Regenerative Economics

Definition

1. Daniel Christian Wahl:

"Regenerative economics is an economic system that works to regenerate capital assets, which are assets that provide goods and/or services that are required for or contribute to our well being."

(https://medium.com/activate-the-future/regenerative-cultures-regenerative-economics-bioregional-regeneration-607d26c28d54)

2. Capital Institute

'Regenerative Economics is the application of nature’s laws and patterns of systemic health, self-organization, self-renewal, and regenerative vitality to socioeconomic systems. "

(https://capitalinstitute.org/regenerative-capitalism/)

Description

"Regenerative cultures are unique expressions of the potential inherent in the people and places of a given bioregion. They add value and health to the nested wholeness from local, to regional, to global in the understanding that human thriving critically depends on healthy ecosystems and a life-supporting biosphere. In strengthening regenerative economic activities, we need to learn to balance: efficiency and resilience; collaboration and competition; diversity and coherence; and small, medium, and large organizations and needs.

In other words, regenerative economics is an economic system that works to regenerate capital assets, which are assets that provide goods and/or services that are required for or contribute to our well being. We need to recognize the earth as the original capital asset without trying to reduce the intrinsic value of life to only utilitarian value to humanity, nor trying to make living capital convertible to financial capital as that would enable the most dangerous form of enclosure of the remaining ecological commons!

Regenerative leadership is a process [of personal development that aligns] one’s own way of being and actions with the wider pattern of life’s evolutionary journey within the communities, ecosystems, biosphere and Universe [we participate in].

As Janine Benyus has said so succinctly: “Life creates conditions conducive to life.” Regenerative Cultures aim to emulate this insight in how we relate to the human family and all life."

(https://medium.com/activate-the-future/regenerative-cultures-regenerative-economics-bioregional-regeneration-607d26c28d54)

Discussion

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/)

More Information

• Wikipedia: Regenerative economic theory
• Capital Institute