ETHICAL REGENERATIVE ECONOMICS WISDOM HUB
Building a Life-Affirming Economy in an Era of Acceleration and Simplification
by Larry Greene
Curator of Actionable Information for Regenerative Communities
March 18, 2026
Salish Sea Ecoregion / Cascadia Bioregion
What Is the Economy For?
The economy is not the point. It is the means.
The point is life — human dignity, ecological vitality, cultural continuity, and the conditions that allow communities to flourish over time.
For more than a century, dominant economic systems have measured success through growth in Gross Domestic Product, quarterly earnings, and asset appreciation. These metrics tell us how fast money moves. They do not tell us whether communities are secure, ecosystems are regenerating, or democratic power is widely shared.
Ethical Regenerative Economics begins with a different question:
What must an economy protect and enhance if it is to serve life?
The answer includes:
Living systems (soil, forests, watersheds, biodiversity)
Social trust and democratic agency
Universal economic dignity
Long-term resilience within planetary boundaries
Economics must be evaluated by how well it sustains these foundations.
This hub follows Democratic Governance intentionally.
Governance determines who makes decisions. Economics determines who holds power.
A democracy cannot remain healthy if its economic architecture concentrates wealth, ownership, and decision-making authority beyond public accountability.
Ethical Regenerative Economics therefore extends democratic principles into the material structures that shape everyday life. It asks not only how we govern ourselves politically, but how we organize energy, capital, labor, and land in ways that reinforce civic agency rather than undermine it.
The Biophysical Reality: Money as a Claim on Energy
Modern economic theory often treats money as neutral — a unit of account, medium of exchange, and store of value.
Biophysically, money is something more specific:
a claim on energy and materials.
Every dollar spent effectively hires an invisible energy worker. Every loan represents a future claim on real-world throughput — fuel, minerals, labor, ecosystems.
The concept of Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) helps clarify this reality.
In earlier eras, a barrel of oil invested in extraction might return 50 or even 100 barrels of usable energy. As high-quality resources deplete, more energy is required to access what remains. Lower EROI reduces the surplus energy available to sustain complex financial, technological, and institutional systems.
Financial expansion can temporarily obscure declining energy quality — but it cannot override it indefinitely. When monetary claims grow faster than underlying biophysical capacity, instability emerges.
This reframes inflation and deflation as signals about whether financial claims on reality exceed what reality can deliver.
Nate Hagens identifies seven interacting drivers of price dynamics:
Money creation
Resource depletion
Technology
Affordability
Financial leverage
Ecological instability
Currency system architecture
Together they reveal a deeper truth:
Our civilization has dramatically increased financial complexity and claims on reality while depleting high-quality energy and ecological stability.
This mismatch sets the stage for what Hagens calls the Great Simplification — a contraction in complexity as financial, ecological, and material realities realign.
The Great Simplification is not destiny. It is a risk trajectory.
Its severity depends on whether we redesign economic architecture before cascading shocks force chaotic adjustment.
Acceleration Without Wisdom
Artificial intelligence, automation, and capital concentration are accelerating economic transformation at extraordinary speed.
Acceleration is not inherently destructive.
But acceleration without distributed ownership and ecological guardrails magnifies:
Wealth concentration
Labor precarity
Resource throughput
Political capture
If AI productivity gains accrue primarily to centralized capital, inequality widens.
If automation replaces income without restructuring ownership, demand collapses.
If digital infrastructure scales without biophysical accounting, energy strain rises.
Technology expresses the economy it grows inside.
Artificial intelligence intensifies this dynamic.
AI is not neutral infrastructure. It amplifies the ownership patterns and governance rules into which it is deployed.
If productivity gains flow primarily to centralized capital, inequality accelerates and political influence consolidates. If AI tools are embedded within democratic and regenerative ownership structures, they can increase transparency, coordination, and adaptive capacity.
The technology itself does not determine the outcome. Economic design does.
Acceleration under extractive rules intensifies fragility.
Acceleration under regenerative rules can increase resilience.
The difference is structural design.
Concentration of Power and Democratic Erosion
Over the past four decades, policy decisions have enabled dramatic market concentration:
Four banks controlling nearly half of U.S. deposits
Amazon capturing over 40% of e-commerce
Three pharmacy benefit managers controlling 80% of prescriptions
This consolidation is not natural market evolution. It reflects weakened antitrust enforcement and policy frameworks favoring scale dominance.
