Start from Potential & Find your Role

In class this last week, we discussed two regenerative design principles. The first principle – starting from potential – emphasizes the importance of focusing not on past or present problems but on the inherent capacities that any project or system might contribute to the broader systems of which it is a part. As the authors of Regenerative Development and Design: A Framework For Evolving Sustainability write, “One way to characterize living systems is that each is distinctive, with an essence that is the source of its uniqueness.” As such, “We discover inherent potential by recognizing the essence of an entity and then seeing how that essence can be uniquely value-adding within its context” (123). The second principle – finding your value-adding role – flows from the first and affirms that the continuing health of living systems depends on each member living out its distinctive role for the benefit of the whole. For example, in the Three Sisters Guild, the corn stalks provide the vertical structure, the beans fix nitrogen in the soil, and the leaves of the squash work as a ground cover to protect the soil, hold in moisture, and crowd out weeds. Each member adds distinctive value for the benefit of the interconnected whole. From here, we discussed several related questions: What would you describe as the essence of HAUMC, and can you name that essence using a metaphor or image? And then, within our geographical location, within the United Methodist denomination, and within the larger environmental movement, what unique value-adding role(s) can HAUMC contribute to the wellbeing of these broader systems?