What we've learned

We take from nature at scale. But selectively. It's both destructive and wasteful. The selective focus on single commodities drives a monoculture and an income dependency which traps rural communities into activities that further harm the grasslands, simply to keep afloat. That's the real tragedy of the commons.

Arguing that, in the face of climate change, Mongolian herders have no choice other than to "simply adapt", is a cop out. It's not helping - adaptation strategies are not just about resilience, they are also climate change mitigation strategies. We need to give herders all the help we can not just to adapt but to reduce pressure on degraded ecosystems. The question isn't whether we should work at the community level or the macro level—we need both, simultaneously.

Why is sustainable cashmere so elusive? There is a gap between today's supply chains and effective landscape regeneration that cannot be bridged. This is fundamental because it means that all attempts to drive sustainability through the existing supply system cannot influence outcomes in the landscapes. It is the reason why brands can't exert the influence they want - the system won't let them. The answer lies in redesigning the supply system in a way that links to landscape

Lovely blog post from our friends at Conservation International https://www.conservation.org/blog/can-mongolia-s-oldest-traditions-surviv...

Environmentally conscious brands shouldn't pay premiums to source "sustainable" materials. Instead they should invest in landscapes.

Should we put a number on nature? How can we tell if rangelands are regeneration is working? Can lying cows tell you it's raining?

Fast Company on cashmere and Mongolia. Grateful for the shout out for Good Growth. Our perspective comes from seeing the apparel chains...

The Gobi: 30 years ago the pastures were healthy. Now there are way too many animals in a place full of dust and wind. What happened?

There are 50 million too many animals on the Mongolian rangelands. Livestock reduction is a precondition for regeneration. But it's hard.

Conservation is intrinsically valuable - but that value can't be recognised within commodity supply chains

If a single commodity supply chain penetrates a landscape it creates a massive environmental and economic distortion. Time for change.

Sustainability is not a product feature. How we market "good" needs to be an appeal to values and identity.

The pursuit of Silver Bullets and an obsession with standards are not helping with climate "What's the single most effective thing I can...

A Good day for Good Growth We're thrilled that Kering and Conservation International's "Regenerative Fund for Nature" has chosen to...

Regenerative businesses don't have 'supply chains' Not in the conventional sense at least. As we start making our first products through...

We forgot not just who we were, but where we were The past year or so has been like waking from a dream. Once we started building the...

Humans have become disconnected from nature - if we're going to fix the planet we need to fix that.

Product centric, industrialised businesses can never be regenerative. A regenerative business must subordinate product to place.

A glimpse at our pilot ecosystem in western Mongolia About 36 very bumpy hours in a Land Cruiser from Ulaan Bataar will take you west to...

We became extractive and we did not notice. Time to to reset our notion of "what matters".