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Stories
In a time of unravelling and uncertainty, 7-Generation GTB is taking a whole-systems approach to social regeneration (generations in community) and ecological regeneration (community in bioregion). You can help #ChangeTheStory for all generations now and into the future.
The Greater Tkaronto Bioregion is 3 million hectares on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and it also touches Lake Erie and Lake Huron. This diverse urban/rural bioregion has a population of over 10 million people (a quarter of Canada's population, including Canada's largest city, Toronto). It's on the Great Lakes, which have 21% of the world's surface fresh water. The GTB is organized by watersheds through 13 Conservation Authorities, and has the largest Greenbelt in the world.
The lands and waters in this bioregion share climatic and ecological similarities." It's one of the country's most biologically diverse ecological regions. It has the warmest annual temperatures, the longest frost-free seasons, and the mildest winters in Ontario. It's Mixedwood Plains, which is less than 10% of the Ontario landscape; 60% of Ontario is Canadian Shield (if you start going north of the GTB, for example, the landscape noticeably changes). The soils and landforms are based on the glacial deposits of the Lake Ontario plain as it rises from the shores of the lake to meet the gravelly hills of the Oak Ridges Moraine. The watersheds arising in the moraine drain southwards to Lake Ontario and northwards to lakes Simcoe and Scugog. This is the "heart" of the GTB, with all the life-giving arteries.
The Legacy Project, a research and innovation group with 25 years experience, is the Core Team for the 7-Generation GTB – because this work is the legacy project of our time. The history of the local bioregional work goes back to the seminal 1992 Regeneration report by former Toronto Mayor and federal cabinet minister David Crombie. As a champion of the bioregion, Crombie has been involved in creating the Greenbelt, Rouge National Urban Park, the Waterfront Trail, and more.
"This approach is both a way of doing things and a way of thinking. It's not a new concept. Indigenous peoples have long understood their connectedness to the ecosystem – the land, water, air, and other life. Thinking about the whole bioregion helps focus attention on the interdependencies – everything is connected to everything else." — David Crombie
The 7-Generation GTB is also pursuing a Third Way — bringing Indigenous knowledge together with Western science in a way that will enable us to walk into the greatest existential challenge humanity has ever faced. We're working closely with the Indigenous Environmental Institute at Trent University, co-founded by Dr. Dan Longboat.
Drawing on Earth Systems Science, a bioregion is the smallest actionable scale reflecting bigger planetary processes. Understanding and acting in our bioregion supports deeper learning and can give everything more meaningful long-term impact. Get involved in the GTB School Community Network, including the annual Bioregional Eco Market, part of the GTB Bioregional Learning Center network.
Metaphorically, we talk about growing a tree of life through 7-Generation GTB. Visual storyteller Patricia Kambitsch has created this Tree of Life image to help us tell this story.
7-Generation GTB is working closely with global regeneration leader Joe Brewer, co-founder of the Design School for Regenerating Earth, of which the GTB is a founding member.
Joe Brewer is a global regeneration leader and leading-edge complexity thinker, with a background in both the earth sciences and cognitive sciences. He's currently doing on-the-ground regeneration work in a 500,000 hectare bioregion around Barichara, Colombia. His book, The Design Pathway for Regenerating Earth, is published by TCP Press.
There is an urgent need to describe the “how” for managing the convergent threats of ecological overshoot and civilization collapse. This book offers a clear and cogent pathway for safeguarding humanity’s future through an extended period of cascading consequences. To a great extent, the rest of our lives will be defined by how those who understand our global predicament organize and cooperate with one another.
This book offers genuine hope. There truly is a pathway to regenerate the Earth. It is not to be found in the shallow optimism of techno-fixes or consumer choices. Nothing short of a spiritual revival of indigenous lifeways will do. Combined with the best scientific knowledge about human behavior, cultural evolution, and the dynamic Earth; a path can be made by walking it throughout the rest of this century and beyond.
Dan Longboat and Joe Brewer in conversation: Finding a third way (1:35:44)
Weaving together the GTB for regeneration, with Joe Brewer (1:14:05)
EvoS Lecture :: Learning to Regenerate the Earth (2:00:50)
