A Design School for Planetary Collapse

A few days ago, one of my friends at Films for Action posted an old article of mine on Facebook that I had written in 2017. The article is titled A Design School for Planetary Collapse. It’s an interesting read, especially considering what has emerged since then. Go take a look if you are curious what I wrote back then.

In summary, I said that all design schools in the world were failing humanity. We needed to apply design thinking to the root causes of ecological harm, the creation of poverty, wealth hoarding, and the capture of institutions. This should all feel familiar considering what is happening in the world today.

I also suggested that a design school for planetary collapse would need to explore the following thematic areas:

1. What is the Earth System and how does it work?

2. What does it mean to be human and why is this important?

3. How does one study change in all its forms?

4. How can a design approach be applied to systemic challenges?

5. What kinds of competency will be needed to do the work?

It is interesting to flash forward to this year — 2026 — and see that I actually did it. It began when I started writing my book The Design Pathway for Regenerating Earth in late 2019. An online community was created as a “study group” for this book in 2020 called Earth Regenerators, where I gave more than one hundred free webinars and hosted six learning journeys about how to regenerate the Earth.

Continuing into 2023, my partner Penny Heiple and I co-founded the Design School for Regenerating Earth and have set in motion the living out of what is written as the “design pathway” in my book. We now have a planetary network of bioregions, members who live on five continents, and the Dandelion Strategy for birthing at least 1000 bioregional learning centers by 2035.

In the Design School, we are now on our fourth learning journey. True to form, this year’s focus is Regenerating the Earth Thru Collapse and we are taking the continual disruptions of social and ecological systems very seriously. All of the themes outlined in my 2017 article are integrated into what we do now. And we’ve added a lot more into the mix.

Our members learn about bioregionalism, how to practice large-scale regeneration, what it means to be human while living through these challenging times, and a lot more that pertains to funding, governance, collaboration, and the spiritual dimensions of this work. We also focus a lot of our energy on the inner work that one needs to be doing in order to discover and remain devoted to their personal life purpose. Being an Earth Regenerator includes all of these things.

I had not thought about that 2017 article in a long time. It was written shortly before my 2018 article for The Billion Dollar Proposal for Applied Cultural Evolution that shares threads of logic with the 2026 article I wrote this year called A Billion Dollar Proposal for Regenerating Earth. Interesting to look back on this and ponder how life has shown us the way, isnt it?

So if you’d like to be part of a design school for how to navigate planetary collapse, come join us in the Design School for Regenerating Earth. We are proactive and fully aware that we are living through collapse now — and that it is only going to get worse. We need to “find the others” and come together. Join us and be an Earth Regenerator.

Onward, fellow humans.