Nature’s ingenuity in Costa Rica is palpable in the lush tropical jungle buzzing with the flow of resources. The fertility of a healthy ecosystem arouses the human imagination.
Nature is a responsive lover, wise teacher, and bold editor.
“Money-Wise Women” guest Jennifer Menke knows this intimately. She is project director of the Regenerative Economy Lab and president of the Regenerative Earth non-profit. On the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica, she has been managing a project for three years, facilitating better engagement of local communities and governments in the living ecosystem economy.
“Regenerate” stems from a Latin word meaning “to create again.” Regenerative approaches seek to reverse the degradation of the environment and society. These designs draw inspiration from the self-healing and self-organizing capacities of natural living systems, able to create positive feedback loops that spiral up to greater well-being.
The core of regenerative economics is a healthy circulation of money back into local communities, enriching people and planet, over and over again.
Both Jennifer and I are committed to using community-resource mapping and facilitation techniques that catalyze rapid evolution of sustainable economic models. She says, “We are shifting the system toward a virtuous cycle that reinforces a vision of thriving ecosystems.”
Jennifer leads nature-based immersions for executives, investors, and leaders. Her perspective has been deeply influenced by over 500 days in solitary retreats. Personally, I grew up in rural Vermont, and much of my childhood was playing in the forests and ponds surrounding my home. When I was 16, I went on my first solo camping trip, spending three nights in nature alone. My love and reverence for the wisdom of the natural world is deeply rooted in these early experiences.
Listen to this inspiring episode of “Money-Wise Women” and learn how regenerative culture is emerging. Aching hearts are coming together to create a more beautiful world. We are participating with the natural laws of living systems. We are contributing our genius in devotion to the deepest good.
Jennifer Menke
Jennifer Menke is president of Regenerative Earth and project director of the Regenerative Economy Lab. In 2015, she was nominated as an emerging global leader by the Academy for Systems Change and resides as a fellow of the organization.
She started with a BA in environmental studies and ecopsychology from the University of Colorado and Naropa University. She deepened her studies with 13 different North and Central American indigenous cultures, nature-based spiritual elders, social sustainability entrepreneurs, and the Earth directly. For 11 years during this time, she apprenticed with John P. Milton and the Way of Nature, spending over 500 days combined in solitary retreats, and she has worked as a senior guide of Sacred Passage since 2011. She is collaborating on projects and initiatives that address the interface between social, economic, and biological systems and how to bring these into optimal harmony for the purpose of regenerating some of our most critical ecosystems globally.
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