Societal Logics: Unravelling our dark divisive world with hope - Part 1

"Who controls the food supply controls the people..."
- Henry Kissinger

How well do you know
how your food came to be on your plate or in your fridge,
before it quiets the hunger in your belly?

Some people can afford the time or money to buy straight from a farmer’s market.

To shake the hands that tended to the produce that makes our meals
and get to know the heart cared for their land to give you sustenance.
A privileged intimacy, and sometimes, cherished relationships.

Most of us don’t get that privilege. We shop at supermarkets.

In Australia, that usually means Coles or Woolworths; in other Western nations maybe a Walmart or Tesco.

The choice is simple: unrivalled access, relentless convenience, and a dizzying array of options.

Supermarkets rewired how we eat.

Transforming our access to food

Where rural households once had access to a couple of hundred staple items a week, and cities a few hundred more, today a single supermarket door opens onto more than 10,000 products.

Fresh, frozen, canned, packaged, flown or shipped ready as long as you can pay. The world is on the shelf; after a long week, it’s often a frozen pizza.

And it is here Late-Stage Capitalism gets interesting:

Between 1 in 5 (Foodbank Australia, 2024) ¹ and Between 1 in 8 Australians (ABS, 2025) ² cannot consistently afford enough food each week.

3 out of 5 food-insecure individuals regularly skip meals or go entire days without eating, indicating a weekly inability to afford food ¹.

For those of us who can afford food on the regular and we struggle to pick our favourite breakfast cereal maybe let's consider - what decisions have already been made for all of us?

What assumptions underpin how we feed ourselves our modern world?

The Logics of Feeding Ourselves:

1 - Each stage of food production is serviced by a for-profit business which requires payment, in exchange for food.

2 - You as consumer require food in order live, therefore you must earn money in order to feed yourself.

3 - How much food can you buy - depends on an individual's (or their guardian's):

• Factor A: ability to obtain and maintain some form of income, usually paid work - in which someone exchanges time and labor for money
• Factor B: their relative purchasing power at time and location of purchase
• Factor C: the costs of food at that time and location of purchase
• Factor D: availability of food in their local area

4 - For profit business is designed to make increasing profits year-on-year.

Whether they are selling the seed that goes into the ground, the plants or animals that are harvested for consumption, to the processing and packaging of prepared food items for the shelves, to transporting the food to the supermarket and then you have to include profits required by the supermarket you purchase from.

Every stage of food production attempts to be optimised to make money more money than it costs to purchase the raw goods for sale.

5 - In turn, the cost of food will fluctuate. As will the potential for an individual to access food - alongside other necessary goods and services to survive.

6 - The cost of goods and services are impacted by the amount of resources to be transacted in the ecosystem and their perceived economic value. These determinants influence what we know as inflation.

List of determinants of economic value and rate of inflation:

• Determinant A - Supply of goods and services: If there’s less of something like food, fuel, or workers prices go up because it’s harder to get.
• Determinant B - Demand of goods and services: If lots of people want something, sellers can charge more.
• Determinant C - Cost of Production: If it costs more to produce or transport goods, businesses pass those costs on to customers; this is influenced by...
• Determinant D - Global and environmental shocks: Extreme weather, (ahem) pandemics, or War (oh of course...) can disrupt supply chains and make goods more expensive.
• Determinant E - Speculation or Expectation: If people expect the price of goods or services to rise because of broader speculation, they act in ways that make it happen. For example...people might start asking for higher wages or a business may pre-emptively raise prices early.
• Determinant F - Availability of Money: If there’s more money in the economy, people spend more, which pushes prices up.

So how much more costly is feeding ourselves in 2025 compared to a decade ago?

Due to inflation, grocery prices have increased from $91 per week in 2016 to $206.54 per week in 2025 based on a survey by Compare the Market

...it's not just our groceries 😦

Table 1: Average Australian Spending in 2016 vs 2025

click superscript numbers for references

Jack Toohey made this very clear to us by breaking down the housing crisis in Australia in 2023

Jack very eloquently helped people understanding our housing crisis after a viral video breaking down how

if you saved half of the average Australian wage after essential costs of living,
you'd be able to save for a house in 1983 in only ~2 years
in 2023 it would take you 10 years.

