Avery Ellis

Avery Ellis, Ecological Designer and Aquaponics Specialist

Avery was raised in New Jersey, the Garden state, by a master gardener. He has always felt a kinship with nature and the natural processes. Having spent many years pursuing his passion for sustainability, he now focuses on designing ecosystems that serve humanity by mimicking natural processes. He has a Masters degree in Ecological Design through SFIA and he holds a Bachelors of Science in Biology from Stockton College.

His passion for Sustainable systems became a life direction after a semester abroad, where he undertook an in-depth study of sustainability at an International Eco-village in Auroville, India. In this intensive course, he explored permaculture design, renewable energy systems, grey water treatment, organic food production, and sustainable building methods. Upon completion of his Bachelor of Science degree, he continued to explore various aspects of sustainability while gaining experience in the field. He worked at an organic farm harvesting culinary herbs, he spent a year as a solar installation specialist, and he was a supervisor for a recycling company, intent on net zero waste.

With all of these skills adding up to a cumulative understanding of sustainability, he decided to continue his education at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture, where he enrolled in a Masters of Ecological Design program. This course has been instrumental in his knowledge of sustainable and regenerative design. As a thesis, he designed and built a small scale aquaponics system for his home, as a model for home-scale food production. This system, along with others he has designed and built, produce organic vegetables and fish year round. As the field of aquaponics develops, he invites each new system as a design challenge and as a sustainable solution for humanity.

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