#Seed025: Fostering Regenerative Citizenship

On building a culture of regeneration from the ground up

Over the last decade, I have worked with community changemakers across Canada, exploring ways to foster resilience, encourage active citizenship, and build community. I have designed and delivered civic workshops at both municipal grassroots and national scales. My biggest lesson? Active citizenship is the wrong paradigm. We need regenerative citizenship.

In Step-by-Step Guide to Opting-Out, I observed that the “cosmopolitan city is disconnected from the land, and its resident is in a perpetual state of limbo, never growing roots.” Active citizenship takes various forms, ranging from voting to attending and organizing neighborhood parties. While at its core, regenerative citizenship involves investing in local economies. In other words, cultivating a sense of financial and emotional concern for the management of the world around us, whether through land-use planning, poverty reduction, farming, transportation, or foreign affairs.

My conviction is that we’ve been using the wrong metrics to measure so-called active citizenship, traditionally determined by quantitative metrics (e.g., voter turnout, volunteer hours, donation amounts). I propose we shift our focus towards regenerative citizenship, asking ourselves, “How can I ensure that my contribution to my community and society is greater than what I take from it?” This is not about cutting social benefits necessarily but rather about assessing how those benefits are reinvested into the community. If I benefit from a pubic health care system, I can ask the question how am I contributing to the health and well-being of my community. This is regenerative citizenship.

Gabe Brown’s Five Principles of Soil Health

As a gardener and community catalyser, I believe in starting from the ground up, literally. No economy can thrive without healthy soil. This understanding is vital in agriculture and is driving the increasing move towards regenerative agriculture.

A regenerative citizen must recognize their role in the food system, understanding seasonal produce, the impact of climate trends on food prices, and ways to support local food production. More importantly, cultivating awareness of regenerative agriculture is crucial, even for those who aren't directly involved in growing food.

In the past, I’ve facilitated workshops on food system participation, deepening people’s appreciation of farmers and recognizing, as Wendell Berry says, that “eating is an agricultural act.” Regenerative citizenship goes a step further, participating in food and agricultural policy discussions and advocating for soil health. To this end, regenerative agriculture advocate Gabe Brown's five principles for soil health from his book, Dirt to Soil, are invaluable:

1. Limited disturbance: Minimize disturbance to soil, avoiding excessive tillage, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers.

2. Armor: Protect soil like a scab protects a wound. Plant cover ensures it isn’t eroded by wind and water.

3. Diversity: Mimic the diversity of natural landscapes.

4. Living Roots: Maintain living roots in the soil as long as possible to fuel the nutrient cycle.

5. Integrated animals: Recognize animals as an integral part of the landscape, stimulating plant growth and cycling nutrients.

Policies that discourage these principles should be revisited. Whether on a large landscape in the country or an urban yard, all can practice these principles.

Participating in the Commons

Rethinking public space is crucial. Public spaces are often maintained by public employees, lacking a sense of shared community stewardship. This creates an inefficient system of participation. A regenerative citizenship model encourages collective ownership of beloved places. Community fridges, gardens, composting programs, ice rinks, and parks can all become commons, cared for by the people who use them.

Deepening Local Economies

In Deepening Community, Paul Born illustrates that bringing a bowl of soup to a sick neighbor is more than an act of kindness; it's a community-building process. It requires trust, relationship-building, and understanding of personal needs. Regenerative citizens embody this process, participating in their communities, building relationships, and investing in the skills and talents of those around them.

Local economies burgeon through such participation. Just as soils, communities, and economies are interconnected, regenerative citizens aware of soil health and land management create a regenerative whole system.