Since the mid-1970’s, I could see that ecosystems were incredibly unappreciated with respect to their role in the economy. But by that time, people had been conditioned to view taking care of nature as something for charities and governments. So, after college, I started my first “green” business in 1983 at age 23.
Today, scientists and economists value the economic contribution of ecosystems at upwards of $35 trillion annually. Today, more than ever, it is possible for people to create enterprises that can steadily improve the health and function of our living infrastructure.
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Project Vision
Forests, oceans, rivers, and other ecosystems provide valuable services without asking for any pay in return. Yet, without steady focus on the health of our ecosystems, they tend to become degraded in order to provide more immediate economic returns to other industries.
The world tends to provide energy and transportation systems with the investments needed to sustain and improve their benefits to society. Today, the opportunity to do the same for ecosystems is stronger than ever, however, it is extremely difficult for individuals to self-finance entry into this exciting and rewarding field.
With the help of the Make My Nut platform, I aim to help fund the salaries of a new generation of people who wish to develop projects in the Ecosystem Sector at every scale, and also train them in ecological business, politics, and finance, fields that, lacking mentors, I learned slowly and with great difficulty over many decades.
How I created my vision
By 1980, I envisioned that to assure the highest possible quality of life for humans and all living things, it would be useful to view ecosystems as living infrastructure, and develop an Ecosystem Sector on par with other major sectors like the Transportation, Health Care, even Entertainment. Since 1983, I have spent the majority of my career focused on accomplishing this goal, starting conventional businesses, charities, and finance companies in this sector.
With each stage, it became clear that there was no shortage of money in the hands of people interested in ecology, and that the main limit to success in building a vibrant Ecosystem Sector was that most individuals who wanted to be a part of this field could not sustain their basic living expenses while attempting to make progress in any aspect of this sector.
After mentoring several clients who only lacked the equivalent of US $1000 a month to quit their day job and focus on their vision, I decided to develop the Make My Nut recurring payment community with the aim of help 1000 new people take responsibility for the wellbeing of our vital ecosystems.
Yet, by June 2025, I could see that
Major Milestones
In my life, I saved clients millions of dollars of water and energy annually, led a campaign that resulted in the President of the US changing a federal policy affecting over 200 million acres (over 80 hectares) of forests. Then I entered the most difficult field, finance. Today I can say that I am an expert in starting and financing any project, from a food truck to a global enterprise.
So, at long last I can fulfill on the vision I started in 2001, to help mentor and finance leaders in the Ecosystem Sector, thanks to this community platform.
With all of the supporting systems in place, I intend to spend 2026 raising recurring income and using that to hire leaders for a sequence of projects I’ve designed, or to build out their own vision.
I have already begun this process, so everything now is about increasing the rate and scale at which new project leaders can be funded and trained.
Project Budget
Given the range of local economies in the world, a realistic average figure for escaping the day to day hustle and focusing on a project that can make a difference is about US $3000 per month per leader.
For a near term goal of 100 new leaders, that would be only $330,000 a month, of which less than 10% will be used to cover operations support such as legal, accounting, tech, and my own salary. My supporting members will get financial updates in each monthly newsletter.
