It is time to activate a planetary network of bioregional learning centers… engaging at least 100 in the next year.
Earth Regenerators turns three on December 29th… and we have come such a long way. I just re-read Birthing the Design School Next Year (in 2021) that was written more than two years ago. It felt like looking into a crystal ball and seeing that we actually did what we set out to do.
Here is what we set out to do in the following year:
If you go on to read Earth Regenerators in 2022, you will see that we were successful on all fronts. We began prototyping a series of six learning journeys, created a regenerative project incubator, and made huge advances on the ground in Barichara. The entire process was working.
We entered 2022 with a call to create a thriving ecosystem of Earth Regenerators. This video was released on February 2nd and it stimulated a lot of activity in the Earth Regenerators Fund while also helping build a movement with practitioners in the digital worlds of web3 and cryptocurrencies.
You could feel the synergies around the ambitious dream. We were mobilizing resources for on-the-ground projects in Barichara. Helping establish bioregional governance with the formation of a territorial foundation. Establishing partnerships with a diversity of actors.
More people got involved as we created a pledge community for the Barichara Ecoversity. This enabled us to raise $40,000 and create dynamic supports for the work that was soon to follow. On August 1, 2022 we officially decentralized leadership in Earth Regenerators as I declared a “Great Transition” that you can see in the video below.
There was enough leadership capacity for me to step away and focus my efforts entirely on the ecoversity, work on the ground in Barichara, and the ever-deepening flow of actions in the web3 (regenerative finance) space.
Here is the video laying out this transformational moment.
We began hosting weekly Barichara Updates to share what we were learning as all of this quickly advanced. There are now 23 recorded sessions and a great deal has been learned about how to activate bioregions at the holistic landscape scale.
Preparations got underway for a ReFi Barichara event that took place in the first week of October. Leaders in decentralized finance and governance gathered in Colombia from all over the world. Along the way, we raised $21,000 with a Gitcoin funding round that led to sharing how to collaborate with these kinds of technical tools in service to large-scale regenerative work.
A Planetary Network of Bioregions
In the next three months, something powerful began to emerge. Penny Heiple, Benji Ross, and I gave birth to Bioregional Activators and are now working to create a planetary network of bioregions that all collaborate with each other.
We declared the ambitious vision to visit and engage with at least 100 bioregions in the next year. All of this is related to what was described in December of 2020 when we said that we need to create a planetary network of regenerative bioregions by the year 2030.
A graphic from December 2020
Now we are providing ongoing social supports to a cluster of bioregions in Colorado, preparing to visit Toronto and help another cluster form around the Great Lakes of North America, and have invitations to visit British Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Italy.
Our focus is on three key areas:
On-the-Ground Activation when arriving in a community for the first time. This is where we come into a bioregion with free offerings of talks and workshops to help get things going.
Sustained Community Supports led primarily by our team leader, Benji Ross, to host online spaces for dialogues, ongoing trainings, and exploratory sessions.
Bioregional Learning Exchanges where what is happening in one place can inspire and cultivate new capacities in other places.
With three years of deep immersion in Barichara, a lot of these processes draw upon what has been learned there. Yet now we also work with four bioregions in the Central Rockies of Colorado and will soon arrive into the Great Lakes of North America with a tapestry of their own neighboring bioregions.
I share this with you to show that vision, hard work, and determination really can change the world. We are ramping up for 100 bioregions in the year 2023. This is going to require a LOT of collaboration and new flows of resources.
You can support us on Patreon to help make this happen. Help us with fundraising for landscape partnerships and on-the-ground efforts in the growing diversity of bioregions around the world. Spread the word and invite your friends to get involved.
It is real. We are doing this. And the time is now to step into the flow and join us.
Onward, fellow humans.
This work is freely given in the spirit of the gift economy. If you feel moved to support us as we activate bioregions around the world, you can become a Patreon supporter and make monthly contributions. Or you can make a one-time donation on Paypal. Please contact me directly for crypto gifts and options for tax deductible donations as well.
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