Regenerative science is an emerging field of research that studies how living systems can be stewarded, cultured, and grown to restore and regenerate the health of Earthbound ecosystems, including Pacha Mama and human communities.

Purpose

The goals of regenerative science are to:

1. Understand how living systems work;

2. Develop new technologies and approaches that can be used for regeneration;

3. Enhance the resilience of living systems facing ecocide;

4. Reverse the feedback loops accelerating climate collapse and the Sixth Mass Extinction;

5. Solidify the sustainable foundations of a just, decolonized, and enduring future.

The overall purpose informing regenerative science is regeneration itself - defined in this context as restoring balance in a living system which has been harmed or disrupted due to anthropogenic (human-caused) disturbance. This can include anything from individual organisms and ecosystems, up through social institutions and cultural patterns, to global processes like climate collapse.

Principles

Living Systems

1. Living systems are interdependent – change in one part of the system influences other parts of the system in expected and unexpected ways

2. Living systems become more diverse as they evolve

3. Living systems are never static; they are always in flux

4. Living systems are filled with feedback loops that facilitate evolution

5. Living systems cannot be steered or controlled, only attracted or nudged.

6. Living systems only accept solutions that the system helps to create.

7. Living systems only pay attention to what is meaningful to them here and now. ^[1]

The ability to self-organize is the strongest form of system resilience. A system that can evolve can survive almost any change by changing itself.

– Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer ^[2]

Human Communities

1. Human communities are living systems:

Biologically, ecologically, and spiritually, we are part of the Earth community. Pacha Mama is self-regulating, and all life on Earth forms a single community of which we are an integral part.

2. Human communities impact living systems:

Geochronology has shown that we have entered a new geological era called (in Greek derivation) the Anthropocene, because human pollution is having global impacts at an unprecedented ecocidal rate.

Regenerative science thus necessarily concerns itself with the whole range of human sciences or social studies which pertain to the nature of human systems in order to understand why this is happening, and how to stop it. The broad study of human history and geography shows that our actions, and different kinds of human communities, can either harm or help other beings and ecosystems to greater and lesser degrees.

A wide range of scientific disciplines can be further used to study the numerous dimensions of human systems, how they shape and are shaped by human communities and other planetary ecosystems, and how their modes of production, distribution, and consumption fuel the regeneration or destruction of ecosocial and planetary health.

Practice

Regenerative science is not 'value neutral.' It is rather based on the premise that science is a collective enterprise, and shared ecological values must inform scientific practice. Further, science is understood to be a process which is both ecologically mediated and communally defined. The methods of regenerative science necessarily stem from the communities of practice which actively seek to an maximize regeneration.

This means that the application of regenerative science must be informed by ecological values such as interdependence, symbiosis, balance, and biodiversity - which are also (translated) core human values across cultures around the world.

Regenerative science is therefore not only the 'science of regeneration' but also the practice of science, done regeneratively.

Where the study of living systems leads to an appreciation for the sacred nature of life, its ability to grow and protect life is enhanced. For this reason, regenerative science is a spiritual practice as well as scientific.