Instruction + Design to incorporate dynamic features into the course videos that make the content memorable. Cantilever will

  • add questions and other interactions to engage participants via drop and drag or click box activities,
  • add learning tools, such as case studies, knowledge checks, and definitions,
  • incorporate quizzes that conform to the credentialing organization’s requirements,
  • and add features to accommodate the use of tablets and mobile phones.

We are thrilled to be moving forward with the Reconnecting Design with Nature project and add a scalable delivery method so that the course information impacts and serves larger audiences. At the same time, we will continue to maintain and update the PowerPoint versions being used by our dynamic Registered Trainer community, who are making presentations in-person or via videoconferencing technology.

These courses contain important research-based information about the biophilic design ethic’s contributions to human health, safety, and welfare. The inclusion of biophilic design elements into building standards (the WELL Building Standard, Fitwel, the Living Building Challenge, LEED) indicates there is a great need for biophilic design information.

COVID-driven changes in the workplace make the conversion of these courses more urgent. With mandates for social distancing and more team members working from home, online and on-demand education is strongly preferred. The evidence-based information that access to nature helps reduce stress and increases productivity by 12%, is intensely interesting to team members who are experiencing more stress since the pandemic.

As always, many thanks to GPGB Supporters, who are responsible for GPGB’s accomplishments. On behalf of the GPGB directors and team, we are honored by your consistent support of GPGB’s mission to accelerate the adoption of biophilic design.

If you are not already a Supporter, and if you are inspired to support the Reconnecting Design with Nature project, please consider making a one-time donation HERE.

#StayPlanted and Be Well,

Mary Golden

Advocacy Incubator