The Garden of Secrets

TEALEAVES INITIATIVE TO PROTECT BIODIVERSITY
2020 FAST COMPANY WORLD CHANGING IDEAS AWARDS HONOREE — CREATIVITY FINALIST & EDUCATION FINALIST

“We want to help create a movement and demonstrate that the for-profit sector can be part of the solution, furthering the goals of the social and public sector through fostering multi-layered partnerships to address global challenges.”

LANA SUTHERLAND
TEALEAVES CO-FOUNDER & CEO

At TEALEAVES, we embrace a vigorous, scientific and intellectual basis for our actions. We eschew the notion of band-aid or false-positive solutions because we are committed to getting to the root of a problem and tackling it head on.

That is why we are focused on supporting and protecting Biodiversity.

There is no part of our lives that biodiversity does not touch - it is the foundation for all life that healthy ecosystems stand on, playing a key role in nearly all of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

We cannot build a resilient future without biodiversity.

A Seed Is Planted

THE GARDEN OF SECRETS PROJECT: THE ORIGINS

In 2015, we embarked on a collaborative project with The University of British Columbia Botanical Garden to tell the story of their important conservation work.

Since planting that first seed, we have spent half of a decade together growing ideas and blossoming initiatives to further social change.

Motivated by our belief in continuous learning, TEALEAVES interviewed expert botanists, activists, architects, academics, and designers from around the world. By examining interdisciplinary insights, the underlying link became clear.

From the air we breathe to the food we eat, our ecosystem health is intimately linked with planetary well-being. Achieving a better understanding of the alarming and unprecedented loss of biodiversity, we soon realized that its ultimate preservation will require systemic and transformative change.

“Since our founding 25 years ago, our enduring love for plants and botanicals has always intrinsically linked us back to nature, with everything we do. Committed to Mother Earth, we look at the entire system with the thought, intention, and respect that it deserves.”

LANA SUTHERLAND
TEALEAVES CO-FOUNDER & CEO

The Shoot

THE GARDEN OF SECRETS: A TEALEAVES DOCUMENTARY

Aimed at empowering environmental stewardship through design, we created The Garden of Secrets, an open-source learning library featuring plants - the planet's earliest designers - as the teacher.

The exploration culminates in a refreshingly optimistic Garden of Secrets Documentary. Featuring botanists, biologists, architects, and designers using biomimicry for brilliant innovations; from solar sails for space travel to sanitary water conservation in rural populations, this documentary presents solutions in a world that feels inundated with problems.

Since premiering at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the documentary has since held screenings at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, TELUS Science World, San Francisco Design Week, Seattle Design Festival and many more.

WATCH

To empower continual learning the project also features an “idea seed bank”: a virtual library comprised of expert insights and case studies, providing viewers with inspiration and resources to begin enacting meaningful change through sustainable design.

The First Bud

THE GARDEN OF SECRETS BLEND

Born out of our commitment to the preservation of botanical gardens, we created The Garden of Secrets herbal blend, in which 100% of the proceeds are donated to UBC Botanical Gardens.
 
The signature blend was crafted in close collaboration with UBC Botanical Garden botanists and TEALEAVES Master Blenders, using local, rare botanicals with low carbon footprint and unique health properties.

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The Bloom

WORLD BIODIVERSITY FORUM

With a deep sense of purpose and responsbility, it was our honor to share these insights at the inaugural World Biodiversity Forum in Davos, Switzerland, February 2020.

There, alongside the UBC Botanical Garden, the World Health Organization, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Durham University, and NSCAD, we introduced a collaborative framework to preserve biodiversity through a network of international organizations.

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Pollination

2020 FAST COMPANY WORLD CHANGING IDEAS AWARDS HONOREE

As further recognition that our holistic quest to understand and present biodiversity is pollinating, we are proud that the Garden of Secrets is a 2020 Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards Honoree.

CREATIVITY FINALIST:

Honoring world changing creative projects that help explain and publicize global problems and solutions.

EDUCATION FINALIST:

Honoring companies or initiatives that help inspire better and more equitable learning.

“As a David amongst Goliaths, we are proof that even a small company can make a big difference.”

LANA SUTHERLAND
TEALEAVES CO-FOUNDER & CEO

Will you join us on our mission to pollinate this idea?