Designers of Paradise: Erik van Lennep interviews Daniel Christian Wahl
Regenerative Agriculture Sector Accelerator podcast from Autumn 2018
In November 2018 Erik van Lennep, who I first met in 2010 at the Bioneers Europe conference I organized at the Findhorn ecovillage, invited me to join him in a conversation on his ‘Designers of Paradise’ podcast series.
Among the things we ended up speaking about were:
- my work with Gaia Education and the programmes they offer
- the SDGs Community Implementation Flashcards I developed for them
- the regenerative (r)evolution underway and the importance of a living whole systems perspective
- climate change and the deep question of “what kind of people do we need to become in order to effectively respond”
- life as a regenerative community and the interconnected nature of life as a planetary process at different scales (including our micro-biome …)
- moving from original participation to separation and on to final participation (and the importance of indigenous wisdom)
- bioregional regenerative development and its importance
- the link between human and planetary health and how it links to ecosystems restoration and regeneration efforts
- moving beyond ‘learning from nature’ to ‘design as nature’
- reversing climate change in time to avoid cataclysmic run-away climate change
From Eric’s podcast page:
How does “learning from nature” differ from “designing as nature” ? Can we overcome the “nature culture divide” ? What will it take for people to fall in love with the planet again?
These are some of the topics Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep discusses with author, speaker and educator Daniel Christian Wahl. Wahl is author of Designing Regenerative Cultures, head of Innovation and Design for Gaia Education, and runs a consultancy from Mallorca Spain.
Erik and Daniel cover a variety of topics including the potential for the Sustainable Development Goals to increase support for global regeneration, how regenerative development can be thought of as “re-indigenization”, thought-leaders and mentors in thinking about regenerative design, the emergence of earth jurisprudence, and the multiplicity of entry points for interest in regeneration.
Echoing some of the discussion Erik had with Kevin Bayuk, they emphasize the importance of bioregionalism, talk about people’s connection with nature and “interbeing“, ponder the interaction of human biomes, and warn against “carbon-myopia”.
Their energy and excitement is contagious — enjoy!
References:
- H3Uni — a University for the Third Horizon
- Wahl’s recent book Designing Regenerative Cultures
- His recent essay Planetary Health and Regeneration
- Three Horizons, The Patterning of Hope, Bill Sharpe
- Award-winning author, barrister & Ecocide Law expert Polly Higgins
- The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, Thomas Berry
- The Spell of the Sensuous, David Abram
- Saving Appearances, Owen Barfield
- Humans gardening the Amazon
- Human Microbiome
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Schumacher College
- Planetary Health platform, Univ. of Sydney
Podcast: Download
