REMEMBERING STORM CUNNINGHAM: The Father of Restoration Economics

CLOSING SHOT
REMEMBERING
STORM CUNNINGHAM:
The Father of Restoration Economics
TORM CUNNINGHAM was born in New Jersey in the early
1950s and grew up in the U.K., Iowa, Nebraska,
and California. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in
February of 1972 and became a Green Beret SCUBA
Medic with the 7th Special Forces Group. It was
this training that provided an experience which
inspired his biggest professional focus—restorative development. In the 1980s he travelled to Jamaica with German
scientist Wolf Hilbertz as a diver to help install technology
to aid in the regrowth of damaged coral reefs. This experience opened his eyes to the fact that humans don’t have
to be satis昀椀ed with just saving what’s left of our undamaged natural environment (conservation) or reducing the
amount of new damage we do (sustainable development).
As essential as those e昀昀orts are, Storm realized that economic growth can be achieved by undoing existing damage. During his tenure at the Construction Speci昀椀cations
Institute (CSI), he would preach this “restoration gospel” at
every conference he attended.
As one of the earliest members of the U.S. Green Business Council (USGBC) Storm was the primary advocate
for focusing more points on reusing and retro昀椀tting existing buildings during the creation of the LEED certi昀椀cation
S
Hope and optimism through the power of revitalization and
resilience prevailed in all that Storm wrote and spoke about.
STORM CUNNINGHAM
CONTINUED ON 42
STORM CUNNINGHAM, the author of The Restoration Economy,
entrepreneur, dreamer, and brilliant public speaker died tragically
this past December, along with his beloved wife Dr. Maria
MacKnight. He was a personal mentor and friend to Todd Latham—
the founder of ReNew Canada magazine—as well as many others
who had their professional lives influenced by the genius of Storm.
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MAY/JUNE2024 – RENEW CANADA 41

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