The average % increase in costs from 2016 to 2025 for essential goods and services conducive to life* is 94.5%

*Essential goods and services conducive to life includes categories of rent, groceries, electricity + gas + water, healthcare

Because of inflation, our wages have increased

The median weekly earnings in Australia did increase from $1,223 to $1,396 per week or extrapolated annual earnings from $61,150 to $69,800.

Wages have only increased by 14.1% but essential costs have increased by 94.5% over a 10-year period from 2016 to 2025.

Everyone's purchasing power has decreased.

To maintain the same purchasing power as in 2016 as someone earning the median Australian income, they would need to earn $3,740 more in 2025 or said another way,

Our cost of living right now effects our purchasing power in a way that it means that $69,800 today, is like earning 6.1% less than what we did in 2016, $57,410 in 2016 dollars. The 2016 median extrapolated annual wage was actually $61,150.

This means that Australia's middle class are effectively earning 6.1% less than they were in 2016, even after wage increases.

While all income earners in Australia have seen real declines in purchasing power since 2016, the top 25% of income earners suffered the smallest drop (–4.8 %).

Table 2 Annual Earnings in 2016 Dollars (CPI)

Because the richest workers’ incomes have held up better against inflation, relative income inequality has increased.

The “rich” (top earners) are now relatively better off compared to the “poor” (bottom earners) than they were in 2016.

The “poor” (bottom earners) are now relatively worse off compared to the “rich” (top earners) than they were in 2016.

Because we are earning less, people want to buy cheaper food.

The companies with the largest market share, can afford to keep their prices lower.

Australia’s grocery sector is dominated by two big boys - the aforementioned Coles and Woolworths, who together control ~2/3rd of the market.

One strategy that is used so that in the minds of consumers they are known for having cheaper food prices - is by pricing staples items like bread, milk, and chicken items below cost.

This strategy is one which has a tangible difference on a consumer's wallet and in turn on their market and profits - as more people choose to shop with them for these cheaper prices.

In 2024, Coles made an annual profit of $1.1 billion dollars and Woolworths made annual profit of $1.7 billion dollars

While they charge the cheaper groceries compared to independent grocers and supermarkets, which means it's more affordable for the consumer, their large profits mean that they can also afford to pay:

• The Former CEO of Woolworths, Brad Banducci’s annual compensation of $8.646 million which is about
  208 times the average Woolworths store worker salary of $41,595
• The Former CEO of Coles, Steven Cain’s annual compensation of
  $10.241 million which is about
  205 times the average Coles store worker salary of $49,934

The other strategy used to create more affordable prices for consumers, is that they under pay farmers for their supply.

Coles and Woolworths often sign long-term contracts with farmers to supply milk, meat, and fresh produce. If demand drops or costs go up, it’s the farmers who bear the burden of the increased costs because their payment schedule and contract was already locked in.

This means that famers must focus on generating consistely high yields to meet their contractual requirements. If they do not meet their contractual yield amount - they risk being underpaid for their supply.^{14 15 16 17 18}

Farmers carry the burden of market changes and environmental damage, while shoppers still get cheap prices.

Because farmers are paid less than what it actually costs to grow food, they often can’t afford to look after the land properly.

Those who want to protect soil, water, and biodiversity are forced to cut corners or abandon sustainable practices just to survive. Practices such as monocropping and heavy chemical use are belived to be the best way to meet supermarket demands.

This leads to more pollution, weaker soils, and long-term damage to ecosystems which also reinforce reduce yield.

A feedback loop which continually increases the costs of our food. ^{14 15 19}.

How did Australian farmer's get to profit off this land anyway?

This is the bit we often forget in so-called Australia.

Is that many famers were given land by the Australian Government under the false claim of Terra Nullius so that they could feed the colony. Which also happens to give the opporutnity for farmers the opporutnity to accumulate wealth.

