This curated selection of videos will help you learn more about the ideas underlying 7-Generation GTB.
Several of the videos feature Joe Brewer, a global regeneration leader with a background in earth systems science, cognitive science, and cultural evolution. He lives in Barichara, Colombia, where he's doing on-the-ground regeneration work in a 500,000 hectare bioregion, and is author of The Design Pathway for Regenerating Earth. Together with Penny Heiple, Joe is co-founder of the Design School for Regenerating Earth. The GTB core team of Susan Bosak and Brian Puppa are working closely with Joe and Penny. They all co-hosted the 7-Generation Bioregional Earth Summit to birth and steward the larger story of Bioregional Earth.
Note: Register to view session recordings from the
7-Generation GTB Introduction
7-Generation GTB (Greater Tkaronto Bioregion) mobilizes intergenerational and place-based dynamics for both social regeneration (generations in communities) and ecological regeneration (communities in bioregions) to #ChangeTheStory of how we live together on a changing planet. Join us!
7-Generation Bioregional Earth Summit: Summary Video
For six days in February, 2024, the 7-Generation Bioregional Earth Summit took place in Toronto, Canada and was livestreamed around the world.
The Summit was designed as an unfolding story. Each session was carefully curated; every speaker was specially invited to bring their unique voice and perspective to the story tapestry. Sliding across themes and scales, the Summit laid the foundation for a new/old story of Bioregional Earth. This video contains highlights from the final day of the 7-Generation Bioregional Earth Summit. It summarizes the sessions from the Summit and explains how we can live into the story of Bioregional Earth. The GTB (Greater Tkaronto Bioregion) is leading and learning from bioregions forming around the planet. We're looking to #ChangeTheStory of how we live with each other on a changing planet in uncertain times.
David Crombie: Championing the Bioregion
In 1992, the seminal Regeneration report was released. It laid the foundation for understanding the bioregion around Toronto, and profoundly influenced local thinking and planning. The Honourable David Crombie, former Toronto Mayor and federal Cabinet Minister, was the author of the report. After the report, he became a champion of the bioregion and has been involved in creating the Greenbelt, Rouge National Urban Park, the Waterfront Trail, and more. Starting with his childhood roots in the neighbourhood of Swansea, this short documentary explores David Crombie's legacy as the context for the current 7-Generation GTB (Greater Tkaronto Bioregion) work.
Dan Longboat in Conversation with Joe Brewer: Finding a Third Way
Earth is in an unprecedented moment in history. Never before have humans affected the entire planet, causing changes that usually happen slowly over thousands of years to happen in decades and trigger various tipping points. Indigenous peoples warned colonists that going against Natural Law (which starts in your bioregion/place) is like going against life, toward your own demise. We need the best of Indigenous ways of knowing and knowledge with the best of Western science. Dr. Dan Longboat is an Associate Professor in the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies at Trent University; Director of the Indigenous Environmental Studies and Sciences Program, the first of its kind in North America to blend Indigenous knowledge and Western science; and one of the Group of Seven advisors for the 7-Generation GTB work. In a dynamic and multilayered conversation with global regeneration leader Joe Brewer, he explores a Third Way forward.
Building a 7-Generation World
Susan V. Bosak is a systems researcher, educator, and Founder of the Legacy Project. Her 7-Generation strategy work is a key part of the foundation of
7-Generation Greater Tkaronto Bioregion (GTB):
Past, Present, Future
It started with former Toronto Mayor and MP The Honourable David Crombie and his seminal 1992 Regeneration report.
30 years later, global regeneration leader Joe Brewer visited the GTB and, based on earth systems science, laid out a compelling vision for the bioregion as the smallest actionable scale that reflects larger planetary processes. Thinking in terms of the bioregion enables us to meaningfully scale-link impact upward into the Great Lakes Basin, the continent, and ultimately to regenerating the entire Earth. The GTB is leading and learning from other bioregions as part of Bioregional Earth.
A Message from Joe Brewer to the Generations in the GTB
Joe Brewer visited the Greater Tkaronto Bioregion (GTB) in February, 2023. He did a dozen public talks, toured the region, and visited with regenerative projects. At the end of his week-long visit, we asked Joe to record a message to the generations in our bioregion. This is his message, accompanied by some highlights from his visit.
Weaving Together the GTB for Regeneration with Joe Brewer
A general session for the public that's a good introduction (with great Q&A) to the thinking underlying 7-Generation GTB (Greater Tkaronto Bioregion). Joe Brewer outlines the predicament in which we find ourselves, and the regenerative action we can take in the context of the smallest local scale – the bioregion – that reflects bigger planetary processes.
