Hello (New) World!

My name is Lisa Morey. I am the CEO and founder of Colorado Earth, a company that will soon transition its identity to Nova Terra Inc., and this is my new Substack channel. Welcome!

What is Nova Terra? In the Portuguese language, Nova Terra means, ‘new earth’, a definition that accurately describes the mission of my company. At Nova Terra Inc., we are enabling architects and builders to create and build out a healthier, more sustainable future with our lime-stabilized compressed earth blocks, which we call EcoBlox.

My origin working with earthen masonry developed 24 years ago in New Zealand, a country that owns the most comprehensive and detailed earthen construction building standards in the world. Today my startup company is commercializing earthen construction, and giving it a brighter future by infusing technological innovation and building science into our EcoBlox. This evolution is largely due to being accepted as a West Gate (Cohort 2) entrepreneur in residence at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). West Gate serves as an accelerator program for climate change solutions like EcoBlox and for entrepreneurs like myself.

Can we talk about acceleration for a moment? Though I have never been one to sit still, my company and my life has accelerated considerably over the last 45 days. What does that look like?

41 days ago I pitched EcoBlox to the Georgia O’Keeffe museum for its coming $75 million rebuild project in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the home of American adobe. O’Keeffe was an American artist known for her large-format painting of natural subjects, especially flowers and bones, and landscape forms unique to northern New Mexico. Nova Terra hopes to support this project by supplying EcoBlox for the building, but also by educating and engaging with the public about earthen masonry.

Figure above: Georgia O’Keeffe’s sitting room in Abiquiu, New Mexico. O’Keeffe enjoyed the natural beauty of adobe. Image credit: the Georgia O’Keeffe museum.

17 days later I was standing in front of 100 potential investors in Denver, Colorado, while fighting a stubborn cold and cough. It felt like there was a cloud inside my head. I had spent the weeks prior traveling to Sante Fe, Northern California and Austin, working the entire time. Everything that could have gone wrong at that moment should have, but it didn’t. I felt calm and at ease from having practiced the night before with my critically-minded teenage daughter.

According to my mentors at NREL, I excelled during that pitch. The investors in the audience apparently had no clue I wasn't feeling 100%. This positive feedback from my mentors has now given me an accelerated dose of energy, but also some humility, because I have a whole new standard of expectations to meet.

The future of Nova Terra and earthen masonry feels bright, and I am hoping to share with you a positive storyline about those two things on a weekly basis going forward. I look forward to feedback and questions about all things building related. Thank you!