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Enterprise means ‘undertaking’, having initiative. In Tertulia we want to be active as people, starting with the regeneration and recovery of this hamlet that was abandoned for 30 years before we came here. But it is even more important for us to do ‘ethical’ business, that is, always asking ourselves whether or not what we are doing is in line with ethical principles and what we can do to improve on them. This means that our choices are not guided by the sole idea of maximising economic profit, but we care about more than one aspect at the same time and we want all of them to be enhanced by our ‘doing business’.
We recommend reading the text by Ethan Roland and Gregory Landua called ‘Regenerative Enterprise‘. It invites us to design our enterprises to regenerate 8 forms of capital at the same time, and not to continuously extract from one or more forms to accumulate only material and financial capital (e.g. you can accumulate a lot of money by extracting all the biological capital of a field, but if you don’t take care to regenerate it soon you won’t be able to accumulate financial capital either – and money can’t be eaten). The 8 forms of capital are: social, intellectual, biological, spiritual, experiential, financial, material and cultural…
Definition of sustainability: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (Brundtland report 1987 UN)
For us, sustainability has many faces: environmental, economic (supporting virtuous lifestyles, not indefinite growth…), social, of the person. Today, perhaps it is no longer enough to be sustainable but to have a positive impact (regenerate). These are the ethics of permaculture, which give us a clear direction of what to do.
We believe that caring for our planet and its living inhabitants is one of the values that should guide our choices and actions, even in simple things, in everyday actions when we can take care and adopt sustainable behaviour.
Caring for oneself and for others is a priority for us, that essential ingredient for the harmony we so enjoy at Tertulia. Personal care is also solidarity and hospitality, but not only that…
We cannot help but seek social justice, equity, cooperation. A little for everyone, always, is a slogan we like. We want to be part of an ecosystem, a living system, made of encounters, networks, exchange.
To strive for serenity I need to see harmony to find harmony I need to see peaceful faces
when I encounter troubled eyes I wonder what I can do.
Sharing bits of life is a good way to find solutions where someone feels lacks. It is necessary to make some space. It is necessary to be strong when in this space you have the sensation of trampling, keeping this presence while listening opens up possibilities where at times you saw just a few.
Taking care is first of all offering active listening and constancy; to cure is subsequently to trust and, by having concrete experiences, to build together new images for the future; maintaining a caring relationship is believing in the gestures and dreams of those who take their path, without losing contact with them.
The intensity of this exchange moves us and makes us new every today and every tomorrow.
Giorgia
