Join us for AELA’s “Exploring Bioregioning” webinar series!
In our first bioregioning webinar for 2026, AELA Convenor and Greenprints creator, Dr Michelle Maloney will be joined by Joe Brewer and Penny Heiple from the” Design School for Regenerating Earth” to discuss how we can follow a design pathway for regenerating our planet and human cultural, learning and financial, systems.
Bioregioning is a Western term that sees human societies and culture as part of nature, and proposes that modern human societies can be more sustainable, successful and meaningful, if our political, cultural and economic systems are organised within natural boundaries such as bioregions and catchments (watersheds). While First Nations Peoples have practiced bioregional and biocultural governance for millennia, many modern industrialised societies are only now rediscovering and experimenting with bioregioning, and learning how nature can be a guide for sustainable human societies.
‘Exploring Bioregioning’ is part of AELA’s Greenprints program, and features guest speakers from diverse backgrounds, disciplines and bioregions, sharing research, insights and stories from around Australia and around the world. Our goal is to show how bioregioning offers important pathways to create Earth-centred systems change.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
JOE BREWER
Joe Brewer is a transdisciplinary systems thinker and Earth Regeneration designer. Raised in the Ozarks, he has a background in earth sciences, cultural evolution, cognitive science, and complexity. He now lives in Barichara, Colombia where he’s helping regenerate a 500,000 ha landscape, including bringing dead rivers back to life. His local work is multifaceted, from reforestation work in Bioparque Móncora and starting a bioregional learning ecosystem (Sueños del Bosque). He was founder of the Earth Regenerators study group, is co-founder of the Design School for Regenerating Earth, and is the author of The Design Pathway for Regenerating Earth. A compelling speaker, he travels extensively to help bioregions around the planet activate and connect.
PENNY HEIPLE
Penny Heiple has a passion for serving life and our beautiful planet Earth. A native of Boulder, Colorado, Penny now lives in Barichara, Colombia, where she is living out her dream to contribute to the regeneration of Earth alongside her life partner, Joe Brewer. She and Joe co-founded the Design School for Regenerating Earth where she leads operations, strategic planning, and community development. She also hosts the Inner Space where members of the school are cultivating the “inner” capacities needed to do the “outer” Earth regeneration work with integrity and sovereignty. In addition to stewarding the online activities of the school, Penny and Joe travel to bioregions around the world helping to support and activate organizing on-the-ground at the bioregional scale. At home in Barichara, Penny and Joe are leading the creation of a bioregional learning ecosystem and forest school called Sueños del Bosque, which places children at the core.
HOST – MICHELLE MALONEY
Dr Michelle Maloney (PhD) is an Earth lawyer and advocate for ecocentric and bioregional governance. She is recognised internationally and in Australia for her work advocating for Earth centred law and governance, including First Laws and the Rights of Nature. Michelle is Co-Founder and Director of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA), and Co-Founder and Director of Future Dreaming, an Indigenous led organisation that works to share Indigenous ecological and governance knowledge with non-Indigenous people and organisations in Australia. Michelle lives in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. For more information about Michelle’s work, publications and affiliations, please visit: www.michellemaloney.au
ABOUT THE DESIGN SCHOOL FOR REGENERATING EARTH
The Design School for Regenerating Earth, co-founded by Joe Brewer and Penny Heiple, is helping people live into the story of Bioregional Earth by regenerating their bioregions and building a planetary network of learning exchanges. It connects theory and practice, online learning journeys with real-world experiences – while drawing on tools and approaches from around the planet.
ABOUT GREENPRINTS
Greenprints is a framework for building the foundations of bioregional governance. It has been designed to make it easier for people – especially people living in industrialised and Western societies – to understand how to build sustainable/regenerative futures, by first understanding local ecological systems and using those systems to guide human societies and economies. Greenprints draws on bioregionalism and ‘bioregioning’ as key concepts for rethinking our personal, organisational and community wide governance systems.
ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN EARTH LAWS ALLIANCE (AELA)
AELA is a not-for-profit organisation working to increase the understanding and practical implementation of Earth-centred (ecocentric) governance, with a focus on systems change across law, economics, education, ethics and community participation in Australia. AELA’s vision is an Australian society that embraces an ecocentric or ‘life-centred’ culture, with governance systems that enable human communities to thrive within ecological boundaries, while nurturing biodiversity and ecosystem health. AELA’s work includes education programs and project support for people, communities and organisations working to create ecocentric systems change.
For more information, visit our website: www.earthlaws.org.au
or email us anytime: aela@earthlaws.org.au