{"id":27378,"date":"2025-06-12T13:16:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T13:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rotavicentina-blog.miewstudio.com\/?p=27378"},"modified":"2025-06-12T16:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T16:49:23","slug":"its-time-to-re-generate-re-youthen-re-activate-and-re-connect-rural-landscapes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/its-time-to-re-generate-re-youthen-re-activate-and-re-connect-rural-landscapes\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time to Re.Generate, Re.Youthen, Re.Activate and Re.Connect Rural Landscapes"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_custom_heading]<\/p>\n

Three Days on the Re-Rural Caravan<\/strong><\/h2>\n

[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text]I signed up for the Re.Rural Caravan, a three-day journey through a new Alentejo, alongside 50 people and an inspiring, ambitious program.<\/p>\n

The proposal was this: \u201cThe Re.Rural Caravan is not just a route between three villages \u2013 S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds, Montemor-o-Novo, and M\u00e9rtola \u2013 it\u2019s an invitation to gather around regenerative practices, to meet people and projects that care for the land and communities, and to strengthen the Re.Rural Ecosystem. An ecosystem of organizations that care for rural landscapes, sowing agroecological lifestyles, resilient communities, and awakened youth. To cultivate cultures of COoperation and REgeneration, promoting the flourishing of life in all its forms \u2014 human and more-than-human. Each stop, each shared meal, each conversation is thoughtfully designed to nourish body, mind, and soul.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The slogan \u201cIt\u2019s time to Re.Generate, Re.Youthen, Re.Activate, and Re.Connect rural landscapes \u2014 and also our own paths, ideas, and ways of being\u201d<\/strong> couldn\u2019t be more inspiring or aligned with Rota Vicentina\u2019s purpose of bringing tourism into this equation.<\/p>\n

Back in October, I had already taken part in the first gathering of this \u201cecosystem\u201d \u2014 a week based at Co.Re – Rural Learning Center<\/a><\/strong> in S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds, with a group of European Regenerators brought together under the banner: \u201cRe-Rural Network \u2013 Partnership Building Activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

I came into it from a place of burnout, clearly caused by a non-regenerative culture, despite working in a field where the goal is to bring quality of life to the region. A clear contradiction. The group quickly took on the greater challenge: to \u201cregenerate the regenerators.\u201d To walk the talk, to be<\/em> in order to do<\/em>. It was easy to surrender to the process, thanks to the thoughtful and inspiring facilitation, ambitious goals, and a group determined to make the world better.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”27371″ media_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Freel%2FDKhwDWHNdjA%2F%3Figsh%3DZ24za2xrZ2gwcnMy”][\/vc_single_image][vc_column_text]The most relevant insight was this: we must come together \u2014 intelligently, efficiently, humanly, affectively. We must embrace our humanity in the mission of working with such a fundamental motivation: to innovate and break down obsolete, crystallized, and demotivating barriers. And learning to work together is an art \u2014 it requires inspiration, space, trust, and method.[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading]<\/p>\n

Exploring concepts and applications<\/strong><\/h3>\n

[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text]The group was diverse, and to me, it represented a portion of humanity truly committed to creating pathways in service of the collective. But beneath that more superficial layer, something deeper connected us.<\/p>\n

The term Sustainability<\/em> is worn out, and Regeneration<\/em> is heading the same way. We must bring clarity and commitment to how we use these words. In this group, we explored concepts and applications in our territories and projects \u2014 and also within ourselves, as pivots of change, as Community Catalysts (see 2022 article). But we went further: we dreamed together and explored real opportunities for cooperation \u2014 all in the name of a much-needed acceleration of this movement. And we set the next steps in motion.<\/p>\n

In January, I joined a smaller group on a study visit to Olot, at the invitation of Cooperativa Regenerativa from S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds, as part of the CARE \u2013 Collectively Activating Regenerative Economies project. Catalonia is a pioneer in this movement, with decades of groundwork. It was a glimpse into the future, a lesson in community strength, resilience, a focus on the common good. I came back inspired \u2014 and, above all, confident in the thinking and strategy we\u2019re developing for Rota Vicentina and its role in this region.<\/p>\n

