Regenerative World

Author: Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch

“Education is the most important tool to change the world.” Luis Camargo

In this Regenerative World podcast episode international expert Luis Camargo, in regenerative and nature-based education and founder of OpEPA speaks about the significance of education for enhanced quality of life and addressing environmental, social and economic challenges around the world. Nelson Mandela and other leading pioneers advocated for the importance of education already many decades ago. Today education is of utmost importance to tackle personal and environmental stress as well as climate change.

Regenerative and nature-based education is learning from experience in and with nature and establishing the three levels of connection – to Self, nature and people. Nature is the field of learning as well as the teacher and guide. It involves the mind, body and emotions to enhance the personal quality of life and address the root cause of environmental challenges – the disconnect between people and nature. Regenerative and nature-based education is essential for all fields from elementary education up to working with people and communities in industries such as tourism, agriculture or any other fields.

Education is empowering people

According to an indigenous wisdom, the light of one candle can only shine a certain amount of light. If someone wants it to shine brighter the limit is soon reached. The candle shines as bright as one candle shines. To shine more light, it is necessary to have hundreds or thousands of candles. According to the Western mentality, the candle or person has to become bigger and brighter, because it is the candle or person that shines. According to the regenerative principle, the more people shine, the more light we have in the world. A system thrives with diversity of lights.

Education has to be nature-based. Neuroscience proves that the wiring of the brain occurs a lot more in nature than in a room. A good example is education of kids in early years: If a child is in nature, it is surrounded by many stimuli such as the smell of flowers, the sound of birds, the breeze of the wind, the feeling of the grass, the big trees. This causes the wiring of the brain that builds connections and sees the invisible. If a child is only in the room surrounded by one or more objects the brain develops fewer connections. This applies to education and development of adults as well.

Transforming barriers towards regeneration

One of the biggest barriers towards regenerative education and tackling the roots of environmental problems is fear. People create a crust to protect themselves which causes difficulty to change. Luis recommends everyone the following exercise: “Ask oneself: What disconnects myself – from myself, nature and people? Then ask: What connects me to myself, others and nature?“ In its essence, love connects which is the openness to establish relationships to Self, people and nature. Some people are more sensitive to one or the other. For some mindfulness is a good entry point, for others nature or community. It does not matter where to start, as long as all relationships are fostered.

For regeneration all three relationships have to be present for transformation of the self as well as the development of initiatives with impact on the region and system. By that the mindset and inner shift occurs which has an impact on actions in service to community, environment and the region. A good example is the work with tourism, food and agriculture and communities. Luis Camargo worked with communities on the topic tourism and food and looked at: How is food produced? How is food valued by the people in the community? How does the tourist relate to the food?

“Food systems have the power to change all systems. We are not paying too much attention. It is about allowing the food to be nutritious and create the mechanism for tourists and locals to understand that. It is essential to bring people back to the place and tourist will fall in love. These narratives reinforce the relationship.”, says Luis Camargo.

It is important to strengthen bioregions so that are independent regarding energy, water, food, health. Of course, this is relevant for all topics such as transportation or restoration. However, food is one of the most powerful drivers to change the system as everyone can relate to it and it is connected to many industries.

Bringing regeneration to life

The motivation factors for people to work with the regenerative approach is many-folds. Due to the increase of the urban development, people yearn for the connection to nature. Communities are interested to empower local capacities, remember the value they have and who they are. This is essential to protect the place and reestablish a sense of belonging of the local people and give them a voice to speak and develop their territory. And this leads to attracting the visitors a community wants to have and creates more qualitative experiences for them. By that social, environmental and economic challenges can be addressed in an effective way.

The challenge in realizing regeneration is the need to act regeneratively in the context of the world where a degenerative system of rules and mechanisms is established. To change the system the “Three level of horizon” approach is essential. This means to establish a transition system and methods (second hill)  that are similar to the existing system (first hill) which enables the transition to a regenerative system (third hill). 

