Ecological Mind Activism
Krill, Community, and the Regenerative Pathway for Tasmania
Industrial krill extraction is one of the quietest ecological emergencies on Earth. In the freezing expanse of the Southern Ocean, vast factory vessels sweep through waters that once shimmered with the living abundance of whales, penguins, seals, seabirds, and the krill that sustain them. Krill are not a commodity. They are the metabolic heartbeat of the Antarctic. When they are removed, ecosystems collapse from the bottom up, however the deeper, less discussed truth is this: industrial krill extraction exists because our food systems are hollow.
People reach for krill oil because our soils no longer produce nutrient-dense food capable of meeting human omega needs. When the land is depleted, the ocean becomes the next frontier of extraction. Activism alone cannot solve this. Outrage can reveal what is broken, but it cannot build what must replace it. Campaigns can hold the line for a moment, but the demand beneath the harm persists until we provide grounded, embodied alternatives. What we need is not only defence but imagination, which is the ability to envision a future shaped not by crisis, but by renewal. lutruwita Tasmania offers one of the clearest landscapes for staging such a transformation.
From Performativity to Praxis: The Evolution of Activism
Much modern environmental activism, even in its noblest forms, has drifted toward performativity…The thrill of the chase, social media hits, the spectacle, the adrenaline of conflict “the thrill to save krill ” and the desire for dramatic experiences, like voyages to Antarctica, becomes part of identity. Activists often mirror the very industrial war-patterns they oppose: urgency, conflict, spectacle, production of drama. Many of the factory ships targeting krill were themselves born from wartime economies, designed to stimulate industrial growth. Ironically, activism has absorbed the same logic: campaigns as battles. In my Island Almanac article, The Art of Peace Activism, I identified this blind spot: action overwhelms attention; adrenaline replaces attunement; performance replaces practice. What is required now is a shift in the inner architecture of activism, towards the Ecological Mind.
Ecological Mind Activism. by Regen Era Design Studio
Ecological Mind Activism: Where the Ecological Self Meets the Convivial Self
Philosopher Freya Matthews offers the foundation in her theory of the ecological self: a self that expands into kinship with land, water, season, species; a self that feels the world as an extension of its own being. From this perspective, protecting ecosystems is not a moral performance, it is an act of identity. But inner knowing must become outer capability. This is where i introduce a concept of the Convivial Self Theory, that I write about in my Thesis Con Viv, if you would like to read more about it, nested in the vision to transform our food systems and industrial society. My thesis was deeply inspired by life systems theory and Ivan Illich convivial theory.
Convivial Self Praxis developed in my Con Viv thesis. Image by Regen Era Design Studio
The convivial self is praxis (theory in practice) - it is a verb, a way of being and doing….
builds soil
grows nutrient-dense food
restores seed systems
practices herbalism
strengthens local governance
redirects public money toward life
slows down to the pace of seasons
cultivates community capability
works with systems rather than against symptoms
Where the ecological self feels, the convivial self acts. Where the ecological self understands, the convivial self builds. Together they form the basis of Ecological Mind Activism which is activism not as performance, but as regeneration.
It is activism that:
replaces adrenaline with attentiveness
replaces reaction with cultivation
replaces spectacle with capability
replaces battles with systemic redesign
replaces urgency with ecological timing
replaces outrage with nourishment
This is not activism that asks only, “What must we stop?” It asks, “What must we grow?”
Imaginal Scenarios for a Regenerative Tasmania
Scenario 1: The Huon Valley and Estuary Breathes Again
As a reliance on industrial food system fades (i.e. no more salmon!), the Huon Valley models regenerative water and land stewardship. Not through industrial substitutes, but through nutrient-dense whole foods, revived herbal traditions, ethical sea-plant gathering and living soil systems. Whales return….the estuary clears….children learn tides as part of their sensory world.
Scenario 2: The Southern Midlands Soil Awakening
A new policy comes into being that is aligned with life the “Community Renewal Scheme” seeds multi-species pastures, heritage grains, medicinal gardens and nutrient-rich vegetables. Farmers measure vitality instead of yield. Residents taste the aliveness missing from industrial diets. The Midlands becomes a centre of ecological renewal.
Scenario 3: nipaluna / Hobart’s Convivial Food Streets
Hobart becomes a city where nourishment is civic life: moon-cycle feasts, rooftop herbs, neighbourhood ferments, local grain guilds, seed banks and community herbal clinics. Food becomes culture, not commodity. The need for supplements dissolves.
Scenario 4: Bruny Island Sanctuary of Wild Flavour
Bruny becomes a living classroom of ethical foraging, sea parsley, kelp, bush berries. Tourism becomes ecological literacy. The island holds a new form of hospitality rooted in place.
Scenario 5: Meander Valley: The Bio-dynamic Breadbasket
Learning farms teach soil, seed and compost craft. Grains develop structure and sweetness rarely tasted today. Bread from Meander becomes known not for fashion but for nourishment. The valley becomes a symbol of regenerative identity.
Scenario 6: North-West Abundance Hubs
Community-run processing spaces, micro-mills, seed libraries, drying sheds that create real autonomy. These convivial tools allow growers to thrive without industrial supply chains. Regional capability deepens.
Scenario 7: lutruwita’s Oceano-Terrestrial Pact
Tasmania pioneers a covenant: for every hectare of land restored, a hectare of marine ecosystem is protected. Soil and sea become linked i governance and imagination. Tasmania becomes a global model for reciprocity.
These scenarios reveal a simple truth…A society nourished by living soil does not need krill. But to reach such a future, we must face another overlooked reality: the culture of activism itself….
Regen Era Design Studio and the Architecture of Renewal
This is precisely where Regenera Design Studio becomes essential. Our life systems design work provides:
design pathways for nutrient-dense, land-based omega sources
Con Viv food system frameworks
community renewal policy schemes
ecological and convivial governance tools
herbal and seasonal nourishment methodologies
place-based Tasmanian futures
practical strategies for redirecting public funds toward life
Our design studio offers the missing middle, the applied architecture that bridges ecological ethics with lived community practice. Not theory alone, not activism alone, but regenerative implementation. If activist platforms collaborate with regenerative designers, the result is powerful: an activism that no longer mirrors the war-patterns of industrial society but grows the alternative to them. This is how we truly end the krill crisis, not only by fighting extraction, but by dissolving the demand that sustains it. The power of activist platforms needs to be used to design regeneration, as an ethical and ecological imperative.
Toward a Culture of Responsibility, Nourishment and Renewal
Ecological Mind Activism invites us to a quieter, braver revolution: Shifting from fighting the world to participating in its healing, from performance to practice, from extraction to nourishment, from isolated outrage to collective capability and from adrenaline to attunement. It is the work of the ecological self in full awareness and the convivial self in full competence. This is next stage of activism and human maturity. Slowly, carefully, together.
With love, Dr Demeter | Emily Samuels-Ballantyne