Beginning in the late twentieth century, antitrust enforcement shifted from protecting competitive market structures toward prioritizing short-term consumer price efficiency. This narrower interpretation allowed mergers and consolidation that would previously have been challenged.
Over time, economic concentration translated into political concentration.
As explored in the Democratic Governance Hub, when economic power narrows, democratic responsiveness weakens. Regenerative economics therefore functions as democratic stabilization.
Concentrated economic power translates into:
Political influence
Supplier dependency
Wage suppression
Capital extraction from local communities
Democracy weakens when economic power is centralized.
Economic democracy is therefore not peripheral reform. It is structural defense of civic life.
Material Fragility and the Illusion of Efficiency
Modern supply chains are optimized for cost efficiency, not resilience.
Ed Conway’s analysis of key materials — sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, lithium — reveals deep dependencies few citizens see.
Global semiconductor production depends on ultra-pure silicon from specific sources.
Renewable energy requires enormous material throughput.
Just-in-time logistics reduces cost but eliminates buffers.
Efficiency without redundancy produces systemic fragility.
Resilience requires:
Diversified supply chains
Regional production capacity
Circular material flows
Reduced throughput expectations
The shift from “cheapest possible” to “resilient enough” is structural, not cosmetic.
Frameworks for Regenerative Design
Multiple frameworks converge around a common transformation.
Herman Daly — Steady-State Economics
Economy as subsystem of biosphere. Sustainable scale, fair distribution, efficient allocation.
Kate Raworth — Doughnut Economics
Meeting social foundations within planetary boundaries.
John Fullerton — Regenerative Capitalism
Living systems principles applied to finance and ownership.
Circular Economy / Cradle-to-Cradle
Designing material flows without waste.
Localization and Bioregionalism
Aligning economic activity with watershed-scale ecological realities.
These are not competing ideologies. They are complementary lenses.
Together they form a coherent architecture for economic redesign.
Democratic Ownership in Practice
Regeneration requires ownership reform.
Examples include:
Worker cooperatives
Community land trusts
Public banking
Anchor institution procurement
Municipal utilities
Tribal co-management of resources
These models distribute economic agency, prevent capital drainage, and strengthen local decision-making.
In the Salish Sea Ecoregion — nested within the Cascadia Bioregion — economic organization aligned with watersheds offers a functional scale for coordination.
Bioregional design expands democratic capacity beyond isolated municipalities while remaining rooted in place.
From Moral Minimums to Moral Maximums
Cultural narratives shape economic outcomes.
Rutger Bregman distinguishes between moral minimums (reducing harm) and moral maximums (maximizing contribution).
Regenerative economics is not simply about reducing damage.
It is about increasing positive contribution.
Economic ambition must shift from accumulation to stewardship.
The economy must reward contribution to life, not extraction from it.
Choosing the Path Forward
We face two possible trajectories:
Continue scaling complexity and extraction until contraction forces disorder.
Proactively redesign economic architecture to align claims with reality before collapse.
The Great Simplification may occur to some degree regardless.
The question is whether it becomes chaotic collapse or managed transition.
Regenerative design is not utopian.
It is preventive stabilization.
The LIFE Civic Intelligence System is designed to support this work at the community level.
Through cross-hub synthesis, deliberative tools, and emerging pattern detection, communities can evaluate capital flows, material dependencies, and ownership structures with greater clarity.
Economic redesign is not a technical exercise alone. It is a civic learning process — one that integrates grief, reverence, compassion, democratic practice, and whole-systems awareness.
The Whole Systems Thinking Hub deepens this integration, helping communities understand how economic choices reverberate across energy systems, governance, food, water, housing, and cultural life.
Communities can begin now:
Support democratic enterprises
Advocate antitrust enforcement
Shift procurement locally
Form land trusts
Explore public banking
Use deliberative tools for economic planning
The frameworks exist.
The models exist.
The moment demands scale and speed.
Economics is not the point.
Life is.
Ethical Regenerative Economics — Resource Guide
Essential Voices, Organizations, and Tools
Compiled by Larry Greene / Navigating Our Future
How to Use This Guide
This Resource Guide curates key thinkers, organizations, tools, and examples that advance Ethical Regenerative Economics in practice. Communities, practitioners, and readers can use it to discover partners, deepen their understanding, and identify concrete models to adapt in their own bioregions and contexts.
