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Regenerative Skills

Oliver Goshey
Regenerative Skills
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  • Co-creating a regenerative future for tourism in Spain, with Sonia Teruel
    Today we’ll continue the miniseries I’m building on regenerative tourism. This time we’ll take a close look at the specific context of the country where I live, here in Spain. Spain has been a top global tourist destination since the 60s and the industry that as grown to meet the demand for travel as shaped so much of the country especially the Mediterranean coast and cities like Barcelona, Valencia, and towns that have grown up entirely to cater to a specific type of budget tourism like Benidorm, Salou, and Lloret del Mar.  Yet in recent years there has been a major backlash from the local population protesting irresponsible development, skyrocketing prices, and exemptions from water restrictions directly related to the way tourism is managed. Here to explore these challenges as well as the potential to chart a new course for both hosts and visitors is Sonia Teruel. Sonia helps grassroots initiatives, entrepreneurs and Destination Management Organisations in their transition to a regenerative model in tourism. She is also a consultant, facilitator, and founder at The RegenLAB for Travel. In this conversation we explore the meteoric rise of Spain as a tourist destination and its impact on the communities where visitors concentrate. We look at the challenges that have ignited protests and opposition to the way tourism is managed as well as some of the responses to these issues which may cause bigger problems in the long term. From there we mine Sonia’s experiences as a community conversation facilitator who works to guide collaborative processes that explore the potential for new ways of managing visitors and hosts alike in order to achieve lasting solutions.  Sonia will be the first to admit that these efforts are still in their infancy and case studies of real success over time don’t exist yet in our region, but points to some promising projects to keep an eye on and perhaps emulate as they get established. Though the focus is on the Spanish context, I have no doubt that there are equivalents to many other places around the world where the tourism industry has shaped development and policy for decades, and I hope many of you listening will find inspiration for where you live as well.
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  • Running a profitable regenerative fruit orchard with Stefan Sobkowiak
    Welcome back to another interview from the skill exchange calls that I’ve been running with Climate Farmers for our regenerative farming network in Europe.  In this session I had the good fortune of introducing Stefan Sobkowiak to our group. Many of you who’ve been listening to this show for a while will remember the last interview I did with Stefan in the last season during the series on agroforestry. Stefan is one of my favorite sources for practical and honest techniques for managing the whole ecology of an orchard from propagating new tree species through maintenance, pest management, harvesting and even processing and marketing your products. His film, the Permaculture Orchard has help people around the world to transition towards diversified, resilient, and more profitable models of running their tree crop businesses. His YouTube channel goes even more in depth as he’s always creating videos about the innovations and even struggles that are going on at his orchard Miracle Farm in Canada.   In this session we cover a lot of ground in a short time. We talk about How to manage pests and diseases by improving soil health and biodiversity in the orchard. How to care for the health of your trees for better yields and profit. Integrating other crops and animals into the system for ecological and economic resilience. And how to adapt common methods to your unique climate and context.  There’s a whole Q&A session that happens after the half hour interview on these skill exchange calls which are exclusive to the Climate Farming network here in Europe. So if you’re interested in attending these calls in person to have your own questions answered by the experts and tap into the growing community of farmers, consultants, and educators around Europe, you can register right now at ClimateFarmers.org
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  • Pond design and mangement masterclass, with Ben Falk
    At this point I’ve taken a lot of courses and trainings around water management and earthworks, but I’m still always curious to stay up to date on new takes and styles of working with water and shaping the landscape to optimize water capture on the terrain. I’ve talked to Ben Falk a couple of times in the past and I’ve always enjoyed his take on the need to build deep relationships with the systems we design and build, but in the past we never focused on water. In this episode, I reconnect with Ben, and we dive into water management and his new course on pond design and management. Ben explains the comprehensive focus of the course, covering site evaluation, water storage, pond construction, and long-term maintenance. He discusses the significance of water management in permaculture and restoration, addressing key considerations for pond building, such as erosion control and flood mitigation. The conversation also explores the ecological and culinary potential of ponds, emphasizing their role in enhancing microclimates, providing habitat, and offering diverse food sources. Ben shares insights on how ponds benefit both wet and dry climates by replenishing groundwater and managing floodwaters effectively. The episode highlights the importance of small, decentralized water systems and the myriad ecological benefits ponds offer.
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  • Trees as allies in regeneration: Panel episode
    Part of the Climate Farmers Academy series, dedicated to facilitating peer-to-peer learning among farmers transitioning toward regenerative management across Europe. In this episode, experienced practitioners from various European regions share their insights and practical advice on integrating agroforestry into diverse farming contexts. The panel includes Lorenz from Germany, Dmitri based in Portugal, and Joshua from England, who discuss topics such as soil health, plant diversity, tree nursery setups, and the financial aspects of regenerative farming. This episode is a must-watch for anyone interested in enhancing farm resilience and implementing regenerative practices with perennial crop systems.
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  • Understanding the regenerative potential of tourism, with Michelle Holiday
    Today I’ll be kicking off another little series on a topic that’s new to this show, which is regenerative tourism. Both, I and a number of other friends have been noticing a growing animosity and backlash towards tourism in our communities over the last couple of years. It seems that since the rise of short term rentals, and the post COVID surge of travel, we’re hitting a tipping point in what local communities are willing to put up with as more of their culture and ways of life are over run by outside visitors and the industries that cater to them. Now obviously I’m a foreigner to the place where I live, as are many of my friends in different place around the world, so I want to understand this cultural moment from a number of perspectives. One being how people like myself can go beyond the empty promises of sustainable tourism, and visit new places in a way that actually enriches the culture and identity of those locations, and also the other side, where as host communities we can cultivate a relationship and cater to visitors in a way that incentivises this kind of interaction, and goes beyond the extractive tendencies from both sides. Now I’m very new to the nuisances of this topic, but thankfully my friend Charles Van de Kerkhof who has made this topic his specialty for a number of years has been kind enough to connect me to his contacts and guide the questions and concepts in the interviews of this growing series, and you’ll hear from him directly soon enough. Now this first interview will help to set the tone and offer an overview of what we’re trying to explore here, and I feel very fortunate to have gotten a hold of Michelle Holiday to start us off. Michelle is an author, facilitator, consultant & researcher, who For the past 2 decades, has supported pioneering clients across a range of sectors, including tourism & agriculture, to enable the transition to more regenerative systems and structures. Michelle’s research & experience are brought together in her book, The Age of Thrivability: Vital Perspectives & Practices for a Better World, as well as more than 100 articles on themes of thrivability & regeneration. In this conversation, Michelle and I start by building an understanding of her term, thrivability as a concept that we set as a foundation for potential. We then look at the current paradigm of tourism and how it can erode both the value of the places that host visitors as well as cheapen the experiences that travelers are looking for. Through examples from our own travels and experiences Michelle and I look through examples of tourism interactions from different places and where opportunities may have been missed. We analyse both the perspective of travelers as well as hosts to build on a concept of thrivability for both, and Michelle shares case studies of where community led discussions have unlocked greater potential than what may lie on the surface.  By the end you’ll hear about ideas and advice on how you, either as a visitor or a host, can break free of the common narrative of extractive tourism and begin to cultivate a relationship with the other that can enrich everyone involved, including the local environment.
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