Sarah Baxendell is a regenerative designer and educator at the frontier of designing for the living world.
She believes the regenerative transition demands better design, grounded in living systems principles, prioritizing ecosystem restoration and the protection of biodiversity at scale.
Her practice moves across the full arc of how systemic change emerges, from design to policy to finance to built project. Her work spans landscape-scale ecological restoration, nature finance architecture, urban food systems, city climate action, regenerative business strategy, climate tech, and ecological credit markets.
Sarah founded and directed Hilltop Urban Farm, one of America's largest urban farms, and helped build Regen Network's biodiversity marketplace from inception. She advises on conservation strategies and nature finance for Walkers Reserve Barbados. Across her career she has raised over $40 million for regenerative initiatives.
ArtEcology is the hub of her work, a regenerative design studio built around the premise that design|build is the heartbeat that regenerative systems change requires. She teaches through programs and residencies from the terrain of real-world regeneration projects where the problems of design, implementation, governance, and finance have to be solved in the field.
Sarah came to this conviction through climate catastrophe, forming in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy and deepened through the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Since then, she has been building regeneration projects, programs, and products.
C.V.
Current Work
2011 – ongoingFounder & CEO, ArtEcology
2025 – ongoingCo-founder, Women in Regeneration Network
2024 – ongoingConservation Strategy Advisor, Walkers Reserve, Barbados
Regeneration & Nature Finance
2024 – 2025Principal, BioFi Project
2022 – 2023Director of Ecosystem, Regen Network
2020 – 2022Director of Business Development, Regen Network
2019 – 2021Director of Finance, Regen Network
2015 – 2019Founding Executive Director & Principal Designer, Hilltop Urban Farm, Pittsburgh PA
2015 – 2018Director, Green Space Projects, Hilltop Alliance, Pittsburgh PA
South Side Park · Hilltop Urban Farm · McKinley Park · Haberman Corridor · Lots of Flowers
2012 – 2015Co-founder & Director of Education, Permatecture Design, New York NY
2012 – 2013Co-founder & Sustainable Development Manager, Citizens Relief NY, New York NY
Education & Certifications
Degrees
2008BS Finance, University of Delaware
2008BS Business Administration — Marketing, University of Delaware
Regeneration
2024Regenerative Economics Certification, Capital Institute
2019 – 2023Regenerative Business Change Agents, Carol Sanford Institute
2011Permaculture Design Certification, Center for Bioregional Living, New York
2010Sustainable Design Entrepreneurship Certification, Fashion Institute of Technology
Ecological
2019Good Agricultural Practices Certification, Penn State University
2016Herbal Medicine Making Certification, Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine
2015Tree Tender Certification, Tree Pittsburgh
2013Beekeeping Certification, Burgh Bees, Pittsburgh PA
Advanced training in ecological practices including soil health, agroforestry, native plants, herbal medicine, and pollinator habitat through Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture, American Herbalist Guild, Springs Preserve, University of Nevada Las Vegas Extension, WeConservePA, Florida Earth Skills Gathering, and Three Sisters Farm and Bioshelter, 2013 – 2020.
Planning, Design & Policy
Reports
2025Walkers Reserve — Biodiversity Credits Assessment
2024 – 2025Walkers Reserve — Natural Capital Assessment
2024 – 2025Walkers Reserve — Infrastructure Development Plan
2024 – 2025Walkers Reserve — Nonprofit Strategic Plan
2021Regen Network — Regen Registry Handbook v1.0 (co-author)
2021Regen Network — CarbonPlus Grasslands Methodology v1.0
2018South Side Park — Master Plan (co-author)
2018Pittsburgh Food Policy Council — Greater Pittsburgh Food Action Plan
2017South Side Park — Report on Public Use & User Survey
2016Hilltop Urban Farm — Tree Inventory Report
2015City of Pittsburgh — Climate Action Plan, Food & Agriculture chapter (co-author)
2015Hilltop Urban Farm — Master Plan
2015Hilltop Urban Farm — Soil Rebuilding Report
2015Haberman Corridor — Master Plan (co-author)
2015McKinley Park — Master Plan (co-author)
Policy & Advisory
2019Advisory Committee, Greater Pittsburgh Food Action Plan — Pittsburgh Food Policy Council
2016 – 2019Urban Agriculture Working Group — Pittsburgh Food Policy Council
2016 – 2019Co-founder — Friends of South Side Park
2017 – 2018Advisory Committee, South Side Park Master Plan — City of Pittsburgh
2016 – 2017Secretary, Board of Directors — Allegheny Goatscape
2015 – 2016Advisory Committee, McKinley Park Master Plan — Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