“The most important to bring regenerative projects, living and organisations to life is to ask oneself: “Am I in the right relation? Is this decision strengthening my three relations to nature, people and myself?” If not, it is necessary to adapt or change the decision.” Luis Camargo

We are currently in a big shift in the world which goes along with multiple turbulences. It is easy to fall into hopelessness. The most important is to maintain active hope. Luis Camargo emphasizes that “We can write the story of the world we want to see. Everyday we can activate the world – every action is creating the world that we want to see. Never lose hope. Be grateful for the past – it brought us where we are. Everyday write the story you want to see. A world of individuals that are in right relation.”

Dive into the Regenerative World podcast episode to learn more: See here for more information and listen in on Apple, Spotify, Youtube and Google.

Interested in leading work and life regeneratively? Contact us for more information on regenerative leadership- and circular design trainings and projects.

Regenerative World is the blogcast by Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch to reconnect and lead regeneratively. Get inspired by stories, best practices and nature’s inspiration on creating regenerative products, organizations and projects for a way of living aligned with nature. Explore regenerative leadership, economy and development with Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch and other international experts.

Author: Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch

For decades we are talking about the topic of climate change and sustainability – and the development of sustainable systems is still happening too slow. By leading tourism and economy in a regenerative way we can activate change. The regenerative tourism and policy expert Dianne Dredge elaborates on how to develop flourishing places for people and environment by tourism, shift mindsets and design regenerative tourism in a way that is owned by all stakeholders.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are expected to have a 60-years delay according to the Social Progress Index. This might be too late for many species of plants, animals and maybe even many humans. We can see this already by the effects of the climate-, energy- and biodiversity crisis leading to diseases, environmental disasters, war. So how can we accelerate the transition and reach the SDGs?

“We need to catalyze the change by becoming more regenerative.”, says Dianne Dredge

How can we become regenerative? Regenerative means to be aligned with nature and thrive on all levels – personally, socially, environmentally and economically. A regenerative economy promotes sustainability and goes beyond – it contributes positively to people, environment and enterprises. We can become regenerative as an individual by living in a regenerative way and as a collective creating life-affirming systems such as tourism and the economy – and both is going hand-in-hand.

During this interview Dianne Dredge, Founder of The Tourism Colab, shares from her decades of experience in tourism and describes the essence of regenerative tourism by showcasing good practice examples such as The Islander Way on Flinders island in Australia. We talked about the key aspects of regenerative tourism which is related to a regenerative economy and living. Dianne Dredge talks about the importance of the mindset shift, to ask good questions and to include all stakeholders to disrupt the system, become regenerative and by that catalyze the Sustainable Developments goals.

“The mind-set shift and tuning into head-heart-gut are essential to achieve the SDGs.”

Dianne Dredge points out that we need to tap into whole-body intelligence and change our mindsets to be regenerative. The mindset shift happens through experiential learning that allows to combine head-heart-gut. It is about feeling the community, nature and what we are responsible for. This takes us beyond the scientific data and leads to embodied insights and solutions.

The power of questions

Dianne Dredge points out the importance of how to ask questions to go beyond patterns and find solutions. In our work at Circonnact with regenerative and sustainable tourism and economy we observe that the question turns around “How to decrease carbon emissions?”. This is a good and also a challenging task – with a risk to get stuck there and not tackling root causes. What if we ask the question differently: “How can we contribute positively to the development of this place, to people and to nature by tourism?” This addresses the challenge of carbon emissions in a holistic and constructive way which leads to solutions on multiple levels such as biodiversity, health and communities, local economy.  In the end all these are all related to decreasing carbon emissions. 

According to Dianne Dredge, the most important aspect to develop impactful and regenerative projects is to include all stakeholders. In the past tourism talked about key stakeholders – the businesses and big organisations. But the key is to have a diverse and inclusive group of stakeholders and to call upon their expertise. It is important to include all stakeholders involved in tourism – microbusinesses, the community and nature.

Curious to learn more about how to disrupt the current dysfunctional systems, regenerative tourism and methods for regenerative design and stakeholder engagement?

Dive into the Regenerative World podcast episode to learn more: See here for more information and listen in on Apple, Spotify, Youtube and Google.

