“We weave ideas, scribe forward, align with life and create connection.”
— Dr Demeter | Emily Samuels-Ballantyne
Covering topics on Foundational Economics, Convivial Governance, Anthroposophic Philosophy & Everyday Regeneration in Tasmania
Overview
The Island Almanac is a living compendium of stories, tools and place-based examples that weave together foundational economics, anthroposophic wisdom and the rhythms of everyday life. Rooted in the soils of Tasmania and flowering from Magical Farm Tasmania. Across its pages you’ll find:
Practical essays on redirecting public and private wealth into community resilience
Anthroposophical reflections on seasonal rhythms, ritual and soul-led innovation
Tasmanian case studies from coastal hamlets to mountain valleys
Project spotlights on island-wide initiatives, from seed libraries to solar co-ops.
Living Architecture: A dynamic framework of interconnected practices, food, housing, energy, governance, culture, activism and economics that grows, adapts and breathes like an ecosystem, rather than standing as static policy or infrastructure. These seven pillars form the Living Architecture of Regen Era Design Studio & The Island Almanac: integrating heart, head & hands to power a truly regenerative future.
Food
Housing
Energy
Community Life, Learning & Culture
Sacred Activism
Convivial Governance
Regenerative Economic Design.
Scenario Two: A Living Island of Renewal
Tasmanians deserve more than top-down slogans. We need a genuine, strategic vision, Scenario Two: A Living Island of Renewal grounded in community ownership, climate resilience, and economic dignity. Imagine a $1 billion public interest fund (matched by the Commonwealth to $2 billion) powering food hubs, care infrastructure, and publicly owned renewable energy projects. This isn’t a boom-and-bust model: it’s about durable, locally rooted jobs: green energy technicians, regenerative farmers, care workers, and cultural craftspersons. By redefining progress beyond GDP and megaprojects, we can build a Tasmania that flourishes in body, mind, and spirit.
A Call for Justice and Regeneration in Australian Universities
A Call for Justice and Regeneration in Australian Universities is both a reckoning and a renewal. Drawing on two decades within the university system and the insights of a national inquiry, Dr. Emily Samuels Ballantyne reveals a crisis not just of contracts, but of conscience. Behind the statistics lies something deeper: the erosion of dignity, creativity, and care in places once imagined as sanctuaries for learning.
Yet this is not only a critique…it is a vision. The article offers a pathway for transformation rooted in truthfulness, courage, and responsibility. It imagines universities not as factories of credentialism, but as living communities of knowledge and moral purpose. Here, education becomes an act of regeneration, of land, people, and the future. Tasmania, with its spirit of independence and possibility, could lead this renewal.
Wayfinding Patterns Through the Eras
Wayfinding Patterns Through the Eras is a reflective Solstice piece by Dr. Emily Samuels Ballantyne that draws on ancient cosmologies, particularly Chinese Feng Shui to make sense of our current global moment. Exploring two full 180-year cycles, Emily reveals how the final fire phase we are now in (Period 9) offers not only cultural reckoning but the opportunity to compost 360 years of modernity. With love, courage, and cosmic guidance, this article invites us to dream forward a new Period 1 rooted in life systems remembered from ancient, land-connected cultures across the globe.
Scenario 2 Powering Regeneration in Tasmania
By Dr. Emily Samuels Ballantyne
Right now, Tasmania’s future is being shaped by a single, homogenous energy narrative “Battery of the Nation” designed and decided by a small group of stakeholders. This narrow vision risks sidelining the diverse voices, knowledge systems, and community-led solutions that are essential for a truly resilient future. In such a defining moment, we must ask: Who gets to imagine the future? A thriving Tasmania requires many scenarios, not just one. Scenario Two is an invitation to co-create not dictate what regeneration looks like, place by place.