The beginning point for our work is the question: how do we find a new way to bring our ways of life into accordance with the fundamental conditions for all life on Earth? Our work aims to further ecoliteracy, the rights of nature, human scale livelihood and a view of nature that doesn’t see human beings as separate from the rest of the community of life. We are committed to the spirit and aims of the Earth Charter and are a member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.
The global systemic crisis is a predicament – not a problem to be ‘solved’
The crises that are unfolding on a planetary scale are ultimately a consequence of the ways of thinking and being that have underpinned the emergence and expansion of our global civilization. One of the defining characteristics of this mindset is the view of nature as dead or inert matter that can be controlled, extracted and used as we humans see fit. Not only has this mindset moved us far along a path that has destroyed natural habitats on a scale that is now jeopardizing the foundations for life as we know it – it has also come at a huge cost to the health of human communities everywhere.
We can no longer pretend that we are able solve these crises from within the same mindset that has created them. To address the root cause of our predicament and establish new ways of living, we modern humans need to shed this mindset and grow into a different kind of human being – ones that regard nature as alive and the health of the Earth and of humans as mutually dependent. To walk this path, we have to change our way of thinking and our foundational stories about who we are.
We often hear talk about inventing or developing sustainable solutions, but the Earth is already one big sustainable system. It is an inherent characteristic of the Earth system that it sustains all life. By learning to see nature as a teacher and aligning our ways of life, our technologies, modes of production and social institutions with nature’s ability to sustain life, we can begin to make the changes we need to make in order to respond appropriately to the global crises that define this particular moment in history.
Regenerative learning as a way of rebuilding relationships with nature
The view of nature as inert matter external to us is an aberration within human history. Throughout time most cultures have understood what we call ‘nature’ as something that we are inextricably part of and therefore have responsibility for. There are countless examples of human societies actually advancing biodiversity and the conditions for life to flourish. Understanding this ability, and taking on this responsibility, shifts our role from being a destructive force within our environments to becoming co-creators within the habitats that we share with so many other species. We have the ability to support nature’s regenerative capacity and we can restore habitats and biodiversity.
A key premise of regenerative development is that co-evolution among humans and natural systems can only be undertaken in specific places, using approaches that are precisely embedded and fitted to them, since each place is a dynamic entity with its own unique history and ecology. Regeneration comes from the Latin ‘regenerationem’, meaning ‘to be reborn’, to restore or rebuild oneself. Therefore, regenerative learning also means learning to recreate, rebuild and reestablish life-affirming relationships with place and those we dwell within the same places. Regenerative learning fundamentally involves regenerating trust in nature and in life in all its diversity.
We see regenerative learning as an ongoing process of learning, a reflective effort to engage openly and attentively in nature’s conversation and learn the language of the world we co-inhabit, acknowledging and including diverse forms of knowing and being in the world. Regenerative learning requires never-ending creative interactions with other lifeforms and a constant co-evolution of place and thinking – a practice that seeks to align human activities with the continuing evolution of living systems.
‘Nature’s ABCD’ – a model for regenerative learning and design
If we want to rediscover the language of nature, and learn the basic skills needed to live ecologically and responsibly on Earth, we have to pay attention not just to what we learn but also to how we learn. We have to establish the attention, sensitivity and practices that makes rediscovery possible. We are inspired by the Danish folk high school movement and a philosophy of education (dannelse or bildung) which seeks to strengthen the shared field of attention, create a convivial atmosphere and heighten sensuousness within the context of learning. Regenerative learning implies unlearning some of the assumptions about how and why we learn in modern education.
Regenerative learning is an open exploration of what happens when we begin relating to nature from the mindset that nature is alive and has its own language. We see four principal aspects of such an effort which involves engaging our thought system, our stories about who we are, our practices and our relationships. These aspects should not be separated from each other because they are entangled and present in all learning. However, being attentive to the way these aspects are emphasized in the design and performance of specific learning activities, can help strengthen and fine-tune the learning experience.
Our approach to regenerative learning is based on an interplay between experience, reflection, dialogue and practice, and it explores context and relationality in acknowledgement that living wholes cannot be reduced to the sum of their parts. Ecoliteracy begins with the elevating experience that the world is a living world and that nature is not something outside of us but a unity we are born out of and are woven into with our breath, our metabolism and our senses. This is at the heart of our purpose and our projects.