Context for the Next 41 Days

January 1st, 2019, I will immerse into the freezing San Francisco Bay and swim 1.25 miles from Alcatraz Island to shore at the Aquatic Park to inspire people to Reverse Climate Change profitably. I realize how crazy that may sound to many of you, as we live in an age of information obscurity and lack of clear thinking. The next 41 days of content on Facebook, Instagram and Medium are designed to drip feed you a transformational message of whole systems thinking; to change your hearts and minds. As Einstein said

The world we have created is a product of our thinking…If we want to change the world we have to change our thinking… no problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.

Most of us have been educated in a reductionist manner; we do not look at whole systems. This leads to an unconscious belief that external experts exist, and will solve the problems we are facing today. Well, the experts of our industrial society have created the system and are not able to break that mold without losing their expert status. I’d argue that in the world we are heading toward, the empowered explorer is the new expert; we will have to develop expertise through trial and error. Humanity is at a breaking point ecologically, socially, psychologically and spiritually. Many of our global problems are interlinked, and the truth of the matter is, our western way of life, with consumer excess, perpetual warfare, for-profit prisons, ecologically destructive agriculture, with power in the hands of few people, is a bain to global humanity. It is the epitome of degeneration, and it will not last forever. If we want to thrive as a species, which I believe we all want, we will need to transition to a regenerative way of life.

Why Reverse Climate Change, when I just spoke of problems that reach further than this one particular issue? Because in my opinion, once we begin to work together to build a more regenerative and restorative economic system, we will take the principles of ecology and use them to create solutions to other global problems. If you know about the concept of ecological disturbance, you’ll begin to see how we may need to disturb the extractive system as well as restore and replenish it.

source Research Gate

That said, the thought of transforming our whole society may sound too big and too expansive for many of you. According to the diffusion of innovations theory, the adoption of new ideas and ways of living disperse through society in a logical path; first 2.5% of people are innovators, the ones who have been farming regeneratively, living in community, breaking down the social norms of the degenerative society. The next 12.5% of all people are early adopters; they are cool, hip, and influential people who the rest of their peers look up to; these are the ones we need to concentrate on. The rest of humanity, I hate to say it, will actually conform to the new normal once the innovators and early adopters unify around a particular movement. This is the New Testament concept of the shepherd and the sheep broken down into social scientific observation; my goal is to find and inspire the shepherds.

That said, I open myself to being challenged along the way, as this is a process of self-regeneration as well as an education in ecological restoration. Dialogue and logical discourse are important, and part of a regenerative culture is to create a supportive space for dissenting and supporting perspectives; yet in that, we must bring research to our assertions and be willing to be challenged.

Tomorrow, an initiation will begin for those who choose to participate in any way. The journey will begin with a story of the first time I stepped into a 40 Days of Regeneration in the Mendocino National Forest. During those days I faced myself, death, and my inner demons. At times it was scary, other times completely blissful, but in the end, upon finishing that self-exploration I stepped out of that wilderness a better person, ready for bigger and better things. Think of this story as a small snippet of what is to come, and all online content created for the next 40 days are meant to replicate my personal transformation for you, the participant. We cannot change the world until we step up into our bigger selves; until we conquer our inner beasts.

From Thurday (Gratitude Day) until December 31st we will cover a lot of topics, like the global carbon cycle, farming, ocean restoration, economics, as well as some philosophical and spiritual perspectives. This isn’t a dogmatic journey, take only the pieces that resonate with your inner intuition and your intellect, and leave behind aspects if you see fit. If parts of the narrative bother you, speak up, let’s talk about it; I’m down for a healthy discussion. On my Instagram stories, I’ll be posting some workout content; regenerating my body and mind so as to complete the swim on January 1st. In the end, this is all about how you interact with the material and the opportunity to change your mind about what is possible as evolution’s most advanced species on Earth in 2018. Human history is the repeated successful unfolding of the Hero Myth, time and time again; the question you must ask yourself is, are you ready to go on this journey together?

The basis of this work comes from my unwavering faith in the ingenuity of the human species, in a basic understanding of evolutionary biology where, as Leon C Meggison said,

it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.

I do not think we are going to allow this world to crumble because some people have more paper currency and others have more guns. Collectively, we are very smart and can scale profitable businesses restoring the Earth, learning from some brilliant regenerative pioneers along the way. We will learn about interacting with nature more with the mindset of a student, and as these interactions become more prevalent we will begin to see how healthy ecosystems in nature are similar to a healthy economy and marketplace. With recent advancements in computer science, we will discover how we can track external ecological outcomes in products and services like never before in human history, we will begin to merge economic wealth with ecological health. As we make this healing journey, we will be better equipped to deal with the problems of human ecologies, problems that live at the surface of our global, degenerative system. Be prepared to be born anew.

As I step into the water to train for Swim to Regenerate, I seek to leave my own weakness, bitterness, and small thinking behind. I seek to push myself to be a better, more forgiving, more loving man; to restore my being, as a path toward restoring the external world in my image.

Are you one of the shepherds meant to usher in a new economy? Will you join me on this journey of transformation?

#RegenerateOurselves #ShedOurDegenerativeSkin #ShepherdTheFlock #Restore #Replenish