In the quiet spaces between Regen World presentations, a revolutionary idea has been taking shape – not in manifestos or white papers, but in hushed conversations over coffee, in animated debates after panels, and in the electric moments when theory collides with practical possibility.
What if the greatest barrier to regenerative transformation isn’t lack of knowledge, technology, or even funding, but simply our failure to connect what already exists?
The Power of Good Trouble
When civil rights icon John Lewis spoke of getting into “good trouble, necessary trouble,” he understood something fundamental about transformative change: it doesn’t wait for permission. It begins when courageous individuals take action that makes visible what was previously impossible to imagine.
Today, the regenerative movement stands at precisely such a threshold.
When the NIH Director suggests Americans should consider raising chickens to address egg prices, most responses fall into predictable camps: dismiss it as out-of-touch elitism, or see it as inadequate tinkering while systemic solutions languish.
But what if we recognized a third possibility? What if we saw it as an opening – an institutional acknowledgment that the centralized systems we’ve relied on are reaching their limits, and an invitation to demonstrate alternatives that work better?
The Backyard Barnraising Revolution
Imagine this: Over the next six months, regenerative practitioners across the country launch a coordinated campaign of “backyard barnraisings” – collaborative builds of chicken coops, garden beds, rainwater systems, and food preservation infrastructure in communities nationwide.
Not as isolated projects, but as connected nodes in a larger demonstration of what’s possible.
Not funded through traditional grants or venture capital, but implemented at near-zero cost by tapping resources hidden in plain sight:
- Corporate donation programs at home improvement stores
- Employee volunteer hours from businesses seeking community engagement
- Professional skills shared through time banking
- Materials rescued from waste streams
- Land accessed through cooperative agreements
Each project becomes not just physical infrastructure, but a demonstration site, an educational opportunity, a community connection point, and most importantly – a template others can easily replicate.
The Coordination Layer: Beyond Individual Action
Here’s where blockchain enters not as speculative technology, but as the essential coordination fabric that transforms isolated actions into systemic change.
Imagine these physical projects connected through a digital commons that:
- Verifies and values contributions of all types
- Shares implementation knowledge across sites
- Tracks collective impact in real time
- Enables resource sharing between communities
- Creates transparent governance for shared resources
This isn’t blockchain for blockchain’s sake. It’s using decentralized coordination tools to solve the fundamental challenge of regenerative work: how to achieve global scale through local action.
This is the essence of cosmo-localism: “design globally, produce locally” – sharing knowledge and coordination while respecting the unique context of each implementation.
Starting from Where You Are
The beauty of this approach is that it doesn’t require institutional permission or large capital investment to begin. It starts with what regenerative practitioners already have:
- Knowledge of natural systems
- Community connections
- Implementation experience
- Technological capabilities
- Shared vision
By combining these assets in new ways, we can create demonstration projects that show regenerative principles in action – not as abstract concepts, but as tangible improvements in food security, community resilience, and ecological health.
American Independence Reimagined as Interdependence
This approach speaks to something deeply American – the desire for self-determination and local autonomy. But it reframes independence not as isolation, but as the freedom to create meaningful connection on our own terms.
True resilience doesn’t come from disconnection. It emerges from diverse, redundant relationships that provide multiple pathways for resources, knowledge, and support to flow.
In this model:
- Backyards become connected production nodes
- Communities become innovation labs
- Regions become interdependent networks
- Globally shared knowledge adapts to local conditions
The result is a system that honors autonomy while creating the connections that make autonomy sustainable.
The Invitation to Action
This isn’t a theoretical proposal or a distant vision. It’s an invitation to immediate, coordinated action.
We’re launching a multi-state initiative to demonstrate this approach through 10 initial “backyard barnraising” projects by August 2025. Each will be documented as an open-source template others can replicate, connected through a digital commons, and designed to spawn further implementations.
But this isn’t “our” project to be joined. It’s a pattern to be adapted, improved, and made your own.
The invitation is simple:
- Find your node – a backyard, community garden, church grounds, or other space
- Gather your resources – tap into existing corporate and community assets
- Build your implementation – create physical regenerative infrastructure
- Document everything – share your process so others can replicate
- Connect through the commons – join the digital fabric linking these efforts
A Movement Beyond Movements
What makes this approach powerful is that it transcends traditional movement boundaries. It’s not asking anyone to adopt a new identity or abandon existing work. It’s offering a coordination layer that makes all our efforts more effective.
For farmers, it creates distribution infrastructure and market connections. For technologists, it provides real-world applications for coordination tools. For community organizers, it offers tangible projects with immediate benefits. For educators, it creates living classrooms demonstrating regenerative principles. For investors, it builds the foundation for truly regenerative returns.
The Time for Demonstration Is Now
At Regen World, we’ve seen incredible visions of what’s possible. We’ve developed sophisticated theories of change. We’ve created powerful technologies for coordination.
What’s missing isn’t knowledge or tools – it’s demonstration at a scale that can’t be ignored or dismissed.
In times of institutional inflexibility, the most revolutionary act is to simply demonstrate better alternatives – not in theory, but in practice. Not in isolation, but in connection. Not someday, but now.
The regenerative future we envision won’t arrive through persuasion alone. It will emerge through practical demonstrations that render the old system obsolete not through opposition, but through obsolescence.
This is our moment to shift from articulation to implementation – to move from explaining regenerative principles to embodying them in ways that invite participation rather than requiring conversion.
In the words of John Lewis: “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
Author Shannon J Dobbs has spent the past week at Regen World connecting with practitioners across the regenerative spectrum. To join the Backyard Barnraising initiative or learn more about the digital commons layer connecting these efforts, reach out to Shannon@LivingSys.org.