Key Thinkers & Foundational Voices
Nate Hagens — Biophysical economics and The Great Simplification
Explores energy, materials, and money as a biophysical system; clarifies seven forces driving inflation and deflation; frames "The Great Simplification" as a realignment between financial claims and ecological reality. Systems-level exploration of energy, ecology, economics, and society; reframes multiple crises as expressions of declining net energy and systemic limits. Use to understand why technological optimism alone is insufficient, to see links among energy, climate, geopolitics, and community resilience, and to ground local adaptation in biophysical reality.
Scope:Global — Marker: Researched
Balázs Matics — The Honest Sorcerer (Substack)
Engineer's analysis of energy, diesel, supply chains, and industrial fragility; explains why technological complexity depends on declining net energy. Use to understand why local and bioregional resilience will matter more as global systems simplify, how energy quality shapes stability, and how to connect climate, manufacturing, and governance.
Scope:Global (European perspective) — Marker: Researched
thehonestsorcerer.substack.com
Herman Daly — Steady-state economics
Foundational voice in ecological economics; articulates sustainable scale, fair distribution, and efficient allocation within planetary limits.
Global
Kate Raworth — Doughnut Economics
Introduces the “safe and just space” between social foundations and ecological ceilings; advances distributive, regenerative design for economies.
Global
Stacy Mitchell — Monopoly power and local self-reliance
Documents the rise of concentrated corporate power and its impacts on democracy, workers, and communities; advances policy and community strategies to decentralize power.
United States (with global relevance)
John Fullerton — Regenerative capitalism
Applies living systems principles to economic and financial design; identifies core principles such as right relationship, holistic wealth, empowered participation, and robust circulatory flow.
Global
William McDonough — Cradle-to-cradle design
Pioneer of regenerative product and system design; demonstrates how to design materials and products as nutrients for continuous biological and technical cycles.
Global
Ellen MacArthur Foundation — Circular economy leadership
Global leader in circular economy thinking, business engagement, and policy; advances models that eliminate waste and keep materials in use.
Global
Michael Shuman — Local economy design
Demonstrates how communities can build local economic self-reliance while maintaining beneficial trade; offers practical frameworks for local investment and policy.
Primarily United States (with global relevance)
Helena Norberg-Hodge — Localization and economic resilience
Explores impacts of globalization and benefits of localization; connects economic design, cultural wellbeing, and ecological integrity.
Global, with focus on Ladakh and regional localization efforts
Rutger Bregman — Moral ambition and contribution
Challenges cultures of low “moral minimums,” advocating for “moral maximums” and socially ambitious lives directed toward positive impact.
Global
Ed Conway — Material foundations of the economy
Reveals how key materials such as sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium underpin modern life and create new vulnerabilities and constraints.
Global
Search: “Ed Conway Material World” (book and talks)
Thomas Hanna & Ronald Logan — Economic democracy frameworks
Outline programmatic agendas for economic democracy, including rights to basic necessities, rising purchasing power for all, local control, and prevention of capital drainage.
United States (with global relevance)
Search: “Crisis and Transition Substack”
David Batker — Ecological economics and natural capital
Translates ecosystem services into economic terms; connects ecological health, policy, and economic decision-making.
United States and international projects
John Talberth — Genuine Progress Indicator and policy
Develops holistic metrics such as the Genuine Progress Indicator; advances policy frameworks aligning economic activity with ecological limits.
United States
Joel Solomon — Clean money and impact investing
Demonstrates long-term, values-aligned investing in regenerative enterprises; offers practical pathways for investors to redirect capital.
North America (with global relevance)
Search: “The Clean Money Revolution Joel Solomon”
Joel Makower — Green business and corporate transition
Provides journalism, convenings, and analysis on corporate sustainability, circular economy, and climate strategy.
Global
Cynthia Figge — Corporate sustainability metrics
Co-founder of CSRHub; aggregates ESG and sustainability data to provide comparable corporate ratings and benchmarks.
Global
Global Frameworks & Institutions
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) — Steady-state advocacy
Promotes steady-state economics as an alternative to growth-dependent systems, with research, policy proposals, and public education.
Global
International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) — Ecological economics network
Professional society advancing research, teaching, and practice of ecological economics, including the journal Ecological Economics.
Global
Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) — Doughnut implementation hub
Supports cities, regions, and organizations in applying Doughnut Economics to policy, planning, and practice.
Global
Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) — Wellbeing economy movement
Global network of organizations and governments advancing economies focused on wellbeing rather than GDP growth.
Global
Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) — Government collaboration
Group of governments experimenting with wellbeing-centered budgeting and policy (including Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales, and Finland).
