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Regeneration isn’t just a buzzword. We’re seeing more and more businesses and climate activists realising that sustainability isn’t enough, and applying regenerative concepts to what they do. But, given that many workplaces have just wrapped their heads around sustainability, it’s understandable that some climate intrapreneurs might feel a little ‘regen-shy’.
When we hit the regeneration module of the WorkforClimate Academy, some of the common questions we get include: What even is regeneration? What’s the difference between regeneration and sustainability? How can a business be regenerative, anyway? And isn’t regeneration just about planting trees?
So, let’s start at the beginning.
What is regeneration?
Regeneration is essentially ‘doing more good than harm’. It is a way of being (i.e. working, learning, living) that continually builds the capacity and capability of ourselves and the living systems in which we live. Or, as environmentalist Paul Hawkins writes: “Putting life at the centre of every act and decision.”
Regenerative practices draw from thousands of years of Indigenous knowledge systems. This understanding that humans are part of natural ecosystems, rather than separate or above them, is long held by many Indigenous cultures. Oren Lyons, member of the Onondaga and Seneca nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, explains: “We recognise other forms of life inhabiting the earth have a reason to be here just as much as we, each has duties that keep the rest of creation in a reciprocal balance. Humans are but a part of the natural world and Mother Earth is a relative, not a resource.”
Right now, our economic systems are founded on an extraction-at-all-costs mentality. In this system, profit is deemed more important than protecting or respecting people and/or the planet. This has led us to the point we’re at right now: a climate crisis and a world on the brink of irreversible environmental catastrophe. A regenerative world is the opposite of this and factors the natural world – of which we are a part –into every decision and action.
By applying regenerative patterns to our lives we can replenish and restore our planet, communities, ecosystems and increase the resilience and flourishing of our planetary system. A simple example of this in practice is the circular economy, which aims to extend the lifespan of material goods infinitely, so that there is no waste. (Though that’s not to say that all circular practices are necessarily regenerative.)
What’s the difference between regeneration and sustainability?
In a sustainable world we’re simply maintaining the status quo. But if the status quo is already unsustainable, then where does that leave us? Sustainability focuses on doing less harm in the world to maintain it for future generations, whereas regeneration focuses on doing more good in the world to create a thriving future for generations to come. This doesn’t mean chucking sustainability out altogether. Quite the opposite – sustainability is a bridge to regeneration, and will help move us from degenerative ways of being to a model of restoration and replenishment.
A fundamental part of putting regeneration into practice is re-thinking how we view ourselves in relation to the natural world.
The current extractive system benefits from us believing that humans are somehow not just separate, but above all other living things on the planet. In the business context, this separation helps us justify environmentally extractive and damaging practices in the name or profit and/or growth. But if we instead view ourselves as part of nature, how would we act and interact differently in the world? And how would we feel about ‘extracting’ from it?
What does this have to do with your business or workplace?
As climate intrapreneurs, we’re always at risk of slipping back into degenerative practices simply because we’re still working within an extractive system. Solving the climate crisis doesn’t automatically mean we’re working with patterns of regeneration. The rates of burnout in the climate movement, for example, indicate that degenerative ways of working are alive and well even inside the groups and industries that are working on fixing the future. Regeneration can’t be taken for granted – it’s something that needs to be embedded, embodied and practised in everything we do.
In part two of our regenerative work series, Renee will share regenerative practices that climate intrapreneurs can bring to the workplace.
Want to learn more about how to take climate action in the workplace? Register now for the next WorkforClimate Academy
