# Workshop 2 Details

**August 14th – Earth Listening as a Design Principle:** *Attuning to nature as a method for going beyond the status quo*

* What if we designed solutions in dialogue with nature, rather than against it?
* Work towards understanding what “listening to the earth” means to them through a process of mosaic building.
* Leverage the practice of earth listening to inform business design decisions that work with the earth rather than against it.
* Increase your capacity to be with challenging emotions related to
* Engage in ways of thinking that have the potential to evoke new thoughts and ideas about your life and work.

# Workshop Series Details - Regenerative Thinking for Professionals and Designers

**A 3-Week Professional Development Program for Innovative Professionals**

Are you feeling the weight addressing the climate crisis amidst political unrest? Are you seeking a new approach to workplace conversations around polarizing issues like ecological degradation vs. economic stability? Are you seeking a value-aligned community of peers who echo your concerns and want to do something about it?

*Regenerative Thinking for Professionals and Designers* Is an innovative workshops series that has been developed specifically for engineers, designers, planners, consultants, educators, scientists, managers, and leaders seeking to navigate climate complexity, revolutionize the way they approach systems change, and integrate regenerative design principles into the fabric of their work.

**What Makes This Workshop Series Different?**

This isn’t a crash course in carbon accounting, ESG strategy, or sustainability metrics. It’s an invitation to go deeper than ‘corporate sustainability’. It’s an invitation to find empowerment in moving away from colonial decision-making models that are perpetuating ‘solutions’ that are founded in the same ways of thinking that put us here to begin with. It’s an invitation to sit with discomfort, ask braver questions, and cultivate the inner clarity needed for outer change.
We will seek to answer the questions:

* What's our role in shaping a regenerative corporate paradigm?
* What language, tools, and context is missing from the current ways we are attempting to ‘solve’ climate change.
* How do we bridge increasingly polarized workplace conversations about our collective future?

**Pragmatic Description & Professional Value**
This 3-part workshop intensive weaves together **climate psychology**, **regenerative thinking**, **environmental** **ethics,** and **deep ecology** in an innovative flow that will leave participants with:

* Professional development hours relevant to design, ethics, and mental well-being
* Tools for integrating intuitive insight into strategic or technical decisions
* Techniques for managing eco-anxiety and burnout in high-pressure workplaces
* Dialogue skills for bridging polarization and fostering collaboration
* Personalized strategies for embedding regenerative thinking into your role, team, or organization

# Workshop Details

**August 7th – The Blind Spots in the Sustainability Paradigm:** Why do well-meaning industries keep reinforcing extractive systems?

* Challenge the ‘green growth narrative’ and understand common biases that keep most individuals locked to processes of incremental change as opposed to paradigm shifting thought.
* Develop shared language to discuss sustainability more honestly within your organization—bridging strategic and relational paradigms.
* Reframe sustainability from a metric-driven process into a regenerative practice grounded in care, connection, and metabolic entanglement with the Earth.
* Explore how emotional resilience supports ethical decision-making in your field.

**August 14th – Earth Listening as a Design Principle:** *Attuning to nature as a method for going beyond the status quo*

* What if we designed solutions in dialogue with nature, rather than against it?
* Work towards understanding what “listening to the earth” means to them through a process of mosaic building.
* Leverage the practice of earth listening to inform business design decisions that work with the earth rather than against it.
* Increase your capacity to be with challenging emotions related to
* Engage in ways of thinking that have the potential to evoke new thoughts and ideas about your life and work.

**August 21st - Applying Regenerative Thinking into Corporate Strategy:** *Bridging esoteric theory into to the practicalities of business*

* Identify your unique role in shaping climate resilience at work.
* Create a **Climate Resilience Map** to clarify your next steps and reduce decision fatigue / activation energy typically required to ‘do something’ about the crisis.

Share insights and commitments with the group for collective momentum.

# Logistics

* Dates: August 7, August 14, August 21
* Time: 5:15–7:30 PM (Doors Open 5pm and Close at 8pm)
* Snacks and refreshments provided
* Locations: 722 Cormorant Street & Swan Lake Nature House
* Max 12 participants per session

**Community & Container Notes**
We foster a warm, trauma-informed space grounded in mutual respect, land acknowledgment, and emotional safety. Come as you are, bring what grounds you, and be prepared to listen deeply Participants are asked to:

* Respect time and boundaries (doors close at 5:15 unless notice given)
* Bring items of personal or ecological significance for a shared centerpiece
* Step out and self-regulate if feeling overwhelmed (space is available)

**Cost & Accessibility**

* Sliding scale $30 - $200 (Total for 3x Sessions)
* No one turned away for a lack of funds
* Base fee covers the room, snacks, coffee, and tea
* Participants are invited to donate after the session based on the value they feel they have received. Donations will go towards maintaining accessibility for low-income participants in future events.

# Community Guidelines

We're committed to creating a space where everyone can contribute meaningfully, this is inclusive of but not limited to the following practices:

* Uphold Truth and Reconciliation, land back, the principles of UNDRIP as foundational aspects of ‘climate action’.
* Welcome diverse perspectives and approaches to climate action.
* Noticing when cultural biases are present in our perception & continuously acknowledge our positionality with respect to this work.
* Practice curiosity and compassion in our discussions.
* Share the space and listen deeply.
* Embrace learning and unlearning together.
* Ask questions and seek clarity when confronted with challenging language.
* Support each other's growth and initiatives.
* Ask for consent prior to giving direct advice.
* Recognize when ego is presenting itself as a barrier to collaboration.
* Recognize when ingroups and outgroups are forming and work towards inclusivity.
* Recognize and celebrate our collective wisdom.

Nick Couture

Climate and Technology Victoria

Climate Paradigm Collaborative

Science & Education

Deep Ecology

Eco-Conscious

Knowledge Sharing

Philosophy & Ethics

Technology

Social Equality

Environmental Issues

Engineering

Psychology

Professional Development

Leadership Development

Climate Change

Psycho-Spiritual Exploration

Culture

Environment

## About

Nick Couture is a registered professional engineer and founder of Climate Paradigm Collaborative. He holds a collective 7 years of experience distributed across systems engineering, climate change facilitation, grief work, product management, sales engineering, marine data collection, industrial construction, wind energy design, and transformational coaching. He holds certificates in climate psychology, truth and reconciliation action, and business strategies for a better world. Additionally, he has been a life-long student of environmental philosophy, regenerative economics, social enterprise development, nature immersion, and improvisational creative practice (dance, music, comedy).

## Positionality

"I am a white cisgender male settler living on and working from the unceded traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) speaking peoples, also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations. I grew up in Winnipeg Manitoba on Treaty One Territory and went through post secondary education under a westernized system at the University of Manitoba. I acknowledge potential gaps in my understanding of systems change work as a result of the highly privileged position that I come from and am actively learning, growing, and porous to feedback related to my work and how it is being carried out."

Regenerative Thinking for Professionals and Designers - Week 2

Swan Lake Nature House

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Regenerative Thinking for Professionals and Designers - Week 2

Climate and Technology Victoria

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