Season 3 has ended and we are planning our fourth season, to be launched next year. We are changing direction to help you and your business get ready for the sustainable transition. If you're ready to join us, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Welcome to another week of Shaken Not Burned! 

As COP29 comes to a close, with many questions open, there is a growing wave of concern that the process is no longer fit for purpose. Perhaps it's time that we take a closer look at the models we use to understand the world, and start looking at how we might replace exploitation with regeneration.

There’s no secret to the challenges facing the world today, from climate change and pollution and the risks surrounding clean air and water, to the degradation of nature and biodiversity. To address them, we need to create a self-sustaining loop of positive impacts to counteract the current direction of travel.

Scientists and economists are warning that we are breaching planetary boundaries, climate tipping points are in sight and the systems that underpin our socio-economic and political practices are becoming more unstable. Earth Overshoot Day hits earlier every year, as we’re consuming more material than the world can regenerate naturally. Liberalism and the concept of shared responsibility seem under attack, and the world is an increasingly scary place. But much of the damage can be reversed by thinking and acting regeneratively.

Like sustainability, regenerative is a term that can mean different things to different people. Its use and emphasis can also change from industry to industry and from role to role. Fundamentally, it indicates a shift from maintaining the status quo and attempting to minimise harm, to actively improving and revitalising the systems on which we rely. It’s about restoring, renewing and enhancing both environmental and social systems, actively creating positive outcomes.

Regeneration is important across sectors and approaches. Perhaps most recognised in terms of regenerative agriculture, which is intended to improve soil health, biodiversity and water systems rather than simply address the emissions that are associated with today's industrial agriculture – it can be achieved through a range of interventions from no-till farming to protect soil, to crop rotation and agroforestry. In design terms, it’s about enhancing built and designed systems to give back to nature and society. This can mean buildings that produce more energy than they consume or manage water sustainably and improve local biodiversity, driving anything from circular product design to urban planning.

In industrial terms, it’s about transforming production processes to create restorative, waste-free processes. It's often closely aligned with the concept of a circular economy, the idea that materials should be designed, used and reworked in order to stay in use, rather than to remain focused on an exploitative approach to the world around us. But it can include industrial symbiosis, where different industries with different needs share their approaches – perhaps where waste heat from a power plant can be used to warm a greenhouse.

What regeneration emphasises however is the interconnectedness of systems, and the idea that by intervening and changing what we do, we can have a net positive impact on the world around us.

One of the reasons that regenerative thinking is so important is that it allows us to focus on rebuilding, regenerating and adapting to change, ensuring that we are building a more resilient future - a crucial element in facing the uncertainty of climate change. At the same time, it enables people to work in harmony with nature’s own regenerative process, from water and nutrient recycling to biodiversity and ecosystem interdependence.

Taking a regenerative approach ensures that resources, energy, and materials can be revitalised and renewed. By copying nature’s self-sustaining systems, we can help provide a framework for human innovation in agriculture, design, and industry to support long-term resilience and ecological health.

And it works at every level too. Whether you’re involved in urban planning or farming, you’re designing new products for the future, or simply looking to find your own place in a volatile world, thinking regeneratively can help you find your way. This week we’re revisiting our conversations with Praveena Sridhar, chief science and technology officer at the Save Soil movement run by the Conscious Planet initiative, and Alisa Murphy, a coach helping purpose-driven professionals build careers rooted in nature, climate, and community.

Catch up with our previous episodes here:

• Save soil to save the climate with Conscious Planet

• Building a regenerative career with Alisa Murphy

Season 3 has ended and we are planning our fourth season, to be launched next year. We are changing direction to help you and your business get ready for the sustainable transition. If you're ready to join us, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.