I undertook the task earlier this week of reviewing references for our upcoming RESTORE working group publication {Sustainability, Restorative to Regenerative}. One of those references was to Barry Commoner’s popular quote and definition on ecology, that the first law of ecology is that everything is connected. This lead me to pick up a copy and […]
Tag Archives: connecting with nature
They Paved Paradise: (How) Can Buildings Heal? … Regeneration Edition3
The third edition of the Regeneration Design Competition concluded with its conference in the wonderful setting of the Riva Del Garda Museum. “The biggest barrier to sustainable and living building is ourselves” Amanda Sturgeon Following presentations from the three Regeneration Teams, attendees from across the EU heard talks from Amanda Sturgeon (CEO International Living Futures […]
NW England: for the best of this year’s Autumn colour.
If you’re keen to catch autumn leaves at their best then this may be the best time to head out with your camera. In fact, recent research highlights that 2016 is a particularly vibrant year for autumn colours. Owing to 2016’s wet spring, followed by above-average amounts of sunshine and a mild August and September, […]
Cities setting biophilic commitments.
Pittsburgh has become the latest city to be inducted into the Biophilic City network, setting ambitions and commitments to eliminate the use of all pesticides, fungicides and herbicides, to increase the city’s tree canopy from 42 percent to 60 percent by 2030, to pursue the daylighting of streams in stormwater management efforts and to develop more greenways. To qualify […]
UK among the most nature-depleted countries in the world…
Agriculture, Urbanisation, Wetland and Forestry Management alongside Climate Change are the cause in a significant drop in the health and state of UK nature and wildlife. The State of Nature 2016 report published today describing the UK as “among the most nature-depleted countries in the world” The 2016 Report led by the RSPB and the collaborative effort […]
3 R’s for rethinking built environment sustainability
Its over ten years since rethinking construction became the driving force for improving the construction industry. Back then, in 1998, sustainability wasn’t on the agenda for many construction organisations, and didnt feature in Egans influential report. Now at the close of 2012, it is of course one of the key challenges for construction. But is it […]
Sustainability: Closing the Circle
Barry Commoner, scientist-activist, whose ability to identify and explain complex ecological crises and advocate radical solutions made him a pillar of the environmental movement, died last week. Source Commoner whose seminal 1971 book, “The Closing Circle: Man, Nature and Technology,” argued for the connectedness of humans and the natural world. Commoner was particularly known for boiling […]
on getting out, learning and sharing, unconference style
As I plan another ‘benchmarkwalk’ for tomorrow in the English Lake District, I realise I haven’t described my benchmarkwalks approach here on the blog. In some ways I now realise this approach is very much like an outdoor unconference – delegates choose the themes for discussion and, rather than standing in a lecture hall, or […]
chicken in the blasket roof
From a non-conference on virtual worlds in Limerick – to the experience of reconnecting with nature, wildness and remoteness at the edge of Europe … Last week I had the privilege of once again spending time on the Great Blasket Island, off the Dingle peninsular, Co Kerry Ireland. This is always a highlight of our […]
