Will you have a regenerative holiday break?

Rengerative: able to or tending to regenerate — to regrow or be renewed or restored, especially after being damaged or lost. The act or process of regenerating is regeneration.

In the world of environmental sustainability, the starting point that the human race is still failing at is to sustain the status quo and prevent even further degradation than we have already caused. However, a potential problem with having sustainability as a target is to not set the bar high enough, we may not even consider the possibility of a regenerative future, one where we can “regrow or renew or restore”, “especially after being damaged or lost”.

For today, Christmas Day, I ask you to consider if you can have a regenerative holiday break rather than simply a sustainable (or even “degenerative” one)?

A starting point is to rest. In any ordinary year, many of us are exhausted from overwork by this time of year, so we need time to rest and relax. This is no ordinary year, so this need is even more paramount. However, though for the most extrovert amongst us all of the get together, parties (though yes, less in the covid era) and excess of food and drink are part of the season that they feel is good for their soul (if not the body), how many of us actively consider something beyond personal sustainability and reach for something regenerative?

Running in the snow

I think back to my late teens. I was in my first year of university and had become passionately…