International
Ellen MacArthur Foundation — Circular economy transition
Drives business, policy, and education efforts toward a circular economy worldwide.
Global
Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute — Product standards
Certifies products based on cradle-to-cradle design principles, including material health and circularity.
Global
Capital Institute — Regenerative economics and finance
Think tank and network applying regenerative principles to finance, investment, and regional development.
Global
Local Futures — Localization and bioregional resilience
Advances policy, education, and storytelling for localization and resilient regional economies.
Global
Cooperatives & Democratic Ownership
Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) — Legal ecosystem for cooperative economies
Provides legal education, resources, and advocacy for cooperatives, community enterprises, and democratic ownership.
United States
The Democracy Collaborative — Community wealth building
Develops models for anchor-institution procurement, employee ownership, and community wealth strategies.
United States and international partners
U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives — Worker co-op network
National grassroots membership organization supporting worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces.
United States
National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA CLUSA) — Cooperative sector support
Represents cooperatives across sectors; provides advocacy, education, and technical assistance.
United States and international
Cooperative Development Institute — Regional cooperative development
Supports the start-up and growth of cooperatives across the Northeast U.S.
Northeastern United States
Sustainable Connections — Regional business network
Demonstrates how local business networks can strengthen communities through shared sustainability commitments and collaboration.
Bellingham, Washington, USA (regional model)
Food co-ops (Cascadia examples) — Community-owned grocery infrastructure
Provide community-owned access to food, emphasizing local producers and democratic governance.
Pacific Northwest, USA
BC and Vancouver Island cooperatives — Regional cooperative ecosystem
Showcase cooperative banking, housing, retail, and mobility as core regional infrastructure.
British Columbia, Canada
Mondragon Corporation — Large-scale worker cooperative network
Demonstrates multi-sector, regionally rooted worker ownership at scale.
Basque Country, Spain
Evergreen Cooperatives — Anchor-linked worker co-ops
Connect worker-owned enterprises to local anchor institutions (hospitals, universities) to keep wealth circulating locally.
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Equal Exchange — Fair trade worker cooperative
Worker-owned cooperative connecting small farmers and consumers through fair trade supply chains.
Global supply chains; U.S.-based cooperative
Cooperative Home Care Associates — Worker ownership in care sector
Largest worker cooperative in the U.S., demonstrating democratic ownership in home care.
Bronx, New York, USA
Antitrust & Addressing Monopoly Power
Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) — Local power and anti-monopoly research
Produces research, tools, and campaigns to decentralize economic power and strengthen local economies.
United States (with global relevance)
Open Markets Institute — Anti-monopoly policy and analysis
Focuses on antitrust enforcement, corporate concentration, and democratic resilience.
United States
American Economic Liberties Project — Economic democracy and antitrust
Advances policy reforms and public education to curb corporate concentration and rebuild economic democracy.
United States
Local Economy & Localization Movements
American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) — Independent business alliances
Supports communities in building local business alliances, Buy Local campaigns, and policy advocacy.
United States
Local Living Economies / Localist networks — Local business ecosystems
Resources for building local living economies and regional business alliances that prioritize people and place.
Primarily North America
Local Futures — Localization and community resilience
Connects local economy work with cultural renewal and ecological limits.
Global
Community Finance & Banking
Public Banking Institute — Public banking advocacy
Educates and organizes around public banks as tools for community-centered finance and infrastructure investment.
United States
Bank of North Dakota — State public bank
Demonstrates a century-long model of state-owned banking aligned with public interest.
North Dakota, USA
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) — Community capital
Provide credit and financial services to underserved communities and projects that traditional finance overlooks.
United States
Search: “CDFI Finder Opportunity Finance Network”
Community Land Trust networks — Shared land stewardship
Nonprofit entities holding land in trust for community benefit, keeping housing and key sites permanently affordable.
United States and international
Search: “National Community Land Trust Network”
(see also: groundedsolutions.org)
Transition, Resilience & Post-Carbon Work
Transition Network — Grassroots transition movement
Supports local groups in building resilience, relocalizing economies, and reducing fossil fuel dependence.
Global
Transition US — U.S. transition initiatives
National hub for Transition initiatives across the United States.
United States
Post Carbon Institute — Post-carbon analysis and storytelling
Provides research and narratives on energy descent, resilience, and post-carbon futures.
Global
**Resilience.org— Daily resilience journalism**
Curated articles and analysis on resilience, local economies, energy, and regenerative futures.
