As we continue to lean in to what Joanna Macy calls The Great Turning, we’ve been thinking for several years about some kind of global network of planetary stewards. Earth Regenerators (ER) is such a network, and a great deal more. It’s a living laboratory of inquiry, of collective learning and engagement, and of conscious cultural evolution in the midst of the unravelling of modern civilization.

It has become an important part of our own learning journey to have become the U.S. fiscal sponsor for ER. Like others joining the community seeking to understand the magic in Joe Brewer’s work over the past several years, we came for the discussions and the relationships with no other intentions. What we have found is a place for ourselves in this community that is both inspiring and empowering.

There are multiple entry points for our participation.

An awareness of, and acceptance of, collapse, as an inevitable occurrence, and accepting the mission of helping communities and individuals traverse the chaos and uncertainty, and avoid falling into a new dark age, or worse, derailing our evolution and facing our own extinction.

That civilization is unraveling is becoming more and more apparent every day.

True, it continues to have enormous, and enormously damaging, momentum. We have not only exceeded the Nine Planetary Boundaries, but continue to accelerate our production of toxic chemicals and consumer goods, our disruption of natural habitats, and our release of global greenhouse gases. One way or another, this is unsustainable. Either we change pathways, and choose the restorative approach, or we will run into global collapse. The collapse of global supply chains, of a majority of coastal cities, of our capacity to withstand heat waves and other disasters, and finally of our communities and political institutions if they cannot keep up with our rapidly changing needs.

Imagine the worst forms of this collapse, as occurred in many places during the early years of the COVID pandemic, with hospitals overflowing and healthcare workers themselves dying in significant numbers. Meanwhile much of the economy shut down, most families were isolated in their own homes, and watched the fabric of society beginning to fray and break down into democratic and authoritarian factions in ways that could potentially lead to civil war.

In the face of all this, what we need above all is to strengthen our local self-sufficiency, ecological health, and social cohesion. Joe Brewer is demonstrating this in Barichara, Colombia, where the group has already acquired land and is buying more to establish an Ecoversity. Along with others, ER is engaged in territorial-scale restoration with the goal of joining the Commonland Foundation, creating a global community of bioregional learning centers, and demonstrating a path to Earth regeneration.

The health of our bioregion is a critical element of a new local economy that can actually help humans thrive. As more and more people get paid to restore and protect the rich local biodiversity that is natural to the place, and to harmonize our homes and cities with nature, the wealthier and more resilient the community itself will become.

Regenerative finance. We had actually been promoting regenerative financing for several years, beginning with the model of Commercial PACE and expanding this model to ecological restoration. Joe had a deeper and more immediate take on what was needed to marshall resources on behalf of a regenerative economy, is demonstrating this in Barichara, and is inviting us to do the same for the whole of ER.

Indeed, one important aspect of ER is that it is in the process of becoming its own economic engine.