199_Regenerative Living: A Step Beyond Sustainability

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 199

Regenerative Living: A Step Beyond Sustainability

After so many years of living at the cabin, installing solar, building the greenhouse, raising chickens and turkeys, and being 100% off the grid, I came to believe that sustainability was the end all be all. Turns out I was wrong. I was missing one very important concept, one vital part of the puzzle to connect all the other pieces to make a complete picture.

I actually discovered this a couple of years ago during a casual conversation with an architect. He brought up the concept of regenerative living. I was understandably curious as to how that differed from sustainability.

What I learned is that we should be taking one step beyond sustainability. So join me for episode 199, Regenerative Living: A Step Beyond Sustainability

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainability podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E 199.

What I want to accomplish in this episode is to compare the concepts of regenerative living and sustainability. Although the concepts of sustainability are now something that we hear about regularly, is sustainable living going to solve the challenges we now face?

Sustainability question of the week

How much water in our households goes to waste?

Good News Story of the Week

I bet you never thought of a banana peel as a source of energy. But scientists in Pakistan have made an astounding break through and are now turning banana peels into textiles and renewable energy.

The banana industry in Pakistan generates 80 million metric tons of agricultural waste annually. That waste is now being put to good use. Northumbria University has partnered with the UK and Pakistan to develop a two-part system for waste conversion. The first part use new technology to convert banana waste into textile fibers. The second part takes the waste generated from part one and using that to produce renewable energy in the form of synthetic gas. The process also generates bio-fertilizers.

The benefits of this project will be massive. Off grid communities throughout Pakistan will now have access to a clean reliable source of electricity. The local textile industry will benefit from inexpensive fibers and by reducing the environmental impact of that industry. The bio-fertilizers can be used to increase soil productivity for local farmers and thus increasing local food production. And this process has the potential of being applied to almost any form of agricultural waste meaning it can be used worldwide to provide renewable textiles and energy.

You know, I always love it when someone comes up with such a remarkable innovation. It is truly inspiring.

Very few people know, much less recognize that the ancient Iroquois “Great League of Peace” had significant influence on the formation of the United States and its representative democracy.

The Iroquois Confederacy, which was founded by the Great Peacemaker in 1142, is the oldest participatory democracy on earth. In 1988, the U.S. Senate paid tribute with a resolution that said, “The confederation of the original 13 colonies into one republic was influenced by the political system developed by the Iroquois Confederacy, as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the constitution itself.”

Another important concept that comes from the Iroquois Confederacy is known as the seventh generation principle. This principle dictates that decisions that are made today should lead to sustainability for seven generations into the future. And that is remarkably similar to the concepts we talk about today.

Although sustainability efforts truly exploded in the 1970’s, few people realize that concerns over environmental degradation due to human activity surfaced long before the 20th century.

It is generally accepted that the concept of sustainability began during the Industrial Revolution. However, records show that the environment showed signs of degradation well before that time. The point here is that despite all the changes to our environment after the industrial revolution, preindustrial life was not exactly flawless.

Some forward thinking authors as far back as 500 BC expressed concerns over environmental damage and recommended less harmful practices. The word sustainability was not used but it is clear that what was discussed would have been called sustainable choices in today’s world.

It is interesting to note that by 1804 world population was about 1 billion people. But in 1798 Thomas Malthus, who was an English economist,  predicted that population growth would always surpass food supply. In 1847 George Perkins Marsh, a diplomat and scholar, he delivered a lecture that predicted human induced climate change. In 1864 he predicted human extinction on Earth due to our detrimental affects on the environment.

But clearly during the Industrial Revolution concerns about the environment were mounting. As our technology advanced our lives were obviously enhanced. But our so called “progress” resulted in the unequal distribution of wealth, exploitation of natural resources on a global scale and a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Around 1900 global fossil fuel emissions were approximately 2 1/2 billion tons annually. But that increased to nearly 30 billion tons annually by 2021.

In the post WWII era, it became even more obvious that our planet was facing some significant environmental issues. At that time the focus shifted from pollution to the survival of the human race.

By the 1970s the sustainability movement began to accelerate. We saw the first Earth Day. The United Nations had their first conference on environmental issues in June of 1972 to address the growing concerns about the impact of human activities on the environment. There was also a significant rise in environmental activism.

In 1987 the United Nations Brundtland Commission published a report called “Our Common Future” which described sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

In 1989 a NASA scientist testified that the climate was indeed changing.

So the question now looming on our horizon is where do we go next?

During WWII the world almost collapsed on itself. But afterwards our world entered an era of prosperity. Economies began to skyrocket. There was literally an explosion of industries and available services which has brought us to where we are today, which is a society of consumerists.

But clearly we have not learned anything from our past. Clearly human activity has never been sustainable even since ancient times. Although most of this has happened throughout the millennia of human existence we are now seeing the impacts of such a life accelerate.

What is even more concerning is the results of a recent study involving the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of Leeds in England and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change in Berlin. Their conclusion is that it may be possible for everyone on the planet to lead a good life and to live within their environmental means. But if present trends continue there will be no way for both of these things to happen at the same time.

In this study the researchers considered 11 necessary ingredients for a good life. They considered some basic human needs such as an income of at least $1.90 per day, electricity, sufficient food to eat, and a life expectancy of at least 65 years. They also considered social goals such as equality, dependable friend and family, a a degree of life satisfaction.

Then they considered the cost to the planet for achieving those things. They broke this down into seven categories such as carbon emissions and use of natural resources.

Their conclusion is not one single country on the planet provides their citizens with a good, sustainable life. Not one.

