Futures X Systems X Design — Regeneration

Regeneration is a broad, messy concept — it’s got not a lot of definition at this moment. It does have many linkages with the concept of multiple capitals — they are not the same thing, but they seem to be using a common set of ideas.

The idea of regeneration is centred first in the environmental/climate domain — that there are things that would need to be done to restore or create systems that would allow for the regeneration of ecological systems and the climate systems.

There is also another sense of regeneration to refer to creating situations of human flourishing. All of us should be living in socio-economic contexts that rejuvenate us — allow us to grow in various directions, and not just for material and economic accumulation. All of us acknowledge that the single-minded pursuit of acquiring riches is not a desired way of life (even as we might envy the riches).

All of these is to be contrasted with the current degeneration that we are experiencing. Our environment is in a clear state of degeneration — and there are a whole bunch of issues to list. The global climate regime is changing owing to the excess amounts of carbon dioxide people are releasing into the atmosphere, relative to what natural processes can absorb. Deforestation is creating habitat loss for all kinds of animals. Ocean acidification is happening faster than most corals can tolerate, leading to declines of fisheries. Overconsumption and wasted resources are causing biodiversity loss and dead zones. All of these…