Global
Corporate Accountability & Standards
B Lab — B Corporations and impact standards
Certifies B Corporations and provides impact standards and tools for mission-driven businesses.
Global
CSRHub — Corporate sustainability ratings
Aggregates ESG and sustainability data to provide comparative corporate performance scores.
Global
GreenBiz — Corporate sustainability community
News, events, and analysis platform for corporate sustainability, climate strategy, and circular economy work.
Global
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) — Sustainability reporting standards
Provides widely used standards for environmental, social, and governance reporting.
Global
Research, Metrics & Alternative Indicators
Center for Sustainable Economy — True cost and alternative metrics
Develops tools such as the Genuine Progress Indicator and supports policy analysis aligned with ecological limits.
United States
Batker Consulting — Ecological economics and natural capital
Supports governments and communities in valuing ecosystem services and integrating them into economic decisions.
United States and international projects
New Economics Foundation (NEF) — New economics research and campaigns
UK-based think tank advancing new economic models, wellbeing indicators, and policy innovations.
United Kingdom (with global relevance)
Ecological footprint and related metrics — Planetary limits tools
Provide methods to quantify resource use against biocapacity and planetary boundaries.
Global
footprintnetwork.org(Global Footprint Network)
Case Examples — Regenerative Economics in Practice
Participatory budgeting — Democratic allocation of public funds
Processes where residents directly decide how to allocate portions of public budgets, building democratic capacity and aligning spending with community priorities.
Global (pioneered in Porto Alegre; adopted in cities worldwide)
Worker cooperatives — Democratic enterprises
Businesses owned and governed by their workers, demonstrating democratic practice in everyday economic life.
Global (examples in Spain, U.S., Latin America, and beyond)
Community land trusts — Shared land stewardship
Nonprofit trusts that hold land for long-term community benefit, preserving affordability and preventing displacement.
United States and international
Search: “community land trust directory”
Public banking models — Finance in public hands
Examples of publicly accountable banks providing credit for local priorities and resilience.
Global
Search: “Sparkassen public savings banks Germany”
Regional business networks — Local economic ecosystems
Networks that connect values-aligned businesses, support local supply chains, and integrate sustainability commitments.
Regional (e.g., Bellingham and other cities)
Community-owned grocery and local markets — Food system resilience
Community-owned and cooperative groceries that keep value circulating locally and improve food access.
United States
Search: “North Tulsa Oasis Fresh Market”
Tools & Methodologies
Local multiplier and impact studies — Measuring local circulation
Assess how money circulates within a local economy and the added value of local spending.
Global applications
Search terms: “local multiplier effect study,” “LM3 tool”
Input-output and regional modeling — Structural economic analysis
Tools for understanding sector linkages, employment impacts, and policy scenarios at regional scales.
Global
Search terms: “input-output modeling local economy,” “IMPLAN,” “RIMS II”
Material flow and life cycle assessment — Physical throughput analysis
Methods for tracking material and energy flows and assessing cradle-to-grave impacts of products and systems.
Global
Search terms: “material flow analysis,” “life cycle assessment (LCA)”
Community engagement and deliberation — Democratic process tools
Methods such as citizens’ assemblies, sortition, and digital deliberation for inclusive, structured public decision-making.
Global
Search: “vTaiwan digital democracy”
Metrics and reporting frameworks — Measuring what matters
Standards and tools enabling businesses, governments, and investors to track social and ecological impacts.
Global
Essential Reading Shelf
Nate Hagens— The Great Simplification podcast episodes and essays
Herman Daly— Steady-State Economics; Beyond Growth
Kate Raworth— Doughnut Economics
Stacy Mitchell— ILSR reports and essays on monopoly power at ilsr.org
John Fullerton— Regenerative Capitalism and related writings at capitalinstitute.org
William McDonough & Michael Braungart — Cradle to Cradle; The Upcycle
Ellen MacArthur Foundation— Circular economy guides and reports
Michael Shuman— The Local Economy Solution; Going Local
Helena Norberg-Hodge— Ancient Futures; localization resources at localfutures.org
Rutger Bregman— Utopia for Realists; Humankind
Ed Conway— Material World
Joel Solomon— The Clean Money Revolution
Gar Alperovitz— What Then Must We Do?; Principles of a Pluralist Commonwealth
Thomas Hanna— Our Common Wealth
Marjorie Kelly— Owning Our Future
David Korten— The Great Turning
Frances Moore Lappé— EcoMind
Video & Film
Video can show what static charts cannot: the faces of people living under extractive systems, the feel of cooperative ownership, and the slow work of building regenerative alternatives in real places. Use these as teaching tools to ground abstract economics in lived experience, then connect them back to local practice.
