Regeneration-Oriented Education Initiatives
Source
* Islands of Coherence (Pedagogy and Learning cluster)
URL: https://islands-of-coherence.com/
The Islands of Coherence mapping initiative is a strategic cartography of the “islands” of regenerative practice that persist within a sea of systemic breakdown. Its Pedagogy and Learning cluster specifically tracks the transmission layer of regenerative culture—how ecological and holistic worldviews pass between generations through residential, cohort-based, and online formats. The mapping documents a critical finding: the residential, degree-bearing model exemplified by Schumacher College has not been replaced, leaving a structural gap in the archipelago of regeneration-oriented education. By rendering visible the decentralized federation of Ecoversities, the lineage-based programs of Animas Valley Institute and Alliance of Wild Ethics, and the place-based offerings of Local Futures, Hollyhock, and Gaia Education, the initiative aims to weave these dispersed islands into a coherent, mutual-learning ecosystem capable of catalyzing bioregional resilience and long-term cultural transformation.
Directory
URL: https://www.schumachercollege.org/
Schumacher College is a pioneering institution of transformative, holistic education that for over three decades has embodied a living experiment in ecology, community, and spirit. Its aim is to bring together leading thinkers, activists, and practitioners to explore the deep questions of our time through immersive, place-based learning that engages head, heart, hands, and habitat. Though its residential academic programming closed in September 2024, the college continues under the ownership of the Satish Kumar Foundation, operating nomadic short courses without a permanent site as of 2026, while seeking to relaunch at a new home rooted in the River Dart bioregion.
URL: https://ecoversities.org/
Ecoversities is a planetary alliance of learners and communities reclaiming diverse knowledges, relationships, and imaginations to design new approaches to higher education. Its aim is to cultivate human and ecological flourishing by connecting people who are re-envisioning learning processes that are meaningful and relevant to the critical challenges of our times. Operating as a decentralized federation with sixteen service circles, the alliance nourishes stories and practices that reconnect and regenerate ecological and socio-cultural systems, asking what the university might look like if it were at the service of diverse ecologies, cultures, economies, spiritualities, and Life within our planetary home.
Animas Valley Institute, founded in 1980 by wilderness guide and depth psychologist Bill Plotkin, offers multi-day experiential immersions into wild landscapes and the wilds of soul with the goal of discovering the meaning and destiny at the heart of each life. Its mission is to contribute to the generation of healthier and more mature human societies by supporting nature-based, full-spectrum human development—a process the Institute believes is the central and single most important dimension of regenerative culture. Through contemporary wilderness rites, Soulcraft™ practices, and the Animas Vision Quest, the Institute assists people through the initiatory process that leads to visionary leadership and cultural artistry.
URL: http://www.wildethics.org/
The Alliance for Wild Ethics (AWE) is a consortium of individuals and organizations working to ease the spreading devastation of the animate earth through a rapid transformation of culture. Founded by cultural ecologist and philosopher David Abram, AWE employs the arts, often in tandem with the natural sciences, to provoke deeply felt shifts in the human experience of nature and to revitalize local, face-to-face community. Its aim is to integrate human communities perceptually, practically, and imaginatively into the earthly bioregions that surround and support them, drawing guidance from the place-based traditions of diverse indigenous peoples and working toward the awakening of wonder.
URL: https://www.localfutures.org/
Local Futures is a pioneer of the worldwide localization movement, founded by Helena Norberg-Hodge, that offers a path home by restoring local economies and cultures to regenerate the Earth and ourselves. Its aim is to challenge the global economic system that prioritizes corporate profit over community wellbeing, and to promote "going local" as a key strategy for restoring ecological, social, and spiritual wellbeing. Through films (including the award-winning The Economics of Happiness), books, podcasts, toolkits, webinars, and conferences, Local Futures provides big-picture education on the forces shaping our world and pathways toward a more local, connected, and sustainable future.
Hollyhock Leadership and Retreat Center, founded in 1982, is Canada's not-for-profit educational centre dedicated to personal and professional leadership development, located on Cortes Island, British Columbia, on the ancestral territories of the Klahoose, Homalco, and Tla'amin Nations. Its aim is to provide a place of connection and transformation where participants can choose from over 70 programs spanning wisdom teachings, creative expression, health and healing, and leadership development. As a registered not-for-profit, Hollyhock relies on philanthropic support to fund programming development, accessibility, and campus sustainability, cultivating a learning community grounded in relationship with the land and sea.
URL: https://www.gaiaeducation.org/
Gaia Education is a leading provider of holistic education in sustainability, regenerative practices, and community development, rooted in the principles of Earth care, people care, and fair share. Its aim is to empower changemakers worldwide to build sustainable, thriving communities through transformative learning journeys that integrate whole-systems design across ecological, social, economic, and worldview dimensions. Since 2006, Gaia Education has supported the delivery of more than 350 programs in 55 countries across six continents, reaching over 22,000 students through offerings such as Ecovillage Design Education (EDE), Design for Sustainability and Regeneration, and Gaia Youth.
URL: https://www.kincentricleadership.org/
Kincentric Leadership is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2023 and operating as a Community Interest Company since 2025, whose vision is a future in which everyone knows that we are part of an intelligent, living Earth. Its aim is to lay the foundations for a new paradigm of leadership and polycrisis mitigation grounded in kincentric ecology, weaving human beings back into the wider web of life through a comprehensive toolkit of eight principles, thirty-four capacities, twelve case studies, and over one hundred practices. Through in-person retreats, online sessions, workshops, and its 400-page handbook, Kincentric Leadership supports leaders of organizations and communities to embed cocreation with a living Earth into all aspects of decision-making, culture, and way of life.