It is the uncomfortable truth, that the reason our supermarkets are full of Australian grown food, is only possible because of processes of harm to First Nations communities.

This demonstrates the extent that colonial and capitalist approaches will go, in order to make a profit.

What were once areas abundant in native foods as a common resource pool due to collective contribution to its care and stewardship by First Nations peoples - are now privately owned property that were repurposed for the growing of European food staples such as wheat.

Privately owned food resources are commodities which are subject to the determinants of economic value and controlled by decision makers who feel they must prioritise profit at any cost.

The individuals are dependent on those resources to live, have limited say in the decisions about what is grown, or how - and it is causes cascading effects on our ability to look after ourselves, our communities and our planet.

The consequences of disconnection, division and extraction due to prioritisation of profit and capital accumulation

There are some things that will never return to their prior state once they have been damaged or harmed, no matter how hard you try.

The choices we have made in pursuit of profit, have damaged our planet, our ecosystems and our communities.

There are 9 requirements for life on earth and associated planetary boundaries as identified by Stockholm Reslience Centre:

• Stable Climate: Earth needs stable, livable temperature to prevent overheating and systemic collapse
• Biodiversity Integrity: The healthiest ecosystems are the most diverse. Species loss weakens resilience.
• Healthy Land: Plants provide oxygen for the majority of animal species on this planet. Deforestation suffocates planetary respiration.
• Balanced Nutrient Cycles: Plants require nitrogen and phosphorus; excess causes toxic buildup and dead zones.
• Safe Freshwater Flows: Water is a necessary nutrient for life. Disrupted water cycles damage ecological function.
• Ocean Chemistry: Marine life needs certain acidity levels to support marine life. Increased acidity will make the oceans unlivable for most creatures.
• Clean Air: Aerosol overload causes respiratory damage for plants and animals.
• Protective Ozone Layer: The sun emits harmful solar rays and the ozone shields against UV radiation - without it, life would not exist on earth.
• Control of Novel Entities: New chemicals that plants and animals did not evolve with cause harm in high quantities.

Grasping the changes in our environment can be challenging due to their size, but most of us understand the importance of our own organs.

Just like if we damaged our heart, our brain or our liver - it would have consequences. Our liver might grow back, but our brain won't.

Effects of Capitalist Prioritisiation on our Environment - Embodying our Planetary Systems

Planetary Boundary 1 – Climate Change as our Heart

• Our heart pumps blood through arteries; when it falters, the body overheats or collapses. Just like how our climate system and rising greenhouse gases drive global warming and extreme events.
• The climate-change boundary is breached.
• Safe atmospheric CO₂ is 350 ppm versus ~417 ppm today, and net radiative forcing exceeds +1 W/m², locking in more intense heatwaves, storms, and wildfires ^{20, 21}.
• Human & business contribution: Major Oil & gas companies (ExxonMobil, Shell, Saudi Aramco, BHP) emit over one-third of global CO₂; coal-fired utilities contribute ~40% of the energy-sectors emissions; transportation fleets add ~15%. ²².

Planetary Boundary 2 – Biosphere Integrity as our Liver

• The liver detoxifies, balances nutrients, and stores energy reserves; its failure parallels ecosystem collapse, eroding nature’s filtration and regulatory services.
• The biosphere-integrity boundary is breached.
• Extinction rates are now 100–1000 times above natural background extinction rates, and 38% of terrestrial ecosystems lie in high-risk collapse zones ^{21, 23}.
• Human & business contribution: Industrial agribusiness (Cargill, Bayer-Monsanto) drives deforestation, monocultures, and pesticide use, undermining pollinators and food-web resilience ²⁴.

Planetary Boundary 3 – Land-System Change as our Lungs

• Lungs exchange gases and maintain pressure; deforestation and land conversion choke planetary “breathing,” disrupting carbon–oxygen exchange and hydrological cycles just like damaged alveoli reduce oxygen uptake.
• The land-system change boundary is breached.
Over 40% of mature forests have been cleared and only ~60% of original forest cover remains, well below the 75 % safe limit—and 178 million hectares of forest were lost between 1990–2020 ^{21, 24}.
• Human & business contribution: Timber, pulp & paper, and palm-oil producers (Asia Pulp & Paper, Weyerhaeuser, Wilmar) drive most tropical deforestation, releasing stored carbon and degrading sinks ²⁴.

