For over half a century, Local Futures founder Helena Norberg-Hodge has been pioneering the worldwide localisation movement - calling for a reorientation of priorities to the true needs of people and the Earth over corporate profits.

Norberg-Hodge points to food and farming as the most important place to start, noting that small, diversified farms produce more food per hectare, require less energy, less chemicals, support biodiversity, and provide meaningful work for local community.

Over the last few years, the team at Learning Environment has quietly and steadfastly woven a living tapestry where wellbeing, learning, and ecological restoration meet.

What began as a vision between friends has grown into more than 72 hectares of living classroom - now known as Pīwaiwaka Farm, nestled in rural Whanganui.

This February, The Underground Festival returns to Greystone’s regenerative vineyards in Ōtautahi / Christchurch, offering a living space over 2-3 days where kai and farming meet underground intelligence, whakapapa, and new imagination.

For over a decade, Happen Films has offered quiet, powerful stories that illuminate pathways toward a more connected, regenerative world.

Ma Earth is part of a growing movement responding to the call of our time. To care for Mother Earth.

Last weekend, the Mangaroa Valley came alive in the warmth of early summer. Celebrating the bi-annual Mangaroa Farms Open Day, the land welcomed over 1500 people into its embrace.

Families and children tumbled through the tall flowers of the Polyculture maze, while sheep were shorn of their winter coats, wool was spun, and elders shared quiet stories in the shade.

He Kai te Rongoā He Rongoā te Kai - Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.

In this month’s kōrero, we turn our attention to Hua Parakore - a kaupapa Māori system for organics that is an embodied pathway to re-weaving our relationship with whenua, kai, and community.

Ka ora te Whenua, ka ora te tangata - when the land is well, the people are well. This is the wisdom of Tīwaiwaka, the Fantail who carries a message of hope, of healing, and renewal.

Her six principles (first written by Pa Ropata / Rob McGowan) remind us that the mauri - the web of life, is essential to us all, and that our role is not mastery but guardianship.

Stories, like seeds, are carried in quiet ways.

They wait in glass jars, tucked into paper envelopes, or passed hand to hand across generations - resting, yet always alive.

Their potential for regeneration begins not in grand gestures, but in the small, careful acts of remembering.

With the release of the 2025 seed catalogue from Kōanga Institute: Our Stories, Our Seeds, Our Future, we are invited into the whakapapa of kai - seeds with names, ancestors, and memories.

For over a decade, Happen Films, led by Jordan Osmond and co‑producer Antoinette Wilson—have illuminated regenerative living through deeply human, land‑centred storytelling. With over 67 million views across their catalog of 41 films, their work uplifts people and projects sowing seeds of change, from backyard gardens and community composting, to alternative house-builds and wild forests.

He tipu, he taonga — every plant a treasure, every seed a story. As winter whispers across the whenua, we look to the nurseries, where quiet hands tend to future forests, and where children learn that kaitiakitanga begins with care.

As we walk the path of regeneration, often we may find that the answers we seek are often already held within the whenua, within our past and whakapapa, and within the ancient wisdom carried by our tīpuna / ancestors.

This month, we're highlighting healthy food systems in Aotearoa NZ - in particular, celebrating the launch of Papawhakaritorito Trust’s new book Pātaka Kai: Growing Kai Sovereignty.

In times of uncertainty, when the path ahead feels unclear, one thing we know for certain is that every day, three times a day, what is important is where our kai [food] comes from.

In nature, looking at the micro, enables us to see the macro; Indigenous wisdom reminds us to look back, in order to look forward - both help us rediscover our interconnected relationship to the world around us.

November has been a big month, with the Ma Earth Grants Round 2 completed, distributing over $200K USD to 30 land regeneration projects around the world. More recently, we were shocked to hear about the devastating fire that tore through the farm at Papawhakaritorito Trust, destroying the learning centre, and inside it all seed stock, books and more.

This month, we’re spotlighting Ma Earth Grants Round 2 - distributing $200,000 in total matching funds to 30 regenerative land projects around the world.

In Aotearoa, arrival of the Pipiwharauroa (Shining Cuckoo) songbird, and the magnificent flowering of the Kumarahou (below), are two traditional tohu of Te Āo Māori that the seasons are shifting and Spring has begun.

When looking at the current state of our environment on a macro scale, it is understandable to feel discouraged given the effects of climate change, corporate expansion, and biodiversity loss across the globe.

As a global economy continues to pose significant risks to all life on Earth, a powerful counter-trend is emerging, as millions work towards a system shift that prioritises cultural and biological diversity.