A 7-Generation Bioregional Approach to
Regenerating Our Land and Water with Joe Brewer
A talk for staff managing the stewardship of large landscapes in the Greater Tkaronto Bioregion (e.g. conservation authorities, Rouge National Urban Park and other local parks and forests, the Greenbelt, etc). How can we take a bigger systemic approach to stewardship that can multiply meaningful impact across land areas from the very small to the very large? The GTB is leading and learning from other bioregions as part of Bioregional Earth.
A 7-Generation Bioregional Approach to
Planning for People & Planet in a Polycrisis with Joe Brewer
A detailed talk for municipal and regional staff across departments in the Greater Tkaronto Bioregion (GTB). The blunt fact is that we're in a polycrisis – converging climate, environmental, economic, political, technological, social, health crises. This is about deep systems strategy that manages systemic risk and builds systemic resilience. A bioregional approach promotes intersectoral and interdisciplinary management and planning, and offers opportunities to integrate and deploy strategic and policy priorities effectively on multiple fronts simultaneously. The GTB is leading and learning from other bioregions as part of Bioregional Earth.
7-Generation Healing: Lived Experience in Place
with Joe Brewer, Penny Heiple, and Susan V. Bosak
The story of the world is interwoven with our own life stories and relationships. For Indigenous peoples, everything rests on right relationships – with other people and with the land. The long-term effectiveness of any collective action we try to take depends on how well we can rise into collaboration – how we come together in relationship. How can we nurture intergenerational healing and bridge silos? How can we systemically interconnect social programs/supports to be more than just a bandage, and provide a tapestry for co-creation and care?
Grade 12 Student Ethan Bonerath Interviews Joe Brewer
Ethan Bonerath is a grade 12 student in the GTB (Greater Tkaronto Bioregion). During a visit global regeneration leader Joe Brewer made to the GTB, Ethan did a short radio interview with him. This wide-ranging interview covers everything from personal purpose to environmental challenges.
What is a Bioregional Learning Center?
One of the most important parts of bioregional social and ecological regeneration is organizing a learning ecosystem that coherently integrates everything taking place in the bioregion. In this video, Joe Brewer introduces the idea of a Bioregional Learning Center. We're establishing a Bioregional Learning Center in the GTB.
Exploring Learning in an Uncertain World with Joe Brewer
In an uncertain and changing world, how can we help young people learn what they'll need to know? How can we more deeply engage all generations in regenerative thinking and practices? This session with global regeneration leader Joe Brewer took place in August, 2023 with a group of teachers, parents, elders, and students in the Greater Tkaronto Bioregion (GTB). It also features Susan V. Bosak, who is the Lead Educator with the Legacy Project core team for 7-Generation GTB.
We're creating "Intergenerational Zone" learning spaces that connect student EcoLeaders with supportive teachers and with Elders-in-Residence from the community. These "super teams" are engaged in mutual learning and collective action that can ripple out around the planet by connecting with other bioregions through the Design School for Regenerating Earth.
Tkaronto Food Forest
Elder Dr. Duke Redbird describes the food forest that once was Tkaronto, connecting it into the 7 Grandfathers teachings. A regenerative future across the GTB can bring back this kind of local resilience. This video segment is used with permission of Myseum of Toronto and Dr. Redbird.
Towards a More Just Future – understanding 'land back'
The David Suzuki Foundation has produced an excellent series of videos exploring the "land back" movement. It looks at the past and present, culminating in this discussion on the future. An expert panel discusses Indigenous rights and responsibilities to help better understand the root causes of conflicts over land use and resource extraction in Canada.
How Humans Regenerate Earth
Imagine a world where deserts bloom into lush gardens at the touch of human hands. What if our presence on Earth could spark life, not diminish it? Dive into a journey of ancient wisdom with Dr. Lyla June, where Indigenous peoples didn't just inhabit the land, they enriched it, turning barren grounds into thriving ecosystems. Uncover the secrets of a time when humanity and nature worked in unison, creating abundance for all life. We can be stewards of the Earth.
The Story of Al Baydha:
Regenerative Agriculture in the Saudi Desert
What we do in the GTB is part of a larger global regenerative system. Nine years in, Al Baydha Project Co-Founder Neal Spackman offers this analysis. He looks at how desertification resulted from the loss of an Indigenous land management system, and how the land has changed with the implementation of the project. The project challenges us to rethink our stewardship of the planet, whether here in the GTB or halfway around the world. "We are not destructive by nature, but by habit. Our potential for destruction is mirrored by our potential for regeneration." This is a call to action.
The Power of the Land
In this historic global moment of uncertainty and challenge, as much as we need rational, analytical thought, we also need creative artistic expression. Based on a poem written by Elder Dr. Duke Redbird, this video features the music of the Sultans of String and the voices of Twin Flames. May it speak to your soul and move you to new ways of being in the Greater Tkaronto Bioregion.
Visit the Legacy Project's YouTube channel for more videos.