Planetary Boundary 4 – Biogeochemical Flows mirror our circulatory system and need to be filtered by our Kidneys

• Kidneys filter waste and balance minerals; exceeding nitrogen and phosphorus limits is akin to kidney failure, where toxins and salts overwhelm filtration.
• The biogeochemnical flows boundary is breached.
• Human mobilization of reactive nitrogen for agricultural use(~150 Mt N/yr) nearly doubles the 62–82 Mt safe range, and phosphorus runoff (~22 Mt P/yr) overshoots the 11 Mt threshold, fueling coastal dead zones ^{21, 25}.
• Human & business contribution: Fertilizer manufacturers (Yara, Nutrien, CF Industries) produce >120 Mt N/yr; inefficient use leads to runoff, eutrophication, and biodiversity loss ²⁵.

Planetary Boundary 5 – Freshwater Change as our Eyes

• Eyes rely on tears and precise moisture; altered water availability and quality blur the planet’s “vision,” impairing ecosystems and societies.
• The freshwater-use boundary is breached.
• 50 % of land now faces drought or flood relative to the averages between ~10,000 BCE to the year 1850 (pre-industry) ²⁶.
• Human & business contribution: Irrigated agriculture (cotton, rice, almonds) consumes ~ 70 % of freshwater withdrawals; mining, textile, and beverage industries intensify local scarcity and pollution ²⁷.

Planetary Boundary 6 – Oceans act like our Stomach

• The stomach’s acid balance digests nutrients without corroding tissue; ocean acidification erodes shell-builders and food webs just as gastric pH imbalance causes ulcers.
• The ocean acidication boundary is breached.
• Surface pH has dropped from ~ 8.19 to ~ 8.05, and ~ 60 % of subsurface waters now lie below aragonite saturation, undermining coral, bivalve, and plankton skeleton formation ^{28, 29}.
• Human & business contribution: Cement, power, and shipping industries emit ~ 2.3 Gt CO₂/yr; one-third dissolves into oceans, forming carbonic acid and driving acidification ²⁰.

Planetary Boundary 7 – Atmospheric Aerosols go through our Nose

• The nasal passages us protect our lungs but are an easy way for gasses to be taken into our body.
• While the global aerosol boundary is not yet breached, regional hotspots (South/East Asia, parts of Africa) exceed safe aerosol optical depth, creating “brown clouds” that dim sunlight, perturb monsoons, and cause ~ 7 million premature deaths annually ^{30, 31}.
• Human & business contribution: Coal plants, diesel fleets, biomass-burning agribusiness, brick kilns, and crop-residue burning (e.g., Cargill, ADM, Wilmar) emit > 10 Gt aerosols/yr, degrading air quality and destabilizing regional climates ³².

Planetary Boundary 8 – The Stratospheric Ozone as our Immune System

• Like our immune system proctects us from bacterial infections and viruses, the Ozone Layer shields our planet from radiation; ozone-layer thinning increases UV exposure and undermines planetary defense like immunosuppression leaves the body vulnerable.
• The ozone layer boundary was breached, however has recovered.
• Thanks to significant cross-sector collaboration through the Montreal Protocol, the Stratospheric ozone has recovered above the 275 DU threshold. Antarctic holes persist seasonally, revealing ongoing fragility ^{33, 34}.
• Human & business contribution: Chemical producers (DuPont, Honeywell, Chemours) historically manufactured CFCs/HCFCs, driving depletion until phased out under international treaty frameworks ³⁵.