Furthermore, if you closely read through the history of sustainability, what is most frustrating is that a whole variety of people for centuries have been trying to get our attention. Scholars starting warning us centuries ago. Scientist have shown us data and sounded the alarm. Even individuals have gained the attention of the world. These have all made a difference but it has not had the hard impact that is needed.

Numerous species on the planet have the capability of  transforming their environment in some way. But humans are the only species with the ability to take that one step further. We have gone beyond harnessing the forces of nature and local resources to controlling and redirecting the natural world on a massive scale. Our long history of greenhouse gas emissions have set in motion climate changes that we cannot stop. We can no longer rely on the power of the technology we created to rescue us. The best we can do now is put out countermeasures to keep global temperatures within tolerable limits.

But, are we too late? Or is there reason to be optimistic?

Sustainability leads to regeneration

As I stated earlier during the time I’ve lived on the cabin property I have made great efforts to be as sustainable as possible. My approach to managing the property was to essentially leave as much of it as possible in it’s natural state. I have always taken the approach of “do no harm.” Consequently, out of 46 acres of land I’ve only altered about 3 acres.

But, I changed my approach several years ago. Because the forest is so thick I truly needed to do some thinning for forest fire mitigation. Once I did this in an area on the north side of the cabin, something truly amazing happened. An abundance of sunlight now reaches the ground and an enormous variety of plants began to grow including several things that are edible. There were more flowers for hummingbirds. Deer, elk and moose now browse on the new plant life.

This is when it occurred to me there was more that I could do to manage the property and turn it into a wildlife haven. Consequently, my plan this year is to hire a professional forester to survey the property and make a plan for forest management. Instead of approaching the property from the aspect of “do no harm” I now can truly regenerate an abundance of plant life. And how amazing that would be. Instead of sustainability I can now take the approach of regenerative living. And that is exactly where our planet needs to go.

Sustainable practices have obviously been around for centuries. The Iroquois Confederacy was talking about this hundreds of years ago with their seventh generation principle. But I think regenerative living is also embedded in that philosophy. In order to preserve the environment for seven generations to come, it has to go above and beyond the concept of “do no harm.”

Now to be clear, sustainability and regenerative living have many of the same principles but the focus is slightly different. While sustainable living tends to focus on doing less harm to the environment regenerative living focusing on not only doing less harm but improving the environment in some way.

For example, not changing the forested areas on my property and leaving it in its natural state is truly doing no harm. But thinning for forest and changing the environment that results in substantial improvement that brings in more plant life and wildlife is more of a regenerative approach.

Another great example is some things that have happened in the last few years in the UK. I have spoken several times about the re-wilding efforts in the UK. Former pasture land is now being allowed to go back to nature. That is the concept of doing no harm. But, volunteer groups are also replanting vast areas with native species and reintroducing some wildlife such as the beaver. Since their reintroduction the beaver have of course built dams and constructed new waterways. Because there are now ponds, marshes and new waterways, the local are now seeing insects, birds, plants and fish return that have not been seen for a hundred years. This is the concept of regeneration.

But because the language and terms we use influences the approach we take to the problems we face, maybe it is time to stop talking in term of  sustainability but instead focus on the concepts of regenerative living.

Sustainability means we have to be careful with nature and the use of natural resources so that the generations that come after us will have enough to live a comfortable life. It is about maintaining things the way they are and not making too many messes. Sustainability focuses on reducing our environmental impact. Regenerative living is about increasing our positive impact on the environment, repairing the damage we have done and making sure that nature can flourish. In other words, we not only need to be nice to our planet, we need to contribute to making it a better place.

There is a lot of cross over between sustainability and regenerative living. Many of the practices are similar but the application of those practices and certainly environmental management differ. 

Sustainability focuses on preserving natural resources. Regenerative living focuses on improving the natural environment beyond that. Sustainability involves practices such as conserving resources, reducing the use of fossil fuels and using renewable energy instead, and reducing waste and pollution. Regenerative living goes one step beyond that by creating systems that not only work with nature but restore damaged ecosystems. It more about reversing the detrimental impact of human activity.

We have to stop thinking of our climate crisis as a science and technology problem. It is a human problem. We have to stop thinking that we can use money and technology to solve the world’s problems. The solution to our global problems  ultimately exist in the underlying values, or lack thereof, that got us to this point in the first place. It relies on each of us having compassion, respect, and even reverence for the natural world, for all people and for ourselves.

We truly have to embrace the idea that even if we stopped everything we are doing right now and did not further harm to the planet, it would not be enough. We have already degraded our planet to the point that it may not be able to recover. That is why we need to focus on regenerative living because it involves restoration.

In closing, let’s first discuss the sustainability question of the week.

Sustainability question of the week.

How much water in our households goes to waste?

The average person wastes as much as 30 gallons of water per day. The average household uses 300 gallons of water per day most of which is used for flushing toilets and taking showers. Bottom line, 95% of the fresh water entering our homes goes down the drain.

And this is the main reason we all need to conserve our water usage. We can actually be using much less that what we do.

In closing, I hope that you can now appreciate the concept of regenerative living. Human activity has truly degraded our planet possibly to the point of no return. The damage we see with climate change will are not reversible in the lifetime of anyone alive today. That is why we have to not only focus on doing no further damage to our planet but we must working on reversing what we have done. Regeneration encompasses restoration.

Well folks, that is about it for this week. I truly hope you will join me again next week. Until then, just remember that being sustainable and regenerative is truly how we will build a better future for the next seven generations.