CAMPUS AS FOREST
A Comprehensive Vision for a Regenerative Campus
Together, we are building a path to a regenerative world.
Dr. Lee Ball, PhD
Vice President of Sustainability, Executive Director, Center for the Environment at Catawba
Factory as a Forest Interface Inc.
Interface’s founder, Ray Anderson, had a “spear in the chest” moment in 1994 that launched Interface’s sustainability journey and changed the carpet industry forever. In collaboration with Biomimicry 3.8 and inspired by Nature’s guiding principle to create conditions conductive to life and Janine Benyus’ vision for designing to Nature’s ecosystem performance standards, “Factory as a Forest” emerged in 2019 as the next step to move beyond zero environmental footprint toward regenerative impact. Learn more about the Factory as a Forest pilot projects and about Interface’s sustainability journey in the documentary Beyond Zero.
Over the past three decades as an educator, I have envisioned an academic institution where students, faculty, staff, and community members learn, collaborate, and connect with nature as one living system.
Our Campus as Forest vision brings this idea to life through a campus-wide regenerative framework that integrates sustainable architecture, restorative landscapes, innovative academic programs, place-based co-curricular learning, and deep community engagement. Together, these elements create a living laboratory for both learning and regeneration.
Our goal is to cultivate a stronger environmental ethic, deepen our understanding of our interconnectedness with the natural world, and inspire collective agency within our community.
Inspired by the “Factory as a Forest” initiative at Interface Inc., Campus as Forest reimagines what a college campus can be: a place that not only minimizes harm but also actively restores ecosystems, communities, and relationships. From the moment I learned about Interface’s regenerative model, I recognized its immense potential to reshape higher education.
A college campus, where innovation, inquiry, and collaboration converge, is uniquely positioned to demonstrate bold and practical solutions to some of the world’s most complex challenges. Through the Campus as Forest initiative, students will develop essential skills in collaborative problem-solving, systems and futures thinking, and empathetic communication, which are the very abilities needed to lead in a regenerative future.
We invite students, educators, community leaders, and partners to join us in reimagining education as a regenerative force that restores, revitalizes, and uplifts both people and place. Through community-centered learning and collaborative service opportunities, we are creating experiences where knowledge becomes action and education drives transformation.
This is a call to all who believe that education can do more than inform; it can transform.
Join us in shaping a future where learning regenerates life, community by community.
ABOUT THIS PAPER
This paper has been developed to launch the Catawba College Campus as Forest initiative. The seed for Campus as Forest was planted in 2017, when Dr. Lee Ball was introduced to the Biomimicry 3.8 and Interface Flooring Factory as a Forest initiative. Since then, Campus as Forest has taken root in the fertile soils of Catawba College, where the college’s mission, culture of care, and extraordinary leadership create the conditions for the initiative to grow and thrive.
In 2024, Catawba College joined Project Positive to learn from and collaborate with others doing this important work. As the only Project Positive member that is an institution of higher learning, we are proud to share our journey and inspire others to join us in creating a regenerative world.
"This is just the time for us to put Nature’s wisdom at the center of this new world we want to build together."
- Janine Benyus, Keynote, Bioneers 2025
