The EAT Community started as a project of The Institute of Ecolonomics, which is an environmental nonprofit fostering business innovations to scale sustainability. EAT was an acronym for the Ecolonomic Action Team. Ecolonomics being defined as the intersection of ecology and economics.

You might be interested to know that the actor Dennis Weaver spent his later years as a fierce and passionate environmental advocate. IoE or The Institute of Ecolonomics (IoE) was actually founded by Dennis.

See below for this blog post on the IoE website:

“Though millions recognize Dennis Weaver for his roles in the long-running television series Gunsmoke and McCloud, the most important work of his life was not performed in front of a camera.

Since the early 1980’s, he dedicated himself to serving humanity and the environment. A passionate environmentalist, Weaver moved to Colorado in 1989 to construct his “Earthship.” This visionary, solar-powered home, built primarily from recycled materials, is recognized worldwide as an inspirational model for sustainable living. The documentary “Dennis Weaver’s Earthship” aired on public television for years and is still available at www.dennisweaver.com.

In 1993, Dennis and Gerry founded the non-profit Institute of Ecolonomics – a word Dennis coined to illustrate the marriage between our ecology and economy. His passion for ecolonomics continues to fuel the vision of the Institute.

“If we are to leave a planet that will sustain life for future generations, we have to have two things: a sustainable economy and a sustainable environment, and if we fail in achieving either we will suffer greatly.” Dennis Weaver.”

IoE was then taken on by our founder Dr. Wayne Dorband who eventually started The EAT Community.

At the time of this writing we have added 18,000 people to our mailing list without any paid advertising, affiliate agreements, or direct marketing. 18 months later he has produced over 700 hours of live cast video and reached thousands of people with these live sessions. As a result, we have a strong starting point for the next phase of our project. That’s when I came in to the picture.

After I joined Wayne’s team, we agreed that the best way to reach more people from around the world would be to start growing EAT as a startup company providing world class education to people from around the world on topics such as restoration ecology, forrest agriculture, sustainable farming, and other sustainable and health related topics.

We hope to honor the legacy of Dennis Weaver and all of those past and present who represent an undying interest in sustainability, ecology, and building new enterprises that will hopefully move humanity into an era defined by a regenerative, restorative economy. There are so many people who have fought for a belief of a greener Earth and a more environmentally sustainable tomorrow. While this post may not do their tremendous contributions justice, we hope to share a tiny piece of internet gratitude.

If we succeed, we will reach thousands more people from around the world, who will actually start doing projects in local food, land restoration, and making a meaningful contribution to building a more sustainable world.

We hope to meet you on our journey.

Pura Vida,
-Chris Powers