"I felt resistant at first. But as I sat with it, I started to feel inspired. The holistic view felt disorienting—then empowering." — Ava, 20
"It made me feel empowered—like my own creativity can actually be part of a bigger ecological story." — Sam, 20
"What really struck me was how interconnected everything is—how our personal choices, the health of the planet, and our relationships with each other are all tied together. " — Maya, 19
Ecological Leadership Lab
Mornings on the water learning to sail, row, and work with aquaculture. Afternoons in the field exploring bogs, forests, and salt marshes. Evenings around the fire cooking what you caught and discussing ideas you haven't encountered before.
This isn't environmental education. It's identity formation through direct encounter with living systems. Develop the ecological skills—maritime competence, naturalist observation, place-based perception—that matter for leading in a transformed world.
Note: This program requires direct immersion in place-based food systems where ecological intelligence becomes edible. Harvest, process, and consume food from regenerative operations with practitioners who embody their home habitat.
Origin School demonstrates what concepts cannot teach. Through the transmission of specific habitats—the intelligence literally enters participants through food, water, and air—you experience the ontological transformation that makes analytical frameworks come alive.
Let's do this!
Application required. We select for initiative, curiosity and willingness to learn,
Summer 2026 | 8 Weeks | $4,000 Applications open January 2026
Need-based scholarships available
Experience
The Duxbury Origins School program is a summer immersion in place-based intelligence. Eight weeks learning to read tides, sail, fish, oyster and harvest dinner.
Skills
Mornings on the water. Afternoons in wetlands and forests. Evenings around fires with people who've built lives in alignment with nature's intelligence.
Education
Education
This isn't career training. It's foundation-building—the relational skills and ecological perception that matter regardless of what comes next.
About Dr. Rich Blundell
Oika Research and The Beautiful Futures Lab is founded by Dr. Rich Blundell based on his life spanning ecological fieldwork, cosmological research, and the communication of complex neurophenomenological insights. As a “systems whisperer,” Dr. Blundell has developed the capacity to read emerging patterns across scales and substrates and respond with insights that integrate nature’s wisdom. His life's work is to enlist Oika in the generation of novel value-meaning matrices, and to translate ecological intelligence into strategic narratives for expanding project reach, institutional resilience and systemic health.
As economic incentives collide with ecological imperatives, Dr. Blundell believes that leaders and organizations that engage the principles of Oika will cultivate the systemic awareness to navigate change, transform challenge into innovation, and create a beautiful future.
