Regenerative roundup
Masterclass, Patagonia, Autumn Equinox, Zoom Regenerative and A Climate King?
Welcome to Regen/Notes, a round-up of regenerative notes joining dots and spaces. Thank you for subscribing, if you are not a subscriber as yet, then please do consider doing so to receive new posts and support Regen/Notes.
And a welcome here on Regen/Notes to those who registered/attended Zoom Regenerative 48.
Regenerative + Agile Masterclass
Our second edition of the Regenerative + Agile Masterclass kicked off on Monday with an introduction and orientation session for the 2022 cohort of architects and sustainability practitioners from across Europe. Over 12 weeks we will explore the why what and how of regenerative thinking, challenge existing and dominant built environment paradigms, and dive deeper into regenerative design through new ways of seeing and new ways of being.
I led off with an introduction to regenerative thinking on Wednesday 21st, that with the masterclass cohort will start a Regenerative journey.
Regenerative: It means going on a journey, being humble, respecting one another and being ready to learn, especially from those communities who have stewarded traditional knowledge about how to live in a good relationship with our world, and whose voices have often been marginalised. It means being ready to collaborate and share because the future doesn’t just happen, it’s up to us all to create it.
And it is about who we are - how we show up in the world, how we find the time and space for our nourishment (like Earth Festival meditation below, or quiet time in nature) and how we nurture others and in turn are nurtured.
Each of the masterclass ‘meetings’ is a two-hour, two-topic session (alongside Regenerative Thinking is Bettina Bolten with her inspiring and considered insights to Biophilia and biophilic design) ...and whilst it may be a little late to sign up for the whole masterclass, individual sessions can be viewed as a guest. If interested in joining, as a masterclass delegate or session host please do contact me or leave a comment.
Patagonia
The questions that are, or should be, asked frequently in any regenerative dialogue, is if nature and the earth had a voice in your organisation, in your project design or construction meetings what would we hear, would we listen and how would we react? How do we address the tension between growth, profits and doing the right thing for the earth, not what we think is the right thing, but what the earth needs.
Yvon Chouinard and family have taken this concept way further and made the Earth the sole stakeholder of Patagonia.
Autumn Equinox, prepare for rest
In the turning of seasons, it is the natural cycle of summer to autumn that can be the most notable as the length of day has decreased, the light changes, the temperatures have dropped, the greens of summer have become the golden hues of autumn, and we are more aware of sunrise and sunset colours and the night sky.
The Resurgence Earth Festival mediations Led by Georgie Gilmore to mark the cycle of the earth is always a treat, a time for reflection and nourishment. The autumn equinox falls on Sept 23rd, a time when nature prepares to rest and so a good time for us to use in considering how we can begin to nurture our relationship with rest in a culture that often doesn’t celebrate the art of rest so much so that we can at times almost feel that we’ve forgotten how to deeply and truly rest.
An interesting insight from Georgie is to enjoy and experience the sunset colours and then avoid exposure to screens and artificial light for a truly restful evening and sleep.
Zoom Regenerative
Zoom Regenerative 48 re-zoomed the current season of the ‘regens’ and it was good to be back, yet Anna Williamson as co-host was much missed for this edition.
The focus of ZR48 was the outcome of the Living Future Europe executive team (Carlo Battisti, James Connelly and myself Martin Brown) strategy retreat in the Dolomites back in July, exploring the vision and purpose of Living Future Europe.
Carlo Battisti talked through the Living Future Europe Vision - A Regenerative Europe: there is a need, urgency and opportunity to create regenerative solutions that enable all life to thrive.
to be transformative as a think tank, hub and community of practice, with accountability, commitment, integrity and regenerative leadership ... with a focus on regenerative thinking beyond the Living Building Challenge and the built environment, to widen our scope, to embrace the nested systems and connectivity between sectors, as true Living Futures.
We have exciting plans for a regenerative Neural Network of powerful change agents - a mycelium connecting those across Europe advocating and working within the regenerative space. Join us.
James Connelly shared insights on the purpose, vision and work of My Green Lab, Building a Global Culture of Sustainability in Science. My Green Lab is key partner with Living Future Europe - to be not a laggard but to be leaders in sustainable, regenerative laboratories across the world.
Zoom Regenerative #49 is on the 11th October and delighted to welcome insights from Christiane Lellig
Regenerative Social Housing
Session 5 of the Regenerative Sustainability social housing programme and series of meetings for Echelon members continued with an exploration of the ILFI Affordable Housing programme, the anatomy of a living building (Cuerden Valley) here in the UK a focus on biogenic materials, and the importance of supply chain relationships in becoming a regenerative organisation.
Biophilia Camp
The orientation event for those attending the LFE Biophilia Camp at the end of September in the Italian Dolomites was held recently. This is going to be a beautiful and inspiring ‘camp’ exploring all things biophilia (with Soliphilia!)
Importantly asking the question what should biophilic design now look like post-covid lockdowns, when most of us discovered or rediscovered the power of nature on our doorsteps.
The hotter summers of today may be the cooler summers of tomorrow
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged wealthy nations to tax fossil fuel companies and use the proceeds to compensate for damage from climate change and provide relief over rising prices.
“Let’s tell it like it is: our world is addicted to fossil fuels. It’s time for an intervention. We need to hold fossil fuel companies and their enablers to account,” Guterres said in an address to open the UN General Assembly.
“There is another battle we must end: Our suicidal war against nature. It must be the first priority of every government and multilateral organisation. And yet climate action is being put on the back burner despite overwhelming support across the world. We have a rendezvous with climate disaster,” he added.
“The hotter summers of today may be the cooler summers of tomorrow,” he warned.
A Climate King
Of course, the news here in the UK is centred around the passing of Queen Elizabeth and the succession of King Charles III - the end of an era - the second Elizabethan area and the start of a new.
Charles has indicated he may not be so vocal on his lifelong passions, but his values and influence on conservation, organic, permaculture and climate justice run deep and will serve us all well in the coming years. Time will tell whether we have a green or climate King.
A long-time campaigner for being green, Charles since the 1970s has on many occasions called for governments to go above and beyond to avoid a climate crisis and to maintain a sense of biodiversity within the country.
He has pushed for decreasing carbon emissions, famously has an interest in organic farming, have previously campaigned against genetically modified crops. He once dubbed GM foods as “the biggest disaster environmentally of all time”, which caused a significant stir. He also warned COP26 last year that the world must be on a “war-like footing” to tackle the climate emergency. Source