Design School for Regenerating Earth

We are exploring how to "flow" funding into bioregional frameworks for regenerating the Earth. Last week, we hosted a webinar about this that you can watch here: https://lnkd.in/ezY_TSqG To help us understand why a very different approach to finance is needed, we outlined the logic of wealth hoarding and extraction that is currently destroying Earth's biosphere -- while creating mass poverty and inequality among humans. Here is a graphic from the presentation that contrasts the logic of wealth extraction with the logic of regenerative flows into Earth Regeneration. Please share with others.

This graphic is meant to remind us that we need holistic approaches to our planetary predicament. It was shared yesterday by Steve Melville as part of a presentation he gave called "Realizing the Promise of the Earth Regeneration Fund." When dealing with wicked problems and predicaments, we need to identify the root causes that give rise to such a diversity of crises. Only then can we design new pathways of transformation that address these root causes. In the Design School, we feel so blessed to have members with this depth of knowledge and awareness. A series of member-led initiatives are now weaving with the bioregional organizers who gathered through our learning journey "Birthing of Bioregional Learning Centers" that took place throughout most of 2024. Join us and the growing community of people who want to help regenerate the Earth. Become a member today: https://lnkd.in/guvJkrgm

The work of creating bioregional funding ecosystems is profoundly shaped by local context and the relationships we cultivate in our own communities. This webinar explores how a funding ecosystem is taking shape in Barichara, Colombia through the territorial foundation Barichara Regenerativa. Note the importance of weaving trust and seeking alignment among diverse actors. Please watch and enjoy! https://lnkd.in/evYQt_rM

We work at the scale of entire bioregions. Here is some of our thinking about how to regenerate one of the most important groundwater systems on Earth -- the Ogallala Aquifer of the High Plains. https://lnkd.in/ePUNyUwY This relates to the Earth Regeneration Fund because this groundwater system is in one of the bioregions that collaborates in learning exchanges about how to create regenerative financial flows at bioregional scales. Go here to learn about the Earth Regeneration Fund: https://lnkd.in/eynMp3cB

Watch this webinar to see how money can flow among people at all levels -- from the most personal up to bioregions and even continents. We are decolonizing wealth and bringing harmony back to human relationships. By doing so, it becomes possible to regenerate the Earth. https://lnkd.in/ezY_TSqG

Today we host our next regenerative finance lab in the Design School. Our topic is "Flow Funding for Regenerating the Earth" -- where we explore real-world examples for how to flow financial resources into regenerative efforts at local, bioregional, and continental scales. This is one that you won't want to miss! It takes place at 11 AM Central and is open to all of our members. Join us here: https://lnkd.in/guvJkrgm

"The best strategy is to have a story that works!" Insights like this one offer a glimpse into what we are doing with the Earth Regeneration Fund as we focus our energies on creating "a story-generating environment" where people learn about bioregional regeneration in landscapes around the world. Many groups have already begun organizing through the Design School where they find like-minded people and practice living into larger stories together. Restoring rivers. Healing forests. Belonging to a special place. All of this and more is what gives life to the Earth Regeneration Fund. Go here to learn more: https://lnkd.in/eynMp3cB

We are excited to host this special series for members of the Design School. Steve Melville will walk us through the important practices that make it possible to design for collaboration at all nested scales up to the planet as a whole. This is part of our larger work to create the Earth Regeneration Fund while supporting bioregional regeneration across the planet. Become a member today and join the series! Go here: https://lnkd.in/guvJkrgm

One of our favorite activities in the Design School for cultivating a strong relational field in the community is our Storytelling Circles. Our intention for the Storytelling Circle is to practice telling our personal life stories within a trusted circle of people who practice deep listening and offer clear reflection back to the storyteller. While this may sound simple, the deeper practice that underlies telling our stories in a deeply authentic and vulnerable way is a profound process of inner reflection around our own life journey. When we tell our story in this way, those who are witnessing come to understand the storyteller at a deeper level and why that person has arrived in the community of the Design School. The rewards to the storyteller for this kind of deep dive into their own story are immense by themselves, but when their story is also received and reflected back by a trusted group of people, it can be truly transformational. This has already been an extremely rewarding process for the storytellers and listeners who have participated so far in these Circles. We are thrilled that the storyteller for our upcoming Circle on Tuesday, November 19th, will be Richard Coates. Many of us in the school have been curious to know more about Richard, as he is one of our most beloved members in the community. Please join us! https://lnkd.in/guvJkrgm

Do you know the work of the Planet Drum Foundation? They have been promoting bioregionalism for decades and have many wonderful resources to share. Here is an essay that we really like from Peter Berg that introduces the concept of bioregionalism in its richness and historical context. https://lnkd.in/emx2my7c