Back to the Caravan: this time, the group was entirely Portuguese, and the aim was to explore the work being done in the field and to share learnings. In S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds, the theme was Re.Youthen<\/em> \u2014 a testament to how a small investment in youth can spark irreversible change. Just a few years ago, young people were scarcely seen in S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds \u2014 today, an inspiring group works and dreams alongside us. Attitudes are changing. Over dinner at Espa\u00e7o Nativa, a restaurant that is a school of conscious eating, we experienced local, carefully prepared food made with deep commitment.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”27413″ media_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Freel%2FDKhwDWHNdjA%2F%3Figsh%3DZ24za2xrZ2gwcnMy”][\/vc_single_image][vc_custom_heading]<\/p>\n

Strategy and determination<\/strong><\/h3>\n

[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text]Montemor-o-Novo is a pioneer of collective movements, with Oficinas do Convento and Cooperativa Minga, whose history and results inspired us to Re.Activate<\/em> the local economy \u2014 not through dogma, but through strategy and determination. A long communal dinner table in the square, followed by traditional cante alentejano<\/em> that left our voices hoarse. Hearing the women sing, feeling the rejuvenated energy in the lyrics and melodies \u2014 the body follows and sings from the heart. Awaken!<\/em><\/p>\n

In M\u00e9rtola, we began by regenerating the body with a swim in the Guadiana River and fresh mint tea! Then we visited Horta da Malhadinha to learn about \u201cplanting water\u201d and building a syntropic agroforestry system in an arid, discouraged land. The dinner came from that land, served in the historic center, followed by a night to refresh, digest, and celebrate.<\/p>\n

The next morning, we returned to the Southwest for a visit to Rota Vicentina, in a beautiful forest at Monte da Estrada. Pause. Breathe. Re.Connect.<\/em> With ourselves, with abundant nature, with trust in humanity. And to rethink (eco)tourism and walking as a practice of expanding awareness \u2014 of the self, of the community that belongs to each ecosystem, and of a greater universal whole that connects us all.<\/p>\n

I was deeply moved in the final sharing circle. Because I felt that it\u2019s in humanity \u2014 in our human nature \u2014 that I find my inspiration. I don\u2019t know how to work any other way. And it\u2019s hard \u2014 as a woman and as a leader. But once you feel the path under your feet, there\u2019s no turning back.<\/p>\n

Change is urgent. And it\u2019s time to slow down.
\nYes, it\u2019s time to decelerate, to take a breath, and to follow the path of Regeneration \u2014 in the company of others who, like me, truly want to build a better world. Recognizing that we\u2019ve gone too far, and that true prosperity doesn\u2019t lie in production but in consumption \u2014 conscious, nourishing, regenerative consumption.<\/p>\n

And ecotourism will be the only viable way to travel in the future. Because it seeks the innate, integral ecology we all depend on \u2014 not just to survive, but to truly live.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_custom_heading] Three Days on the Re-Rural Caravan [\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text]I signed up for the Re.Rural Caravan, a three-day journey through a new Alentejo, alongside 50 people and an inspiring, ambitious program. The proposal was this: \u201cThe Re.Rural Caravan is not just a route between three villages \u2013 S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds, Montemor-o-Novo, and M\u00e9rtola \u2013 it\u2019s an invitation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":27383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[210,209,317,313,147,302,306],"tipos":[105],"destaques":[],"class_list":["post-27378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy-sustainability","tag-alentejo-en","tag-algarve-en","tag-conservation","tag-local-community-en","tag-responsible-travel","tag-rota-vicentina-association","tag-sustentabilidade-en","tipos-article"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27378"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27422,"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27378\/revisions\/27422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27378"},{"taxonomy":"tipos","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipos?post=27378"},{"taxonomy":"destaques","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rv-blog-stg.fera.miewstudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destaques?post=27378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}