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
Drowning in Black Swans: Why Governance is Failing in our Age of Chaos
Frozen Dreams: How a Family Agricultural Empire Exposed the Dark Side of American Capitalism
The Abundance Trap: Who Owns Our Future When Robots Do All the Work?
The Revenge Addiction: How Trump's Vengeful Brand is America's Deadliest Drug
The Authoritarian Pincer: How Both Left and Right Threaten Free Speech in America
F**k the Patriarchy: Tim Jackson's Path to a "Care" Economy
American Ruins: The Death of Expertise in Trump's Washington
Episode 2547: Paul Elie on Art, Faith and Sex in the 1980s
Episode 2546: Zaakir Tameez on the most unsung hero of the American Civil War and Reconstruction
Episode 2545: Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling on the Death of Trust in Science
Episode 2544: Marcus Alexander Gadson on the History of Sedition in the United States
Episode 2543: Edward Luce on the Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski
Episode 2542: John Cassidy on Capitalism and its Critics