John D. LiuBeyond Extraction

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John D. Liu

Beyond Extraction

The Earth Keepers

Can we restore what economic thinking destroyed? Drawing on the Loess Plateau in China, we explore why ecological function is worth more than material wealth, an ideal community size of 350 to 500 people, ecosystem restoration communities worldwide, and combining top-down and bottom-up action.

05:39 Meaning of third attractor 18:29 Stories, myth and art 21:13 Education and next generations 32:24 What must happen 40:01 Systems and governance 47:13 Biggest obstacles 50:33 Hope and optimism 51:52 Vision of the future world 53:04 Inner development and spirit 53:39 Communities, prototypes, scaling 54:49 Closing reflections 56:08 Co-created or emergent 57:16 Shared values and worldviews

Cover of the conversation with John D. Liu

John D. Liu is an ecosystem restoration pioneer, filmmaker, and environmental educator whose work has inspired ecological regeneration projects around the world. Through documenting large-scale landscape restoration and collaborating with scientists, governments, and local communities, he has shown that degraded ecosystems can recover when humans learn to work with nature rather than against it.

His work points beyond sustainability toward regeneration, inviting us to see humanity not as separate from the living Earth, but as a conscious participant in the planet’s ongoing evolution. His perspective offers a powerful vision of how ecological restoration and inner transformation can become part of the same civilizational shift.

https://knaw.academia.edu/JohnDLiu

Friends of the Ecosystem Restoration Communities Movement

The Ecosystem Restoration Communities website

https://ecosystemrestorationcommunities.org/

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