September Updates — Five Scopes of Practice
Dear friends,
It has been quite the few months. We hope everyone has a chance to restore and feel alive in the ways they are able. In times like these, we feel so grateful for community and relationships. Though we are unable to gather in person, we will continue to find ways to be present with each other so we can deepen our relationship with the land and with you, our community.
We’d like to let you know what progress we’ve made in Terran’s five scopes of practice, and how you can participate in each one. We’ve organized our work into these 5 areas for the last year as an experiment, and while we sense a reformulation is in the air, here’s where we are today:
Technology for Thriving
We create systems and tools for us to coordinate at scale. We focus on designing software that supports collective sensemaking, collaborative decision-making, and most importantly, offline impact.
How can technology bring us closer together, building resilient communities capable of coordinating real-world regenerative action?
Crowdfunding Hylo — Launch Party on Thursday Sept 24, 5–7pm PT
Our work on Hylo is flowing, with lots of buzz, great partnerships, and more communities coming on board.
On Thursday we are launching a crowdfunding campaign to support our work on Hylo. Our goal is to raise $100,000 from our community this fall, as part of a larger fundraising effort. You can read more about that here.
Help Us Tell the Story
We’re putting together a short video for the campaign, and we’d love your participation. Because we’re building Hylo for this community and others like it, we want to include clips from our community showing you working your magic! We’re looking for shots of people gardening, enjoying nature, working together, creating, gathering in circle or ceremony, or doing any work that is meaningful to you. Please upload your short videos here.
Community Weaving
Strong communities are resilient amidst rapid change. As we weave relationships, we practice solidarity and equity, working to heal and regenerate the land we live on together.
How do we build bridges across diverse communities and ensure that every voice has a seat at the table?
Bay Area Regenerative Colab (Community Calls) — first Thursday of the month
We’ve hosted community Zooms here and there, and from here on out, we’ll host these at a regular cadence on the first Thursday of each month. Mark your calendars for our next virtual potluck, Thursday October 1 from 5 to 6:30pm PT! These calls are a time to share asks, offers, and updates, and we often have a featured speaker — recently we hosted Berkeley Councilmember Cheryl Davila and her son Armando to discuss their resolution to create a regenerative economy in the Bay Area. Livestream here.
Join Terran Collective on Hylo!
Ready to get off Facebook after watching The Social Dilemma? (If you haven’t watched this potent documentary by our friends at the Center for Humane Technology, go do it!) We have been pouring our hearts into Hylo getting it ready to host regenerative communities around the world. Join us there in the Terran Collective community so we can coordinate in an online space designed for collaboration, not extraction. Hylo is a work in progress and we want to invite you into co-creating it with us! The first step is for us to start gathering on Hylo so we can explore how an online tool can help us thrive.
Storytelling for Cultural Evolution
Let’s shift cultural narratives to share a new story in a way that resonates with different communities.
Inquiry: How do we share stories that are inclusive, inspiring, and unifying at the same time?
Bioregionalism Through Generations
Clare and Neha had the honor of speaking alongside a founder of the bioregionalism movement, Judy Goldhaft of Planet Drum Foundation, as part of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness (PCC) Forum, a transdisciplinary lecture series hosted by the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). We shared about how we see our work as an extension of the movement Judy originated in San Francisco starting in the 60s, and how technologies of today can carry place-based organizing into the future. The recording is available here.
Regenerating the Commons
Let’s rebuild our ability to collectively govern the commons, experiment with decentralized models and create gift economies.
How can we return to remembered ways of working together, sharing resources, group decision making, and stewardship of commons and common pool resources?
Villaging: Creating Land-Based Community
Many of us are looking for land to steward where our communities can build deep trust and resilience. In April, we hosted an event about cooperative land projects called Co-Buying Land for Community: How To Get Started. Wisdom was shared from Cassandra Ferrera, AnnieRose, Cliff, Matt, and Ericka as we explored the different ways to navigate this dynamic initiative. You can view the livestream here and join the Villaging group on Hylo for future conversations around this.
Collaborative Ecosystem Mapping
As we regenerate the commons, we can begin to transparently map resource flows that allow our communities to foster relationships and make more informed decisions.
How can transparently mapping resources and relationships across a bioregion generate stronger bonds, accountability, and accelerate regeneration?
Indigenous Solidarity and Responsible Mapping
Maps tell stories. Maps have altered histories and erased communities. Maps are tools for us to relate to land. As we create maps in Hylo, we want to consider how this tool shapes our perspective. We are diving into our inquiries on how to map things in a good way — ways that allow for connection, protection, and education (rather than extraction and exploitation). We are having this conversation with the NorCal Resilience Network Indigenous Solidarity group and Bay Area Indigenous leaders, and with their input shaping the member experience on the Hylo map to respect the land and honor sacred spaces.
If you have thoughts, expertise, or would like to join the conversation about responsible mapping or any of the above, please reach out at info@terran.io.
These are challenging times, and we’re channeling our deepened feelings of urgency into working as hard as we can to create the world we know is possible. We recognize that it is possible to honor the grief we feel while also moving forward with thoughtful action. We’re honored to be working alongside you as community, and we look forward to weaving more with you in the coming months. More soon!
In solidarity,
Terran Collective Core Stewards
Clare | Neha | Aaron | Tibet | Kelly
