Can we turn the 2020s into ‘The Regenerative Decade’? In this series of interviews about what that would imply, we talk ecology, deep adaptation, grief, compassion and passion, connecting with nature, resilience, revitalisation, restoration, revolution… – the bigger picture, in other words. Guest in our 17th episode is Gilbert Rochecouste.

New ideas are coming out of The Tunnel. What seemed impossible to us for years, it turns out we knew how to do it and could do it in just a few days: put everything on pause and start to think differently.

Enter Gilbert Rochecouste, founder and managing director of Village Well, and what you could call a professional agent of change. Because Gilbert has worked with over 1,000 cities, towns, main streets, universities, property developers, government organisations and communities over the past 25 years, helping them to think differently and craft new approaches to how to create vibrant, resilient and loved places for people. “He blends commerce, culture, community and ecology to create magnetic destinations that are socially, culturally and commercially successful,” notes Gilbert Rochecouste’s biography on Linkedin, and that includes two locations in Geelong currently. His ideas and projects has helped Melbourne earn its title as “the most liveable city in the world”, and he is recognised as a leading global voice in Placemaking and City making. He also co-founded the EPOCH Foundation promoting the adoption of business ethics. He has been on the boards of Ross House, Donkey Wheel House Trust and Hub Australia.

“Citizens leading the way”In The Regenerative Hour no 17 we listen to Gilbert’s recent Zoom-presentation, which the Jeder Institute organised and now has made available on Youtube:

In the time of “The Great Pause”, Gilbert Rochecouste from Village Well delivers an inspirational zoom presentation: “Preparing for a New Story, Recovery and Transition in the Covid19 and Climate Change Era”. From Week 2 of Jeder Institute’s “Days Starting with T” series of zoominars.

Tipping point in consciousness – the new story of hyper-localism

Gilbert Rochecouste was recently interviewed by Vivien Langford from Beyond Zero Emissions community radio show, where he talked about pressing the reset button and becoming “an ecosystem of place” with a new narrative of living lightly on the planet:

“Climate action is often stymied by the elephant in the room which is consumption. How can we reset our lives to relocalise and share in the decade when emissions need to plummet? Citizens are leading a new narrative after the drought, the fires and now the pandemic. We are at a tipping point in consciousness. We must not let the big institutions and corporations drag us back to the old paradigm which is destroying the biosphere.”→ You can listen to the podcast interview on www.3cr.org.au.

Plan for carbon soberness starts in the community

Tim Hollo, Executive Director of the Green Institute, wrote a