In celebration of Earth Day, this talk was part of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ SciTech Expo. I described how plants, animals and native people adapt to the world's most extreme environments. I also shared how studying nature can help us design for a rapidly changing planet, and my work at North Carolina State University creating disaster-proof dwellings. And I spoke about applying nature's lessons from my travels to Death Valley, the rainforests of Hawai'i, and other extreme environments to designing buildings capable of withstanding hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, and wildfires.