Nikki Silvestri, Founder and CEO of Soil and Shadow, made a strong case for a definition of sustainability in which ecology, economy, and equity are inextricably intertwined. This is the definition of sustainability she initially learned, Silvestri said, and the reason why it appealed to her much more than environmentalism. In international work, according to Silvestri, the three are rarely detangled, yet in the United States, many companies or nonprofits attend to only one or two of the three legs, rather than taking a more holistic view of the whole system.