What is regeneration?
Regeneration means humans acting as nature.
Whole systems thinking recognizes that the entirety is interconnected, and moves us beyond mechanics into a world activated by complex interrelationships – natural systems, human social systems, and the conscious forces behind their actions. Bill Reed, Shifting from ‘sustainability’ to regeneration
Why do we need regeneration?
Solving the critical problems humans are facing feels like a game of whack-a-mole:
- In the rush to implement green energy, new landscapes are being destroyed to source rare minerals, while fossil fuel use grows at an increasingly faster rate;
- Digital technologies, which some believed would one day “democratize everything”, are causing our democracies to collapse by driving misinformation and polarization;
- In the name of progress, we are experimenting with artificial intelligence and biotechnology, which exponentially increase civilizational risks.
Why is it that every time we cut off the head of the dragon, three more grow in its place? Because we keep treating the symptoms without facing the real disease: a large-scale breakdown in coordination across human society known as the Metacrisis. This breakdown is fundamentally a manifestation of widespread failures to interact holistically within a complex system.
The Mechanistic Mindset, which has dominated much of modern thought, is characterized by the belief that complex systems can be understood and managed by dissecting them into their individual components, similar to how a machine operates. This mindset leads to human systems and ways of knowing that neglect the emergent properties and non-linear interactions that are crucial in complex systems. The unintended consequences of this inability to coordinate within complex systems are known in economics as Externalities.
Our current civilization is built on credit, borrowing from the bank of natural and social capital we need to sustain life in the long term. The longer we live outside of our means, the higher the risk of sliding towards catastrophic and dystopic futures. If we don’t treat the root cause by repurposing our systems and institutions to support the flourishing of life on earth, no amount of solar panels will change the game.
What is a Regenerative Civilization?
Indigenous Ecocultures that have lived in harmony with their environment for thousands of years can show us what a regenerative civilization might look like. In healthy systems, human infrastructure and social structures continuously improve capital: the resources needed for life to thrive.
History is full of examples of civilizations that collapsed because they ventured into the territory of risk spirals, exhausting their natural and social capital.
If we accept that the core purpose of human activity is to create life-enhancing-conditions, then the need to reshape our organisations, tools and technologies to the task becomes imperative - Source unknown