VDAO Ep 10 Humans as a Keystone Species: Regeneration, Crypto & the Meta-Crisis | Gregory

The gist

Gregory Landua, a longtime permaculture designer and founder of Regen Network, argues that humanity's relationship to nature is fundamentally broken and that most modern crises stem from this disconnect. Rather than adopting doom-focused environmentalism or primitivist solutions, he advocates for "regenerative accelerationism"—using technology, business, and design to create systems where human flourishing and ecosystem health are aligned. He traces his journey from permaculture education through supply chain regeneration work to building blockchain-based systems for quantifying and valuing ecological restoration.

Key takeaways

• Keystone species concept: A keystone species makes an ecosystem healthier by its presence. Humans should aspire to this role at a planetary scale through permaculture, regenerative agriculture, and thoughtful design that increases biodiversity, resilience, and antifragility.

• Eight forms of capital framework: Beyond financial capital, Landua and Ethan Roland developed a framework identifying eight types of capital—living, cultural, social, intellectual, spiritual, political, and built—to help communities design for holistic value creation rather than just profit.

• The supply chain problem: Even well-intentioned regenerative brands face structural economic pressures that ultimately degrade ecosystems and exploit farmers. Market distortions and competition create incentives to cut corners, regardless of individual ethics.

• Regen Network as infrastructure: Rather than relying on storytelling and brand loyalty, Regen Network uses public blockchain-based accounting to create markets where regenerative outcomes—measured through carbon, biodiversity, and water credits—are the actual competitive advantage, with ~$12M in historically transacted ecological value.

• Regenerative accelerationism vs. degrowth: Landua rejects both apocalyptic prepper mentalities and degrowth ideology, instead advocating for "regrowth"—evolving how we measure and qualify value in ways linked to soil health, water systems, and ecosystem outcomes.

• Antifragility through community: Real resilience comes from strong local relationships and community capacity to respond to disruptions together—not from survivalist preparation. Disasters reveal our capacity for human connection and collective problem-solving.

• Kuni model for urban-rural connection: Inspired by Japanese disaster-preparedness practices, membership-based economic relationships between urban and rural communities create both economic sustainability and deep resilience by building place-based belonging.

• Network nation emergence: Multiple proto-communities (Greenpill, Regen Commons, RefiDAO, etc.) are forming the infrastructure for opt-in network nations—decentralized, place-rooted but globally connected systems capable of absorbing disturbance and redirecting energy toward systemic change.

Notable quotes

"Humans can and should be a keystone species, a planetary keystone species...when we establish that pattern of keystoning, work themselves out pretty naturally."

"Resilience is a system's resistance to change. Antifragility is when disruption actually makes the system grow and become more complex and more robust."

"The economic system has to value that regenerative outcome such that that is a competitive advantage in the market, because otherwise you're all just being crazy."

Worth a full listen?

Listen to the full episode if you're interested in a deep exploration of how permaculture philosophy, blockchain technology, and community design can address systemic ecological and economic crises, or if you want detailed examples of real projects implementing these ideas at scale.