The Saturday after Climate Week at RRU, I walked in Bowen Park. Climate Week took place within the context of two bomb cyclones battering Vancouver Island, bringing down trees, causing power outages, damaging buildings and disrupting ferries. So, after an intense week of learning and the calm after the storm, a walk in the park was a peaceful opportunity to reflect. During the walk, I encountered a dramatic scene in which a large tree beside a park bench had fallen over. As I gazed at the scene, I thought the bench could represent the resistance of human systems to change at the expense of nature and the fallen tree. From another perspective, the bench is meant to be a place for humans to rest and could be a place to dream of how the world could be a different place for both nature and humans. On the other hand, this scene could represent a crack in the human/nature relationship and how we might live going forward. The bench was resilient to the power of the tree uprooting, but the tree rests in a place where it can regenerate and has the built-in resilience of nature.
As I looked at the scene, I mused about the ideas explored at Climate Week and the Regenerar Workshop Series. The Regenerar Workshop Series is based on a documentary film of the same name that explores the fragility and suitability of modernity in relation to the climate emergency (Parente, 2022). The film points out that despite facing extinctions and the collapse of living systems, of which humans are a part of, modernity is based on progress and policies of extraction and extermination (Parente, 2022). The film is presented in three parts and explores the themes of letting systems that do not serve die, allowing rest and dreams to prepare us for a new way of relating in the world and embracing regenerative ways to live. Looking at the fallen tree scene, I am reminded that the ideas from the film that resonate with me also relate to resistance, rest, and resilience.
Resisting change or clinging to the status quo makes us more vulnerable to the changing world. We need to learn how to hospice the old ways that do not serve in the future die. The Regenerar film invites us to find ways to change our thinking as a possible way to change our current destructive trajectory (Parente, 2022). The Regenerar to Die Workshop provides the opportunity to consider the harmful structures and systems within ourselves, organizations and communities that need to be ushered out or hospiced and allowed to die (Solvable, 2024). By allowing harmful systems to die, room is made for the regeneration of new, less destructive ways to be. My thinking will be informed by the question of what regeneration is, as put forth by Aza Njeri (Parente, 2022). Aza asked if regeneration is somewhere between wallpapering over the old system to make it seem new and a revolution where everything old is destroyed and changed. This is not easily answered, but as I look at the fallen tree, I see that nature is based on regeneration. Can I learn from this tree? It will regenerate new life from the roots and mycelium network in the soil and from the nutrients contained within its biomass. Dying, therefore, is a necessary step for regeneration, and although we may not know exactly what will grow, but we can dream about what it might be.
Before the tree fell, it was a pleasant spot to sit under the boughs of the large Douglas fir and take a rest. Rest can still occur with this new situation, but maybe not without being reminded of the dramatic change that has occurred, and so the quality of rest has been lost—a diminishing of things. Lack of rest is a modern crisis in our capitalist, productivist world. Without rest and sleep, we cannot dream; without sleeping and dreaming, we cannot regenerate ourselves or our society (Parente, 2022). In the Regenerar to Dream Workshop, we shared awake and asleep dreams we recalled (Solvable, 2024). This was challenging as I do not often remember dreams or pay attention to my daydreams. Yet, Fabina Borges in the Regenerar film points out that dreaming is to resist the demands of modern life and that not paying attention to our dreams is similar to driving in the dark without headlights (Parente, 2022). I can pay attention to my dreams, rest on the bench, and daydream about what might grow here.
Rest pushes back and disrupts a system that views human bodies as a tool for production and labor. It is a counternarrative. We know that we are not machines. We’re divine.
– Tricia Hersey (Solvable, 2024).
The tree and the bench are resilient in the face of the drastic change wrought by the bomb cyclone. The tree is resilient because if left undisturbed, it can regenerate and support many trees to grow in its place. The bench is somewhat resilient in a diminished way. It withstood the dramatic shock of the tree uprooting beside it, but it is not quite as stable as it once was and, unlike the tree, will not flourish to become a more restful bench. Or could it? Part III of Regenerar to Live invites us to think about living beyond the ruptures and destruction of colonialism in a way that heals the harms and embraces regeneration (Solvable, 2024). What if the old bench is removed and a spot is carved into the tree trunk to rest, similar to Blenheim’s ancient oak in High Park? This would provide the person taking the rest a close connection to the tree and nature in a way that cannot be experienced from the old bench. Rather than feeling precarious, the rester could feel the tree’s embrace and perhaps have a more profound experience, demonstrating a new regenerative way to rest in the forest.
Figure 2
An Example of a Bench Carved into a Fallen Tree
Note. Photo Credit (Blenheim Palace, 2021).
The dramatic scene in Bowen Park has helped me synthesize some of the rich messages and ideas in the Regenerar Film and explored in the Regenerar Workshop Series. Although the scene was shocking, and I am always saddened to see a great tree fall, it has helped me dream of a different future supporting the regeneration of people and nature.
References
Blenheim Palace. (2021). Chainsaw champion carves stunning seat from fallen oak. https://www.blenheimpalace.com/stories/carved-seat-oak.html
Parente, M. C. (Director). (2022). Regenerar—Possible paths on a damaged planet [Documentary]. Spanda Productora. https://regenerar.vhx.tv/
Solvable. (2024, November). Regenerar November 2024 Series -To die. To dream. To live. Notion. https://solvablehq.notion.site/regenerar-november-2024-series