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philosophy·5 min read

the inheritance that's not in your trust

why estate plans assume a stable world—and what to do about it

You've spent fifty years building something. A business. A portfolio. A family. You've done the estate planning—trusts, wills, tax structures. Your children and grandchildren will be provided for.

But here's the question that keeps you up at night: what kind of world are you leaving them?

The money will transfer. The property will transfer. But the air, the water, the forests, the stable climate—those aren't in the trust documents. And they're degrading faster than most people realize.

the inheritance nobody's planning

Your grandchildren will inherit your wealth. They'll also inherit:

  • The water. 40% of the world's freshwater sources are now degraded. The aquifers that took millennia to fill are being drained in decades.

  • The air. 99% of the global population breathes air exceeding WHO guidelines. Your grandchildren's lungs are part of their inheritance.

  • The land. Topsoil is disappearing at 10x the rate it regenerates. The farms that feed their children may not exist.

  • The climate. What was once a 1-in-100-year flood is becoming a 1-in-10-year flood. The maps are being redrawn.

  • The species. We're losing species at 1,000 times the natural rate. The world your grandchildren explore will be quieter, emptier.

You can't put these in a trust. But you can fund their protection.

the coherence problem

Here's what nobody says out loud: most estate plans are incoherent.

They assume a stable world. They transfer wealth as if that wealth will exist in the same context. They provide for grandchildren as if the world those grandchildren live in will remain livable.

But a trust fund doesn't mean much if there's no clean water to drink. An inheritance doesn't help if the coast your beach house sits on is underwater. Generational wealth transfers are meaningless if the systems that create wealth are collapsing.

If you're planning for the next generation, you have to plan for the world the next generation will live in.

Otherwise, you're leaving your grandchildren money and taking their world.

what legacy actually means

Legacy isn't what you leave behind. It's what continues because of you.

For most of human history, this was obvious. You planted trees you'd never sit under. You built walls that would stand for centuries. You invested in the commons because your children would live in them.

Somewhere along the way, we forgot. Legacy became financial. Estate planning became tax optimization. Inheritance became a line item.

But you know better. You've lived long enough to see what matters and what doesn't. The money is a tool. The question is: what are you using it for?

the opportunity you didn't know existed

Until recently, there was no good way to fund nature's protection at scale. You could donate to a nonprofit and hope for the best. You could buy land and pray the next owner didn't develop it. You could worry—and do nothing.

That's changed.

Ensurance is a new mechanism for funding natural protection—proactively, permanently, and with real accountability:

  • You can fund specific places. Not abstract "nature"—specific forests, wetlands, watersheds that will exist because you chose to protect them. See specific ensurance →

  • You can fund ongoing stewardship. Not one-time donations that disappear—perpetual protection that continues after you're gone. Your grandchildren will visit places that exist because of you.

  • You can see where it goes. Not black-box charity—transparent, verifiable funding flows. You'll know exactly what your legacy is protecting.

  • You can structure it for generations. Built for long-term commitment—the kind of timeframe that actually matches your concern.

This isn't about guilt. It's about coherence. You've built for the future your whole life. This is building for the future that matters most.

what this looks like

Option 1: The named legacy Fund protection for a specific natural asset—a watershed, a forest, a coastline. It carries forward. Your grandchildren can visit it. It exists because you acted.

Option 2: The family allocation Set aside a portion of the estate specifically for natural protection. Alongside the trusts for education, the trusts for opportunity—a trust for the world they'll live in.

Option 3: The living legacy Don't wait for the estate. Start now. Fund protection while you can see it happen. Watch the monitoring reports. Know that it's working.

Option 4: The intergenerational conversation Bring your children and grandchildren into the decision. Let them choose what to protect. Make it a family legacy, not just yours.

the question you're already asking

You've been thinking about this. Maybe not in these words, but you've been thinking about it.

You watch the news. You see the fires, the floods, the extinction reports. You wonder what your grandchildren will face. You wonder if there was something you could have done.

There is.

The window to protect what remains is still open—but it's closing. Conservation-grade natural assets are being converted at 10 million hectares per year. What's lost is gone.

You've built a life that gives you options most people don't have. This is one of them: the ability to protect something that will matter long after you're gone.

the conversation

This isn't a sales pitch. It's an invitation to a conversation about what legacy actually means.

If you've been thinking about these things—the world you're leaving, the inheritance that isn't in the trust documents, the coherence between your values and your estate—we'd like to talk.

Talk to BASIN about legacy planning →

Explore what natural protection looks like →

See how ensurance works →


Your grandchildren won't remember your portfolio allocation. They won't care about your tax strategy. But they will live in the world you helped shape—or the one you left to chance.

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have questions?

we'd love to help you understand how ensurance applies to your situation.