Interested in leading work and life regeneratively? Contact us for more information on regenerative leadership- and circular design trainings and projects.

Regenerative World is the blogcast by Circonnact to reconnect and lead regeneratively and sustainably. Get inspired by stories, best practices and nature’s inspiration on creating regenerative products, organizations and projects for a way of living aligned with nature. Explore regenerative leadership, development, economy, tourism and food with Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch and other international experts.

Author: Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch

How to live aligned with nature and create a regenerative economy that enables a good living standard and is nature-positive? This is the key question when developing a sustainable, circular and regenerative economy, businesses, technologies, cities and regions.

Indigenous people have tremendous knowledge and wisdom which is important to integrate in the course of developing a regenerative and sustainable living and economy. In this episode “Indigenous wisdom, the Amazon Forest and Regenerative tourism” on the Regenerative World podcast Ramiro Vargas from the Achuar people in the Ecuadorian Amazon shares about the indigenous way of living and the importance of regenerative tourism to protect the Amazon, indigenous people and the world’s ecosystems and climate.

“We are all interrelated.”, said Ramiro Vargas.

“The big mountains, forest, the river, animals, jaguar, eagle, condor and the humans are related. We respect each other and consider us as the guardians of the Amazon, the river, the animals.”, he elaborates. Indigenous people are the humans living closest to nature. They are keepers of ancient knowledge as their cultures that are rooted in nature are continuously developed without interruption. It is essential to listen to them and integrate their views when developing systems, economy, technology and life that is truly aligned with nature and creating positive impact rather than destroying. Therefore, I visited the Achuar people amongst other indigenous people with the Pachamama Alliance in February 2022 where I had the pleasure to meet Ramiro Vargas.

Regenerative tourism supporting indigenous people and the Amazon Forest

Ramiro is the leader of the Mana Achuar association, tourist guide at Kapawi ecolodge and father. Ramiro carries a lot of knowledge and wisdom and supports the community with commitment, strength and care so that he was nominated for being a candidate for presidency of the Achuar nation in 2022. In this episode he shares about the indigenous world view, their way of living and the importance of Kapawi ecolodge – the regenerative eco-tourism project of the Kapawi community of the Achuar people – for the locals, culture and the Amazon Forest.

“Kapawi is a conservation project to protect the Amazon Forest.” Ramiro Vargas

It supports indigenous people in the fight against deforestation and the invasion of oil and mining companies. It is a source of income, an argument for the government to not destruct the area and by that enables them to take care of the Amazon Forest. It is a way to educate, raise awareness and catalyze transformation of visitors who leave the place enriched and empowered to develop practices for a regenerative way of living around the world. This regenerative and eco-tourism project is a long-term project to support and protect indigenous cultures and the Amazon Forest – the lunge of the Earth – and by that the world.

Living connected to nature and people

How can we live connected to nature and people in the urban context? Whereas you find many elements of the answer in this interview, Ramiro shared specifically about the importance to appreciate the simple way of living. From his experience in the US compared with the lifestyle of indigenous people, he observed that there is a lot of competition in the urban world – even if not necessary. In the Amazon they live in a simple way and still have everything. So how can we live in a good balance between healthy competition and achievement and collaboration and peace?

Dive into the Regenerative World podcast episode to learn more: See here for more information and listen in on Apple, Spotify, Youtube and Google.

Curious how to apply these insights to the way you lead work and life? Contact us for a free consultation on regenerative and sustainable design, capacity building and leadership.

Regenerative World is the blogcast by Circonnact to reconnect and lead regeneratively and sustainably. Get inspired by stories, best practices and nature’s inspiration on creating regenerative products, organizations and projects for a way of living aligned with nature. Explore regenerative development, economy, tourism, leadership and food with Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch and other international experts.

Author: Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch

A world where people, nature, and the economy thrive. 

We invite you on a journey around a regenerative world – a world where people live aligned with nature and flourish personally, socially and economically. On the monthly published blogcast (podcast and blog) Regenerative World, you will meet experts who live and lead in a regenerative and sustainable way connected to people and nature and create amazing projects that create value for people, nature and business.

