Comuna Conversations: Alexa Firmenich on rewilding to live in right and regenerative relationship with nature.
Alexa Firmenich, Co-founder of Atlas Unbound, in Antarctica. Photo by Trenton Branson.
Interviewed by Ioana Todosia.
Originally published April 2019 and updated March 2021.
Alexa Firmenich is a Swiss/Swedish native based out of Mexico City and the co-founder of Atlas Unbound. She’s a certified wilderness guide, passionate writer, photographer, strategist and facilitator on systems change, transformational leadership, regenerative thinking and our reconnection with the wild. Her work as a conservation leader, communicator and photographer has taken her around the world from Antarctica’s extremes to Guatemala’s cultural wonders, Mexico’s diverse lands and people, and many places in between.
I love seeing passionate people doing good work that’s transforming the experience of travel beyond the destructive realm of mass tourism and have grown such an appreciation for the transformative leadership experiences, thought leadership and company that Alexa’s been building to re-connect people back to nature, through Atlas Unbound. I wanted to know more about her work in sustainability and conservation, facilitation on transformation leadership, her creative life in Mexico City, and what moved her to call Mexico home. I hope the below interview and stunning photography by Alexa, will leave you feeling moved to connect with the unknowns of this beautiful earth and inspired to leave a positive and regenerative impact in your path of exploration, wherever it may take you.
How has living in Mexico inspired your work with Atlas Unbound, and what about Mexico City drew you to make it your home base?
Mexico City is such a seductive, enigmatic, creative city – filled with such unexpected turns and spontaneous expressions of life. It encourages at once this exquisite carefree and yet deeply embodied approach to life, to your own forms of bringing forth your gifts, it permits you space and grants the courage to question your paradigms, on how to give back and be in the right relationship with the world.
The series of experiences that lured me to Mexico, and Mexico City, morphed into a profound unravelling of my sense of self, a glimpse into the dusty pages of an ancient, wonderful parchment written in many tongues. As Octavio Paz once said:
“Inspiration is that strange voice that takes man out of himself to be everything that he is, everything that he desires ; another body, another being. Beyond, outside of me, among the tremulous branches, sings the unknown. It calls to me.”
Deep experiences lead to deep questioning and often to deep commitment. In traveling to Mexico’s primeval jungles, sweeping canyons and pounding Pacific currents, I reconnected with nature and this was to reconnect to myself, to delve into an innate crystalline existence that is quietly present in each of us. It was to feel truly alive.
Working in the conservation sector and realizing the need for more embodied and immersive experiences led me to found Atlas Unbound, a company that creates learning journeys deep into the wilderness of hidden lands; we bring leaders and executives on a voyage to learn from the wisdom of nature’s regenerative systems, creating immersive containers where we question our dominant paradigms and are inspired by the childlike curiosity, awe and humility elicited by the land. If we are to genuinely care for our planet and understand the myriad ways in which we deeply are interconnected, we first need to remember that we’re part of it too, intrinsically bound – and Mexico instantly has an energy that brings you into an intuitive understanding of this.
In Guatemala.
What does "home" mean to you?
I think home begins first and foremost in finding home within yourself. I know it may sound a little cliché, but there is truth to that statement – until we find our own inner sources of comfort, connection and solace, it is likely that the outer world will never fully feel like ‘home’ no matter where we set up camp. When I travel (and I spend about half my time on the road) I try and bring home with me, carving out little homes and niches everywhere. By creating safe spaces where I feel nestled and cozy, whether it is in a friend’s home or a little tent in the jungle, it is with the same attitude and approach of being at home with myself.
What are some of your favourite unassuming parts of Mexico City that you take first-time visitors to experience?
It is difficult to imagine any ‘unassuming’ parts of the city – it is such a dynamic and vivacious place! There are some places though that tourists on the usual circuit skip as they head to the more popular spots. I always recommend a visit to Diego Rivera’s Anahuacali museum in the South, preceded perhaps by a visit to the renovated architectural masterpiece Tetetlan for a delicious Mexican brunch and some well-curated local designer shopping. Taking a stroll in Parque Mexico in La Condesa for hours and watching the locals frolic and play; the art market in Monumento a La Madre on a Sunday, where local artists display their creations. I also just love walking around the plaza of Coyoacan and San Angel on a weekend, or even going further afield to Tepotztlan for the real small town bohemian market experience.
Baja California Sur, Mexico.
What led you to create a company in the transformational travel and sustainable leadership space?
