Protégé of revolutionary Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer, Zach is the first person to earn Holzer Practitioner certification directly from Sepp - through a rigorous two-year apprenticeship. This led to the creation of Elemental Ecosystems to provide an action-oriented process to improve clients' relationship with their land. The firm specializes in water retention landscapes that harvest rain to create naturally productive ecosystems. Zach has worked in 23 different countries spanning 6 continents, covering a wide range of climates, contexts, land-forms and ecosystems. After a decade of experience in the field, Zach is now creating an online educational platform called Water Stories, to bring these approaches and techniques to the masses, in order to revive the health of our planet.
"Though out my time working in the field, I have always been resistant to providing the often requested educational opportunities - I felt like I didn't yet have enough experience to be a good teacher. A decade later I look around the room and realize that few people have the on the ground experience I have now accumulated, and most educators in the space actually have very little practical experience implementing. I know there still is much to learn, but it is clear to me that I now have enough experience to be an effective teacher and mentor. I have been particularly resistant to online offerings, as SO MUCH of the learning that needs to take place is through experience. But then a team of people presented themselves with the abilities to do this course in a really unique way. And this work needs to scale more quickly than I can accomplish by training people individually in person. So while this is an online course, it is really an at home course, the experience it will help guide you through will be your ultimate teacher." - Zach Weiss
Project Portfolio: This portfolio is notably out of date, as all of our media efforts over the last couple of years have been focused on the Water Stories films. It should none the less give you a general idea of the kind of work Zach has done with Elemental Ecosystems.
