Standing still in the sun, orbiting pasts and futures

The summer solstice, sabbaticals, and the Circular Economy - intentional regeneration in how we orbit around our futures’ past.

I am a design professor bridging the academics of environmental sustainability, the professional design community, and those who want to create change but don’t always know where to begin. We know the world around us is not sustainable, instead we need to find ways to design regeneratively - rejuvenating ourselves, our communities, and our planet.

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Happy Summer Solstice! 

(and a Happy Winter Solstice to my friends in the southern hemisphere)

The solstice occurs twice a year when the earth’s poles reach maximum tilt towards or away from the sun, giving us the longest day (summer solstice) and shortest day (winter solstice). The word solstice is derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). Both days, in summer and winter, offer us a time of reflection - to stand still in the sun - savoring its light and warmth, celebrating renewal, whether that be on the day we get the least sunlight, or the most.  

While seemingly opposites, both summer and winter solstices are commonly celebrated with the same ritual - fire. In many cultures, both ancient and modern, fires are lit to burn through the night into the next day. In the summer, the bonfire celebrates the sun and keeps it glowing as long as possible - through to the next day. While in winter the fire symbolizes driving the darkness away, burning through the long night. Over time, these rituals adapted to more common, recreational summer bonfires with campfire stories and s'mores, while in winter we light candles and sit by fireplaces for warmth. These fires can represent transformation and renewal as we move toward the next season.  

Intentional Regeneration 

For me, this year's day of “standing still with the sun” aligns with the beginning of my sabbatical. Different from vacation, rest, or even the common misconception that it simply means “not teaching” - a sabbatical in its true meaning is an extended period intentionally spent on projects outside your routine. Like a solstice, sabbaticals are cyclical, often occurring every seven years, and offer a time to metaphorically stand still in the sun. To rejuvenate intellectually, but also mentally and physically.  

The origins of a sabbatical can be traced to another intentional period of resting with the earth. In the Hebrew Bible, the Sabbath Year, or “Shmita”, occurs every seven years and is a time of rest and release for the land and its workers. In ancient practices during the Sabbath Year, the land would be left alone while farmers focused on other activities such as community service, studying, and spiritual journeys. Beyond these biblical traditions, sabbatical or fallow periods became common practice in farming - a time when fields are intentionally left unplanted, allowing the land time to rest, replenish the soil and restore its natural balance. It’s also a time for crop rotation - planting alternative crops to manage weeds, pests, and nutrients, restoring the health of the soil before the next crop is planted. Today, most people do not associate sabbaticals as a time connected to nature, but perhaps they should. In 1880 Harvard began granting sabbaticals, and like many things academic - other universities and institutions followed suit, granting time to rest and pursue new advancements in knowledge.  

on the seventh year the field was left to rest and renew

Last year around mid-semester I gave my students an assignment to spend the class period regenerating themselves. I wanted them to be intentional about spending their time doing something that would restore their energy. This was different from a “mental health day”, it was not me canceling class, but I was asking them to be very intentional about doing something that would give them more energy when they were done. They came back with stories of going to the park without their phones, taking a long walk with a friend, cooking a meal and truly enjoying it, trying a new workout, watching the sunset on the beach, and other solely delicious stories. As we discussed how they spent their time, several of them remarked that they had never thought about being intentional about restoration. They didn’t realize that binging Netflix didn’t actually give them rest and that sometimes sleeping in doesn’t make us less tired.    

This time of intentional rejuvenation - whether an entire year, a day or a few hours, is at the heart of regenerative design. To design something regeneratively is to be intentional about how it can create more energy while repairing, renourishing, and renewing.

Working in the climate space it's all too easy to be overwhelmed by the doom and gloom. It’s easy to feel overpowered by giant corporations whose small decisions dwarf any single act you can do as a consumer. This is why I believe that we must find ways to regenerate ourselves so that we can regenerate our communities, and regenerate the planet. We must intentionally stand still with the sun, to absorb it, to celebrate it, and then intentionally move forwards toward the next season. 

