On Living Systems, the Entangled Life and Seeds of Reciprocity

#8 of my weekly writing practice is dedicated to sharing seeds of reciprocity and regeneration, and shining light on inspiring people, projects, and practices who acknowledge, honor, and embrace the entangled life and live/re-connect/work with living systems and the Earth: From microorganisms to bioregions, with humans and their more-than-human kin and ancestors, in communities, in forests, on the frontline and the fields, in kitchens and labs, in schools and universities, in Zoom calls or meditation halls.

Why am I sharing these seeds and ripples?

[…]?the importance of bearing witness and realizing how very entangled we are with the biosphere; that essentially we are an extension of the ever-changing Earth. If we make that realization — body, mind, and spirit — then the way we think, the way we feel, and the way we act is going to change. […] What seeds of reciprocity might take root if we embody this understanding and realize how entangled we are with this great Earth that is our home? – Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

I’m deeply inspired by those who embody and show how regeneration can be, work, and feel in reality; who walk the talk and build bridges between different worlds. Who work with their hands and hearts, reconnecting to themselves, each other, and the earth. Who are and act prefiguratively of more regenerative and emerging futures, showing that it is possible. While showing very unique, different, and diverse ways, they all work with living systems and share in common that they

• acknowledge the interdependence of humans and nature – seeing humans AS nature and working towards healing the story of separation, taking a step back and re-centering life
• emphasize the importance of care and creating conditions conducive to life
• dare to challenge colonial, oppressive, and extractive systems and mindsets
• create time and space to (un)learn, in community and as nature
• take risks by experimenting and creating alternatives to degenerative systems – against all odds and others/critiques telling them it can’t be done!
• lean into the importance of telling and sharing stories and emerging narratives, personal and collective
• embody and show that being (the change / in right relationship) is the base for doing
• acknowledge that we need to transform and regenerate systems both externally and internally

“We have to radicalize what’s going on externally but also what’s going on internally, and what the systems that we live by are. Because it’s not only new environmental technology, not only new energy systems that we have to create, but we need to create new cultural systems, new systems of belonging, new systems of connection.” – Joycelyn Longdon

These seeds and sparks have emerged or re-emerged in my life and inspired and nourished me last week. I’m so grateful for the wisdom and reminder to focus our attention and energy on bearing witness to what is unfolding. As much as we need to be with and acknowledge the loss, pain, and grief – imagining, creating, and contributing to a regenerative future depends on sharing, reading, and hearing stories of active hope: I’m curious to hear what resonates with you and any creative, emotional, mental, embodied seedlings these seeds create in, for and around you. So here we go, my regenerative highlights of last week

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Let me introduce you to Cornelius:

158 years old. Migrated in 1865 from the Basque Country via boat to Iceland, famous across Germany and now officially registered in Belgium. Can be sensitive, but also very healthy and resilient and loves to give and nurture, when taken care of and being in the right conditions. Known across generations, cultivated and with good taste, touched by many hands & hearts, Cornelius loves to grow and enable those around to grow and rise as well: In a symbiotic, reciprocal relationship. We got introduced through a friend and Cornelius stays now with us – bubbling and sharing, as with many other households

This is Cornelius:

Cornelius is a sourdough starter. The fermented mixture of flour and water that is added to the dough to provide rise and flavor. Learn more about Cornelius here

As a sourdough lover, experienced in enjoying and eating yet a total greenhorn in baking, I gladly followed the invitation for a Sourdough Baking Workshop on my 34 birthday. Maia Frazier , who I see as a fermentation fairy and pioneering (perma)culture creator, learned and worked at EDIBLE ALCHEMY in Berlin and shares her passion and experience now via the project QUINTA DA CULTURA in Portugal, introduced us to Cornelius and to the world of fermentation.

A handful of soil holds more than 50 billion life forms and as Merlin Sheldrake writes in the Book Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures :

“There are more bacteria in your gut than stars in our galaxy.” – Merlin Sheldrake

Sourdough is so much more gut-friendly than bread with industrial yeast because of the time it has to ferment naturally: In a way the microorganisms break down and “digest” before, thus making the dough more digestible for our human gut. Multispecies Teamwork :) The microbial world is fascinating – living systems in action, making it tangible, tasty, experiential how entangled and inter-connected we are with Earth: How human health depends on a healthy planet, healthy soil, healthy water, healthy bacteria. We are what we eat, it’s circular and reciprocal. I have a gut feeling that there’s a whole gut world to discover and learn with …

This visual by Nina Vinot shows the microbial symbiosis of gut and root – I can highly recommend reading the article Gut Microbiome, Soil Microbiome and subscribing to Nina's monthly Microbial Discoveries newsletter .

