While I’m still in the messy depths of writing up my Nuffield Farming Scholarship report, I was recently asked to share an Executive Summary to go with the programme of the Annual Conference, taking place on 14-16 November 2023. So while there may still be further refinements, I’m also posting this here. The title of… Continue reading My Nuffield Scholarship: A Summary
Category: Environment
Flying Cloud Farm
This is the first of several case studies to be published, which accompany my Nuffield Farming Scholarship journey and report. Flying Cloud Farm near Asheville, North Carolina, produces organically grown vegetables, fruits, and flowers. Produce is sold from a roadside stand, local farmers’ market and a weekly CSA scheme. On a warm August afternoon, I… Continue reading Flying Cloud Farm
A Day In The Life…
I was asked by a work colleague to write a “day in the life” blog post for our website, which I thought I’d post here too: I’m the General Manager at the Farm Carbon Toolkit (FCT), a role that oversees our operations. This includes finances, human resources, and communications – and working to make sure… Continue reading A Day In The Life…
Rebuilding the food system: who do we engage with for a just transition?
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” ― Buckminster Fuller This alluring quote from the American inventor and visionary Buckminster Fuller has sat uneasy with me in recent years. In 2017, I went from managing a progressive, community-owned food enterprise… Continue reading Rebuilding the food system: who do we engage with for a just transition?
While living through unprecedented losses of wildlife, Knepp offers us hope
This piece also appears on Ecohustler right here. The announcement of newborn Royalty this week quickly displaced a stark headline that reminded us about the unprecedented destruction of wildlife happening today. The latest global assessment, the most comprehensive to date, found that one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction within decades. Inextricably… Continue reading While living through unprecedented losses of wildlife, Knepp offers us hope
Mindsets for changing systems
Many of the global challenges we face are highly complex and intractable. They can often feel daunting, frustrating and require mountains of patience to work on. The practice of systems thinking offers a way to understand and start tackling these challenges. Some academics talk about the most difficult challenges as being “super wicked” problems because: The… Continue reading Mindsets for changing systems
How It Ends: Another Incomplete Timeline Of Events
Okay, this piece might be a bit gloomy for some, but writing it was strangely therapeutic. It’s inspired and provoked by Debbie Urbanski’s An Incomplete Timeline of What We Tried. A rough timeline of notable moments, told from the future, in reverse order. Here we go: Small pockets of human settlements endure on, connected via… Continue reading How It Ends: Another Incomplete Timeline Of Events
Christmas reflections, preparing for 2019
My new year resolutions often include an ambition to write more. This year, I’m keen to write shorter, more regular reflections on what I’m learning. Even if they are rough and perhaps unresolved thoughts. My current work and colleagues at Forum for the Future provide me with so much interesting sustainability fodder that I’ve been… Continue reading Christmas reflections, preparing for 2019
Leaving BedZED
A version of this blog post appears here on Bioregional’s website. On a crisp, early morning a few weeks ago, I took a final stroll around BedZED, my home for the last four years. I’m excited to be moving to the Dorset coast. Yet there are many things I’ll miss about living here and it’s… Continue reading Leaving BedZED
How to prepare for life in a hothouse
In abandoning hope that one way of life will continue, we open up a space for alternative hopes. Tommy Lynch (2017). The week started with a bit of a downer. While we were sweating through the peaks of this summer’s heatwave, several articles about climate change were doing the rounds. Nathaniel Rich’s captivating novella “The Decade… Continue reading How to prepare for life in a hothouse
Hackbridge Ecology Park
Over the last few years I’ve been working with my neighbours in Hackbridge to try and establish a 25 hectare ecology park on some disused fields, opposite to where I live at BedZED. The park will help connect people to Beddington Farmlands (a 400 acre nature reserve) and the wider green corridor of the Wandle Valley Regional… Continue reading Hackbridge Ecology Park
Is it right to put a price on nature?
I’ve just spent a week trekking along Wainwright’s coast-to-coast route, walking the first section from St Bees to Penrith. The walk took us across the vast and stunning landscape of the Lake District, as described in Wordsworth’s poem ‘Daffodils’: I wander’d lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at… Continue reading Is it right to put a price on nature?
Getting to grips with a “super wicked” problem: the future of food and farming
“Nothing less is required than a redesign of the whole food system to bring sustainability to the fore”. Foresight: The Future of Food and Farming, 2011 The abundance of food lining our supermarket shelves and providing millions of people with an affordable and reliable food source is a small modern-day miracle. However beyond the glistening… Continue reading Getting to grips with a “super wicked” problem: the future of food and farming
It’s worth it.
We are making incredible discoveries from observing nature every day. Just recently, scientists recorded two dolphins having a conversation for the first time. That’s mindblowing. For all the inspiration and love we feel for our fellow inhabitants, the 2016 ‘State of Nature’ report published today tells us the tragedy that 1 in 10 UK wildlife species faces… Continue reading It’s worth it.
When the Arctic melts
Will there be no ice at the north pole by the end of this summer? I have a friend who believes this is the year it will happen. Looking at the data and taking into account positive feedback loops, it’s certainly possible. Whether or not it happens this year, when it does happen, the moment… Continue reading When the Arctic melts
Finding hope and optimism in a stressed world
We live on a planet under great stresses. Collectively, we are struggling to look after each other and the natural world we depend upon. Many of the environmental and social trends suggest we’re in for a tough time ahead. For many of us, we live with an uncomfortable gap between our everyday actions, and the actions required of… Continue reading Finding hope and optimism in a stressed world