Introduction to Regenerative Thinking
“We moved from being a part of nature to being apart from nature.” The revered narrator David Attenborough has stated in his memoir, “A Life on our Planet”. that the solution to how to benefit both humans and the ecosystem “staring us in the face all along. To restore stability to our planet, we must restore its biodiversity. The very thing that we've removed.” But how do we go about doing that? Right now, we humans are forced into an ever-diminishing cycle of sustainability with respect to the climate. These are choices that leave our environments in increasingly devastating conditions. Even though we have enough knowledge and technology to help our environments, we conveniently accept the solutions that merely require humans to reconcile with other species in the hope that nature will take care of itself. What happens in a time where communities and economies of organisms on this planet are left behind while the force of economic globalization surges more powerfully?
We will discuss why sustainability is not enough and how something called regenerative thinking is an effective alternative. My name for an era revolving around such thinking is the Hydracene. We as a species have the power and resources to reverse climate change on this planet and restore its longevity for generations to come. I don’t want to sound overly dramatic or cliched, but we adolescents are the ones who are defining the direction of the world. And that power and those resources are falling to us now.
In my opinion, this doctrine of being more sustainable and conserving what’s left of the natural resources on Earth is a good start, but inadequate to completely protect the earth from rapid cataclysmic destruction. Sustainability is not enough. If we think of something as sustainable, then that means that it contains just enough for the system to grow back. We are playing a Whack-A-Mole arcade game with our environments. The mole toy emerging represents an ecosystem restoring or renewing itself, and the mallet represents human technology. In other words, technology is being used in a manner that disallows ecosystems to renew themselves and their resources. Let’s go one level deeper: let’s play a virtual game of Whack-A-Mole, but this time with real moles. Eventually, these real moles will be conditioned to learn that if they come up through a hole, they run the risk of being whacked. The analogy is furthered when we consider that if technology takes away an environment’s ability to restore itself enough, we may push it to the point where it is unable to restore itself. One example is coral bleaching: the use of fossil fuels for energy has increased ocean temperatures and acidified them, leading to coral, sometimes entire reefs, turning white. In this state, they are unable to sustain the vibrant and eclectic life that coral reefs normally support. If we continue using technology in this manner, we will have completely destroyed our ecosystems.
A better alternative is regenerative thinking. Simply, it means to put back more than the material you consume. Rather than “getting by” with the cycle of replenishing and depleting, I, and many scientists and other professionals believe we can make it right by adding more back than we consume. I will now introduce an unassuming spokesperson to help me put forth my definition of the era based on regenerative thinking. The humble cnidarian, Hydra, is widely recognized for its tremendous regeneration potential. It’s a small creature, measuring only up to ten millimeters, but in those ten millimeters, it holds the key to a fresh future. If cut in half, the Hydra will regenerate a “foot” from the top half and a “head” from the bottom half, essentially cloning itself to create two new smaller hydras. Hydra do not die of old age. This makes the hydra a marvel of nature — a biologically immortal creature. In this vein, the earth itself should be biologically immortal. Since this cnidarian helped me to find our role as regenerators, I propose a name for this era of regenerative thinking and practices: the Hydracene. The Hydracene is regenerative, and hence biologically immortal.
The Hydracene is a more complete name for the era than the commonly used Holocene and Anthropocene because it frames its inhabitants as beings that are inherently cooperative and restorative. However, while being regenerative will help, it will help only because the power to regenerate is not uniquely human. Ecosystems consisting of humans and nonhumans can actively work together prune away and replace these inadequacies, creating natural allies towards biological immortality. Providing regenerative therapy to the planet based not on one’s own needs, but on a belief that all species need to survive on this planet, and a belief that appreciates other species for their own existence and not their value to humans. In other words, the framework of regenerative thinking in the Hydracene allows us to restore ecosystems not based on human moral responsibility but based on the ecosystems’ own resiliency. Humanity should use regenerative practices to support and use technology to assist ecosystems as they regenerate. In the Hydracene series, I will talk about how we must use three key technologies — artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and urban geoengineering — regeneratively to best assist the earth’s rebound. Restoration is not uniquely human — all natural species are inherently regenerative. An example of “what can be” is the city of Pripyat, Ukraine, the epicenter of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Abandoned by humans who feared the long-lasting effects of nuclear radiation, the area has seen a remarkable natural restoration, complete with plants and animals. Wolves, bears, and beavers have returned to the area after several years. Even Przewalski's horses, once extinct in the wild, are now often seen in the area, spurring further restoration efforts. Thus, the power of restoration is not achievable solely through human technology, but instead, the ideal way to do so is to use technology to assist nature to regenerate more quickly. The next few episodes will talk about how different technologies should embody regenerative within the realms of artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and geoengineering.
Analyzing these examples draws my attention back to the original question: What happens if one was not forced to choose between subscribing to the failing model of sustainability and the passive romanticism of multispecies collaboration, choices that leave our environments in increasingly devastating conditions? Indeed, what is a complete era if not one that can adapt to natural phenomena as opposed to trying to fit the phenomenon into the model? Just like the rampant synaptic pruning of the adolescent brain, Hydra thinking assimilates the ideas presented by multiple models of an era. The Hydracene itself regenerates, and so the technologies that are in it must do the same. Hydra thinking, which includes regenerative thinking as described above, requires its technologies to embrace flaws and fix them with a collaborative mindset, taking ideas from other technologies for the purpose of restoring our ecosystems.
Thus, I propose the new name for the era: the Hydracene, based in regenerative thinking. It allows us to go beyond the notion of sustainability and harness the natural restorative properties of the earth’s ecosystems to benefit all species on the earth. I will explore it in three contexts: artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and geoengineering. Each will provide a unique benefit to ecosystems and regenerating them. And these three technologies are some of the most dynamic and critical ones humanity has come up with. AI will be able to collect large amounts of biological data to use in climate experiments. Genetic engineering will be able to actively and passively regenerate the biodiversity of ecosystems. And geoengineering will be able to redistribute the carbon from the atmosphere to the natural carbon cycle.
