Greetings!
I love the adage, “we have everything we need.” It’s so true and comforting. Yet like a lot of truths, I need this one repeated as it sometimes gets nudged out of view. Recently a string of wonderful things brought me full circle to this idea (again). I should have guessed that spinning — the simple act of turning a wheel round and round to make yarn — would be at the core of the message.
Let me back up a moment.
One of the most fun things I did in 2018 was be a guest on the Reversing Climate Change podcast. The conversation ranged from how business already has the instructions to align with nature, to the music of Joni Mitchell, to spinning and knitting. This was basically my dream conversation. Better still, it was hosted by an organization — Nori — that exists to help farmers get paid to sequester carbon in their soil. It was like “everything we need” meets “needs being met.” Super fun.
Shortly after that, I presented at the Bio4Climate conference in Cambridge (MA) sharing a bit about my corporate work and reading an excerpt from a chapter of my book-in-progress, which was quite a moving experience for me (my talk is here if you’re curious). This event, combined with a visit with Otto Scharmer of the Presencing Institute on my way there, filled my mind with hopeful, diverse ideas about our shared future. Between the slime molds, the 17-year cicadas and Theory-U, we’ve got plenty of solid guidance.
After my talk I was approached by a woman named Ananda Fitzsimmons who introduced herself as a board member of Regeneration Canada. She asked if I would present at the Living Soils Symposium set to take place in Montréal on March 28-31. It just so happened I was in the process of moving from New York to Montréal so without really knowing much about the organization nor the event — just hearing “living soils” which I believe will be key to solving the climate challenge — I said, “Yes!”
It was a nutty start to 2019 with a move across the border, several convergent deadlines and travel, and a lot of icy sidewalks. I had a few of instances where I definitely did not feel like I had what I needed. And then the Universe did what she does where she’s like, “Remember? That thing you said? On the Nori podcast? Where we have everything we need? You’re supposed to, you know, be like that.” Oh. Right.
The symposium in Montréal included farmers, scientists, students, and some corporate folks, among others. Ananda and her team asked me to moderate a panel of business people to explore how they think about soils, and more broadly how the shift towards regenerative business is playing out. One of the panelists was Becky Porlier from Upper Canada Fibreshed.
Who’s that? You wonder. Why, she is the woman who leads the Ontario offshoot of California-based Fibershed, a not-for-profit that envisions “the emergence of an international system of regional textile communities that enliven connection and ownership of ‘soil-to-soil’ textile processes.” I first heard about them through my friends at the Etobicoke Handweavers & Spinners Guild. Making yarn and cloth is something I don’t generally get into here but which has been a cherished part of my life for decades. Lo and behold, here come the leaders in climate action and regenerative business practices who turn out to be farmers and artisans making textiles. Becky and I were like long lost siblings as opposed to speakers on the same corporate panel.
And then, as if the spinning connection weren’t already fun enough, two of Nori’s podcasters were in town for the Symposium — Christophe Jospe and Ross Kenyon — since living soils are key to the success of their carbon market. They asked if I would co-host a podcast with Becky from Upper Canada Fibreshed. Like joining the symposium itself, that request garnered an easy ‘yes.’
Business models designed to make it easier to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere. Farmers producing food and fibre in a way that rebuilds ecosystems and creates products with integrity. People who spin yarn, or just tell stories, to keep us turning in the right direction.
These are just a few of the beads on the string of wonderful things coming full circle.
Yours in connectedness,
Lorraine
