From the Soil Up: Regenerating the Economy
Not everything at DLD this year was on the growing US-European economic and technological divide. There were many speeches on the environment including from heavyweights like Kate Raworth. And I had the opportunity to catch up with my favorite advocate of regenerative agriculture, the managing partner at Acton Capital, Jan-Gisbert Schultze. According to Schultze, today's deepest problem is our spiritual disconnection from nature. We've lost 50% of our soil carbon, he notes, and with it the fertility that sustains us. We can save ourselves, he says, from the soil up — by embracing regenerative agricultural practices that prioritize local community activation and sustainable farming. Schultze is putting this into practice at Lake Constance, Germany's largest lake, where his Regenerate Forum is working to transform an entire county into what he calls a "climate landscape" — retraining farmers, rebuilding soil, and relocalizing the food system.
Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Damien Lewis on a Profound Sense of Duty: What Josephine Baker Had in Common With Queen Elizabeth II
Andy Kroll on the Madness of Online Crowds: What the 2016 Murder of Seth Rich Tells Us About Our Conspiratorial Age
Kim Samuel: Should the Right to "Belong" Be Enshrined As a Sacred Human Right?
Jason Feifer on Darwin 2.0: How to Embrace Change, Adapt Fast, and Future Proof Both Your Career and Your Life
Michael Sayman: How the Gay Son of First-Generation Peruvian Immigrants Became the Most Influential Latino in Silicon Valley
Mark Bergen: Given YouTube's World Domination, Should the Google-Owned Video Platform Be More Aggressively Regulated and Controlled?
Douglas Rushkoff: What the Escape Fantasies of Tech Billionaires Reveal About Our Apocalyptic Age
Josh Chin: Why China's "Surveillance State" Is More Nuanced Than Either China Lovers or Haters Would Have Us Believe
Ross Dawson: How Can We Be Sure That This "Futurist" Author Isn't, In Fact, a Smart Machine?
David Livermore: How to Get Along With People That You Want to Eradicate
Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell: Feminist or Feminine? A Twentieth-Century History of Skirts
Louise Perry: No More Sex? A "Feminist" Case Against the Sexual Revolution
Jonathan Darman: How FDR Learned to Be FDR: The Personal Crisis That Transformed Him Into a Historic Leader