The modern world is inherently self-destructive. We use natural resources, create products and services and consume them. Indeed, it’s a never ending race, and we’re doing so more aggressively and with greater efficiency that at any other point in recorded history. Global demand, production and distribution is happening far faster than the planet can process. If we don’t slow down, or change gears, how much longer can we continue?
Enter the simple notion of regeneration.
Since the 1970’s we’ve tried to come to terms with waste management, pollution, and recycling. But much of what we think has been progress has been an illusion. It turns out, they really don’t actually recycle most of the waste we haul to the curb in our green and yellow recycling bins.
Despite the dream of product lifecycles that begin again at the recycling plant in your neighborhood, landfills are filling at an alarming rate.
Since the 2000’s we’ve had a smarter approach and have made strides towards a more regenerative economy, but it turns our it’s easier to pretend we’re making progress than actually paying a little more for it.
As with green building, the business case for disruptive change has got to win the day. High hopes and optimism can’t prevail over reality and market forces. But if we’re to survive this time and reach mankind’s true potential, we need to move with even greater determination towards actual sustainability.
To address this and more, Southface Institute in Atlanta presents this webinar, live on March 5, 2021. Register, listen in, and let’s gauge where we are and chart a better course for the near future.
Sustainability in Action Roundtable
From Competition to Collaboration
Balancing the Natural, Social and Built Environments in a Regenerative Economy
March 5, 2021 from 11:00 – 12:30pm EST
Since the late 1800s Western countries have increasingly adopted linear economy models to sustain themselves; taking materials from the earth, making goods and products, using those goods and products, and finally disposing of them to consume the next generation of goods and products. Prices were inexpensive because materials and labor were cheap, extraction was easy, and industrialization made mass production possible. After two hundred years the bill has come due. Natural resources are depleted and threatened, including those that sustain life. Generations of goods and products, and their manufactures, have created solid waste problems and environmental pollution.
The linear economy has exploited impoverished and vulnerable people and communities around the globe, exacerbating systemic oppression, disenfranchisement, and inequity. Humanity is facing a ticking clock with climate change. What if Southface told you there’s a way to beat the clock, create a healthy economy, and eliminate inequity?
Join us March 5th to learn more about the regenerative economy and how it creates value while simultaneously lifting all people and communities and enhancing natural systems—increasing social, economic and environmental potential without prioritizing one outcome over the other. The discussion will be led by Bill Reed of Regenesis, along with several panelists sharing different components of a regenerative economy.
More info here:
https://www.southface.org/get-involved/events/sustainability-in-action-roundtable/
Southface Institute promotes sustainable homes, workplaces and communities through education, research, advocacy and technical assistance.
Visit them at https://www.southface.org/