It’s the hardest part of anything worth doing: taking that first step.

But for anyone who’s paying attention to what’s going on in the world—the intensification of global poverty and food insecurity, deteriorating public health, species extinction, rising sea levels and extreme weather events, refugees fleeing drought and famine, escalating geopolitical tensions—inaction isn’t an option.

It’s time to step up. It’s time to embrace hope. And our best hope is regeneration.

The paradigm shift from degenerative food, farming and land-use practices toward regenerative practices—those that regenerate soil, biodiversity, health, local economies and climate stability—is arguably the most critical transformation occurring throughout the world today.

But that transformation won’t happen fast enough, unless we all step up. And the best place to take that first step is in our own communities.

In “First Steps: Build a Regeneration Movement in Your Local Community,” OCA’s Ronnie Cummins offers suggestions for how to build a local core group to advance the regeneration movement.

Read Ronnie’s essay