Planetary Boundary 9 – Novel Entities Scramble our Brain

• The brain processes signals and adapts; novel entities (synthetic chemicals, plastics, persistent pollutants) overload cognition like toxins scramble neural networks.
• The novel entities boundary has been breached
• Production has risen fifty-fold since 1950, far outpacing safety assessments and dispersing contaminants globally ^{23, 35}.
• Human & business contribution: Chemical (BASF, Dow), plastics (ExxonMobil, SABIC), packaging (Nestlé, Unilever, Coca-Cola), electronics (Apple, Samsung), pharmaceutical (Pfizer, Merck), and mining firms (Glencore, Tesla) release millions of tonnes of novel entities annually, undermining ecosystem and human health.

As we have already seen in our costs of living -
Capitalism doesn't just affect our planet it affects the social foundations that make our communities and human life, livable.

Capitalism’s growth-first design prioritises profit and GDP over human wellbeing, systematically undermining the social foundations that enable humans to care for each other and our environment.

1. Food
   Capitalist agriculture favors export crops and monocultures, sidelining local food systems and leaving millions undernourished despite global surplus ³⁴, ²³.
2. Water
   Water is commodified, with access determined by ability to pay. Industrial agriculture and extractive industries pollute and overdraw aquifers, worsening scarcity in vulnerable regions ²³.
3. Health
   Privatisation and austerity reduce access to healthcare. Profit-driven systems prioritize treatment over prevention, deepening health inequities ²⁰, ²¹.
4. Education
   Market-based education models widen gaps in quality and access. Public schools face underfunding while elite institutions flourish, reinforcing class divides ²⁰.
5. Income
   Capitalism concentrates wealth through rent-seeking and shareholder primacy. Real wages stagnate while executive compensation, asset values increase - further increasing the cost of living. ³⁵.
6. Work
   Gig economies and labor deregulation create precarious jobs. Workers face instability, low pay, and limited protections, especially in informal sectors ³⁵.
7. Housing
   Housing and shelter has become a commoditised speculative asset, rather than a human right. Real estate bubbles displace communities and inflate costs, making shelter unaffordable for many ²⁰.
8. Networks
   Infrastructure investment favors profitable urban centers, leaving rural and marginalized communities disconnected from digital and transport networks ²³.
9. Energy
   Fossil fuel incumbents dominate energy markets, delaying transition to renewables. Energy poverty persists where profit margins are low ²³.
10. Social Equity
    Capitalism fails to correct systemic discrimination. Inequities across race and ability found in income, health, and opportunity are perpetuated. ³⁴.
11. Gender Equality
    Women’s labor, especially unpaid domestic and care work is excluded from economic metrics. Gender gaps persist in pay, leadership, and safety ³⁴.
12. Political Voice
    Corporate lobbying and media ownership concentrate influence, undermining democratic participation and policy accountability ²⁰.

I want to acknowledge the rigorous and amazing work that the likes of Kate Raworth, Andrew Fanning, the many researchers connected to the Stockholm Resilience Centre, researchers connected to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). There has been lives and thousands and hours of work dedicated to build the depth of understanding of why life on this planet is feeling hard - not just for humans, but for all living species.

but the question that still stands

as we have crossed 7 of 9 boundaries for life to continue existing on earth

How do we get from harm to harmony?

(This is where the hope part begins)

Our economy can be seen to have four portions, and currently the privatised market takes up the majority of economic value globally.

The Current Estimated Shares of Total Economic Value

It makes sense that the commons is low - it degrades unless regulated by government or privatised regulation

This is what the tragedy of the commons, and those who have developed extreme profit motive would like you to believe. This is what our modern education is teaching students, and it is what the dominant narrative of our current society end's up having us believe.

However,

Hardin's parable [in Tradgedy of the Commons] does not depict the behavior...in pre-capitalist communities, but rather that of capitalists operating in a capitalist economy

- Matthew MacLellan, The Tragedy of Limitless Growth: Re-Interpreting the Tragedy of the Commons for a Century of Climate Change

So what does the evidence say about economies with increased percentage from commons and cooperative-based resource exchange and management?

When supported by enabling policies and strong stakeholder engagement,
commons and cooperative based systems can outperform both market-driven and state-centric models on a range of ecological and social health indicators.