The transformational travel industry is booming. More executives than ever are acknowledging the need to take time away from their desks in favour of greater balance and wisdom, seeking an antidote to the ceaseless treadmill of daily life. In this context, going back into nature can be one of the most powerful tools out there; it is a mirror into our own systems, a template of billions of years of resilience and evolution. To quote Albert Einstein: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
Atlas Unbound was created to bring participants back into that very place of wonder and connection. We learn from the wisdom of nature’s systems, asking sticky questions and animating conversations relating to regenerative futures and sustainable practices. Our experiences are geared towards those who are curious about what lies beyond the veil, what parts of ourselves can be brought out into life, challenged, invigorated and inspired.
What sustainability questions inspire you?
When it comes to the world of the climate crisis and sustainability - why is there such a gap between all we know and what we actually do? What skills and, perhaps even more importantly, what states do we need to cultivate to equip us in re-creating, building and prototyping this constantly evolving entity of a “newer” world? Where and how can we best create places for transition and spaces of learning where we come together to harness our collective wisdom?
How are we to align with the natural intelligence that is conducive to the long-term flourishing of life? What kinds of businesses and evolutionary leadership skills should we cultivate for the world of tomorrow? And actually, what does a regenerative business and mindset even look like?
What do you think is at the root of the climate crisis?
I think, to begin with, the framing of the question is an important one. Consider the ‘fight’ against climate change. The climate is not something ‘out there’ that we have to battle and win; in reality, we are the problem and not the climate. We often fail to perceive that at the root of our climate crisis lies a real crisis of what it means to be human. There exists within our minds an inability to perceive (and viscerally feel) our interconnectedness to the rest of life, of our precarious place on the planet and what that really implies on an intuitive level.
For example, emission offsetting is a useful tool that certainly mitigates some of the damage caused, but there is a fundamental shift that occurs in our thinking when we move from believing that an externality can be offset to when we make an extra stretch in realizing that, in reality, we can’t ever offset anything. All outcomes are inherently contained within the sole stratosphere of our planet. Damage to any part of the Earth’s web ripples out to the whole. Thus, we are rather like diligent skippers changing the colours of the sails and rearranging the deckchairs on a ship whose hull is full of holes. We need to change our very relationship to the root cause of our problems, not just their symptoms.
Rio Dulce, Guatemala.
Guatemala.
Guatemala.
How do you live a passionate life?
By consciously cultivating a state of childlike curiosity, awe and wonder at the mere fact of our very existence. That all THIS came together in the middle of space – vast sequoia forests, ocean waves, human civilization, towering giraffes, jazz music – simply baffles me, every day, and kind of leaves me speechless. In finding such admiration and love within that, I live with a constant passion to serve anything that keeps that beauty and life flowing.
What is your perfect idea of happiness?
A world where everyone has the ability to choose their livelihoods, where we are regenerating the biosphere and our own inner landscapes, where technology is in service to nature and where we live in right relationship with all other forms of life and realize that everything – everything – is interconnected. There is no dominating rivalry or zero-sum game, tradeoffs and skewed incentives. We understand what abundance and thriving really mean.
What is your greatest fear?
That we won’t understand the real significance of the climate crisis until it stops knocking and instead breaks down our door and leads to the culmination of several global crises where billions watch millions die. It’s dark, I know. And it is also quite likely.
How do you unwind and reset?
A good book, read in a hammock somewhere in the middle of a glade or forest, perhaps with a glass of white wine and a cool breeze. That sounds pretty heavenly to me.
Barrancas del Cobre, Mexico.
Chiapas, Mexico.
What does success look like for you and Atlas Unbound?
That our journeys keep being and evolving as deep learning containers for executives and global leaders to challenge the status quo and their own internal status quo, enabling people to experience nature in order to truly care about protecting it. We cannot care about that which we do not know. Nature conveys a profound message—that we are always in relationship. In the wild, one can go beyond the mind and truly embody teachings about impermanence, regeneration, stillness and self-discovery.
Atlas Unbound experience in Barrancas del Cobre, Mexico.
La Sierra Gorda, Mexico.
Since this conversation was originally had, Alexa has since relocated to California and has been expanding her work as an investor and Founder of Ground Effect, an animist investment studio backing ventures that enable terrestrial life to realize its fullest generativity. She’s also an Associate with Leaders’ Quest, a global social enterprise whose mission is to develop wise, compassionate and effective leaders capable of thriving in fast-changing, disrupted environments. Follow her multi-faceted work @alexafirmenich and personal website.