2015Co-author, Climate Action Plan — City of Pittsburgh
2011 – 2012Co-founder — Occupy Sandy Relief Network
2011Co-founder, Sustainability Working Group — Occupy Wall Street
Design Portfolio
2024 – ongoingWalkers Reserve — Landscape-scale quarry restoration and biodiversity credit pilot, Barbados
2015 – 2019Hilltop Urban Farm — America's largest urban farm, 120 acres, Pittsburgh PA
2016 – 2019South Side Park — Master plan and ecological restoration, Pittsburgh PA
2015 – 2018McKinley Park — Master plan and community infrastructure, Pittsburgh PA
2015 – 2018Lots of Flowers — Pollinator habitat program across 8 neighborhoods, Pittsburgh PA
2013Seedball the Coastline — Dune and pollinator habitat restoration, Rockaway NY
2012 – 2015Schwartz Living Market — Living Building Challenge, Pittsburgh PA
2012 – 2015Permaculture Bus — Mobile ecological design education program
2012 – 2015You Are Not Alone (YANA) — Post-Hurricane Sandy sustainable rebuilding, Rockaway Queens NY
Research & Institutional Contributions
2025 – ongoing10x100 Climate Change Converter — Nature Finance Working Group
2024 – 2025Network Nations — Research contributor
2021 – 2023Blockchain Infrastructure Carbon Offsetting Working Group — Co-founder, carbon offsetting industry standards
2021Toucan Protocol — Designed initial criteria for Nature Carbon Tonne
2019 – 2022USDA OpenTeam Consortium — Member, two working groups, 45 organizations and 250 researchers
2015Indiana University Bloomington — Co-author, Undergraduate Food Studies Certificate curriculum
2014Indiana University — Co-founder, Food Working Group
2007 – 2008University of Delaware — Teaching Assistant & Research Assistant, Department of Marketing
Teaching
2017"Urban Ecological Intervention Case Studies" — Pennsylvania Permaculture Convergence
2017"Principles in Action: Fundraising and Planning Your Permaculture Projects" — Pennsylvania Permaculture Convergence
2015Co-author, Food Studies Certificate Curriculum, Indiana University Bloomington
2014"Global Food Systems and Seed Supplies" — Florida Earth Skills Gathering
2012 – 2015Director of Education, Permaculture Bus — Mobile ecological design training program
2007 – 2008Teaching Assistant, Department of Marketing, University of Delaware
Education Programs & Residencies
2024Co-lead, Nature Node Residency, Edge City, Chiang Mai Thailand
2023Co-founder & Organizer, Regen Gathering — One-week regenerative finance and ecology convening
2022Co-founder & Organizer, Refiverse at Cosmoverse — One-day regenerative finance convening
2017 – 2019Co-founder, Pittsburgh Urban Farm Tour — Annual one-week immersive program, Pittsburgh PA
2014Co-founder, North American Permaculture Convergence — Week-long national gathering
2012Co-founder, Food Book Fair NYC — Food systems and publishing convening, New York NY
2012Co-founder, Occupy Wall Street Farmers March — Food sovereignty mobilization, New York NY
2012Co-founder, Occupy Our Food Supply March — Food system justice action, New York NY
2012Co-founder, Occupy the Land Unconference — Land access and food sovereignty, New York NY
Speaking
Keynotes & Panels
2026"Investing into the Future" — World Systemic Change Forum, Davos
2025"Dynamic Ecological Stewardship" — Funding the Commons, Berlin
2025"Bioregional Financing" — Funding the Commons, Berlin
2024"Designing Ecological Communities and Institutions" — Edge City Esmerelda
2024"Governance of Sustainable Communities" — Edge City Esmerelda
2022"Climate Smart Futures" — SOCAP Global
2020"Understanding Ecosystem Services and Carbon Markets" — Jefferson Center for Holistic Management & Savory Global
2019"Supporting the Needs of New and Beginning Farmers" — Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funder Conference, Pittsburgh
Podcasts
Publications
Written Works
2023"How a Regen Survives the Apocalypse" — chapter author, Local Regen Guide, Greenpill.network
2021"Agricultural Soil Carbon Credits" — co-author with Environmental Defense Fund and Woodwell Climate Research Center
2019"An Example of Site Reclamation and Post-Use Challenges for Urban Farming" — co-author, Three Rivers Urban Soil Symposium, Phipps Conservatory
2016 – 2017"Change Here Now: Permaculture Solutions for Personal and Community Transformation" — book advisor
Blog archive — Regen Network, 2021 – 2023
Product Guides
2024DAODAO Guidebook
Project Advisory
2024 – ongoingClimate Impact Advisor, Way of Flowers by CROSSLUCID
2023 – ongoingGo-to-market Advisor, Calm Technology Institute
2023Product Development Advisor, DAODAO
2022 – 2023Digital Carbon Platform Advisor, Confluence Capital / CODI Platform
Design Awards
2022Crypto Projects to Watch — CoinDesk Consensus, Finalist
2021Emerging Leaders in Food & Agriculture — Finalist
2019Food Systems Vision Prize — The Rockefeller Foundation, Semi-Finalist