Image: Lorén Spears

We are so excited to partner with the RISD Nature Lab for a 4-part series. The four conversations will explore the commonalities within regional systems (Massachusetts and Rhode Island) tied to land, waste, material, and color and how they can intersect with various modes of thought to drive positive change.

The conversation will be moderated by Southeastern New England Fibershed Co-Founder Amy DuFault and RISD Nature Lab’s Operations and Engagement Coordinator Dora Mugerwa. The 4-week conversation will build a base for a larger conversation taking place after this series focusing on international issues around regeneration.

We just kicked off the series on Restoration and Growth with Tomaquag Museum Executive Director + Narragansett Nation Member, Lorén M. Spears, and Botanist + RISD Faculty member, Hope Leeson look at how can we regenerate through farming, food, fiber and history. How do you grow a future generation of people to take part in living sustainably?

With an opening Land Acknowledgement from Lorén, the conversation insightfully addressed multiple perspectives on how we can restore and grow. Previously, Hope said “you can’t care for something unless you understand it.”

During the conversation, Lorén shared that “we are the land; what we do to the land we ultimately do to ourselves.”

So when it comes to living sustainably, if we don’t understand the land we walk on, including the history, plants, food, clothing, and resources we gain from it, then we can’t care for it. The earth can’t regenerate. And in thinking of Lorén’s definition of “regeneration as continuation,” how to care for the land and all beings within it is cyclical; the knowledge stays alive as it passes on through generations.

Can you think of some ways YOU can help regenerate something environmentally or socially important in your life?

REGISTER FOR NEXT WEEK!

Wednesday, September 16 — Waste as a New Harvest: REGISTER HERE
Landscape Architecture graduate Fengjiao Ge RISD MLA ’20, New England Alpaca Fiber Pool Founder + Executive Director, Chris Riley, and Textile Artist, RISD Zero Waste Alumni + Former Fabscrap Community Coordinator, Anne Keating RISD BFA TX ’17 will focus on WASTE as a NEW HARVEST. How can we reframe the conversation around waste as a useful material that benefits surrounding communities and environments?

Watch all the Common Thread recordings here.

Watch this week’s video here.

The Common Thread with Lorén M Spears and Hope Leeson from the Nature Lab at RISD on Vimeo.