What is sustainability?
- Samantha Green Castañeda
- Aug 8, 2023
- 6 min read
This is Living Impact's practical guide for agroecological farms and community tourism projects that want to live off well-being, regenerative tourism, and biodiversity (without losing their soul or cash flow).
Imagine your farm at dawn: mist over the orchards, birds announcing the day, a small group preparing their breathing practice before an interpretive walk through the forest, couples in a yoga class. Is this the present you want to scale? Meaningful retreats, clean food, citizen science, and a financially healthy operation. Here, without fuss, we tell you what sustainability is, why some people talk about it, and how to turn that intention into a stable income that doesn't depend solely on tourists on some weekends or during the holiday season.
Sustainability vs. sustainability (and where regeneration comes in)
Sustainability is used in Spain and much of Latin America; it has become popular in the Southern Cone. In practice, both refer to sustaining life in four dimensions: environmental, social, economic, and cultural.
Regeneration goes a step further: it not only prevents damage but also improves the soil, water, biodiversity, and community fabric season after season. For an agroecological farm, this means that every withdrawal, every kilo sold, and every experience adds life to the land.
Operational translation:
Sustainable = no degradation.
Regenerative = restoration and increase of ecological and social capacities.
The four pillars of a regenerative farm that wants to thrive
Environmental: Higher carbon soils, better managed water, biological corridors.
Social: Decent employment (with a focus on women and youth), local procurement, living culture.
Economic: Healthy margins, predictable cash flow, income diversification.
Cultural/Energetic: Place identity + renewable energy culture (habits, technology, measurement).
Your farm is a "living campus." Every activity should educate and simultaneously fund conservation.
Mixed income model (to avoid depending solely on tourists)
1) Regenerative Tourism and Wellness Retreats
Design purpose-built experiences for small groups with 2–5-night stays: interpretive walks, forest bathing, cooking with farm produce, and somatic practices that connect body, mind, and territory.
Tip: Include a “must-have and delicious” regenerative activity (planting, nest monitoring, planting aromatic trees for pollinators).
2) Agroecological Direct Sales (on/offline)
You can sell seasonal boxes, subscriptions, or “km 0” tasting menus for guests.
Tip: A QR code label showing traceability and a soil/water micro-dashboard.
3) Education and Training
Design short workshops for locals, neighbors, or people who live near your destination (composting, pruning, medicinal gardens, bio-inputs). The experience will also be unforgettable for foreign tourists.
Corporate wellness and leadership programs in nature.
4) Sponsored Biodiversity Monitoring
Propose "adopting" plots or transects to local businesses (using responsible branding on signage and reports).
5) Payments for Ecosystem Services and Carbon/Water Credits
If you manage forests, riverbanks, or soils with regenerative practices, explore local PES schemes or soil carbon initiatives (depending on your country's regulations).
6) Grants and Accelerators
Complement these business initiatives by participating in calls for green infrastructure, research equipment, and training.
Generate interactive experiences
Use citizen science technologies: what to use, how to use them, and what they're for. Objective: Turn your visitors and team into scientific allies. It provides you with useful data, powerful stories, and verifiable data for funders.
Tool | What it’s for | How it’s used in the field | What you visualise digitally |
iNaturalist | Recording flora/fauna | Guests photograph species and upload with GPS | Live species map and richness by trail |
eBird | Bird checklists | 45–90 minute guided outings | Seasonal trends and key species |
Acoustic recorders (bioacoustics) | Bats, nocturnal birds, amphibians | Devices placed on forest/pond edges | Spectrograms and “heat” maps of nocturnal biodiversity |
Camera traps | Elusive mammals | Deployed on wildlife corridors | Before/after restoration sequences |
ODK / KoBo | Offline surveys | Staff monitor soils/water | Time-series charts in Google Sheets/Datawrapper |
Soil meters (moisture, EC, pH) | Soil/vegetable-bed health | Fortnightly readings by bed | Management graphs and storytelling visuals |
Best practices:
Design a simple protocol (max. 10 minutes of training for tourists of any level).
Name 3–5 key indicators (e.g., “active nests/month,” “bird richness by season”).
Display results on a public dashboard embedded on your website and on farm signage.
