The seed for AOR was planted when I learned about Suzanne Sinnard’s discussion of the Wood-Wide Web and the underground fungal network that allows trees to communicate, respond, and reciprocate with one another. Since then, I've been intrigued by the parallels between this natural phenomenon of co-existence and our deep desire as humans to connect and be in relationship with one another.

The flow of resources, information, and the impact of those messages on exosystemic regulation is a process of communication with as much conflict and complexity as a human community.

Our human need for story-making and our cognitive wiring for narratives contributes to a communication network of our own. These are our mediums to reach toward one another, to find harmony even if different communities vary in their cultural norms and ideologies. Stories and narrative are much like the winding threads of mycelium beneath the soil's surface.

As much as our human world may feel divided in conflict at this moment in time, I believe we are desperately seeking a dynamic of belonging with one another no matter what the headlines might tell us.

After being in the news media industry for several years I felt weary of focusing on conflict. Rather than centering problems and sensationalizing reactions, I wanted to put my energy and skillset into highlighting solutions and efforts where harmony and resource sharing is the focal point. I hope the collaborations that come out of this venture will be agents of an ethic of reciprocity similar to the flow of energy that keeps our ecosystems afloat.