E29 | Joe Brewer | Regenerating Earth: Collapse, Complexity, Economics, & Education
“We need to restore Earth systems patterns and relationships through bioregional organizing.”
Here is an audio version.
A video version can be found below.
Together with Joe, we explore the true meaning of collapse—not as an apocalyptic endpoint but as a transformation of stability, a shift in patterns. Joe invites us to move beyond fear and recognize that everyone alive today was born into an ongoing collapse. We discuss the planetary boundary tipping points already crossed, the unraveling of human social systems, and the urgent need for regenerative pathways so that humanity and countless other species may continue to share life on this beautiful blue planet.
Drawing from his book, The Design Pathway for Regenerating Earth, Joe shares how bioregional organizing, regenerative economies, and living system principles can guide us toward renewal. Through a deep ecological lens, we rediscover our ancestral roots, the essential role of healthy hydrological cycles, and the power of regenerative education to mend our relationships—with ourselves, each other, and Earth as our living home.
This episode is an invitation to shift from apathy and despair to heartfelt and life-centric action—to restore our bioregions, reimagine economics and education through an ecological lens, and reclaim the radical responsibility of regenerating Earth.
Find Thematic Show Notes Below
Connect with Joe:
Design School
2025 Learning Journey
Book
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Connect with WHR:
WHR Instagram
Coyotei Counsel Instagram
Tei’s Instagram
Email - whr.link@gmail.com
Thematic Show Notes
Collapse as Transformation:
“Collapse is a breakdown . . . and renewal of a different kind of stability and pattern.”
Reframing collapse as a shift in Earth’s long-standing systems rather than an apocalyptic end.
The accelerating collapse of biodiversity and planetary boundary tipping points.
Beyond Anthropocentrism:
The collapse of the Ice Age cycle due to deforestation.
Earth system indicators: Greenland ice melt, permafrost thaw, Amazonian dieback.
The human social system’s fragility: wealth inequality, loss of sense-making, governance breakdown.
The Design Pathway for Regeneration:
“We need to return to a bioregional way of living, except also to be planetary.”
Restoring Earth’s patterns through bioregional organizing.
Learning from permaculture and agroecology as models of regeneration.
Regeneration as a Biological Process:
“Life only exists where water exists.”
The hydrological cycle and the vital relationship between water and vegetation.
Partnering with ecosystems to sustain life rather than extract from them.
Regenerative Economics:
“A real economy is about relationships and context.”
Honoring community and place as the foundation of economic life.
Seeking dynamic balance rather than static accumulation.
Restoring a Sense of the Sacred:
Regeneration as intergenerational work, deeply woven with Indigenous wisdom.
“Regenerative education is about coming back into relationship with that which gives us life.”
Walking away from destructive global systems and reclaiming local participation.