Success, Motivation & Inspiration returns with a must-watch episode featuring Shannon Dobbs, a disabled veteran, systems thinker, and founder of Fellowship of Living Systems. This in-depth interview reveals how Shannon transitioned from running nightclubs to leading a grassroots food revolution, utilizing upstream interventions and practical strategies that communities can implement without waiting for institutional approval.
Whether you’re interested in regenerative agriculture, food rescue, or climate resilience, this is an essential conversation. Please read the full recap below or jump into the video above to hear it in Shannon’s own words.
From Army Logistics to Local Food Systems
Shannon Dobbs’ path to becoming a systems thinker started in the Army Special Operations community, where he served as an intelligence analyst and logistics strategist. After a parachuting accident in 1995 necessitated a change in duties, he was assigned to battalion-level logistics roles, which provided him with an in-depth education in supply chains, resource constraints, and coalition building.
“I learned to scrounge,” he explains, referring to the military art of creative resource acquisition. That same mindset would later fuel his grassroots approach to transforming food systems from the ground up.
Life After Nightclubs: Finding Purpose Through Service
After leaving the military, Shannon operated successful nightclubs in Northern Nevada. But by 2017, his service-connected disability made the nightlife pace unsustainable. He sold the business and immediately turned his focus to something bigger: systems-level community impact.
That led to the creation of On Common Ground, a nonprofit founded on a simple yet powerful question: Why doesn’t downtown Reno have a grocery store?
Food Deserts and the Failure of Supermarket Models
In the process of trying to fill that gap, Shannon discovered just how broken urban food systems are. Downtown Reno hadn’t had a grocery store since 1987, and no institution wanted to take responsibility.
From nonprofit leaders to city officials, the message was the same: “Not our lane.” Shannon and his team stepped in anyway. They secured commercial space, gathered $130,000 in donations for refrigeration equipment, and began laying the foundation for a neighborhood food hub. But as pressure from vested interests mounted, the project was blocked.
Still, the experience was catalytic. Shannon Dobbs realized the deeper issue wasn’t just access to food—it was the lack of systemic pathways for community-owned solutions.
Systems Thinking in Action: What Shannon Dobbs Is Building
Shannon Dobbs describes his work as “upstream intervention.” Instead of waiting for top-down change, he identifies leverage points where communities can insert practical tools that create cascading impact.
“We don’t need to fix the whole system,” he says. “We just need to find the points where inserting a small solution changes everything downstream.”
From Urban Food Waste to Agricultural Gold
One of Shannon’s most significant breakthroughs came when he learned about a food rescue program at MGM Resorts in Las Vegas that utilized industrial blast chillers to repurpose uneaten meals safely.
“This is regenerative gold,” Shannon says. His vision is to repurpose uneaten prepared food, keep it safe using low-cost technology, and redistribute it to communities in need, or turn it into soil-building biomass for farmers.
Introducing HumiSoil: Growing Water in Dirt
The next innovation in Shannon’s arsenal is HumiSoil, a game-changing agricultural amendment created by VRM Biologik in Australia. This product uses bacteria that perform 24/7 photosynthesis, turning waste into nutrient-rich soil while producing water as a byproduct.
“This isn’t composting,” he explains. “This is biotechnology that grows water inside the soil. It’s real climate adaptation.”
Although it’s used in 33 countries, the U.S. adoption has been slow due to market resistance. Shannon sees this as an opportunity for community groups to lead where corporations won’t.
Redefining What a Grocery Store Can Be
For Shannon Dobbs, the problem isn’t just food—it’s the outdated infrastructure we use to distribute it. Supermarkets are resource-intensive and fail in low-income areas. His solution?
Repurpose underused commercial kitchens, restaurants, and parking lots into neighborhood-scale food hubs. These hybrid spaces can combine grocery retail, farmers markets, blast chiller rescue centers, and community wellness programs—all rooted in local control.
Case Study: Paonia, Colorado
One standout example comes from Paonia, a small agricultural town in Colorado. Shannon visited on a whim and discovered The Learning Council, a nonprofit that gleans “ugly” produce and transforms it into community meals using a commercial kitchen in the back of an ice cream shop.
“All they needed was a blast chiller and a refrigerated truck,” Shannon recalls. With $100,000, their food rescue capacity could be multiplied tenfold. This model, he says, is replicable anywhere and could form the basis of resilient food networks nationwide.
The Power of Acting Without Permission
A recurring theme in the Shannon Dobbs interview is the idea that communities don’t need to wait. Churches, schools, hospitals, and community centers already possess much of the necessary infrastructure to initiate food rescue and regenerative efforts today.
“Most of these places have commercial kitchens,” Shannon says. “We just need to plug in blast chillers and start coordinating volunteers.”
Connecting Urban Waste to Rural Resilience
One of Shannon Dobbs’ most powerful insights is that urban and rural communities need each other. Cities generate an enormous volume of waste that can be converted into agricultural inputs. Farmers need better access to local markets and climate-friendly tools.
By designing circular systems that bridge this divide, Shannon envisions a future where food rescue, soil building, and economic development are fully integrated across the bioregion.
Scaling with Community-Led Investment
Instead of chasing venture capital, Shannon’s new model focuses on land syndication and cooperative ownership. By forming local partnerships and trusts, communities can develop food hubs, soil production centers, and circular food economies that remain in community control.
“It’s not about creating IP,” he says. “It’s about building systems that people can own, adapt, and scale.”
Who Should Watch This Interview?
If you care about climate resilience, food justice, or community-led change, this episode is for you. Shannon Dobbs speaks to:
- Activists and nonprofit leaders
- Food entrepreneurs and farmers
- Disabled veterans seeking impact-driven careers
- Educators and community organizers
- Anyone frustrated with broken systems and ready to build something better
How to Connect with Shannon Dobbs
Want to learn more, support a project, or schedule a discovery call? Visit LivingSys.org to explore Shannon Dobbs’ work with the Fellowship of Living Systems.
You can also download his free eBook, explore his blog, or get involved with current projects in Colorado, the Caribbean, and beyond. From upstream interventions to downstream results, Shannon Dobbs is building a blueprint anyone can follow.
Final Thoughts: The Edge Runner’s Blueprint
Shannon Dobbs doesn’t just talk about systems thinking—he lives it. Whether it’s converting nightclubs into nonprofit hubs or food waste into regenerative gold, his message is clear: the tools already exist. What’s missing is the willingness to connect the dots.
Watch the full Shannon Dobbs interview above, and share this page with anyone ready to lead change from the ground up.