thoughts on inspiration and clarity

For six years, I dedicated my life to giving back to my hometown, New Orleans, after hurricane Katrina. During this time I had the opportunity to create innovative solutions to meet people's basic needs and bring back our communities. Naturally, when I set off on a trip to Southeast Asia I was drawn to change-makers focused on sustainable ways to address some of the region's issues. Below is a snapshot of an inspiring team I met along the way.
John Hardy, and his daughter, Elora, a dynamic creative team that is innovating building practices using local resources - bamboo - and traditional Balinese craftsmen. A little background. In the mid 1970s, John Hardy found Bali to be his 'natural' home after traveling the world upon leaving his native Toronto and started John Hardy jewelers, a high-end jewelry business that became one of Bali's largest employers. Fast forward to five years ago when John decided to retire and Al Gore ruined his life. Gore's film, Inconvenient Truth, made John realize he had to do something to make the world a place for his yet-born grandchildren to live in. An exaggeration since he had been implementing sustainable practices already. Nonetheless, John realized that education was the cornerstone of sustainability. But it was not enough to build a school. He wanted a physical and curriculum design that would be holistic, environmentally sustainable, forward looking and completely groundbreaking. 
The result is stunning. Classrooms are all open-air bamboo and are cooled by recycled sails when the tropics set in. The school is getting off-the-grid through solar and hydroelectric power. The kids, twenty percent from the local community, get to grow their own rice and raise the endangered Balinese pig.
Green Village, a sister project, run Elora, is a custom-built village for families of the school. Both projects are pushing the boundaries, not only of sustainable design but of sustainable product development.