We will discuss why sustainability is not enough and how something called regenerative thinking is an effective alternative. My name for an era revolving around such thinking is the Hydracene. We as a species have the power and resources to reverse climate change on this planet and restore its longevity for generations to come. I don’t want to sound overly dramatic or cliched, but we adolescents are the ones who are defining the direction of the world. And that power and those resources are falling to us now.
In my opinion, this doctrine of being more sustainable and conserving what’s left of the natural resources on Earth is a good start, but inadequate to completely protect the earth from rapid cataclysmic destruction. Sustainability is not enough. If we think of something as sustainable, then that means that it contains just enough for the system to grow back. We are playing a Whack-A-Mole arcade game with our environments. The mole toy emerging represents an ecosystem restoring or renewing itself, and the mallet represents human technology. In other words, technology is being used in a manner that disallows ecosystems to renew themselves and their resources. Let’s go one level deeper: let’s play a virtual game of Whack-A-Mole, but this time with real moles. Eventually, these real moles will be conditioned to learn that if they come up through a hole, they run the risk of being whacked. The analogy is furthered when we consider that if technology takes away an environment’s ability to restore itself enough, we may push it to the point where it is unable to restore itself. One example is coral bleaching: the use of fossil fuels for energy has increased ocean temperatures and acidified them, leading to coral, sometimes entire reefs, turning white. In this state, they are unable to sustain the vibrant and eclectic life that coral reefs normally support. If we continue using technology in this manner, we will have completely destroyed our ecosystems.
A better alternative is regenerative thinking. Simply, it means to put back more than the material you consume. Rather than “getting by” with the cycle of replenishing and depleting, I, and many scientists and other professionals believe we can make it right by adding more back than we consume. I will now introduce an unassuming spokesperson to help me put forth my definition of the era based on regenerative thinking. The humble cnidarian, Hydra, is widely recognized for its tremendous regeneration potential. It’s a small creature, measuring only up to ten millimeters, but in those ten millimeters, it holds the key to a fresh future. If cut in half, the Hydra will regenerate a “foot” from the top half and a “head” from the bottom half, essentially cloning itself to create two new smaller hydras. Hydra do not die of old age. This makes the hydra a marvel of nature — a biologically immortal creature. In this vein, the earth itself should be biologically immortal. Since this cnidarian helped me to find our role as regenerators, I propose a name for this era of regenerative thinking and practices: the Hydracene. The Hydracene is regenerative, and hence biologically immortal.
The Hydracene is a more complete name for the era than the commonly used Holocene and Anthropocene because it frames its inhabitants as beings that are inherently cooperative and restorative. However, while being regenerative will help, it will help only because the power to regenerate is not uniquely human. Ecosystems consisting of humans and nonhumans can actively work together prune away and replace these inadequacies, creating natural allies towards biological immortality. Providing regenerative therapy to the planet based not on one’s own needs, but on a belief that all species need to survive on this planet, and a belief that appreciates other species for their own existence and not their value to humans. In other words, the framework of regenerative thinking in the Hydracene allows us to restore ecosystems not based on human moral responsibility but based on the ecosystems’ own resiliency. Humanity should use regenerative practices to support and use technology to assist ecosystems as they regenerate. In the Hydracene series, I will talk about how we must use three key technologies — artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and urban geoengineering — regeneratively to best assist the earth’s rebound. Restoration is not uniquely human — all natural species are inherently regenerative. An example of “what can be” is the city of Pripyat, Ukraine, the epicenter of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Abandoned by humans who feared the long-lasting effects of nuclear radiation, the area has seen a remarkable natural restoration, complete with plants and animals. Wolves, bears, and beavers have returned to the area after several years. Even Przewalski's horses, once extinct in the wild, are now often seen in the area, spurring further restoration efforts. Thus, the power of restoration is not achievable solely through human technology, but instead, the ideal way to do so is to use technology to assist nature to regenerate more quickly. The next few episodes will talk about how different technologies should embody regenerative within the realms of artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and geoengineering.
Analyzing these examples draws my attention back to the original question: What happens if one was not forced to choose between subscribing to the failing model of sustainability and the passive romanticism of multispecies collaboration, choices that leave our environments in increasingly devastating conditions? Indeed, what is a complete era if not one that can adapt to natural phenomena as opposed to trying to fit the phenomenon into the model? Just like the rampant synaptic pruning of the adolescent brain, Hydra thinking assimilates the ideas presented by multiple models of an era. The Hydracene itself regenerates, and so the technologies that are in it must do the same. Hydra thinking, which includes regenerative thinking as described above, requires its technologies to embrace flaws and fix them with a collaborative mindset, taking ideas from other technologies for the purpose of restoring our ecosystems.
Thus, I propose the new name for the era: the Hydracene, based in regenerative thinking. It allows us to go beyond the notion of sustainability and harness the natural restorative properties of the earth’s ecosystems to benefit all species on the earth. I will explore it in three contexts: artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and geoengineering. Each will provide a unique benefit to ecosystems and regenerating them. And these three technologies are some of the most dynamic and critical ones humanity has come up with. AI will be able to collect large amounts of biological data to use in climate experiments. Genetic engineering will be able to actively and passively regenerate the biodiversity of ecosystems. And geoengineering will be able to redistribute the carbon from the atmosphere to the natural carbon cycle.
Siddhant Karmali is a a student at Stanford Online High School living in Tustin, CA. Some of his other work has been published in Proceedings of the 5th Annual IEOM Conference, as well as Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Rising Stars.