Diagnosing Extractive Economics
The Corporation— Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott, Joel Bakan (feature documentary, 145 min)
What it offers:an in‑depth look at the modern corporation as a legal “person” whose charter requires profit maximization, often at the expense of people and planet.
How to use:show key segments when introducing structural critique. Invite participants to distinguish between “bad actors” and rules that reward harmful behavior, then map equivalent dynamics in their own region or sector.
Link: available via Zeitgeist Films and major streaming/educational platforms.
Inside Job— Charles Ferguson (feature documentary, 109 min)
What it offers:a clear narrative of the 2008 financial crisis, regulatory capture, and the incentives that made systemic fraud rational inside the system.
How to use:pair selected scenes with a conversation about moral hazard and “too big to fail.” Ask which current financial or policy structures invite similar behavior, and what regenerative alternatives would change those incentives.
Link: available on major streaming platforms and for educational screenings.
Stacy Mitchell — Amazon’s Monopoly Power — Institute for Local Self‑Reliance (talks and testimony)
What it offers:a grounded account of how platform monopolies hollow out local economies, concentrating power in a few firms while eroding small business ecosystems.
How to use:use short clips in sessions on antitrust or local resilience. Map which local sectors are vulnerable to similar consolidation and what policies or community strategies could shift power.
Link: talks and testimony via ILSR and public hearing recordings.
Also see: Democratic Governance hub (antitrust and rule‑of‑law dimensions).
Cooperative & Democratic Ownership
Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work — Melissa Young, Mark Dworkin (76 min)
What it offers:case studies from Mondragon, Evergreen Cooperatives, and other worker‑owned enterprises, showing how ownership design reshapes decision‑making and surplus distribution.
How to use:show one or two cases as anchors for discussion. Ask: “Who currently decides? Who benefits from surplus? What would change if workers or community owned and governed this enterprise?”
Link: distributed by Bullfrog Films and other educational outlets.
Also see: Democratic Governance hub (economic democracy).
The Take— Avi Lewis, Naomi Klein (87 min)
What it offers:stories of Argentinian workers occupying abandoned factories and running them as cooperatives in the wake of economic collapse.
How to use:use clips to explore crisis as opening for structural redesign, not just recovery. Invite participants to identify “abandoned” assets locally (buildings, skills, land) that could be reclaimed through cooperative forms.
Link: available via documentary platforms and educational distributors.
Also see: Democratic Governance hub (self‑management and autonomy).
Richard Wolff — Democracy at Work (lectures and weekly show)
What it offers:accessible explanations of how workplace structure creates exploitation or shared surplus, with repeated examples of worker co‑ops as alternatives.
How to use:assign a short video as pre‑work, then use in study circles to unpack basic concepts (surplus, exploitation, profit vs. cooperative surplus). Ask groups to sketch what “democracy at work” might look like in their own sectors.
Link: https://www.democracyatwork.info
Community Wealth & Local Economies
The Economics of Happiness— Helena Norberg‑Hodge / Local Futures (68 min)
What it offers:contrasts globalized, corporate economies with diverse, localized economies that support culture, ecology, and belonging.
How to use:show the film (or key segments) to open conversations about relocalization. Ask participants to list imports their community relies on, then imagine “local first” alternatives and what policies or partnerships would be needed.
Link: https://www.localfutures.org
The Cleveland Model — Community Wealth Building — Democracy Collaborative (case study videos)
What it offers:documentation of the Evergreen Cooperatives and anchor‑institution strategies in Cleveland, showing how procurement can seed community‑owned enterprises.
How to use:pair with local government or anchor‑institution audiences. Map current procurement flows and explore what it would mean to redirect a small percentage toward community‑owned suppliers.
Link: https://democracycollaborative.org
Community Land Trusts — Permanently Affordable Housing — Grounded Solutions Network / Schumacher Center (educational videos)
What it offers:clear explanations of community land trusts, separating land ownership from building ownership to keep housing permanently affordable.
How to use:use clips as a primer before discussing housing justice or anti‑displacement work. Invite participants to identify potential CLT sites locally and stakeholders who would need to be involved.
Link: via Grounded Solutions Network and the Schumacher Center for a New Economics.
