Co-Creation of a Center for a Regenerative Future

Abstract

We present the ideas, conditions, and environments that motivated our co-creation of a Center for a Regenerative Future at the University of Denver. There is an emerging consensus among scholars and a widening realization among younger generations that the concept of sustainability has exhausted its utility as a framework and rhetorical narrative for creating a viable future for humanity. Growing levels of eco-anxiety related to climate change, loss of biodiversity, and their social and economic consequences suggest that efforts to achieve ‘sustainability’ or ‘sustainable development’ are not succeeding. Dominant sustainability paradigms typically rest on an anthropocentric culture–nature dualism and a mechanistic worldview that perpetuates a growth-based economic system that is socially inequitable and ecologically destructive. Regenerative paradigms offer holistic understandings of Earth systems, with accompanying commitments to social and ecological justice. They support the development of resilient communities that allow for wider economic prosperity, security, and global environmental healing. We share the successes, challenges, and experiences associated with our effort to create a Center for a Regenerative Future in the hope that others can leverage this information to build their own regenerative institutions, communities, and practices.