Joe Brewer wrote The Design Pathway for Regenerating Earth to present a clear-eyed understanding of the severity of the predicament we're in and to demonstrate how it is possible to regenerate the entire Earth. The book offers a clear and cogent pathway we can all create together.
Humanity is confronted with threats unprecedented in the history of our species. We are in the midst of a planetary change process that extends far beyond a human lifetime. And most of us experience a kind of intergenerational amnesia – having never seen an intact ecosystem or a healthy human economy at any point in our lives. To a great extent, the rest of our lives will be defined by how those who understand our global predicament organize and cooperate with one another.
There is an urgent need to describe the "how" for managing the convergent threats of ecological overshoot and civilization collapse. How can we design our way through the struggles that lie ahead? By embracing the fundamental insight that all living systems self-organize around the patterns of regeneration. Applied to the scale of entire landscapes, this reveals how all truly sustainable human cultures throughout history were organized at the territorial scale as bioregional economies. A planet-wide network of learning ecosystems is needed that can hold the complexity of birthing these regenerative bioregions during and after the rest of the collapse into which we've all been born.
This is a powerful and important book. Joe Brewer does not pull any punches – more importantly, he has his fingers on the pulse of how to heal our world and ourselves. I have read a lot of earth science, anthropology, sustainability, etc. over the years. I found the synthesis and path through this story into a possible future to be enlightening, sometimes frightening, but always radically hopeful.
— Ken Hall
Fantastic! Worldview changing. Inspiring. What an amazing book.
— Galen Meyers
A stimulating read… with language that's fresh, direct, and evocative. The book doesn't get stuck in a fragmented focus on individual societal sectors, change initiatives, etc., but rather goes straight into an attempt to flesh out the overall characteristics of the admittedly monumental psychological, cultural, and practical tasks that describe the sort of large-scale (local to planetary) regeneration efforts necessary.
— Espen Lockert Høy Malling
Some books call to you, and this is one of those books. It has shaped our work in profound ways. It cuts through much of the babble that's out there, drawing on both science and spirit. This clearly-written book will take you on many thought-provoking wanderings with the questions at the end of each chapter. But it always brings you back to a singular pathway as we move into greater uncertainty. A must-read for anyone who wants to co-create a pathway to regeneration by walking it together.
— Brian A. Puppa
A Personal Message from Joe Brewer
People all over the world have started living out the design pathway presented in the pages of this book.
Large-scale efforts are underway to regenerate entire landscapes. Where my family lives in Barichara, Colombia, we are part of a vibrant community network that is regenerating 500,000 hectares of land at the territorial scale. We have raised money to purchase land, established a territorial foundation and a Waldorf Forest school, and supported the weaving of more than 20 local regenerative projects.
The best way to learn how to practice Earth regeneration is to join the Design School for Regenerating Earth where we help organize landscapes and create scaffolding for learning exchanges among them.
How should you start? My recommendation would be to read this book and then set up a discussion group with your friends – perhaps consider forming a book club to learn together. Explore and feel into your story of place. Hold the grief of all that has been – and soon will be – lost in the accelerating patterns of planetary collapse that all of us are living through together.
Then touch the soil. Gather local seeds. Play with children. They each have much to teach you. And ask yourself about legacy. How will you help regenerate the Earth?
More About the Design Pathway
Walk the pathway. You can't find it in the shallow optimism of techno-fixes or consumer choices. Nothing short of a spiritual revival of Indigenous lifeways will do – combined with the best scientific knowledge about human behavior, cultural evolution, and the dynamic Earth. We can create the path for regenerating Earth by walking it throughout the rest of this century and beyond.
Review the Table of Contents for The Design Pathway for Regenerating Earth and view the book trailer.
Author Joe Brewer is a transdisciplinary systems thinker who has devoted his life to helping humanity through the sustainability bottleneck. He weaves insights from the scientific study of cultural evolution, human cognition, and Earth system science into frameworks for action. He is co-founder of the Design School for Regenerating Earth, established to organize and support bioregions around the planet. Prior affiliations include the International Centre for Earth Simulation, the Center for Complex Systems Research at the University of Illinois, the Cultural Evolution Society, the Rockridge Institute, and the Evolution Institute. He currently lives in Barichara, Colombia where he works to help regenerate the land in his bioregion.
As we all live into the story of Bioregional Earth, Joe urges us to recognize that "we really can do something worthwhile for our descendants that is worthy of these times. What must be done – and how to do it – is the subject matter of this book. Together we can explore how to regenerate the Earth and safeguard humanity's future. Are you ready? There's no time to waste. Let us begin."