Turn data into decision-making: temporarily close a trail, adjust irrigation, prioritise hedges for pollinators.
Renewable energy culture
At Living Impact, we help you create a renewable energy culture on your property: it’s not just about installing panels, but about changing habits, choosing the right technology, and measuring with precise numbers.
We start by organising habits without investment (zero CAPEX): adjusting high-consumption schedules, disconnecting "vampire" loads, and optimising the kitchen during retreats. Then we move on to low-cost metering: metered outlets, zone-based submetering, and a weekly log that shows you where energy is leaking.
With this data in hand, we design the technology package that best suits your situation: solar photovoltaic for pumping and lighting, solar thermal for group showers, biogas from manure for the home kitchen, micro-wind power if resources allow, and batteries sized only for critical loads (refrigeration, pumping, communications).
Our goal, and yours, will be to lower costs, emissions, and noise... and for you to notice it on your bill and in the silence of the night.
We also help you showcase and sell this transition in an elegant and verifiable way. We install a simple panel at reception and on your website with the energy mix ("80% solar / 20% grid/biogas"), calculate savings and CO₂ avoided, and link it to the guest experience: "This retreat saved X kg of CO₂; that's why we planted Y native plants." We even design a short energy tour so your visitors can see the solar boilers, biodigester, and electrical panel in action.
This is valuable content for marketing, for partnering with companies, and for opening doors to grants.
Impact that is measured and narrated
To make the impact felt, we set up a measurement and reporting system that combines three dimensions. From an environmental perspective, we take an annual soil carbon sample, measure hedge/tree cover, and measure water quality (turbidity and conductivity).
From a social perspective, we monitor the percentage of local purchases, the gender pay gap, and the number of women suppliers or guides. From an economic perspective, we calculate the ratio of value retained within 20 km (target ≥ 60%) and the margin for each business line.
With this information, we help you publish a "Farm Report" each month: a graph, a story, and a decision made based on the data. This builds trust with customers, donors, and authorities.
Publish a monthly “Farm Report”: 1 graph, one story, one decision made thanks to the data.
Ethics, community and growth without losing soul
At Living Impact, we provide you with a land use code agreed upon with neighbours and authorities (carrying capacity, quiet hours, waste management) and design programs for women and youth to participate in guidance, monitoring, healthy cooking, and digital content, with paid training. We also implement a clear data policy so everyone knows who owns the records and how they are used (community/company/guests). This way, your farm grows with order, legitimacy, and local pride.
Living Impact gives you the method, tools, and support to reduce costs, increase revenue, and demonstrate impact—while transforming your farm into a living campus of clean energy, well-being, and regeneration.
30–60–90 Day Plan (Concrete Actions)
30 days
Choose 3 star indicators and enable iNaturalist + a camera trap.
Install a simple dashboard (Google Sheets + Datawrapper) on your website.
Define 3 energy habits and start measuring with plug-in meters.
60 days
Design a citizen science micro-itinerary (60–90 min) and a regenerative action for each retreat.
Launch a local membership (agroecological box + 2 hikes per year + access to a quarterly report).
Apply for a micro-grant for equipment (acoustic recorder or solar water heater).
90 days
Publish your results sheet (environmental/social/economic) and a commitment for the following quarter.
Quote a solar/biogas system with scenarios (critical loads first).
Open a B2B channel: companies that sponsor monitoring plots or “adopted trails.”
Want to accelerate your sustainability? Download and learn.
PDF with practical strategies "Sustainability on Your Farm in 10 Steps"
Indicator templates, citizen science protocol, interpretive trail script, mini-dashboard, and energy checklist. → Ideal for getting started in a week with an order.
"Renewable Energy Culture for Farms and Wellness Centres" Course
6 modules (habits, measurement, solar, biogas, savings storytelling, investment plan), group mentoring, and a review of your case. → You’ll leave with a realistic 12-month plan and a script to explain your energy transition to guests and funders.
Sustainability isn’t a slogan: it’s a system of decisions that makes your farm more vibrant, your community stronger, and your business more stable. Let’s start today—and may the next dawn find you with precise data, clean energy, and a compelling story the world wants to support.
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