Case Study

Full narrative research report: CHL, 2025, Beyond the Carbon Fixation: Pathways to Regenerative Futures 

Issue based on the Narrative Analysis: Beyond the Carbon Fixation: Pathways to Regenerative futures 

ASK

Point of View

We are a group of narrative practitioners and actors supporting land regenerative projects (led by Culture Hack Labs and Ma Earth).

We see that…  while land is a critical lever in the transition away from anthropocentric capitalist systems there is a lack of shared frameworks of understanding and coherence of underlying logics that are needed to build the momentum to enable this transition. Movements, organizations and funders at the forefront of shifting how we relate to land are siloed and are not cross-pollinating.

Therefore we want to…support the ecosystem of actors working on land-based issues and drive systems-level change by coalescing their tools, strategies, and organizing capacities and developing shared narratives around the intention of liberating land from the enclosures of capitalism and colonialism.

To do this, we must…

• Identify and consult key actors to understand the narrative space, identify points of collective action and articulate a transition pathway for the movement.
• Create an ecosystem map to organize the different actors and their relationships identifying points of collective action to serve as a navigational tool. 

LISTEN

Small listening:  

This research focused on small listening through interviews conducted with 28 participants (chosen based on Culture Hack Labs’ and Ma Earth’s experience and engagement with these people as key actors in the space. We identified six thematic areas related to key areas of land-based work transforming the current system, based on our previous research, to help choose actors and ensure an even spread across each. These areas were:

1. Climate Justice
2. Systems change practitioners and policymakers
3. Tech in service of life
4. Living alternatives (including Indigenous land defenders, guardians and allies) 
5. Radical funders and post-capitalist philanthropy
6. Emergent autonomous democracies 

Our interviews examined three key areas: 1) the areas of expertise and practices of the participants; 2) their ontological views (their worldviews and theories of change) and 3) points of convergence and opportunities for collective action. 

We identified 12 narrative communities that are engaged in these discussions, and placed them into 3 clusters.

Cluster 1:

• Greenwashing: Development & Growth
• Greenwashing: Techno-Solutionists
• Liberatory Technology 

Cluster 2:

• Rights of Nature
• Liberation & Justice
• Centering & Uplifting the Marginalized

Cluster 3:

• Crisis of Relationality
• Community Land Trusts
• Bioregional Governance 
• Regenerative Foodways
• Possibility models
• Indigenous Lifeways

UNDERSTAND

1) Greenwashing: Development & Growth: Climate change can be solved without disrupting capitalist economic growth, often through market-based mechanisms like carbon credits. Land is a commodity or asset to be managed or offset in service of economic growth. 

Attention	Network	Power	Language
Central to conversations is carbon reductions (e.g., via carbon credits) as a solution, which is a new facade for profit-seeking and land grabbing corporate capitalism.	The World Economic Forum, and Davos; to COP28.	Hegemonic and largest.

2) Greenwashing: Techno-solutionists: Silicon Valley and tech will save us. Land is a technical issue solvable through data, efficiency, and scaling of solutions. There is little political analysis – sidestepping the political, historical, and social dimensions of land ownership. 

Attention	Network	Power	Language
Silicon Valley positions itself as a leader in tackling climate change	Actors in the global North: policy-makers  and governmental officials, corporations such as Microsoft, Society Groom, Google, ChatGPT, etc.	Another large hegemonic with strong influences.

3) Liberatory Technology:  new technologies ( decentralized technologies such as blockchain, and web3) can be at the center of redistributing and redesigning systems for regenerative and liberatory ends. However, the community is not always imagining systems beyond traditional capitalist frameworks.

Attention	Network	Power	Language
Blossomed during popularization of decentralized technologies such as web3, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and the regenerative and decentralized finance movements in the 2020’s.	Web3, blockchain and decentralized finance activists; Data commoning movements; Land based DAOs (Decentralised Autonomous Organisations);Green cryptocurrencies.	Very small among the current space

4) Rights of Nature: Using the law to recognise the intrinsic value of nature – including Rights of Nature as well as Ecocide (ecocentrism). 

