The health of the land and the health of the people on it are not separate. Restoring a degraded landscape and restoring a degraded sense of belonging are, in practice, the same work approached from different directions. This Supper Club is about that connection.
Regenerating earth's living systems isn't only a technical project. Earth’s soil, biodiversity, water and nutrient cycles need to be protected and rejuvenated, almost none of which will happen through a bank’s commodity desk and pseudo-carbon brokers pretending to re-establish humanity’s millennia relationship as custodians of place. This type of landcare is the most direct path available to us to stabilise local climates, rebuilding real community, and working through what feels, for many of us, like a genuine spiritual crisis about what it means to be human right now. Coming home, in that sense, is as much an inner shift as an ecological one.
At this Supper Club we're joined by special guest Rupa - Oscar Amaya Hernandez who for the best part of two decades has shaped and successfully delivered projects in Brazil, Bolivia and Angola that have regenerated landscapes, and with that, entire communities and the prosperity of those who live there. Rupa has recently moved to Sydney and this night is an opportunity to spend time with and learn from someone who’s walked the walk. From forest conservation to regenerative agriculture, broader ecosystem restoration and entire rural development, Rupa has seen, experimented with and done it. His work is grounded in the belief that meaningful change requires healthy ecosystems and engaged communities, and will bring that on-the-ground perspective to this night.
It’s easy to want and believe that nature-based solutions offer the win-win-win (sustainability always seeking ceaseless wins, never a sacrifice or trade off) outcomes we all strive for. Too often though the effort and coordination required to alter ecosystems and the people that inhabit them exists in powerpoints and without the reality of work it takes to graft 20,000 avocado trees in Angola as part of a syntropic agroforestry project.
Rupa's work makes this less abstract. Years spent with communities and in the natural rhythms of forest conservation and regenerative agriculture show what regeneration delivers when it's done properly; healthier landscapes and healthier people. Restored soil means restored food systems, which means real nourishment. Restored ecosystems mean communities with more say over their own land and future, a sovereignty that no policy document can aspire to. And the work itself, done alongside others, tends to open something unexpected up - connection, vitality and joy in ways that are hard to plan for but unmistakable when they show up. It's a reminder that regeneration isn't a metaphor we're borrowing for our own healing. It's the same evolutionary process, just visible at a different scale.
This night is about exploring all of this and much more. From integrating ecology into everyday urban scenarios to wide scale landscape renewal, our path to a homecoming exists in parallel to nature as both guide and teacher.
As always, Gus will nourish us with outstanding food, and in keeping with the evening’s themes remind us that one shared meal is a microcosm of what’s possible when prepared, shared and experienced together and with intention.
Our supper club evenings are not lectures but tables for shared conversation to explore curiosities and be inspired by the brilliance and wisdom of those also on this path that isn’t for the faint of heart. Come with your questions, appetite and contributions.
