Troy Carter
on Ecological Awakening and being in the Flow
“Being in the flow of life can feel easy when you’re focused on the right things. It can feel like a magical unfolding. It’s amazing to be in that quality of consciousness, where everything just flows! When you’re doing what you’re meant to be doing, whatever that means. That’s when the right people will come together: the funders, the partners, the connections.”
Troy Carter’s flow has been tested many times, but he always came back to one realisation: “I’m the one living. I am the one who has agency. Life is not something that is being done to me. From there, I moved into a place of being in service of life.”
He developed a deep love of wild places and healthy intact ecosystems after travelling the world: from motorcycling across India and hosting retreats in remote British Columbia to solo climbing in the High Andes. These profound nature experiences forged the motivation to build an organization that was healing for the planet.
Troy is now the Co-founder of Earthshot Labs, a company focused on restoring human relationships with non-human nature and creating scaled institutions that honour the sacredness of life through forest protection and ecosystem conservation.
Earthshot Labs was born during a potent dinner conversation with Patrick Leung, when they had an “ecological awakening”, synthesizing their combined expertise in technology and AI, private equity, and carbon markets. Their vision for the future is clear: “Half or more of the planet to be seen as sacred territories, where humans have only traditional uses for the land, and not industrial uses, a world where every year, there are more and more species of every kind flourishing.”
Troy believes that if we can heal the relationship with the whole, then each person will feel connected, and will feel a sense of belonging. It will change the way humanity develops: “There is a sense of scale, a sense of movement that comes from moving vast amounts of money into something that is fundamentally good and important for humans and non-humans.”
He is privileged, as he is doing this meaningful work especially “for himself” because it is the most fun job he could imagine: “Honestly, what else would I be working on? To be able to create a dream team of the smartest, most heartfelt people on Earth - that’s the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. This is a really amazing ride to be on!” The fun thing is, actually, that he is doing this for the benefit of everyone. “We need change so that we balance the planet and get to the next stage in the evolution of humanity. We can make progress throughout the solar system and ensure the continuation of consciousness on the planet.”
Read Troy Carter’s answers for Inspirators and don’t forget that we have a special opportunity to come together and make things happen!
Thank you, Troy, for being an Earthshot Creator!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Troy Carter
Company / Institution: Earthshot Labs
Title: CEO
Website: https://www.earthshot.eco/
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/troyearthshot/
Country of origin: USA
Country you currently live in: USA
Your personal definition of Regeneration: The natural unfolding from a restored relationship with the Earth.
Main business challenge you face: Paying for conservation and protection of indigenous territories.
Main driver that keeps you going: The belief that old-growth forests should be a normal daily experience!
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: The ability to become proficient quickly in anything I learn.
The trait you most value in others: Open heartedness and generosity.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: Gardening.
The #inspirators who determined you to take the regenerative path:
The Honaunau coral reef dying in Hawaii in 2025
Jack Zimmerman
My fourth-grade teacher
A hint or starting point for companies or professionals that are taking the first steps in the regeneration journey: Don’t wait! Joining a company that is aligned with your values or advocating for sustainability within your organization is a gift to yourself. There is immense power in this!
Most used and abused clichés in sustainability that bother you: That forests are reduced to CO2 sequestration potential, mangroves for storm protection, and coral for fishing stocks. That we are funding DAC and CC&S while nature goes unprotected at an order of magnitude lower cost. We need to protect and restore nature for its own sake, because living on a dead planet is not a great option.
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope: You have immense power if you have enough conviction of what is right. Cold call people you admire and learn from them! Go start a company or join an early-stage organization to learn.
Books that had a great impact on you: Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
Must-reads for any regenerative professional: The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible by Charles Eisenstein
Movies or Documentaries you would watch all over again: Planet Earth
Blogs / Websites / Podcasts you visit frequently: The Emerald (podcast)
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing: Medicine songs https://open.spotify.com/track/3j5Cyqmf22DNhQ0lFkdjon
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you: Himalayas, Atacama desert, British Columbia.
Global Regenerative Voices you recommend us to follow:
Charles Eisenstein
Bayo Akomolafe
Orland Bishop
Trends in Regeneration we should keep an eye on: Compliance with biodiversity net gain regulations.
Best places for business networking (online or offline): Davos, NY Climate Week, COP.
Events we should attend: Just host a monthly meetup in your city!
Sustainable Development or Regeneration courses, trainings, or certifications that really teach us how to have an impact: Try starting a company or joining a startup!
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future in 2030: Life on the planet can rebound in a matter of years if we let it. Very straightforward solutions exist including ending deforestation, natural regeneration, eliminating pesticides, electrifying everything and using renewable energy, and building eco-village style decentralized regional urban development.
Reasons to feel pessimistic about our future in 2030: The ecological crisis isn’t getting better any time soon. The human and non-human impacts will get much much worse before getting better. I think 2030 will be a much more difficult period than today.
Regenerative Leadership qualities much needed today: Not being stressed, but staying resourced by being a well of inspiration and sanctuary. Perseverance, because it won’t be a quick fix.
The ways in which you are an Inspirator to yourself: By staying committed to ecosystem restoration even when it takes such persistence to break through existing incentive structures for degradation.
The Inspirator you are endorsing for a future edition of the newsletter is: Diego Saez Gil
The quote that inspires you:
My new baby son:
“Hawrag!”
Your own quote that will inspire us:
