Welcome to Run the Code — my new monthly newsletter.
I've wanted a way to share what's been happening between keynotes, podcasts, and the book launch — reflections on events, regeneration insights, conversations I keep thinking about.
Once a month, give or take.
Thank you for being here.
I recently sat down virtually with Neil Wilkins in London for a really honest conversation. We went deep on the ideas at the heart of Regen360, and a few things came out that I hadn't quite said out loud before:
We've been keeping the wrong scoreboard. Net worth doesn't tell you who you are. Self worth gets inflated by ego. Job titles measure nothing real. None of it captures what actually matters. I've started calling the new indicator soul worth — service, gratitude, appreciation, and planting a culture of care that outlasts us.
The question that changed everything came from my late mentor, David Brower. I'd just finished what I called the Earth Commandments and thought I'd nailed it. He looked out at the Bay and said: "I wonder what we've forgotten."
I went home that afternoon and added one more commandment. It has guided my work and writing ever since.
What have you forgotten?
▶ Watch the full conversation here.
I started building what would become the green building movement at ASTM in 1991. The U.S. Green Building Council came in 1993. LEED in 2000. None of those words meant anything to anyone at the time.
Thirty-plus years later, LEED has certified green buildings in more than 180 countries and influenced hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity.
And now it's a crossword answer in the New York Times.
That's one of the clearest signals yet that an idea once dismissed as radical has entered the shared vocabulary.
Long journey. Still climbing.
To everyone who worked in those early years and continuing the legacy with LEED v5.0: thank you. Particular shout-outs to Rob Watson, who chaired our green building committee that became LEED, and to Mark Ginsberg, who funded the early work from DOE.
A few posts that got some real response. Sharing here in case you missed them:
My father died with money in the bank and no air in his lungs.
No one told us the ladder was leaning on a burning building.
The foreword is written. Rick Fedrizzi wrote it — and Rick is like a brother to me. We've worked side by side for more than three decades building the foundation for the green building movement, and now, the regenerative one. Rick was the founding CEO of USGBC and went on to lead the International WELL Building Institute.
"We built something together that mattered. This book is David asking, with honesty and courage, whether it was enough — and what comes next."
— Rick Fedrizzi, from the foreword
Three early endorsements:
"Regen360 offers thoughtful, provocative, pragmatic answers. David Gottfried doesn't moralize; he analyzes... At this bleak moment in our planet's history, hope is just what we need."
— Denis Hayes, founder of Earth Day; President Emeritus, Bullitt Foundation
"He's not selling optimism. He's offering an operating system. That distinction matters, and so does this book."
— Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author and founder of MEA
"After years of watching incremental sustainability gains eclipsed by systemic extraction, Regen360 has completely re-energized my outlook... a remarkable, deeply hopeful blueprint."
— Eric Corey Freed, Regenerative Architect & Director of Sustainability, CannonDesign
The manuscript is in. Eighteen months of writing and editing, and my publisher now has it. For a day I felt all of it at once. Elation. And, unexpectedly, loss.
Regen360 needs 300 preorders to land on Barnes & Noble's physical shelves.
If this sounds like something you'd read, gift, or share — preorder it. That's the single most useful thing you can do for the launch right now.
And if you know someone who cares about regeneration, sustainability, or just asking better questions — forward this along. They can sign up here.
Until next month. Keep running the code.
David Gottfried
Founder, U.S. & World Green Building Council
Author, Regen360
regen360.net
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