Back in November we put out a post notifying the community that The Edge Prize applications were open. Presented by the Salmon Nation Trust and Terran Collective, they invited proclaimed Edgewalkers to connect, collaborate, and share knowledge about how “humanity can be a net benefit to the planet” over several weeks. What we didn’t tell you is that, Cascadia Department of Bioregion made it through the First Round application and recently completed the Second Round video application of The Edge Prize process. If you would like to learn more about the application process, you can read more about it here.
During the application process we had to pinpoint how our vision of the future weaves with the visions of communities throughout the Salmon Nation. Thinking long and hard about weaving place-based networks and containers for the bioregional health of the Salmon Nation brought us to Regenerate Cascadia
Map of the Salmon Nation
“The purpose of the Edge Prize is to highlight entrepreneurs working on important solutions, to spread the stories of how humanity can be a net benefit to the planet, and to help each other level up, working in harmony with local ecosystems, resulting in natural, diverse abundance — thriving at every scale.”
Regenerate Cascadia is emerging from our time in the Edge Prize, where for eight weeks, a community of Edgewalkers – weavers on the edge of different communities but tied to the whole – gathered to thread open source and Indigenous knowledge for a more resilient world. Each time we have come together over the last 8 weeks to share our stories, there is a palpable crackle of the potential of the people in the room.
This long-term vision has evolved into a movement where we will be planning two specific events; the Bioregional Activation Tour in partnership with Design School for Regenerating Earth that will be held in-person throughout October 2023 and the Cascadia Bioregional Summit which will be a ten-day hybrid event held in Fall 2023 and in partnership with Regenerative Communities Network.
Bioregional Activation TouR
We have invited the Design School for Regenerating Earth to join us for a month-long “Bioregional Activation Tour” throughout Salmon Nation, being hosted by the Cascadia Department of Bioregion and local on-the-ground activation teams to set the context, scale, and scope of their work. Each stop will feature community workshops, mapping, presentations, problem-solving discussions, framework development and groups will engage a diversity of audiences, from schools and universities to policy leaders, environmental groups, as well as the general public.
Cascadia Bioregional Summit
In partnership with Regenerative Communities Network, our “bioregional activation tour” will culminate in a hybrid Cascadia Bioregional Summit, held over 10 days throughout Salmon Nation. Groups will converge to share their envisioning from local activations. Proceedings will be documented and provided to participants in the form of videos, blog posts, and print newsletters. As part of this, we will co-create a website for the activation tour and summit, and use QiqoChat, a tool designed for OpenSpace gatherings, for the summit itself.
For more details on Regenerate Cascadia, check out our 5-minute video submission for the Salmon Nation Edge Prize below.
