Designing Regenerative Cultures

by Daniel Christian Wahl, PhD, Triarchy Press, UK, May 2016

This is a ‘Whole Earth Catalog’ for the 21st century: an impressive and wide-
ranging analysis of what’s wrong with our societies, organizations, ideologies,
worldviews and cultures – and how to put them right. The book covers the
finance system, agriculture, design, ecology, economy, sustainability,
organizations and society at large.

In this remarkable book, Daniel Wahl explores ways in which we can reframe and
understand the crises that we currently face and explores how we can live our way into
the future. Moving from patterns of thinking and believing to our practice of
education, design and community living, he systematically shows how we can stop
chasing the mirage of certainty and control in a complex and unpredictable world.
The book asks how can we collaborate in the creation of diverse regenerative cultures adapted to the unique biocultural
conditions of place? How can we create conditions conducive to life?

Pre-publication peer reviews:

"This book is a valuable contribution to the important discussion of the worldview and value system we need to
redesign our businesses, economies, and technologies — in fact, our entire culture — so as to make them regenerative
rather than destructive."
-- Fritjof Capra, author of The Web of Life, coauthor of The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision

“This book is a treasure for everyone who is looking for a guide to more sustainable living and a roadmap for re-
designing our societies , regenerating our communities , cities and societies in harmony with natural systems and our
home planet. Author Daniel Wahl has deep experience to share and his knowledge in this beautiful book will help all
those aspiring to be responsible global citizens working for our common future."
-- Hazel Henderson, author and President, Ethical Markets Media , Certified B. Corporation, USA & Brazil

"Daniel Wahl has compiled a great deal of useful information in a masterful synthesis. That alone is a significant
accomplishment, but he’s given us more than that. Designing Regenerative Cultures describes the doorway to a
possible, indeed, necessary future. We are not fated to the dystopia in prospect. We have, as he writes, the capacity to
design and to organize our societies to protect, enhance, and celebrate life. The blueprint was there all along. The
awareness of our possibilities is growing. The art and sciences of ecological design are flourishing. The choice, as
always, is ours and that of those who will follow."
-- David Orr, author, environmentalist and Paul Sears Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin
College and a James Marsh Professor at the University of Vermont

"To me as a life-long activist nourished on systems thinking and Buddhist teachings, this is one of the most
intellectually exciting and soul stirring books I’ve read in years. I had the sense of drinking it, with pleasure and
surprise, not having known what I’d so thirsted for.

By starting with questions and keeping to questions throughout, Daniel engages the reader, and by example frees her
from striving for, or pretending to know, any final answers. This approach -- in itself a rare lesson in systems
epistemology — invites trust, openness, and a restructuring of the mind.

Among the gifts for which I am especially grateful are these: Conceptual tools for perceiving and experiencing our
mutual belonging , and especially what I’ve come to call the great reciprocity at the heart of the universe. The ways
Goethe, Bortoft, Bateson, Maturana, and Varela are brought in, and key insights mediated with economy and clarity.
The abundant evidence of the Great Turning, the manifold transition underway to a life-sustaining culture. And,
especially valuable to those of an apocalyptic bent like myself, the 'adaptive cycle' of resilient systems, showing that at
'the edge of chaos' comes opportunity for the emergence of greater complexity and intelligence.

These are but a few of the ways in which this remarkable book will enrich my thought, my teaching, and my life in this
turbulent world of ours."
-- Joanna Macy, environmental activist, scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology and author of
World as Lover, World as Self and numerous other books

"Living in a text-message culture, Designing Regenerative Cultures is another kind of text message, an essential
textbook for our times, filled with resources, references, practices, methods and pathways, and best of all questions we
can each live into, alone and together.
Our world has benefitted from the contributions of many authors and visionaries, grassroots activists and social
entrepreneurs, modern scientists and wise indigenous elders…. ancient and modern intelligence and creativity. And
yet, the single-hero journey of brilliant ones can only carry us so far.

Today there is a a deep need and longing for a local and global community of care on all levels in all disciplines. Daniel
Wahl takes us there in this comprehensive 'manifesto', offering a wholistic picture of a way and a world we can be for,
in lieu of the one that seems so headed for destruction.

In Designing Regenerative Cultures, Daniel weaves an 'old/new' story helping and I suspect activating, readers to see,
respect, learn from and go beyond, as he so clearly has, the great hearts and minds he references throughout.

The book contributes to this awakening field as we find ourselves looking through a kaleidoscope of perspectives and
teachings - different lenses moving in a spiral together through which to both view and live in our world. It can serve as
a foundation for another 'great turn', a directory for next steps worth taking.

Many will find inspiration and support to live the way we know we must, to live in the way we know we can if our
species is not only to survive, but actually thrive in partnership with all of life."
-- Virginia (Gigi) Coyle, co-author of The Way of Council and The Box: Remembering the Gift ; co-creator of the Ojai
Foundation, the School of Lost Borders and Beyond Boundaries

"Worldviews change when existing solutions no longer work and rising problems require new approaches. Designing
Regenerative Cultures is a lighthouse charting multiple pathways to the restless, impatient, continuing inquiry of our
times, and…. gathering, including and transcending scattered parts of the undivided whole. Time may position
Designing Regenerative Cultures as Daniel’s ‘meisterstuck’ and as a must read to all those who are aspiring to be at the
forefront of the regenerative (r)evolution."
-- May East, Chief International Officer, Gaia Education

"This is an excellent addition to the literature on ecological design and it will certainly form a keystone in the
foundations of the new MA in Ecological Design Thinking at Schumacher College, Devon. It not only contains a wealth
of ideas on what Dr Wahl has termed 'Designing Regenerative Cultures' but what is probably more important, it
provides some stimulating new ways of looking at persistent problems in our contemporary culture and hence opens up
new ways of thinking and acting in the future. Each Chapter in the book begins with an important question like, "Why
Nurture Resilience and Whole Systems Health" (Chapter 4) or "Why Take a Design Based Approach" (Chapter 5) and
what follows in each case are a number of suggestions to encourage deeper thinking. This is a very stimulating
approach to learning. I am looking forward to using Dr Wahl's book in challenging conversations with colleagues and
students."
-- Seaton Baxter OBE, Professor in Ecological Design Thinking, Schumacher College, UK

Publisher: Triarchy Press

Published: 3rd May 2016
Format: Paperback
List Price: £20.00 - 288 pages
Size: 17 x 24.4 cm
ISBN: 978-1-909470-77-4

Orders at: http://www.triarchypress.net/designing-regenerative-cultures.html

About the author: Daniel Wahl is an international consultant and educator specialized in biologically inspired whole
systems design and transformative innovation. Originallt trained as a biologist (University of Edinburgh & University
of California, 1996), Daniel holds an MSc in Holistic Science (Schumacher College, 2002) and a PhD in Design
(University of Dundee, 2006). He was the academic director of Findhorn College between 2007 and 2010. Daniel has
worked with local and national governments on foresight and futures, facilitated seminars on sustainable development
for UNITAR, consulted companies like Camper, Ecover and Lush on sustainable innovation, and has co-authored and
taught sustainability training courses for Gaia Education, LEAD International, and various universities and design
schools. Daniel is a member of the International Futures Forum, a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA), a
Findhorn Foundation Fellow, co-founder of Biomimicry Iberia, and he brought Bioneers to Europe in 2010. Daniel
currently works for Gaia Education and the S.M.A.R.T. UIB project of the Universidad de las Islas Balears. Since 2002,
he has published many articles and academic papers in English, German, and Spanish. Designing Regenerative Cultures
is his first book.