We are living through what may well be the most dangerous time in human history. Having crossed Seven (of Nine) Planetary Boundaries, our social and ecological systems are breaking down all around us. What does this imply for how we educate our children?
Here in Barichara we are birthing a regenerative school in the ruins -- knowing deeply that we need models of education that are better suited to the collapsing biosphere and intensifying climate disruptions. I like to say that I chose to become a father with eyes wide open because I am deeply aware of the predicament we are in as a species right now.
When we gather our teachers of Sueños del Bosque, our conversations focus on cultivating the inner capacities of small children to know themselves, regulate their emotions, work collaboratively, express their creativity through arts and crafts, and immerse themselves in nature. All of these capacities are foundation to surviving the future -- which will, of necessity, be bioregional.
Pedagogy That Is Organized Around Natural Cycles
Here is one of our teachers named Anamaria. She is explaining how our yearly school calendar is organized into a "pedagogical spiral" that is attuned to the natural cycles of our local territory. She incorporates elements of the Indigenous Muisca calendar together with campesino practices. There is work organized around the gathering of native seeds, lunar and solar cycles, and natural rhythms associated with plants and animals of our region.
We know that bioregional education is largely about learning how to live harmoniously in our local life-place. To be part of nature's rhythms in a conscious and conscientious manner. So we organize how learning unfolds in the school by building on these foundational patterns of life in this place.
It is also important that our teachers can focus on placing the children and families at the heart of our community. We are innovating new and better financial models that support our teaching staff economically so that they can be of service to the territory. This is outlined in the article Funding an Entire Regenerative Education Ecosystem.
In other words, we take an ecosystems approach to bioregional finance and it enables us to work in deeper alignment with the natural systems of our place.
It Takes a Community to Cultivate Resilience
While the school itself is focused inward in the sense that we need pedagogical clarity, specific families enroll their children, and we need to care for our teaching staff -- there is a lot happening through our territorial foundation Fundación Barichara Regenerativa around the restoration of rivers and native forest, development of regenerative economic models, and the weaving of territorial initiatives for the regeneration of our territory.
We know that children need to learn how to restore dead rivers. They need to know about regenerative agroforestry. They need to have intimate relationships with the unique biodiversity of our bioregion. All of this is core to making the transition away from extractive economic models as they break down in the years ahead.
Our work is territorial in scope because we know that this is the scale at which a regenerative economy becomes possible. And it is at this larger scale that regenerative education becomes an ecosystem of programs, efforts, activities, and initiatives.
Help Make This Happen
There are many ways to get involved. You can visit Barichara through the Suna Program and come for an immersion. And you can make a donation into our Barichara Regenerative Education Fund to support all of our ongoing community work. And of course, you can join us in the Design School for Regenerating Earth.
Let us create the pathways for our children to prepare them for the future that is coming.
Onward, fellow humans.