Attention	Network	Power	Language
Popularized in 2008 when Ecuador recognized rights of nature in its Constitution. Ecocide has become more prominent in recent years.	Organizations & social movements, (e.g.  Earth Law Centre; Ecocidio Stop); governments (e.g. New Zealand, India, Mexico [rights of nature]); Belgium, France, Bangladesh, Brazil [Ecocide])	Led by legal rather than public contexts so relatively small relatively small but coherent.

5)  Liberation and Justice: This narrative community focuses on capitalism and colonialism as root causes of the metacrisis and countering hegemonic narratives, oppressive forces, and calling out harms and corporate responsibility. 

Attention	Network	Power	Language
Surge of attention over the pandemic (e.g., Black Lives Matters protests).	Organizations & social movements, (e.g.  Intersectional Environmentalist, Earthrise, and Slow Factory)	Largest in terms of the most prevalent response to identifying capitalism and colonialism as root causes.

This narrative community overlaps with Liberation and Justice but, rather than focusing on dismantling, resisting, or uprooting explicit causes of our current systems, it endeavors to uplift Indigenous, Black, marginalized (e.g., BIPOC) and/or grassroots voices as embodied examples of pre existing systems or systems change.

Shifting the Window of Discourse: from the “carbon fixation” to “possibility models”

1. We want to disrupt the public, political, and philanthropic fixation on carbon as a transition pathway out of the climate crisis.  
2. We want to make common sense a pursuit of climate solutions that do address root causes of the crises: post-capitalist, post-extractive alternatives that prioritize justice, equity, and regeneration and biodiversity restoration.  

REFRAME

“Transforming Breakdowns into Possibility” reframes the metacrisis and the  limitations of our current systems, highlighting the urgent need for new pathways that can guide us through the complex transition ahead. This reframe centers on Possibility Models, emphasizing that to address today’s crises, we must go beyond reform and engage in bold, lived experiments that reimagine our ways of being, relating, and governing.

Possibility Models –  Transforming Breakdowns into Possibility
Frame	Possibility Models are real-world experiments in new ways of being, knowing, and governing that challenge existing systems. They embody the future we seek by creating actionable, lived alternatives in the present, showing us how systemic change can emerge through practice, not just theory.
Logic	We can no longer depend on growth-oriented paradigms to address the complex crises of our time. Instead, we must actively cultivate new possibilities—a radical reimagining of ways of knowing, being, and doing that can guide us forward. This approach calls for a transformative, experiential epistemology, one that embraces uncertainty not as an obstacle but as a necessary element of transition. Only by stepping into the unknown can we begin to create systems that truly respond to the interconnected challenges we face.
Grounding	This frame incorporates the following key aspects: Possibility Models are grounded in prefigurative politics, emphasizing that meaningful transformation begins now. Through actionable, lived practices, these models embody the values and systems we aspire to create, insisting that future ideals must be reflected in present actions. These communities  recognize that true systemic change requires addressing the root drivers of crises, including capitalism, colonialism, and systemic exploitation. By moving beyond surface solutions and carbon-centric reforms, they challenge communities to confront these foundational issues directly. Therefore  transformation cannot be achieved without linking social justice with ecological regeneration. They advocate for solutions that address social and ecological crises together, understanding that tackling one without the other perpetuates the structures of harm.This semantic frame encourages a shift away from anthropocentric and hierarchical worldviews, advancing relational and ecological consciousness that values interconnectedness. This reimagined ontology fosters care and reciprocity across human and non-human communities, expanding possibilities for regenerative futures.
Metaphors	Connecting Islands of Coherence: These models act as stable, life-affirming “islands” within a turbulent sea of breakdowns, offering prototypes of resilience and regeneration that can gradually coalesce into broader systemic change. Making the Path as We Walk It: This metaphor underscores the experimental, iterative nature of Possibility Models, highlighting that the path forward emerges only through committed practice and ongoing adaptation in real-time contexts.

HACK

There is currently no Hack for this project but the research forms the guiding topics and theories for the Rhizome Fellowship 2025.

NEXT STEP:  Now you have completed Module 4 (UNDERSTAND) you can move on to REFRAME to develop Narrative Objectives and define your Audiences.