Generation Restoration

Discover and define a new relationship between humanity and nature

In Generation Restoration: How to Fix Our Relationship Crisis with Mother Nature Vice President of Climate Action at Salesforce, Tim Christophersen, delivers a clarion call for a new kind of global ecological literacy. You'll discover how we can reset our relationship with nature, conceiving of ourselves as an integral part of it, rather than apart from it.

The book explains how we can change the way we interact with the world around us and rapidly increase the effectiveness of all “green” initiatives. It's filled with stories and case studies of environmental success stories and failures from around the globe.

Inside the book:

• A recipe for a simple—but profound—shift in the way we view nature and the role of human beings within it
• How to resist the impulses towards doom and despair and choose hope instead
• The lessons we can learn from Indigenous peoples around the world, who understand important and obvious lessons about nature that have escaped other societies

Perfect for anyone interested in the future of our planet and our species, Generation Restoration is an inspiring and eye-opening discussion of an issue that's critical to all our survival and wellbeing.

Dr. Jane Goodall’s Foreword for Generation Restoration xiii

1 Squandering Our Natural Wealth 1

Restoration in One Generation 2

Nature Gone Bust 4

Shifting Baseline Syndrome 11

Tipping Point 14

Resilience Starts with Us 24

2 A Century of Ecology 29

Ecology: The Science of Our Only Home 31

A New Century of Ecology 41

Ecological Literacy for Everyone 42

3 Nature Is Us: A Tale of Reciprocity 57

Nature Is Many, Nature Is One 58

Nature Is Us 61

Counterproductive Conservation 72

A New Hope 77

So, Are We Part of Nature? 83

4 The Value of Nature 85

“It’s the Ecology, Stupid!” 86

A New Economy Emerges 93

The Oldest New Financial Asset Class 99

A Restoration Boom 111

All the Money in the World 115

5 The World Plus 10 Percent 119

Take No More Than Half 120

A Movement Is Born: Acción Andina 124

Living in Harmony with Nature: Satoyama 135

The World’s Largest Protected Area Network: Natura 2000 137

The Guardians of Nature 139

Respect for Mother Nature 143

A New Relationship 149

6 A Trillion Trees 153

The Power of Trees 154

Resetting Our Relationship with Forests 156

A Rights-Based Approach 162

Trailblazer 165

Learning from the Forest 170

Forests Under Scrutiny 175

Is It Too Late? 178

7 World Restoration Flagships 183

Brazil’s Atlantic Forest 184

Farther Than the Eye Can See 193

The Arc of Restoration in the Brazilian Amazon 196

Community-Based Natural Farming in India 198

A New Restoration Economy in South Africa 200

Building with Nature in Indonesia 205

Restoring Planet Earth 206

8 Stubborn Optimists 209

The Future We Want 210

A Journey Forward to Nature 215

Generation Restoration from Local to Global 227

Epilogue: The Freedom to Choose 229

Taking Action 233

Notes 239

Acknowledgments 265

About the Author 267

Index 269

TIM CHRISTOPHERSEN is the Vice President of Climate Action at Salesforce. With over 25 years of international experience across the public and private sector, including 15 years with the United Nations Environment Programme, Tim has dedicated his entire career to achieving harmony between humanity and nature.

News about the future of planet Earth seem to get bleaker by the day: climate crisis, mass extinction, fires and floods. The temptation to tune it out altogether, if only to spare our mental health, grows as the headlines get worse. But this choice—ignorance or despair—is a false one. We can embrace knowledge, responsibility, and agency while actively creating a world of natural abundance.

In Generation Restoration: How to Fix Our Relationship Crisis with Mother Nature, Tim Christophersen delivers a bracing and crystal clear call-to-action for a new kind of global ecological literacy. The author explains how to reset your relationship with nature and reconsider your place in it. You’ll learn to recenter yourself as an integral part of nature, rather than as someone who exists outside of and apart from it.

Telling stories of successes and failures in our relationship with nature from around the world, and from across time, Generation Restoration opens the door to a possible new reality where humans and nature live in harmony. By restoring our degraded ‘10 Percent World’, a future of natural wealth and diversity is within reach for all of us.

In Generation Restoration, you’ll learn how to resist the impulses toward doom and despair and forge a hopeful new path that incorporates lessons from Indigenous peoples around the world—lessons that might seem self-evident upon reading but that many of us have neglected for too long.

Perfect for everyone interested in the future of the human experience, and the flourishing of life and the natural world, Generation Restoration is an inspiring, exciting, and practical discussion of our collective survival and prosperity.

Nature is waiting—it is time to come home.

PRAISE FOR GENERATION RESTORATION

“An urgent and eloquent call to rebuild our bond with nature, and reimagine a thriving future grounded in reciprocity, resilience, and respect.”
—DAME CHRISTIANA FIGUERES, Founding Partner, Global Optimism

“As this pathbreaking book shows with one inspiring case after another, nature has extraordinary resilience if we give it some room, and sometimes a nudge.”
—BILL McKIBBEN, Author of Here Comes the Sun

“Whether you’re an environmental advocate, a business leader, or simply someone who cares about the future of our planet, this book will move you to be part of the generation that helps restore our Earth’s abundance and resilience.”
—MARC BENIOFF, Chair and CEO, Salesforce

“Generation Restoration reminds us that we are part of nature, not above it. It invites us to listen to Indigenous voices, learn from their wisdom, and walk a path of true restoration. For anyone seeking to heal our relationship with Mother Earth, this book is an essential guide—one that inspires both reflection and action.”
—CONSTANTINO AUCCA CHUTAS, President of Acción Andina and Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN)

“With humility and heart, Tim invites us to imagine what’s possible when we come together to heal the world we love—and offers a vision for how we get there.”
—JENNIFER MORRIS, CEO, The Nature Conservancy