For millennia, many people ate what they gathered or grew, used what they took, and repurposed whatever materials they could. Humans operated as part of the ecosystems that sustained them, and in many places, they still do.

When we started to mass produce the things we wanted, we also introduced unprecedented types and quantities of waste into nature. We built cities that, in many ways, isolated us from the rhythms and interconnections of the living world. We turned the cycles of nature into a linear system of extraction, production, and disposal. There’s a significant contrast between the systems we’ve built and the ones that thrive in nature. And the unintended consequences are threatening nearly every ecosystem on the planet – including ours.

Today, we often try to fix our economic and ecological systems without truly transforming them. Much of our recycling ends up in landfills due to misconceptions, politics, and a lack of infrastructure. We’re seduced by the allure of “greener” products to justify our consumption. And the forces most responsible for the damage have gotten very good at convincing individuals that it’s our responsibility, not theirs.

There’s no doubt that transitioning from a linear economy to a circular society calls for fundamental changes in how we act and what we’re willing to embrace. But the more our team dug into what we need to let go of, the more excited we became about what we could learn from nature’s way of doing things: new bio-inspired materials, more gardens and green spaces, closer communities. The transition is going to take all of our openness, imagination, and effort, but the grass really could be greener on the other side.