We talked about why storytelling is important for movement-making and, last week, collected definitions of "regeneration" to help anchor the story. (Thanks so much for all the guidance!)

Today let's get to the heart of it - what makes regeneration compelling? Marc Barasch introduced me to the term and concept just last year at an event hosted by David Hodgson. Marc, author of The Compassionate Life, has invested his spirit into the Green World Campaign. He has experience with both storytelling and practice and is convincing when he argues these ideas need a bigger stage.

What components are core to the story; suitable for movement-making? Here are a few thoughts based on what attracts me:

• Positive - Regenerative initiatives move the world forward. They are challenging, creative, and exciting. They represent a "can-do" attitude. They are joyful not fearful.
• Long-term solution - It is good we have people working on immediate problems -- plugging methane leaks, feeding hungry children, protecting endangered animals. However, these near-term problems are also symptoms of structural problems in the economy. Regeneration helps address these deeper issues.
• Ambitious - Not only does it address long-term problems, it resolves them, stopping the game of whack-a-mole we so often play. With a regenerative strategy we can actually "win the game" not just lose more slowly.
• "Yes/And" - Regeneration is about refusing to choose between "the lesser of two evils" and instead find win-win (and win again) approaches. It denies the need for trade-offs (e.g., climate change for energy or poor soil for more food or poverty for wealth).
• Anti-anti - At its best, regeneration assumes good intentions. It isn't a search for bad guys. A better future is going to require the ingenuity and efforts of the entire globe so it helps build a coalition of everyone.
• Prosperity - Regeneration implies making the world better for our generation and generations to come. It isn't a strategy of austerity but a vision of abundance. This abundance will be defined differently - it may not include massive wealth accumulation or pure pursuit of profit.
• Moves forward - It acknowledges the world will be different in the future. It isn't an (impossible) return to a previous era or way-of-life, but the deliberate co-creation of a new and better one.
• Responsibility - It acknowledges human responsibility for the changes we make in the world. So far the anthropocene has been inadvertent (and denied). Regeneration implies that we use our tremendous human capacity to acknowledge and take responsibility -- to create an intentional and better anthropocene.

What motivates you about regenerative innovation? Please let me know how you tell the story.

And, don't forget to join the wave!