Introduction to Regenerative
Decision-making

Regenerative decision-making[1]is a process through which decision-makers persuade themselves to exponentially adopt regenerative options:

  • that deliver “performance benefits” because the regenerative options meet human physical needs (for things like nutritious food, drinkable water, habitable buildings, safe transportation and usable electric power),
  • that deliver “economic benefits” (that is, economic cost savings) because the regenerative options avoid more costs than they incur, and
  • that deliver “regeneration benefits” because each regenerative option allows the earth’s biosphere to regenerate itself (and reverse the planet’s cascading ecological crises)  because each regenerative option is either:
    • an option that takes less things-we-extract from the biosphere (things like forests, fresh water, wildlife, soils and minerals), or
    • a things-we-use option (like an energy option, a water option, a materials option, a food option, or a manufactures option) that puts less pollution into the biosphere.

Regenerative decision-making is a process for exponentially adopting regenerative options (and reversing the planet’s cascading ecological crises) because regenerative decision-making is a decision-making loop through which: 

First, decision-makers identify options for meeting human physical needs, evaluate the performance benefits, economic benefits, and regeneration benefits of such options, compare such benefits, and persuade themselves what options they want to adopt:

Decision-makers use computer-implemented models and/or algorithms to identify options and evaluate their performance, economic & regeneration benefits, compare their benefits, and persuade themselves as to what options they want to adopt
Source: Erik Kvam

Second, decision-makers adopt one or more regenerative options, and deliver performance benefits, economic benefits, and regeneration benefits from such regenerative options

Decision-makers adopt one or more regenerative options and deliver performance benefits, economic benefits and regeneration benefits
Source: Erik Kvam

Third, decision-makers measure delivered benefits from regenerative options and enthuse themselves to deliver more benefits faster

Decision-makers use computer-implemented models and/or algorithms for measuring delivered benefits and enthusing themselves to deliver more benefits faster
Source: Erik Kvam

Fourth, decision-makers enthuse themselves to persuade themselves faster to adopt more regenerative options

Decision-makers enthuse themselves to persuade themselves faster to adopt more regenerative options
Source: Erik Kvam

Such decision-makers enthuse themselves to make more decisions faster to adopt more regenerative options

Decision-makers use computer-implemented models and/or algorithms for enthusing themselves to make more decisions faster to adopt more regenerative options
Source: Erik Kvam

Such decision-makers enthuse themselves to adopt more regenerative options faster and deliver more benefits faster

Decision-makers enthuse themselves to adopt more regenerative options faster and deliver more benefits faster
Source: Erik Kvam

Such decision-makers enthuse themselves to measure delivered benefits and enthuse themselves to deliver more benefits even faster

Decision-makers enthuse themselves to use computer-implemented models and/or algorithms for measuring delivered benefits and enthusing themselves to deliver more benefits even faster
Source: Erik Kvam

Decision-makers enthuse themselves to persuade themselves even faster to adopt more regenerative options

Decision-makers enthuse themselves to persuade themselves even faster
to adopt more regenerative options
Source: Erik Kvam

Decision-makers enthuse themselves to make even more decisions even faster to adopt more regenerative options

Decision-makers enthuse themselves to use computer-implemented models and/or algorithms for making even more decisions even faster to adopt more regenerative options
Source: Erik Kvam

Decision-makers enthuse themselves to adopt even more regenerative options even faster and deliver even more benefits even faster

Decision-makers enthuse themselves to adopt even more regenerative options even faster and deliver even more benefits even faster
Source: Erik Kvam

The faster and faster decision-making creates the exponential adoption of more and more regenerative options that deliver more and more benefits:

The faster and faster decision-making creates the exponential adoption of more and more regenerative options that deliver more and more benefits
Source: Erik Kvam

Regenerative decision-making can be characterized as an Observe – Orient – Decide – Act (OODA) decision-making loop[2] for exponentially adopting more and more regenerative options:


A computer-implemented Observe - Orient - Decide - Act (OODA) decision-making loop for reversing the planet's ecological crises
Source: Erik Kvam

Through decision-makers’ exponential adoption of more and more regenerative options, regenerative decision-making processes deliver an unlimited upside (shown by the green area) of exponentially growing avoided cost benefits, exponentially growing avoided pollution benefits, and exponentially growing numbers of species per area benefits:

Unlimited upside of regenerative decision-making processes
Source: Erik Kvam

Project Drawdown[3] estimated this green area to have a value of more than $97 trillion of avoided costs (economic benefits) and more than one trillion tons of avoided carbon pollution (regeneration benefits) for 91 categories of regenerative options studied by Project Drawdown:

Project Drawdown's estimate of concrete, tangible, and useful results deliverable by 91 categories of regenerative options
Source: Erik Kvam

Through decision-makers’ exponential adoption of regenerative options, regenerative decision-making processes scale back the Human Enterprise:

Regenerative decision-making processes scale back the Human Enterprise
Source: Erik Kvam

Scaling back the Human Enterprise allows the planet’s biosphere to regenerate itself:

Scaling back the Human Enterprise allows the planet's biosphere to regenerate itself
Source: Erik Kvam

Allowing the biosphere to regenerate itself reverses the planet’s ecological crises:

Regenerated biosphere reverses the planet’s ecological crises

Reversing the planet’s ecological crises heals the planet:

Reversing the planet's ecological crises heals the planet

To learn more, watch my free Regenerative Decision-making video at https://erikkvam.com and subscribe to the Regenerative Decision-making newsletter at https://erikkvam.substack.com. Thank you for your consideration.


[1] For a fuller description, take a look at my video, Regenerative Decision-making: An Exponential Process for Saving the Planet, available at https://erikkvam.com

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop

[3] https://www.drawdown.org/