Gift Economy, Commons & Non‑Market Exchange
Charles Eisenstein — Sacred Economics (talks and presentations)
What it offers:a narrative of money, debt, and gift economies that frames economics as a story about relationship, not just scarcity and efficiency.
How to use:use short segments to spark reflection on how money shapes behavior and trust. Follow with an exercise naming existing local gift practices (mutual aid, informal care networks) and how formal systems could support, not erode, them.
Link: talks on multiple platforms; background at sacred‑economics.com.
Robin Wall Kimmerer — The Gift Economy of Reciprocity (interviews and talks)
What it offers:Indigenous perspectives on gift economies, honorable harvest, and reciprocity as economic practice, not metaphor.
How to use:pair with discussions of “externalities” and invisible labor. Ask participants to map gifts and responsibilities in their own work—what is given freely, what is taken for granted, and how reciprocity could be restored.
Link: On Being and other public platforms.
Also see: Reverence for Life hub (sacred relationship with land), Biodiversityhub (relational ecology).
Elinor Ostrom — Governing the Commons (lectures and interviews)
What it offers:empirical evidence that communities can successfully manage shared resources at scale using commons governance, refuting the “tragedy of the commons” myth.
How to use:show short clips when introducing commons‑based alternatives. Invite participants to identify existing or potential commons (water, data, land, culture) and assess them against Ostrom’s design principles.
Link: archival materials via Indiana University and related channels.
Also see: Democratic Governance hub (polycentric governance), Whole Systems Thinking hub (systems of commons).
Doughnut Economics & Planetary Boundaries
Kate Raworth — Doughnut Economics (talks and lectures)
What it offers:a simple, memorable visual—social foundation and ecological ceiling—that reframes economics as designing within limits and for thriving, not endless growth.
How to use:use a talk or animated explainer early in any regenerative economics workshop. Ask groups to sketch a “local doughnut”: what would fall below the social floor or breach ecological ceilings in their place?
Link: talks via TED, RSA, and the Doughnut Economics Action Lab.
Johan Rockström — Planetary Boundaries (lectures and explainers)
What it offers:a science‑grounded picture of nine planetary boundaries and a safe operating space for humanity.
How to use:pair with Raworth’s doughnut to root economic conversations in Earth system science. Invite participants to connect local economic activities to specific boundaries (climate, biodiversity, nitrogen, etc.).
Link: talks via TED and the Stockholm Resilience Centre.
Also see: Climate Crisis hub (Earth systems and risk), Biodiversity hub (biosphere integrity).
Ellen MacArthur Foundation — Circular Economy (case studies and explainers)
What it offers:practical, business‑oriented stories of circular design: products built for disassembly, reuse, and closed material loops.
How to use:in sessions with businesses, municipalities, or designers, use short case videos to show that regenerative models already exist. Ask participants to identify “leak points” in their own systems and design one circular intervention.
Link: https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org
Energy Transition & Just Economics
Nate Hagens — The Great Simplification (interviews and explainers)
What it offers:a systems view of energy, economy, and human behavior: the “carbon pulse,” energy blindness, and why current economic scale is thermodynamically constrained.
How to use:for advanced groups, assign an episode as pre‑work. In session, map how fossil energy underwrites local economic activity and what a lower‑throughput, regenerative economy might look like.
Link: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com
Also see: Whole Systems Thinking hub (energy‑systems perspective), Climate Crisis hub (mitigation constraints).
Climate Justice Alliance — Just Transition Principles (educational videos)
What it offers:frontline‑rooted frameworks for moving from extractive to regenerative economies while centering workers and communities most impacted.
How to use:use brief videos as grounding for any energy or climate policy discussion. Ask local groups to adapt the Just Transition principles to their own context and identify who must be in the room.
Link: Climate Justice Alliance and Movement Generation resources.
Also see: Climate Crisis hub (justice in transition).
Community Choice Energy — Local Renewable Power (case studies)
What it offers:examples of municipalities aggregating electricity demand to procure local, renewable power under community governance.
How to use:show when talking about reclaiming essential infrastructure. Map who currently owns and governs local energy systems, and explore whether community choice or similar models could work.
Link: Local Clean Energy Alliance and allied organizations.
Decolonial & Indigenous Economics
Winona LaDuke — Indigenous Economies & Energy Sovereignty (talks and interviews)
What it offers:grounded stories of renewable energy on tribal lands, protection of wild rice, and resistance to pipelines, framed through seven‑generation thinking.
