Tag Archive: competition

November 15, 2017

Reflections From Designing Regenerative Cultures

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge. Where is the knowledge we have lost in information.”

– T.S. Eliot

For the past few weeks I have been re-reading the book Designing Regenerative Cultures by Daniel Christian Wahl. I am deeply grateful for Daniel’s gift, a rich distillation of his PhD thesis that points in the direction of a more sane, hopeful and health-promoting future. Regenerative development is a broad body of study and practice that informs much of my own thinking about and practice around social change. A fundamental recognition of the regenerative lens is that in order to live we harvest from the larger living systems (communities, ecosystems) of which we are a part in such a way that can weaken them, and can put us at risk. Regenerative thinking and practice then asks:

What might we do not simply to wreck less havoc or do less harm, but to leverage the natural connections we have with living systems to contribute to the integrity, resilience and long-term viability of people, places, and ecosystems?

Image from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, shared under provision of Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

There are great examples of this practice in different fields, including regenerative agriculture (which seeks a healthy integration into landscapes and ecosystems and to improve soil health) and regenerative building design (also integrative and health-promoting of local community and ecosystems). And at IISC, we are asking ourselves and experimenting with ways in which “public engagement” can be an avenue for honoring and contributing to the integrity and vitality of communities. Read More

Network $ustainability

by Curtis Ogden

Compared to my post from yesterday, this certainly feels like a big shift, going from the sublime to the tactical. At a recent gathering that I facilitated, members of the steering committee of a food system change initiative, local and regional funders, and members of other organizational networks came together to discuss ideas for ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the committee’s work around ensuring community food security. We came at this from a few different angles, including a conversation about actual and perceived constraints and challenges to supporting this kind of net work. Here is a taste of what came up, which resonates with what I am hearing in other networks as well: Read More

Competition for Co-Evolution

by Curtis Ogden

|Photo by SidPix|http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidm/4813665260|

I’ve been sitting with a story I just heard relayed by Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris, systems and evolutionary biologist. (If you are interested in a great and uplifting podcast, check out the full interview, entitled “From Caterpillars to Butterflies.”)

Dr. Sahtouris was attending a basketball game in China and was seated next to a Chinese man who cheered wildly after the first basket of the game was scored. When the other team scored its first basket, he cheered with equal enthusiasm. He continued to do this for each basket scored by either team. Finally, Dr. Sahtouris turned to the man and asked, “Which team is yours?” The man replied, “What do you mean?” Dr. Sahtouris said, “Well, which team do you want to win?” He replied, “What difference does it make?” To which she replied, “Well, why are you pitting two teams against one another?” He responded, “To drive excellence. We applaud the excellence wherever it happens.”

Same game, different frame . . .

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