Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to water. People move on it. People write and sing and dance and dream about it.
People fight over it.
And everybody, every day, needs it. We need water for drinking, for cooking, for washing, for food, for industry, for energy, for transport, for rituals, for fun, for life. Focused on environmental research and development, education and design, our work is centered on the restoration and ecological re-engineering of natural systems to protect and enhance environmental quality. The work of the Gaia Institute couples ecological engineering and restoration with the integration of human communities in natural systems. While much environmental engineering has the worthy aim of minimizing harm, the Gaia Institute explores, through research and development, design and construction, how human activities and waste products can be treated to increase ecological productivity, biodiversity, environmental quality, and economic well being.