Levels of biodiversity, pollution control, climate resilience, income equality, social cohesion, and public health are often higher in contexts where the commons and cooperative sector is vibrant, empowered and recognised as important part of the economy.

• A 2025 review of European social-economy organisations found that they achieved lower greenhouse-gas emissions in local supply chains while also providing greater income equality among members. Regions with high levels of these commmons-basd organisations consistently showed stronger social cohesion and public-health metrics compared with matched non-cooperative regions. Within their region they had co-operatives, mutuals, energy communities, and short-food-supply networks ⁴⁰.
• UN-level reviews and conference syntheses document how inter-cooperative networks sustain value chains that blend ecological stewardship with economic resilience. Regions with dense cooperative ecosystems exhibit faster recovery after environmental shocks and lower rates of resource depletion than those relying solely on market-based or state-centric systems ⁴¹.
• Michael Cox, Gwen Arnold, and Sergio Villamayor Tomás conducted a meta-analysis in 2010 based on Elinor Ostrom’s governance principles of common-pool resource management across over 100 small-scale cases worldwide—fishers, forest managers, and pastoralists. Where the community held authority over rule-making, utilization, and sanctioning, producing both ecological outcomes (e.g. stock health, forest cover, water quality) and social outcomes (e.g. equity, conflict reduction) ^{42, 43}.
• Building on this foundation, the Social-Ecological Systems Meta-Analysis Database (SESMAD) project has analysed 21 large-scale environmental governance cases, including marine parks and transboundary watersheds. These analyses show that polycentric structures with empowered local and cooperative institutions outperform centralised or purely market-driven models on biodiversity conservation, pollution control, and climate-resilience indicators ⁴³.

More importantly, these models do not just give environmental or social benefits.

• In Spain, 70,000–80,000 worker-owners for Mondragon generate more than €11 billion in annual turnover, weather economic shocks faster than conventional firms, and keep profits circulating regionally ⁴⁴.
• In India, hundreds of thousands of dairy farmers make up 3,325 registered cooperatives in a cooperative network that supplies more than half of the state’s milk. This has boosted rural incomes which has roughly halved poverty rates in the co-op based regions. ⁴⁵.
• In Maine, USA - Community-led zone councils sustain more than $600 million annually, stabilising prices and fortifying coastal livelihoods around the Lobster ⁴⁶.
• In Nepal, Farmer-Managed Polycentric water tribunals lifted rice yields by up to 15%, improving the welfare of people living in those areas. ⁴⁷.
• In Brazil, First Nations communities have who have secured their land rights. This underpin thriving eco-tourism, non-timber forest product harvests, and carbon-credit projects - all while slashing deforestation to more than 50% less than before their stewardship. ⁴⁸.

Across scales, Ostrom-style polycentric governance stewardship that mirrors that of First Nations and Indigenous communitites prove that shared power equals shared generates economic resilience alongside thriving ecosystems and increased community cohesion.

There is hope

How do we be together?
How do we govern, together?

It has been shown that when people who depend on a resource also hold the power to make decisions about it, they design and enforce rules that create an abundance of that resource over the long-term.

The abundance of that resource is not the only priority.

They also ensure it is done sustainable and ethical for people - and the planet.

The resources we rely on for life: food, water, energy and public infrastructure - must be governed by those who actually use and depend on them.

By shifting from majority owned private property and resources, towards reimagining the commons we can realign economic incentives with ecological limits and social wellbeing.

A society filled with for-profit business that continues to lobby government and destroy our futures is not how it has to be.

We do have a choice in this.

We can decide to collectively move towards different ways of being together on this planet.

It happens one relationship at a time.

Coming together as our communities to care for our resources is key for us to create a thriving planet.

The State, the Market and Business have tried, and it hasn't worked.

We know how we need to govern - thanks to the work of (and I am sure many others): Elinor Ostrom, Michael Cox, Gwen Arnold, Sergio Villamayor Tomás, Shann Turnbull, Natalie Stoianoff & Anne Poelina - who is a Nyikina Warrwa woman from the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

how do we get to the point where we can -
govern together?

