Regenerative Planet

This is a book for dreamers.

I know many will say that ending hunger, the lack of water, and reversing climate change is practically impossible. And that living on a Regenerative Planet is just an illusion, or a dream still far away.

And I have to agree, at least in part, because in the present where I write this text we live in a model incapable of sustaining itself over decades and centuries, in which the destruction and exploitation of natural resources are the standard of economic development on a Planet of finite resources.

I fear the worst. A world with increasingly scarce resources, leading to violence and suffering for more and more people and other living beings.

But I dream of a better place, a Planet where destroying Nature becomes as absurd as slavery. With abundance of water, living forests, and plenty of food.

Yes, it is possible.

Regenerating ecosystems is the solution to restore water flows. Regenerating ecosystems is the solution for food production. Regenerating ecosystems is the solution for Nature itself to reverse climate change.

In this book I will present the theory of the Regenerative Planet, a dream I wish to share with you.

It is just a map, a guide, a path, to, perhaps, make this the reality of the future.

This is a book of environmental education and questioning for all. Economics for observers. Philosophy for farmers. Agriculture for consumers, and hope for dreamers.

We are born without choosing where or when. On a magical Planet, with a combination of factors that makes it the perfect place for life to flourish.

Life is so magical that it's even difficult to understand it.

Why are we here?

What is the meaning of life?

Faith and science can give us some answers for what we don't see, and we are free to believe in what makes sense to us.

But what we can see with our eyes is a living Nature. Of enchanting beauty and incredible diversity, that flows in the direction of increasing and making more complex the existing forms of life.

Remove human beings from a territory and it will walk in the direction of becoming a forest. Over time, the ecosystem will be able to sustain more forms of life with more abundance of resources. More water, more shelter, more food. More life.

The laws of Nature were given to us. We don't have the power of choice. We are just born here, in a green and blue oasis in the midst of the vast darkness of the unknown.

I will share in this book some reflections on how Nature works based on observation. There are countless observations and reflections we can make about how it works. One of them, for example, is that life's programming leads to balance, favoring that more and more distinct forms of life can inhabit ecosystems over time.

This is the direction that life walks in Nature. Over time, more life.

Defining the concept of "life" is not easy. It can be something abstract or spiritual. But for this book, we will define "life" as the sum of all living beings that inhabit here, including plants, fungi, microorganisms, animals. The more individuals of the same species, more life. The more distinct species, more life.

So the opposite of life is extinction, a process in which there is a reduction in the quantity and diversity of life on the Planet.

Many people are so disconnected from Nature that they don't realize we are part of a living organism.

The Planet Earth is alive. Each being, each element, fulfills its function in the environment. All living beings, with the exception of one, live in the same direction that life flows.

And the sum of each species fulfilling its function makes ecosystems seek balance and can sustain more and more forms of life.

Fungi and termites decompose wood. Plants and trees feed animals, which in turn spread the seeds, instinctively propagating the plants. Ants cut old and weakened plants. Microorganisms in the soil decompose organic matter. The wind prunes and knocks down trees, restarting the cycle of forests. Forests pump water into the atmosphere and actively participate in the water cycle. Carnivorous animals control the population of other animals. Insects pollinate flowers, and are food for other beings.

The elements of the Planet are like cells of our body, in which each distinct cell has its function.

Water nourishes life, just as blood carries oxygen to other parts of our body. Decomposer fungi and microorganisms process organic matter and return it to its natural cycle, just like our digestive system processes the food we eat.

When we cut our skin, cells immediately begin the work of covering the exposed skin, forming a "scab" of protection so that new skin can form. The same is seen on the Planet, when the soil is left exposed, without plant cover, just with earth, immediately herbs and grasses, often mistakenly called "weeds", start the process to cover the soil and close the wound. So that, over time, the new forest can form.

Plants, trees, and algae, through photosynthesis, transform sunlight into energy. And with this process, they cycle the atmosphere and feed life, besides several other functions.

There are so many factors, of a complexity still very difficult to comprehend, that make this Planet have unique conditions for life to prosper.

Earth is a living organism, that pulses, breathes. Our difficulty in understanding it this way is a symptom of the disconnection from Nature that much of the population lives in and forgets that we are part of it, not the owners of it.

Our time of life here is short, it's just a blink of an eye for the life of the Planet.

Should we destroy, or preserve and regenerate?