How to use:use clips to show that resistance and regeneration are economic acts, not just political protest. Invite reflection on whose lands and labor currently subsidize local prosperity.
Link: Honor the Earth and Bioneers archives.
Also see: Democratic Governance hub (sovereignty and self‑determination), Climate Crisis hub (frontline resistance).
Vandana Shiva — Seed Sovereignty & Earth Democracy (lectures and interviews)
What it offers:critique of biopiracy and seed patents, and stories of farmer‑led agroecology and seed saving as economic self‑determination.
How to use:pair with food systems or biodiversity sessions. Ask participants to trace a staple food from seed to plate and identify where ownership, control, and risk sit along that chain.
Link: Navdanya and public talks.
Also see: Biodiversity hub (agricultural diversity and seed commons).
Jessica Gordon Nembhard — Black Cooperative Economics (talks and presentations)
What it offers:historical and contemporary examples of Black cooperative practice as a response to exclusion from mainstream economic institutions.
How to use:use segments to reframe cooperatives as tools for racial and economic justice, not just business models. Invite participants to surface existing mutual aid and cooperative efforts in their own communities.
Link: conference talks and academic presentations.
Systemic Alternatives & “Great Turning”
David Korten — The Great Turning (talks and interviews)
What it offers:a narrative arc from “Empire” to “Earth Community,” connecting economic redesign with cultural and spiritual transformation.
How to use:use clips to close workshops or retreats, when people are ready to zoom out. Ask groups to name signs of “Great Turning” already present locally, and what small commitments they can make to deepen it.
Link: YES! Magazine events and public talks.
Joanna Macy — The Great Turning (Work That Reconnects)
What it offers:practices and teachings that frame economic and systems change as one strand of a broader civilizational shift, rooted in honoring pain and choosing active hope.
How to use:pair with emotionally heavy economic diagnostics. Offer one short practice (e.g., gratitude or “seeing with new eyes”) so groups can metabolize grief and stay engaged.
Link: Work That Reconnects Network resources.
Also see: Grief hub (honoring pain), Reverence for Life hub (deep ecology).
Gar Alperovitz — The Next System (talks and video series)
What it offers:the “pluralist commonwealth” framework and concrete building blocks—public ownership, cooperatives, community wealth—for a systemic alternative.
How to use:after exploring isolated examples (co‑ops, CLTs, public banks), use short videos to show how these pieces fit together. Invite participants to sketch a rough “next system” for their own region.
Link: https://thenextsystem.org
Cross‑Hub Notes (Used Sparingly)
Democratic Governance hub: worker cooperative case studies, antitrust and monopoly analysis, commons governance (Ostrom).
Climate Crisis hub: Just Transition videos, energy‑economy systems (Hagens), Transition Towns and community resilience.
Biodiversity hub: Vandana Shiva on seeds and Earth democracy, payment for ecosystem services critiques.
Reverence for Life hub: gift economy as spiritual practice; Robin Wall Kimmerer’s reciprocity work; Thomas Berry on Earth economy.
Whole Systems Thinking hub: planetary boundaries, energy‑systems constraints, and complexity perspectives.
When a video serves both foundational economic analysis and a specific hub, keep its primary homewhere its core teaching belongs, and use short “Also see…” notes rather than duplicating listings.
Help Grow This Commons
Navigating Our Future is building a free, accessible online commons — a shared community resource where you and others can learn, reflect, and find credible pathways for action in your own life and your own community.
Each Wisdom Hub is shaped by trusted voices, real-world practice, and lived experience. It grows stronger as people share what is working, what is being learned, and what deserves wider visibility.
Your contributions help strengthen this Wisdom Hub and help grow a resource that exists for you and your community — a commons designed to be used, shared, and built together.
By contributing, you are helping surface local leaders, organizations, and practices that can support real change where you live, while also strengthening the wider LIFE and Navigating Our Future ecosystem.
Ethical Regenerative Economics — hub-specific contribution paragraph
We are especially interested in practical examples of life-affirming economic design — projects and organizations advancing cooperative and employee ownership, community land trusts, public or community banking, anchor-institution procurement, circular economy initiatives, regenerative agriculture, local and bioregional supply chains, and tools that help communities measure what matters beyond GDP. We also welcome models for democratic economic decision-making (participatory budgeting, community investment strategies, transition planning) that keep value circulating locally while restoring ecosystems and strengthening dignity and belonging.