From Cop(out)28 to Regenerative Future-crafting

System change through paradigm shift

Building Our Regenerative Future is a month away. We’ve just added a number of wonderful speakers/instructors to our roster. I am offering a special weekend offer for those who want to join us now — 25% off plus free access to any archived course you want — as well as a 50% discount for paid subscribers to this newsletter. I hope you will take this journey with us. Also, we offer full and partial scholarships available for those in need.

I’ve been exploring ideas around humanity’s possible future for decades now, with varying degrees of fatalism and optimism at different junctures. Cop28 is currently underway in Dubai, nicknamed “CopOut28” by environmental activists. COP28’s President, Sultan Al Jaber, is the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company. In a surprising comment, Al Jaber denied the scientific consensus around climate change: “There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C.”

Despite endless summits and dire warnings from freaked-out scientists, emissions keep increasing. As Climate Trace documents on their website, “Global emissions increased 1.5% from 2021 to 2022 and have increased 8.6% from 2015 — the year of the Paris Climate Agreement — to 2022.” According to The Global Tipping Points report produced (ironically) by the Bezos Earth Fund, we are on the verge of “five catastrophic climate tipping points” including the melting of the Arctic ice sheets and the loss of coral reefs. These will cause massive domino effects, such as mass population displacement and economic collapse.

When it comes to responding to the planetary emergency, our current civilization is still, for the most part, in a state of denial and paralysis. According to Daniel Wahl in Designing Regenerative Systems:

Virtually every structure and institution around us is in need of innovation, redesign and transformation. At the local, regional, national and global scale we need transformational change in education, governance, industry, transport, infrastructure, energy systems, water management, agriculture and food systems, health systems, as well as social systems. In order to enable transformative innovation to unfold its creative potential we need to redesign the financial and economic system at all scales from local to global. But the most up-stream transformation that has to take place before we set out to ‘redesign the human presence on Earth’ is to deeply question our way of thinking, our worldview and our value system. Up-stream changes in our mental models, basic beliefs and assumptions about the nature of reality will affect how, what, and why we design, the needs we perceive, the questions we ask, and hence the solutions or answers we propose.

I agree with Wahl on all of this, particularly that our “mental models, basic beliefs and assumptions about the nature of reality” need to be changed before we can authentically change the system. This is why I focused on consciousness transformation, originally through psychedelics or entheogens, and, more recently, by promoting the philosophy of analytic or monistic idealism as a paradigm to replace reductive materialism.

If we do not go extinct as a species, we are probably at the start of a process that could take a few decades or a few centuries, in which our fundamental values and ideals shift drastically, leading to new social structures, new forms of governance, perhaps new religions or a new kind of decentralized esotericism to take over the function of religions that have become obsolete and regressive.

While writing How Soon Is Now (2016), I realized we can’t address the deeper underlying causes of this systemic crisis while preserving the current market-driven, hyper-consumerist, nation-state system — but it is difficult to envision a way of replacing the system, without catastrophic repercussions. The rise of Right Wing authoritarianism around the world is directly linked to the climate crisis and the depletion of resources, which is making people insecure and frightened.

At this challenging juncture, I believe the world needs people like you and me to courageously inquire, “think beyond the limit,” and confront these massive subjects. By considering what is possible and even what is inconceivable, we prepare ourselves psychologically and physically for different outcomes. We initiate new “morphogenetic fields” of resonance, leading to future acts of co-creation.

Many of the thinkers and activists involved with Building Our Regenerative Future propose a model that could be called “cosmolocalism:” Autonomous local groups can be networked together into bioregional alliances, ultimately creating a planetary orchestration. Local groups can engage in participatory democracy and regenerative practices, learning from each other in real-time. I tried to build such a movement with The Evolver Network (2008 - 2013), which had over sixty local groups at its zenith. I learned a great deal from that initiative, which I will share during the seminar.

Everything happening now — now matter how alarming or horrifying (Israel/Palestine, Trump/Biden, Russia/Ukraine, US/China, AGI/ASI) — is, in some sense, a side show or diversion, as it keeps us from responding in some unified fashion to the ecological threat. The onslaught of horrific events takes our attention away from the ongoing breakdown of our planetary support systems. Without a redirection, we face near-term collapse and even, perhaps, extinction.

Of course, nobody can fully or accurately predict what is coming next. Events always seem to overwhelm our capacity for foresight. It does seem obvious that — no matter what — ongoing ecological breakdowns will lead to increasing societal dislocations. I already see this in New York City, where 110,000 migrants from Africa and South America have turned up in the last six months, flooding the shelter system. These migrants line up and sleep under cardboard on my corner in front of an abandoned school, waiting for days to get a cot in an improvised shelter. I’ve never seen anything quite like this before. I suspect this is only the beginning of what’s coming.

Building Our Regenerative Future is an opportunity to authentically explore what is happening, and think through ways we can to respond to it, both individually and collectively. We have invited experts with a range of interests and skills to speak in the seminar, including community organizers, climate activists, and people who already practice local self-sufficiency. Check out the complete faculty roster here.

More than just an event, the seminar is a platform to genuinely question, explore, and prepare for what lies ahead. Among our new speakers are Jenny Stefanotti, a visionary in community building and strategic development, and Jamie Wheal, whose work challenges existing paradigms and offers pathways to personal and communal growth. Douglas Rushkoff, once a proponent of digital technology, now advocates for a more measured, human-centric approach, seeing the pitfalls of unchecked technological advancement.

Jenny Stefanotti: Denizen

Jenny Stefanotti is the founder of Denizen, an active network of thinkers and entrepreneurs working on sustainable and regenerative initiatives. Stefanotti hosts the Denizen podcast. Denizen also produces events and organizes experimental programming for its audience and community. Stefanotti has 20 years of experience driving strategic initiatives for major technology companies, startups, high net worth individuals, nonprofits, and governments.  She was a fellow at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, and has a Master's Degree in international development and economics from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Jamie Wheal: Flow Genome Project

Jamie Wheal wrote Flow with Steven Kottler. His book, Recapture the Rapture addresses the contemporary meaning crisis, rethinking small concepts such as God, sex, and death. Wheal critiques many old and current beliefs (like technological transhumanism) as "Rapture ideologies," promising ultimate salvation or fulfillment. To counteract destructive ideologies, Wheal offers an intensive program of embodiment that includes exercises in breathing, movement, and sexuality to heal trauma, inspire self-development, and strengthen community bonds. His program is designed to help individuals "wake up, grow up," and find deeper meaning in a world that denies it.

Douglas Rushkoff: Team Human

Douglas Rushkoff, a prolific media theorist and writer, has expressed growing skepticism about the role of technology in society and now advocates for slower, more local and human-centric approaches. Initially, Rushkoff was a champion of the digital age, advocating for the potential of technology to empower individuals. Over time, he has become increasingly worried about technology's impact. In Team Human, he argues that digital technology, particularly AI, is rapidly eroding human freedom and undermining communities. The internet, once considered a tool for open democracy and free expression, has evolved into an invasive behemoth that fragments society, keeps watch on us, and compromises our humanity. Rushkoff focuses on strategies for taking back our agency.

I hope you will join us as we continue to expand our roster of thought leaders. More than a seminar, Building Our Regenerative Future is a call to action for those ready to envision and enact a future that is less dystopian than co-creative, participatory, inspired, and improbably fantastic.