What is Regenerative Living, Exactly?
Reclamation Way Newsletter - Issue 1 | April 29, 2022
What is Regenerative Living, Exactly?
Hi, friends! If some of you noticed that you received a second welcome email last week and wondered if you were already on this email list, well, you are!
While I've been working out the kinks of a new emailing platform and accidentally sent out an extra welcome . . . I figured the send may be fortuitous because Reclamation Way is actually in a place of re-introduction.
Since launching Reclamation Way this past winter solstice, I've shifted gears from experimental tinkering in the fertile darkness of winter to settling into the germinating growth of spring. I'm now in creation mode. In celebration of that extra bounce of spring, I'm excited to introduce a whole new feel and vibe for the Reclamation Way Newsletter!
As such, let's back the truck up for a moment and talk about what regenerative living is, exactly.
The far end of the spectrum
When I explain this project to folks, 9 out of 10 times I get puzzled responses with questions like, “When you say ‘regeneration,’ is that the same meaning as in biotech?” or, “That's like sustainability and eco-conscious stuff, right?” The answer is yes, and no.
By definition, regeneration is non-linear, but because linear terms are familiar and digestible, imagine a spectrum of modern culture from left to right. Regeneration is on the far end of the spectrum: ←Conventional•Green•Sustainable•Restorative•Regenerative→
You're probably familiar with the concept of sustainability and taking social and environmental steps to reduce harmful impact. Regeneration not only furthers sustainability, but introduces a whole new paradigm that is holistic and integrative and reconceives the world from a mechanism to an ecology. From RSA's Regenerative Future's Programme:
“Having a regenerative mindset means seeing the world as a living system, built around reciprocal and co-evolutionary relationships and wholes, where humans, other living beings and ecosystems rely on one another for health.”
Regenerative living, then, is a fundamental shift in our way of living to exist interdependently and entirely within the nested and circular systems of the planet.
A way of living vs. lifestyle
It would be convenient to say, “I'm in! What do I need to do to be regenerative?” Because, we're familiar with practices like cutting carbon emissions or going organic to live a green or sustainable lifestyle.
When it comes to regeneration, though, this approach is simplistic. We can't just swap out our clothes, food, or technologies, unfortunately. Applying a set of practices, principles, or tweaks to our current lifestyles isn't sufficient to cross into the regenerative threshold.
Regeneration is an alternative paradigm. Therefore, becoming regenerative means adopting an alternative way of living. All encompassing, regeneration is a different way of viewing the world, telling our human story, and realizing our relational existence.
And, yes, that makes regeneration an inconvenient concept. It is the difference between doing and becoming. Becoming requires a whole, committed journey in order to transform from the inside out.
Three examples to wrap your head around regeneration
First, to make sense of regeneration, I invite you to scale your perspective all the way out, because the macro-scaled challenges of our time require a macro perspective. We can't conceptualize solutions to climate change, pandemic, or globalization with day-to-day thinking. So, broaden your lens of the world, for a moment, across geography and time, and picture the whole planet over thousands of years.
1. Back to the Future. Remember Doc Brown's blackboard session in Back to the Future II? Let's use this pop cult-classic as an analogy for the importance of remembering as a way forward. (How can I not reference this formative flick as a child of the 80's? Link for a refresher!)
Consider that we cannot get to a regenerative future from where we are now - in our mechanistic and domination-based paradigm. The human story in this paradigm is rooted in a colonial, white-supremacist, and capitalist patriarchy. Moving forward from here would be moving into the future of this paradigm. Recall how Doc Brown explains that they must go back to the past to correct their mistake in order to move forward into the future they want. Obviously, we cannot get into a time machine like Marty to go back in time, nor do we want to. In our case, we will circle back around in the spiral of time to re-learn from ways that existed before the predominant paradigm took over.
2. Whitewashed Hope from indigenous Americans. Next, let's open our minds and hearts to the wisdom that indigenous Americans have on this topic. Whitewashed Hope is a message warning that regenerative agriculture and permaculture are only narrow solutions to solve the climate crisis.
“They do not encompass the deep cultural and relational changes needed to realize our collective healing.”
This powerful message brings to light the danger of relying on technical solutions within an unchanged world view and culture of the white, colonial tradition. Rather, re-learning from indigenous ways of wisdom is critical to encapsulate a holistic solution to climate catastrophe.
3. Daoism. Lastly, let's turn our attention to another alternative way of living that is Daoism. This tradition was prominent in 400 CE of China and doesn't exist within our current terms or frames of reference.
“The Tao cannot be described in words. Human language can only give hints that may help the mind to form an idea. The most important thing about the Tao is how it works in the world, and how human beings relate to it. Philosophical speculation about what the Tao actually is, is less important than living in sensitive response to the Tao.”
Daoism is a world view and system of guidance that doesn't fit cleanly into boxes that we are inclined to label religion, science, or culture. Taught through practice rather than scripts, Taoism is an alternative paradigm. It is a way of living centered in harmony with nature.
I share these examples to convey the importance of opening our whole selves to regenerative living. Expanding our minds, hearts, and spirits to a new way, I propose, is just the beginning. Stay tuned and keep scrolling for more discovery!
