On the Living Values

Our recently-adopted Living Values Statement emerged slowly, shaped by experience, and reflection on what has worked — and failed — in climate and environmental work over the past several decades.

Our new Living Values Statement is a work product of our entire +Nature board, but is mostly the writing of Jay Bassett, whose career spans nearly forty years in public service including leadership roles in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. During that time, Jay worked across policy, operations, and community engagement, often on issues where environmental ethics are in conflict with institutional norms. The values reflect lessons drawn from that lived experience rather than from theory alone.

Much of Jay’s work has focused on systems — how materials move, how incentives shape behavior, how communities are included or excluded from decisions that affect their land, water, and health. Over time, a consistent pattern emerged: durable environmental outcomes require more than technical solutions. They require governance that shares power, finance that restores rather than extracts, science that is credible but accessible, and a long view that respects ecological limits and intergenerational responsibility.

‍ Chris Bray Photography

The Living Values Statement is meant to be used. It’s a way to pressure-test decisions, partnerships, and projects as +Nature grows, and they recognize the difficult tradeoffs that come with climate and conservation work. The values reflect our belief that nature based solutions require shared governance, scientific humility, and economic models designed to hold over time. This statement doesn’t answer every question, but it sets the terms for how we will ask them.

Read the print-friendly version here.