Cornelius, together with 100+ other sourdough cultures and starters, is stored and safeguarded at the Puratos Sourdough Library in Sankt Vith, Belgium which “aims to safeguard the sourdough biodiversity and preserve the sourdough heritage and baking knowledge”. This place and project show the preciousness of living systems and how humans need and do step / show up as guardians protecting the heritage, livelihood, and biodiversity on Earth. And connecting us to the soil, bacteria, and elements that nourish us: I got reminded of Michael Pollan’s food documentary series?Cooked which explores the evolution of what food means to us through the lenses of the four natural elements – ??, ??, ?? and ??.

“Highlighting our primal human need to cook, the series urges a return to the kitchen to reclaim our lost traditions and to forge a deeper, more meaningful connection to the ingredients and cooking techniques that we use to nourish ourselves.” – Michael Pollan

Cornelius is not only a sourdough starter, but also a good conversation starter: In a long-overdue conversation with Tilo Krueger , an amazing designer, dear friend, and former colleague, I learned that he got into Sourdough baking during COVID Lockdowns and has been nerding out on the craft, art and science of it since then. It took him at least 1 year to create a bread he was satisfied with. Chapeau to all the artisanal bakers that work with life and living systems, it’s a life-long practice and craft. We realized that sourdough baking entails some big learnings for designers on how to work with living systems. I took away some small big questions from our conversations such as:

• How can we create the conditions conducive to life? Instead of artificially creating and adding yeast or controlling every step, focus on creating the right conditions for the fermentation process, providing care and a few good ingredients, and then time and space, so the living systems can work and unfold their very own magic. The magic is in the process –?not in trying to control or force the outcome.
• How can we consider, team up, and support the more-than-human collaborators in any design process? The magic lies in the reciprocal interaction with living systems and leaning into this interdependence creates much better, and tastier, outcomes.
• How can we reduce self-importance and take a step back, re-center life in our design processes?
• How can we encourage each other to experiment and adapt to our very own local conditions (flour, temperature, humidity, …)? Instead of claiming and providing universal recipes that create an illusion of a controlled process and replicable global results

Talking about Designing with Life.

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I’m very inspired by Willow Berzin , whom I had the pleasure to reconnect and explore collaborative potential with recently. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Willow is with Regen Places Network Earth Equity Network and Coalition of Everyone (CoE) actively creating a thriving future by resetting human systems with the living world through rethinking / redesigning / remastering human technologies: collaboration, participation, and deliberation.

“I wanted to better understand why the many interconnected crisis we face are getting worse, the Big Why that lies behind the frankly terrifying present/future state of the world we’ve inherited, its disconnection and mis-alignment with living-systems.” – Willow

Check out the fresh out-of-the-press Design Decode feature on Willow and “The Evolution of Consciousness and Human Becoming, Regen Places, Participatory Cities and the Quantum Social Leap”.

Willow Berzin - Design Decode | Magazine

“Ultimately this moment in time is about the evolution of humanities awareness and consciousness – and hopefully, if we make it, towards becoming an ecological or ecozoic planetary civilisation. So how do we get there? One approach to the required cultural intervention is by shifting from Human-Centred Design (HCD) and User Experience Design (UX) to Life-Centred Design (LCD) and Participatory Experience Design (PX) Meant in no disrespect to the many awesome humans working in the field, Human-Centred Design may have a lot to answer for. We need to de-centre the human and re-centre Life, by designing with living systems (see?Regenesis Institute ), and as Indigenous cultures have been for tens of thousands of years.” – Willow Berzin

One of many takeaways from our conversation is that we are not alone: There are more and more humans/designers/facilitators/creatives/communities who are figuring out how to re-center Life, who are navigating the challenging tides between reinvent themselves for a thriving planet while needing to survive in the old system where the habits of extraction and competition are so prevalent. We need to convene, join, and build networks, create more visibility and connectivity, redefine value, and show what Design with Life is like, in theory and practice: How regeneration x design works in the real world.

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A wonderful recently emerging example of exactly that, of convening, collaborating, and (un)learning together is the experiment Regenerative Ripples , initiated and hosted by Emily Lin . Thank you Joshua Stehr for the invitation. A free and open monthly learning session, aimed to be a space for fellow folks to live the questions around regeneration and regenerative practices together by choosing collaboration over competition, process over perfection, and giving space and time for uncertainty and curiosity. In the first gathering, we got to know each other and shared our whys for and personal journeys into Regeneration as well as the regenerative practices we are exploring and which challenges or curiosities we face.

