7-Generation GTB
🌐An initiative fostering social and ecological regeneration in the Greater Tkaronto Bioregion through a Bioregional Learning Center, portfolio of regenerative projects, and bioregional funding ecosystem, weaving together Indigenous and Western knowledge systems.
Bioregional Context
The Greater Toronto Area is Canada's most populous urban region, encompassing Toronto and surrounding municipalities along Lake Ontario. The region includes dense urban centers, suburban sprawl, agricultural lands, and remnants of the Carolinian forest zone—one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the country.
Background
The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is Canada's most populous urban region, encompassing the city of Toronto and surrounding municipalities across the Golden Horseshoe. Situated along the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario, the GTA includes a mix of dense urban centers, suburban sprawl, agricultural lands, and remnants of the Carolinian forest zone—one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the country.
The name "Tkaronto" comes from the Mohawk word meaning "where there are trees standing in water," referring to the original Indigenous name for the area. This bioregion anchors the work of 7-Generation GTB, an initiative growing a metaphorical Tree of Life through social and ecological regeneration for ecopsychosocial wellbeing—people, community, and planet.
Origins and Network
The initiative began with a foundational question: "Where will we be in 50 years, if we continue our current development trajectory?" This inquiry, explored across various sectors over two years, shaped the organization's founding process and guided the formation of its first projects. The Legacy Project serves as the core team for 7-Generation GTB, coordinated by Brian Puppa. In the context of the GTB as part of Canada, the initiative weaves together holistic Indigenous knowledge systems with Western scientific thinking to find a "third way" forward.
The network includes partnerships with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)—the largest conservation authority in the GTB and largest provider of outdoor education in Canada—Toronto Nature Stewards, York Regional Forest, Rouge National Urban Park, universities, libraries, regenerative farms, and community organizations.
Activities
Bioregional Learning Center
The GTB Bioregional Learning Center is both centralized and decentralized, creating coherence for learning about place. The main site is The Cedars, located in the northeast part of the bioregion, which functions like the central disk of a flower, holding all the petals together. The BLC extends out through a network of existing learning sites/programs, conservation authorities, universities, libraries, and schools.
Portfolio of Legacy Projects
The Portfolio of Projects gathers fragmented, decontextualized activity in the bioregion into Legacy Projects—shared units of practice that can spread. That structure helps new local approaches become common practice; makes regenerative work visible to itself and to the public; supports integrated landscape planning and multisolving; coordinates cooperation for social and ecological regeneration at bioregional scale; and spreads learning and synergies across projects.
Circles of Activity
Work is organized around seven broad themes—Circles of Activity—treated as interconnected parts of one system. Each circle convenes cohorts with distinct roles: Conservation Authorities (the 13 authorities in the GTB, plus a municipal cohort) to advance a Portfolio of Projects for large-landscape regeneration, including food and water security; Business and Funding Leaders to help build the Bioregional Funding Ecosystem; Educators to help shape the Schools Community Network; and Healthcare Practitioners for the Wellbeing Path. Indigenous worldviews and knowledge are woven into each circle.
School Community Network
Through schools, the initiative supports an intergenerational zone where people learn with and from each other in real community settings and take collective action on regenerative Legacy Projects, using a land-based learning model. Core teams combine a student EcoLeader, a teacher (often with parents), and an Elder-in-Residence; those teams extend engagement outward through neighbourhoods.
Bioregional Funding Ecosystem
The Bioregional Foundation stewards regenerative value flow and governance in the bioregion. The funding ecosystem is meant to back regenerative projects; mobilize financial, social, and natural resources across the bioregion; track and evaluate progress; convene local groups, organizations, and projects; support meaningful participation in decisions; and improve equitable environmental and socioeconomic outcomes over time. The Earth Regeneration Fund (also called the Bioregional Pando Funding Ecosystem) frames whole-system social and ecological regeneration. The Legacy Project is launching a Catalytic Cohort to establish the first Bioregional Pando Funding Ecosystem—pairing funders with practitioners in a tailored action-learning process. At the September 2024 Bioregional Regenerative Finance Forum in the GTB, the Earth Regeneration Trust was launched alongside the emerging Bioregional Funding Ecosystem.
Bioregional Venture Studio
A bioregional venture accelerator is taking shape to grow a network across Greater Toronto that repairs ecology and strengthens communities. It is framed to unlock labor and finance so people can scale existing businesses or start new ones, shift time into regenerative work at community level, and move beyond “day jobs” where that is the barrier. The aim is to support small and medium enterprises with finance, education, and a cooperative network inside the bioregion, alongside partners already on the ground. The accelerator would connect funders (foundations, agencies, philanthropists) with a regenerative business network and a council of advisers, using cooperative exchange to move resources. Sectors that could channel impact toward ecological renewal and community well-being include manufacturing (reducing dependence on global supply chains), water, forestry, and agriculture. The approach stresses prototyping—testing assumptions—and measuring impact in dimensions beyond financial return alone.
Vision and Legacy
7-Generation GTB works at once locally and in a glocal frame (place-based and globally connected), pairing social with ecological regeneration. It takes guidance from the Earth Charter while staying rooted in this bioregion. The GTB Bioregional Learning Center can operate as a 7-generation space that brings different ways of knowing together, puts life at the center of choices and action, and builds a shared story of place and bioregional identity that supports collective action across social and ecological work.