Orbits and Circles in Economy 

The solstice reminds us that we are in an orbit of balance - darkness and light, always moving towards the light, or towards the darkness, continually orbiting circularly. On the solstice, we intentionally celebrate the past and future. Pushing the light through the darkness - knowing that today’s future will be tomorrow’s past. Moving in a circle, honoring, and planning for the futures’ past is at the heart of the Curricular Economy. 

Our current extractive economy is built on “take-make-waste” systems that pass the responsibility onto someone else. We are taking resources out of the earth at record speeds to build gadgets, vehicles, and buildings, and extracting oil to become not only fuel but plastic everything. Our consumption habits pull these things out of the earth and end up trashing them right back into landfills, oceans, and air pollution. Often manufacturers place the blame on the consumer - “it’s what they want”. Consumers place the blame back on the manufacturers, “this is my only choice” and then place blind faith in magic bins we call recycling cans not knowing where it goes, what it might become, or how. The disposal industries place the blame right back - “the manufacturers keep making things we can’t recycle and don’t buy recycled material so we burn it”.     

one-way system: take-make-waste

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has a cute little video to explain the idea of the Circular Economy in a somewhat utopic vision. In this animated world appliances like washers are leased and returned to the manufacturer who can strip it and turn it into a brand new product. Responsibility is taken, the buck is not passed, and the materials are cared for, returned, and renewed. Like a solstice, in the Circular Economy, everyone knows that today’s future will be tomorrow’s past and that the past will feed again into our future.  

circular system: nothing wasted, past into future

Having watched and shared this little animated explanation of the Circular Economy for almost 11 years, I’ve often wondered how possible this is. Earlier this month I attended Circularity 23: Accelerating the Circular Economy, a meeting of some of the largest companies, policymakers, thought leaders and professionals working in this space. The first thing I learned is that no one has a standard definition of what the Circular Economy is. And nowhere did I see the dancing washer that the Ellen MacArthur Foundation pitched. For some, it meant simply using more recycled content in their packaging. For others it was getting rid of plastic, moving towards biodegradable packing, or refilling and reusing, delaying a product's trip to the landfill. On the disposal side, there was talk of new ways to recycle e-waste, break down plastics, or get trash out of the oceans. As a designer I was captivated and curious by all the details behind the process - “tell me exactly how you recycle a bus?”... “explain how precisely this plastic is recycled into the thread that becomes woven into a shoe?”... “tell me all the steps in your supply chain”... 

To almost everyone I met, I asked the question of how we achieve a Circular Economy. How do we do this, what’s the answer, who or what needs to change? I heard many different answers which led to many different discussions about all the many complexities. Most commonly I heard that everyone needs to change. Maybe one of the best, most realistic answers I heard was about change in all directions. From the top down, manufacturers need to use less materials and less types of materials. From the bottom up, disposal companies need to take more, recycle more, and find ways to deal with the complexities of our waste streams. And in between the consumers need to use less, resume more, and use longer. While it’s not quite a circle, it could maybe become one if manufacturers stop extracting raw materials and use entirely renewable/ recyclable/ reusable materials. In one conversation I had with another designer they offered that the Circular Economy doesn’t actually exist yet. It's silly to hold a conference acting like it’s already here when it’s not. But we do have the power to make it exist. While it might feel jaded, in a way it was one of the most hopeful perspectives I heard. It’s not pretending that by using 20% recycled cardboard a company is “circular”. It’s an attitude, a mindset, a paradigm that we need to move towards being circular, and once we are in it, we push through the light. It was taking a moment to stand in the sun and intentionally move towards a goal.  

Whether a moment, a day, a week, or a year, I hope you find an opportunity to stand in the sun. Not just to rest, but to rejuvenate and regenerate your energy. To be intentional about burning your fire through the darkness. To imagine how we can all find ways to return to our connectedness with the earth and sun, remembering that we can’t keep farming the same crops without restoring the soil. To acknowledge what we take out of the earth will go back in, and find ways to create new circles of creation and consumption. To be reminded we are all orbiting on this planet together.