Modern science has increasingly moved out of nature and into the laboratory, driven by a desire to find an underlying mechanistic basis of life. Despite all its success, this approach is one-sided and urgently calls for a counterbalancing movement toward nature. Only if we find ways of transforming our propensity to view and control nature in terms of parts and mechanisms, will we be able to see, value, and protect the integrity of nature and the interconnectedness of all things. This demands a contextual way of seeing.

The Nature Institute, founded in 1998, is a small, independent not-for-profit organization in upstate New York with a proven track record for incisive and thoughtful research studies, publications, and education programs. The Institute serves as a local, national, and international forum for research, education, and the exchange of ideas about the re-visioning of science and technology in an effort to realign humanity with nature.

Craig Holdrege is The Nature Institute's director. He spearheaded the Institute's founding in 1998. Craig is a biologist and educator. His passion is to develop what Goethe called "delicate empiricism"—an approach that learns from nature to understand nature and is infused with a cautious and critical awareness of how intentions and habits of mind affect human understanding. His research work takes two directions: He carries out studies of animals and plants that tell the story of these organisms as dynamic and integrated beings within the larger web of life. This comprehensive and holistic understanding of organisms provides the basis for his second area of focus—researching genetics and genetic engineering in relation to the broader context of internal and external ecology of living organisms. He has written many articles both on genetics and genetic engineering as well as on a holistic, Goethean approach to science. He gives talks and workshops in the U.S. and Europe.