Regen

= signifies both Regenerative Economics and the people who support it within the world of Crypto and Web3, sometimes contrasted with Degens.

Description

Rosalind Marino:

"Let me introduce the concept of Regenerative Economics (Regen). The idea is to account for all the costs and values that are missed by traditional economics. That means both social effects, and externalities like carbon emissions.

If a marsh is drained to allow for a new property development, there is a loss of habitat for important species, there is a release of stored carbon and also a loss of future carbon sequestering and oxygen producing capacity by all of the plants and algae, and then there is a loss of the recreation space which is enjoyed people who live in the area. And all of this before we account for the carbon burned by the construction of the shopping centers and roads and homes that replace the original habitat. These are material and social costs that are paid by local residents, future generations, and the ecosystem as a whole. There is also an economic benefit to the developers, investors, and community members who use the services and spaces of the new development. These benefits and costs both matter, but our current economy only has methods to account for the expenses and value of the development, forgetting the value of the marsh and costs of its loss. Sometimes environmental offsets are bought to compensate, but the specificities are largely unaccounted for. Instead, those socio-ecological losses are termed “externalities” and considered outside the system.

But, you and I both know that these losses are not external to our lives. The loss of a local wetland, or our favorite childhood hike, or the salmon runs that bring life to our local rivers all impact us and our families for generations."

(https://blog.holochain.org/regenerative-investing/)

What we need are new ways of expressing the very real value of these resources so that we can bring them into the system, investing in their preservation and growth. What we need is for our economies to not be at odds with our ecosystems.