This document outlines a model for regenerating bioregions to restore planetary health. It claims that human degradation of landscapes has put the Earth into overshoot and collapse. The model aims to regenerate ecosystem functions at regional scales through cultural evolution by guiding the development of social systems. It discusses key cultural evolution processes like cultural transmission, multi-level selection, cultural scaffolding, and cooperation. The work involves establishing regenerative projects in six bioregions to incorporate social and ecological metrics and share knowledge across locations to track global goals like planetary boundaries. The end goals are to establish holistic regional metrics by 2020, roll out bioregional financing by 2021, and expand the network while tracking planetary outcomes by 2022.

1. Regenerating Bioregions
A Cultural Evolution Model for Restoring Planetary Health

2. Claim #1:
Humans have degraded landscapes all
over the planet to the point that the Earth is
now in overshoot-and-collapse.
Claim #2:
It is necessary to regenerate ecosystem
functions at regional scales to restore
planetary health and safeguard humanity’s
future.

3. Thesis:
The fundamental driver of ecological change has been social
niche construction for human societies—altering the flows of
energy and resources away from non-human life to grow the
biomass of our species.
A social niche is an inherited
environment comprised of structural
supports that influence life for the next
generation.
Example: Humans born into cities
“inherit” the built environment and
institutions of that place.

4. This graph powerfully demonstrates the logic.
Human population goes up as we bring more
energy and resources to our own species—
through land management, manufacturing,
fossil fuel use, and so forth.

5. Assertion:
The processes of cultural evolution created the planetary
crisis. Therefore the design of social systems must involve
applying cultural evolution research to guide the future
developments of humanity.

6. Current Work:
Build a viable model for guiding the cultural evolution of
bioregions. Implement and generalize the model so that it can
be shared across an emerging global network of regional
efforts.

7. Progress Indicators:
1. Incorporate local measurements of social wellbeing
with ecological measures for ecological health.
2. Integrate at the regional scale using tools like the
“donut economics” framework.
3. Track regional metrics in aggregate toward global
goals using the “planetary boundaries” and related
frameworks.

8. Local metrics for social
wellbeing and ecological health
Global goals for planetary health

9. This is a real-world experiment.

10. We are initiating with six bioregional projects—with the
addition of nine more locations in 2019—and one advanced
local project for demonstrating circular economics.
The initial projects are in the following places:
1. Buffalo-Niagara, New York
2. Hudson Valley, New York
3. Denver/Boulder Metropolitan Area
4. Mexico City, Mexico
5. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
6. National Project in Costa Rica
7. Rancho Margot, Costa Rica

11. Briefly, the North American projects are multi-stakeholder
collaborations for regional economic development. The
Costa Rican projects are diverse in scale and stages of
development.
Rancho Margot is included as a site where regenerative
economics have been partially demonstrated—with
specific goals for growing its community and economic
capacities. It is a flagship for regenerative education
among the global network of projects.

12. The current status is that there are “hub conveners” in each
location with a web platform for knowledge-sharing across
locations. We have funding for two staff personnel through the
end of this year.

13. Key Cultural Evolution Processes
Our work will focus on the spread of information
across social systems (cultural transmission); scale-
linking of projects from local to regional impacts
(multi-level selection); structural patterns for
emergence of local economies (cultural scaffolding);
and frameworks for collaboration among diverse
stakeholders (cooperation and prosociality).
Additionally, we will employ the principles for
managing common-pooled assets identified by
Elinor Ostrom and the principles for regenerative
economics outlined by John Fullerton.

14. Cultural Transmission
Ideas and practices spread across communities.
How (and by whom) depends on the specific
cultural contexts involved.

15. Multi-Level Selection
Human societies are
organized at several levels
—individual, family,
neighborhood, etc.—with
different dynamics in play
at each level.
Currently there are weak
(or absent) selection
mechanisms for
bioregional collaboration.

16. Cultural Scaffolding
The generative interactions between actors, artifacts,
practices, and infrastructure that enable culture to build on
itself.
For example, think about all of the supports needed to raise
a child.

17. Cooperation and Trust
Interactions among members of the community
enable cooperation to emerge.
With the right
conditions,
structures, and
processes it is
possible to design for
cooperation among
groups of people.

18. Governing the Commons
The efficacy of groups
depends upon 8 criteria
identified by political
scientist, Elinor Ostrom.
These criteria can be used
as diagnostic tools for
improving cooperation
within a group—as well as
among several groups.

19. Regenerative Economics
A great deal is now known
about how to treat
economies like living
systems (which they are)
using the tools of
complexity, ecology, and
evolution.

20. Timeline and Outcomes
2019 :: Establish work plan and coordinate learning across
sites.
2020 :: Incorporate holistic metrics for projects, regions, and
the global network as new projects join the effort.
2021 :: Roll out a bioregional financing platform for
coordinated investments among projects in each region.
2022 :: Begin tracking evolution of planetary outcomes while
expanding the network to include more regions.

21. Key Partners

22. About the Author
Joe Brewer runs the Center for Applied
Cultural Evolution with a mission to apply
insights from this integrative field of study
to the challenges now confronting humanity
and life on Earth.
He is the capacity cultivator for the
Regenerative Communities Network—a
project incubated by the Capital Institute to
launch a global network of site-based
projects that embody regenerative
practices.
brewer@culturalevolutioncenter.org