18th Jun 2024 Gemini 1.5 Pro
In this episode of The Regeneration Will Be Funded, host Matthew Monahan speaks with Gregory Landua, co-founder of Regen Network. Recorded at the Eco Weaving Gathering in Wilbur, California in April 2023, the conversation explores Landua's journey from a deep green background to the blockchain space, his vision for harmonizing human economies with ecological health, and the role of Regen Network in creating a more just and regenerative future.
Landua's path to blockchain began with his deep-rooted passion for ecological and social entrepreneurship. Before co-founding Regen Network, he ran Terra Genesis International, a permaculture consulting group focused on enterprise design through a regenerative lens. They advised clients on farm planning and large-scale landscape regeneration, recognizing the inherent challenges of achieving profitability while implementing these practices. Landua emphasizes the transformative power of this work:
When you go through that process for many years, you come out having a different embodied sense of what it is to be human and what's right and what's good and what's beautiful starts to evolve away from this sort of abstracted aesthetic of consumerism and where status is tied up with sort of the shiny objects that are easily pumped out at scale through extractive industry.
Landua's interest in blockchain stemmed from a lifelong fascination with money and economics. He sees money as a "root protocol of society," reflecting a culture's values and assumptions. Landua was initially drawn to Bitcoin as an intriguing experiment in fixed-supply currency, but his interest deepened in 2017 during the ICO boom. He recognized the potential of blockchain to address the limitations he perceived in traditional approaches to large-scale regeneration. The emerging technology provided a permissionless, decentralized platform for experimentation and coordination, potentially aligning financial systems with ecological health.
Landua draws a compelling analogy between water and money to illustrate his approach to systemic change:
So this is a... so that's the story now. Let's transpose that and... and use it as a metaphor to expand water in... from where I'm coming from. Water is a really powerful analog to money and liquidity. People are always talking about liquidity.
Just as intervening downstream in a watershed proves ineffective, Landua argues that tackling symptoms of ecological degradation within the existing financial paradigm will yield limited results. Instead, he advocates for identifying the "top of the watershed" within financial systems and implementing interventions that fundamentally alter the flow of capital. He believes blockchain technology can serve as a metaphorical trowel, enabling us to reshape the landscape of finance and direct resources towards regenerative practices.
Landua acknowledges the valid criticisms leveled against carbon markets, particularly concerns about them being a "license to pollute" or perpetuating existing power imbalances. However, he believes they represent a radical shift in corporate accountability:
And it is actually, I think, should be understood and honored for the pretty fundamental leap that's taking place. And... and kind of like it's actually really radical, mm-hmm, and I think we should have a... I think for any comment, any good conversation about carbon markets to sort of understand, in some ways, just how radical it is and how exciting it is. And to be at a moment in history where the fabric of, I guess, extractive capitalism is being regenerated, it's like being disassembled and reassembled in real time from the outside in and from the inside out.
By assigning a financial liability to carbon emissions, corporations are forced to account for their environmental impact, potentially driving a fundamental shift in their operations. While acknowledging the potential for manipulation and inequity, Landua emphasizes the importance of engaging with these markets to shape their development. He differentiates between compliance markets, driven by government mandates, and voluntary markets, where companies choose to offset their emissions, recognizing the diverse motivations at play.
Landua outlines Regen Network's vision for a more equitable and effective carbon market ecosystem:
My life work for the last six years has been to try to create a... set a market infrastructure that can be owned fully and operated fully and governed fully by the supply side of this carbon and biodiversity and sort of living capital marketplace.
He emphasizes the need to shift power dynamics by empowering the "supply side" – the farmers, forest stewards, indigenous communities, and scientists actively engaged in regenerative practices. Regen Network aims to achieve this by creating a platform where these communities can define their own credit standards, govern the marketplace, and directly benefit from the value they generate. This stands in contrast to traditional top-down carbon market models, which Landua argues are susceptible to manipulation and often fail to adequately represent the diversity of ecological contexts.
Landua envisions Regen Network evolving into a comprehensive "eco-social computer," extending beyond carbon to encompass a broader range of ecological services:
So you could think of what Regen Network is trying to do is unionizing carbon markets. Right?
This platform would facilitate the creation and exchange of credits representing biodiversity, water catchment health, traditional ecological knowledge, and more. Landua emphasizes the importance of a pluralistic approach, recognizing the need for diverse methodologies and valuation systems that reflect local contexts and cultural values. This approach, he argues, is crucial for ensuring the long-term viability and effectiveness of these markets in driving a genuine transition towards a regenerative future.
Airtable