Our economy is currently based on purely financial resources. If wealth was defined and reimagined, we could create regenerative businesses that don’t just create financial resources but also give back to people and the Earth. At Regenrus, we are committed to creating a regenerative ecosystem that gives back to the people, animals and planet.
Currently, a typical business is only focused on profit and doesn’t allow for creative approaches to integrate regenerative systems into it’s operations. In our current paradigm, many streams of waste could be considered a resource. In nature, there are no wasted streams.
Here are alternative forms of capital that can be utilized and reclaimed to define the way we see wealth:
Social Capital: Our connections, friendships or people of influence that we know. If we are wealthy in social capital, we can use our network to help us crowd source resources or even funds through crowdfunding.
Material Capital: Physical objects that can be traded, sold or utilized to upcycle into something of higher value. Material capital could also be technologies that could support us in getting further information or other forms of wealth.
Living Capital: This form of capital is made up of animals, plants and the soil of our land. If we’re rich in living capital, we might have plenty of food to eat and fresh water to drink. Being wealthy in living capital will provide us the sustenance of our life.
Our Connections, friendships or people of influence that we know.
Intellectual Capital: Knowledge is a highly valuable asset. We can transform knowledge into financial capital through teaching and sharing what we know. With our wisdom, we could write books or speak publicly. Our knowledge could be used to create an innovative and regenerative product or business.
Experiential Capital: Our wealth of experience can help us be prepared to organize, support or guide the way in many situations. If we know how to do something because we’ve done it before, we can do it again and keep improving on it until it is of high value to those who seek to learn from us.
Spiritual Capital: This form is less tangible, but a wealth of spiritual capital can be based on religious practices, beliefs, networks and institutions that can have a measurable impact on individuals, communities and societies. Spiritual capital can also help us get more out of our day if we are clear, mindful and graceful in our every day activities.
Having cultural capital increases the diversity, togetherness and overall happiness of a person or group.
Cultural Capital: These are the shared practices that bond a team or community of people. Having cultural capital increases the diversity, togetherness and overall happiness of a person or group. Art, theater and music are considered cultural capital and can add a lot of wholeness to an organization and be a big asset.
Having cultural capital increases the diversity, togetherness and overall happiness of a person or group.
These forms of capital can be mapped out to understand how they can be used in place of financial capital and how a flow of energy can move in between them. In our businesses and economies, if we assess our wealth in these different areas of capital, we can redefine the way we view wealth. In this same way, we can place value on our resources that we may have not viewed as valuable in the past.
If we review each of these forms of capital, we might see that we are rich in one area and see a link for how we can utilize it to support another form of capital. For example, if we are wealthy in social capital, we might be able to use our large network to find free places to stay around the world when we travel instead of pay for hotels.
Changing our perspective on wealth and what we place our value on can bring us empowerment in knowing that we are not limited to financial resources as the only way to survive and thrive in our lives. An activity that can be done at home is taking a big white sheet of paper and looking at all of the different resources we have in each category. It will often be amazing to see the results and realize that we have more to work with than we thought.