Bill Reed
An internationally recognized proponent and practitioner in sustainability and regeneration, Bill is a principal in Regenesis, Inc. – a living systems planning and education organization. His work centers on creating the framework for and managing an integrative, whole-systems design process. This work is known as Regenerative Development. It is a meta-discipline that unifies the pattern understanding practices of Ecological Design, Biophilia, and Organizational Psychology into a design process that lifts building and community planning into full integration and co-evolution with living systems. The objective: to improve the overall quality of the physical, social and spiritual life of our living places and therefore the planet.
Bill is an author of many technical articles and contributed to many books including co-author of the seminal work, “Integrative Design Guide to Green Building.” He is a founding Board of Director of the US Green Building Council and one of the co-founders of the LEED Green Building Rating System, the founding Chair of the ANSI Committee on Whole System Integration, and a member of the Advisory Board for Environmental Building News. In addition to being considered one of the leading thinkers in this field, Bill has also consulted on over two hundred green design commissions, the majority which are LEED Gold and Platinum and Living Building Challenge projects. He is also a keynote speaker at major building and design events as well as a guest lecturer to universities throughout Europe and North America including Harvard, MIT, Princeton and UPenn.
Keynote:
Sustaining Sustainability: Regenerating the Practice of Life
Community Vision Stage, 10:15am
Targeting zero or neutral conditions, or ‘conserving’ nature – while worthy and necessary aims – will not address what is required for a sustainable condition (even if it is possible to reach this level of perfection). Zero damage is not the same as understanding how we interact with the complexities of life and how to address the unintended consequences from our actions. Nor does zero damage address how to continually participate in the dance of evolution – the entry-level condition to join the game of life.
To participate in evolution means that, at minimum, we need to be engaged at a level of consciousness that allows us to observe and respond to humanity’s negative effects. But why aim so low? Regenerative development starts from the premise that we can consciously engage evolutionary processes in ways that augment and add value to life – including ecosystems, social systems, economies, businesses, and families.
When we work with life, we do not truly know the long-term effects of various design decisions until we can observe the results. The motivation and capabilities required to observe, assess, and make patient, trim-tab like adjustments are missing in most cultures and political systems. But these will need to be relearned and practiced if we are to have any hope of contributing to the ongoing evolution of health in the systems that we are part of.
Bill Reed, of Regenesis Group (www.regenesisgroup.com) will introduce a way of engaging with life on its own terms and how we can use any human activity as an invitation to develop and grow new understanding and capacities to thrive in our communities - and therefore the planet.