Regeneration Workshop for EDC
Objectives:
- Design a workshop that gives the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) employees an overview of sustainability but focuses largely on the shifting discourse to regeneration
- Include elements to engage employees to see how they can put regenerative principles into practice
Project Duration: July 2023
Designed For: SustainablePH
Role: Co-Workshop Designer
Overview: A workshop developed for the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) in the Philippines, focused on regeneration. It was delivered during their 2023 Learning Summit to educate and inspire the head office employees on the topic and how they can incorporate sustainability and regeneration into their work and personal lives.
What I included in the lecture content:
- Key definitions related to sustainability and regeneration
- The shifting discourse from sustainability to regenerative
- Historical context of the regenerative movement
- Examples of regenerative initiatives (Patagonia, AGREA farms in the Philippines and Silicon Ranch in the USA)
- Nature’s Unifying Patterns (from the Biomimicry Institute) to highlight ways in which we can learn from the natural world and engage in regenerative practices
After the lecture, the participants were tasked to assess a challenge they currently have (personal or professional) and see how they can use Nature’s Unifying Patterns to identify actions they can take to address the challenge in a more regenerative way.
The aim of the workshop exercise was to provide an opportunity to put the regenerative principles taught during the lecture into practice. Whether it’s a challenge in their workplace or personal lives, we wanted to show participants that they can look at it from different perspectives and contribute to the regenerative movement in tangible ways.
Even though sustainability has gained a lot of traction globally, you’ll find publications and articles that look at sustainability with a more critical lens. Sustainability is sometimes viewed as only mitigating negative impacts and doing things that are just a little bit “less bad”. Many argue that this is not enough. That given the current state of the world, we need to do more than the bare minimum.
Now we’re seeing another buzzword gain traction, which is the concept of being ‘regenerative’. This movement looks beyond mitigation and encourages actions tha make a positive impact and create conditions for life to regenerate and flourish. There is also an element of working to reverse the damage that has been done to people and the planet.
Companies such as the EDC in the Philippines are becoming more aware of this concept of ‘regenerative’ and taking strides to put the concept into practice (as can be seen in their impact reports). The upper management of EDC is also motivated to bring more awareness among their employees with regard to ‘sustainability’ and ‘regeneration’.