By building trust.

• gathering and spending time together - sometimes with no set "agenda" - historically done over food we have made for each other
• Spending this time is key to deepening relationships with each other
• First, observing together: what does our community need to thrive? how does it already thrive?
• Building beautiful, vital and vibrant relationships that can navigate challenging situations and inevitable conflict with care. This might initially look like monthly gatherings where you share food and ideas

• Vitality is not enough - we need to create viability and shift the way we do from transactional, extractive business to regenerative, transformative relationships and resource exchange.
• We do this by establishing community-owned cooperatives that govern together.
• What is governed is the provision and allocation of resources and services that provide for our communities needs e.g. food, water, housing, energy, education.
• Over time becoming more effective at mobilising resources like time, energy and money and we improve the outcomes for our human communities and our environment - that is made of diverse plant and animal ecologies, better known as our more-than-human communities.

We need to completely shift how we understand and
how we relate to each other.

but, also -

We need to completely shift how we relate to
and understand our places

Melbourne is different to Sydney
New York is different to Bali
London is different to Singapore
Edinburgh is different to Shanghai
Kansas is different to Nagasaki

Each bioregion has its unique features, so humanity in each region needs to behave and govern its regions differently. As Indigenous languages are lost, so is our knowledge of how to care for Country.

Polycentric self-governance and Indigenous knowledge
Dr Shann Turnbull, Prof Natalie P. Stoianoff & Prof Anne Poelina

We need to deepen our understanding of place, and each community needs to honour its unique environment.

Nature needs to be a decision maker in every community, government council and company. Not just because of one person on the board of a company.

But, because every person in that place honours their place and can sense what the environment is needing and is asking for.

More importantly, this needs of the environment and more-than-human communities of their place are valued as much as their own individual needs - and held with the importance of the needs of their community, or their family.

Our place is what keeps us well, just like our friends and family try to keep us well.

In so-called Australia (and other places and their peoples who have been through processes of colonisation) - there is also need to rectify the harms of the colonial project.

I cannot speak for First Nations communities – but I can listen and share what is publicly available. First Nations communities have said that for Reconciliation to occur, there must be Truth-Telling processes, followed by Treaty processes ⁶⁷.

As Indigenous languages are lost, so is our knowledge of how to care for Country.

Polycentric self-governance and Indigenous knowledge
Dr Shann Turnbull, Prof Natalie P. Stoianoff & Prof Anne Poelina

Settler's and non-indigenous peoples not from that Country do not have the cultural authority to speak for particular Country where cultural authority is known.

The processes of regeneration need to be done by working towards true, deep partnership with First Nations communities within that unique place.

At first this - may mean redistributing finances to pay the rent, or to pay for access to cultural load and labour.

Over time - maybe towards co-ownership as partners within polycentricly governed co-operatives that care for communities and our places - across cultures. It is not my place prescribe that as the way forward, but I can suggest what potential I can see that can resolve some of the challenges that arise from our current ways of doing things.

In Part 2 of this Societal Logics series - we will begin to explore possibles way forward from the dark divisive world to a regenerative future.

Many people, groups, networks have begun to explore the social and cooperative organising elements of this work towards increasing the contribution of cooperatives and commons-based economies.

The Bioregional Institute aims to be one of these polycentricly governed network of co-operatives

how do we make sure as many people who care to in a place - can understand, learn and continue to sense into what are the needs of our our more-than-human communities?

The Bioregional Institute will do this through co-operatives in each bioregion. These co-operatives will be built from the foundation of listening to and understanding the essence of Place through the Story of Place, or more accurately in our dynamic changing world - an ongoing Storying Place process. A process created by Regenisis Institute and delivered by Regenerative Practitioners.

This process and the foundations of the Bioregional Institute will be stewarded by caremakers from the Regen Places Network.

Article Updates

This article will be updated with contributions over time.
Original Publication on Wednesday October 8th, 2025
Original Authorship by Tyler Key on unceded Kaurna Yerta

Microsoft Co-pilot was used in formatting tables and HTML code blocks

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