Are you interested in reconnecting and getting inspired by stories, best practices and nature’s wisdom? Are you curious about how to create  projects, products and organizations that benefit people, nature and business? Then this blogcast is for you.

Currently, we are in the transition: We move from a linear, extractive and destructive model for people and nature, which is outdated and no longer working, to a sustainable, circular, and regenerative model. The regenerative model creates conditions conducive to life – which means creating a good quality of life for people and nature, enabling a healthy economy and systems. A regenerative model thrives on its own and creates more yields with less work. At the moment, it is in the course of creation and not yet established. In these times of change, we collectively and individually face stress on personal, environmental, social, and economic levels. In such a situation, there are two options: Either we do the same old thing and stay stuck or we choose to evolve and change for the better. Most likely, you are one of the people who are choosing to develop positively, since you are reading this. 

How can we create a regenerative world?

There are many obstacles in the transition from a destructive to a regenerative system and we can tackle these challenges together – actually, we can only create a regenerative world together. Therefore, Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch, Co-founder and Director of the regenerative and circular innovation lab Circonnact, decided to explore different ways to live connected to nature and people to lead life and work regeneratively. In 2022, she went on a journey through Latin America and started to develop this blogcast. There is a lot that we can learn from each other across continents as well as within a country. 

On Regenerative World, Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch talks to other international experts about regenerative development, design, tourism, leadership and economy. The journey starts with demonstrating stories and best practices in Latin America and goes around the world. Many amazing people are creating remarkable regenerative projects, organizations and products in various areas that are essential for regeneration such as science & art, business & wellbeing, technology & environment, bio-inspiration & circular economy, and innovation & ancient knowledge. They will share their experiences and wisdom on how to create small and big-scale regenerative solutions. The aim is to share inspiring people and initiatives in the field of regeneration. So that you can take what speaks to you to live connected to yourself, people, and nature and from this place, design projects, organizations, products and systems that create value for people, the environment and businesses. Together we can create a world that is beautiful now and for future generations. 

Join us on the journey and subscribe to the podcast via podcast channels, newsletter or social media. See more information here. 

In the first episode “Intro – A journey around a regenerative world”, Vanessa Vivian Wabitsch talks about the essence of regeneration and why she has developed the blogcast Regenerative World. It is about how we can live connected to nature, people and ourselves and integrate it well with the urban lifestyle. She shares insights into how we can develop real regenerative solutions with a positive impact on the environment, people, and the economy and how this blogcast contributes to that.

In the second episode “Regenerative food and living by permaculture with Javier Carrera”, Javier Carrera – permacultor, author, educator and activist for more than 20 years – talks about how to transform systems, develop regenerative food and the essence of permaculture. He shares his experience as Founder and Social Coordinator of the Seed Guardians Network – the network to connect families that protect agricultural diversity and promote regenerative lifestyles in Ecuador as well as other best practices such as the educational platform Madre semilla and Radio Semilla podcast. 

The upcoming episodes will be with Ramiro Uargas from the indigenous people Achuar in Ecuador and Kapawi Eco-lodge on “Indigenous people, regenerative tourism and conservation”, Dianne Dredge from Tourism CoLab on “Regenerative Tourism Design”, Luis Camargo from OpEPA on “Regenerative and nature-based education”, with Laura del Valle from Mar de Jade on “Regenerative Living in Community and Tourism”, and with Julio Rozo from Amazonia Emprende on “Reforestation and Restoration of Ecosystems”.

This blogcast is a good example of what can happen through co-creation with experts and partners from all around the world. During every conversation, we tap into individual and collective intelligence. The wonderful visual identity was designed by Manu Salviejo from Monestudio. The inspiring intro and outro to the podcast were composed by the musician Chopper Lin SoulWave Music. And Liliia Akatova supported the program development in the final phase of implementation fantastically.

We are looking forward to meeting you at various stops on the journey.

Learn more and subscribe today! 🌱🌍