Founders
Peter Eisenberger, PhD
Global Thermostat Co-Founder and Managing Director, physicist, inventor, Professor at Columbia University
Nadia Soraya Kock
Director of Elk Coast Institute
Earth scientists have begun to recognize a new geological era, the Anthropocene, to signify that our species has become a geological force, altering the future of the planet. Presently, the human race is facing unprecedented challenges to the conditions that sustain life on Earth and simultaneously allow for the advancement of global prosperity. Humanity is also facing unparalleled opportunities to rethink and redesign our relationship with each other and our planet and achieve a future in which our species and the earth flourish as never before.
Our evolving understanding of the human brain's functionality provides insight into how to redesign our neural pathways through mindful changes to the environment and behavior to steer innovation towards maximum growth in human prosperity in harmony with natural ecosystems.
These circumstances call for us to direct our force as Earthlings toward meeting the environmental, economic, and cultural needs of a diverse and interconnected global population.
Elk Coast Institute for Mindful Sustainable Innovation [ECI] is founded on the belief that meeting our present challenges requires deliberate disconnection from and reexamination of traditional modes of innovation. ECI brings innovators with a diverse range of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives into the coastal forests of Elk, California to reimagine a sustainable future guided by a framework of compassion and collaboration.
"We will harness human capability to co-evolve successfully with each other and the planet by reevaluating innovations within a framework of compassion, using the ECI network to nourish developments through the final stages of successful social implementation." — Dr. Peter M. Eisenberger, Co-Founder
Process
The Core Concepts guide the ECI program for participating innovators. Those who come to Elk are immersed in the Framework for Mindful Sustainable Innovation — a mindset they carry back to their practices.
Framework for Mindful Sustainable Innovation
The Elk Coast Institute is founded on the belief that meeting our present challenges requires deliberate disconnection and reexamination of traditional modes of innovation.
Mindful Sustainable Innovators not only discover new knowledge and use it to accomplish tasks, but they also:
- Think first about the needs of humankind and all Earth ecosystems
- Aspire to create extropic forces in the universe, reaping rewards only in proportion to — preferably less than — the value created for others
- Think compassionately about the global impact on all other life before implementation — apply the Golden Rule on a planetary level
- When working to innovate, treat their fellow innovators as partners rather than competitors
- As they implement, work to ensure that new knowledge is used for the common good
Core Concepts of the ECI Process
- Inclusion of participants from a diversity of ages, career stages, disciplines, nationalities, and ethnicities
- Immersion in a natural environment allowing disconnection from traditional work patterns
- Combining compassion with market-driven competition
- Fostering mentoring relationships between experienced innovators and emerging professionals
- Recognition that mindful connection to nature, mentorship, and open-source collaboration positively impact innovation
- Grounded in research on human neuroplasticity and the power of mindful immersion in nature
Origin: Forming Global Thermostat
Eisenberger retreated to Elk, where he experienced the profound impact of nature on innovation and further developed the technology that became Global Thermostat.
DAC Climate Mobilization II
The successful 1st DAC Climate Mobilization Summit's outcome — increased recognition and action to implement its recommendations — has exceeded all expectations. However, at this critical moment, climate policy needs to be firmly anchored in science. There are several continuing areas of confusion hindering progress on Direct Air Capture.
We are planning the 2nd DAC Climate Mobilization Summit, focusing on the critical role Direct Air Capture can play in addressing not just climate change, but the need for a far more sustainable and equitable economic foundation for the future.
If you are interested in participating, please get in touch.
Energy Equity Summit
The Elk Coast Institute proclaims: let's turn the climate threat into an opportunity to transition to a clean and abundant energy future resulting in true global equity. The climate change threat is a global threat that we cannot address as single nations and stakeholders acting individually.
The Energy Equity Summit featured two days of moderated interactive discussions — an invitation-only, co-creation, results-oriented dialogue prepared by leaders in working groups from technology, business, policy, finance, communications, and civil society.
Selected Speakers: Carlota Perez, British-Venezuelan Economist · Edgar Bronfman, Endeavour Enterprises · Vijay Swarup, VP R&D ExxonMobil
Read the Energy Equity Report →DAC Climate Mobilization Summit I
The transition to abundant and clean energy was the central thesis of the Climate DAC Mobilization Summit held by the Elk Coast Institute in 2020. This first summit produced a landmark report that shaped subsequent policy discussions and increased recognition of DAC's role.
Read the DAC Climate Mobilization Report →Advisor Retreat
The founding Advisor Retreat brought together a diverse group of proven innovators in environmental science, economics, art, media creation, education, mindfulness practice, neuroscience, computer engineering, academia, politics, and global strategy — immersed in the coastal redwood environment of Elk, California.
Publications
- Energy Equity and The Climate Crisis Report
- DAC Climate Mobilization Report
- The Case for Mobilization
- Renewable Energy and Materials Economy – REME
- Carbon Negative Power Plants
- Energy Security, Economic Development and Global Warming
- Designing Earthlings
- Chaos Control: Climate Stabilization by Closing the Global Carbon Cycle
Media
Podcast
The Elephant Podcast — Peter Eisenberger on direct air capture, the renewable energy and materials economy, and why the DAC sector must cooperate to accelerate the technology.
Video
The Interconnectivity of Climate & Energy
Conference Sessions · EarthX, May 2020
Transforming Climate Change from a Threat to an Opportunity
Session Moderator: Nicholas Eisenberger, Managing Partner, Pure Energy Partners
Direct Air Capture of CO₂
Moderator: Amanda Ravenhill · Dr. Peter Eisenberger · Dr. Graciela Chichilnisky · Edgar Bronfman Jr. · Vijay Swarup
Webinar
Clean Energy Ministerial CCUS Initiative, April 2020
Documentary
Future is Us — A film about Mindful Innovations
Who We Are
Co-Founder
Peter Eisenberger, PhD
Global Thermostat Co-Founder and Managing Director, physicist, inventor, Professor at Columbia University.
Co-Founder · Director
Nadia Soraya Kock
Director of Elk Coast Institute. Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Equitable Climate Innovations Institute.
Graciela Chichilnisky, PhD · Global Thermostat CEO · Kyoto Protocol co-author
Matt Atwood · Algae Systems
Ben Bronfman · Philanthropist
E.J. Chichilnisky · Stanford University
David Shearer · Full Circle Biochar
Dr. Peter Eisenberger
Dr. Peter Eisenberger is a renowned scientist, corporate research executive, business entrepreneur, and leading academic. He started his career at Bell Labs, then led Exxon's Physical Sciences R&D laboratory. At Princeton University he founded the Princeton Material Institute.
In 1996 he joined Columbia University as Professor, Vice-Provost, and founding Director of the Earth Institute and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. In 2006 he co-founded Global Thermostat. Dr. Eisenberger holds degrees in physics from Princeton and Harvard.
Elk, California
The Institute is located in Elk, Mendocino County, on the Northern California Coast — surrounded by coastal redwood forests and the Pacific Ocean. Eisenberger retreated to Elk where he experienced the profound impact of nature on innovation and further developed the technology that became Global Thermostat. The setting is intentional: deliberate disconnection as a precondition for genuine innovation.
Contact Info
The Elk Coast Institute brings together researchers, policymakers, industry, and affected communities to advance direct air capture, energy equity, and mindful sustainable innovation. For inquiries about the Institute's work, upcoming summits, or participation, please use the form below.