To become a Zoöp, an organisation installs a Speaker for the Living as advisor, teacher and board observer. The Speaker represents the voices and interests of other-than-human life in the operational sphere of the Zoöp, and helps translate these to organisational decisions. All living beings need: a place to live, food, security, chances at forming relations, and preferrably choices for all of the above.
The person that takes up the role of the Speaker for the Living is chosen by the Zoöp together with the Zoönomic Foundation. This foundation has only one task, as laid down in its statutes: to represent the voices and interests of other-than-human life in the operational sphere of Zoöps. Speakers for the Living receive their assigment from the Zoönomic Foundation. In this way the the independence of the Speaker within the Zoöp is secured.
The zoönomic annual cycle
With a Speaker for the Living as part of the organisation, the Zoöp commits to following the zoönomic annual cycle, through which it learns:
- in what way the organisation is part of the ecosystems it participates in;
- how to act as a healthy supportive body in these ecosystems.
The zoönomic annual cycle is a learning process. It comes down to answering five questions every year.
- Identifying: which bodies make up the Zoöp?
- Sensing & listening: What are the lifeworlds of these bodies?
- Characterising: Do these bodies form degenerative, regenerative or neutral bodies?
- Focusing: which of the degenerative* relationships should we focus on, to turn them into regenerative* ones? Which ones are most urgent? Which ones can we work on effectively with our organisation? (on its own, or in collaboration with other organisations)
- Intervening: Where, when and how should we intervene in this degenerative relationship to change it into a regenerative one?
A more extensive introduction can be found here.
The Zoöp publishes its regenerative goals, its planned interventions and their effects. The knowledge it develops on transforming its operation into a regenerative part of the enabling ecosystems is shared through the Zoönomic Knowledge platform (in development).