As fellow regenerative practitioner Nenad Maljkovi? mentioned, “Learning from living systems is a life-long practice” and I’m grateful for the opportunity to do that in community and by connecting with inspiring people across the globe and immersing in different experiences. We are not alone, and we are exploring similar questions in different ways all around the world – exploring how we can create a life that honors indigenous wisdom and living systems, with humility, care and joy.

The next Regenerative Ripples will take place in late March, fancy joining? Reach out to Emily Lin .

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Another wonderful example of convening, sharing, collaborating and exploring regeneration together is GRC, the Global Regeneration CoLab . I recently became a CoLab member and joined a session on “Nature as a Hidden Solution” hosted by Kathryn Alexander, MA , and Carl Welty .

Carl, who’s an Architect with experience in Nature-based solutions and Land Planning, showed very tangible examples of land planning where even people who wanted to ‘work with nature’ fell into the trap of making decisions from a human-centric point of view and imposing geometric patterns over nature, impacting our ability to live within nature and nature’s cycles.

These examples showing up at several scales showed that in the short and long run, it’s less resilient, less efficient, less effective, and more resource- and cost-expensive to impose over nature rather than design with living systems. If we design from a separation mindset we act on things rather than in sync with them and when we impose on nature it has unintended consequences on nature and people, being ineffective or even harmful. As Carl said "if we step back and ask nature how it’s done, it’ll be done” –?the magic lies in the humility, especially of modern Western folks, to step back and collaborate and mimick, not impose on nature. So instead of asking, how can we / how might we ... rather ask:

How does nature work and would make the best use for the land, and for us?

Carl was highlighting especially the benefits of right solar orientation and natural drainage designs, and how water and soil are interrelated.

“You can’t have water if you don’t have soil.”

Healthy soil functions like a sponge absorbing more water and reducing potential for local flooding, yet our cities are designed to get rid of water, rather than holding it: How can we design cities/buildings/communities/land to hold water?

Another insight for me was the need to shift from fear-based design to one that is welcoming and working with nature. All design is rooted in underlying values and paradigms: Are we designing from a felt need to be protected, separated, to control (acting out of fear) or are we designing to welcome, include, and connect (acting out of love)?

“Starting where sun and water moves on site is an act of welcoming nature” – Carl Welty

Unexamined beliefs rooted in a story of separation between humans and nature often lead to unintended consequences, even with the “best intentions”. I’m very much looking forward to the next session where we’ll explore the power of citizens and our ability to take individual and collective action to re-center water, soil, and sun:

“As residents, we have lots more power, we just need to be more vocal! You have to try. Everything is people, even governments are people! We need to partner with people – we have lots more power than we think.” –?Kathryn Alexander

And here are 4 more inspirations, that I highly recommend:

???????????To Explore: EarthElders

Deeply fascinated by Earth Elders and how through their diverse initiatives the Original Nations of every continent represent the Voice of Mother Earth: To protect Life and the children yet to come.

?????????????To Read: Daniel Christian Wahl – Indigenous to Life

As an elder within the regenerative movement who embodies a deep respect for Earth and Indigenous wisdom as well as active hope, humility, and courage to work with living systems, I am continuously inspired and guided by Daniel Christian Wahl work and writing and contribution to regenerating place.

Aligning with Earth wisdom is about living in right relationship. We are relational beings. Each one of us is unique and a nexus of intimate reciprocity within life’s regenerative community. To align with Earth wisdom we have to not just learn from but as nature. Janine Benyus elegantly distilled the central lesson of biomimicry to one sentence: “Life creates conditions conducive to life.” As life, how do we let Earth wisdom flow through us as we set out to create conditions conducive not just for all of humanity but for all of life? – Daniel Christian Wahl

???????????????To Listen: Seeds of Reciprocity

A heart-opening, soul-nourishing, and thought-provoking conversation hosted and moderated by founder, podcast host, and executive editor of Emergence Magazine Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee with environmental justice activist, academic and ClimateInColour founder Joycelyn Longdon (check out her inspiring TED talk on if AI can help us conserve nature? ), activist and award-winning Cambodian-American filmmaker Kalyanee Mam (I was so touched and inspired by her personal story shared in the podcast, check out her work here ), and folk singer, song collector, and author Sam Lee (make sure to listen to the end, for a wonderful magical surprise) each sharing ways in which their work opens spaces of connection with the living world and re-centers narratives of kinship.

???????????????? To Join: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet | Plum Village

A 7-week in-depth online learning journey to nurture insight, compassion, community, and mindful action in service of the Earth that brings to life the teachings in Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet . Thank you Tijn Tjoelker for the inspiration, I’m very much looking forward to it, starting 24th March. Join me and others alongside Christiana Figueres .

With this, be well. I wish you a wonderful, inspired, and nourishing week.

With Love,

Anna