Surfing Sandwiches

Life's pretty busy at the moment, and not without excitement. It's too easy though, to forget to play. Last week I was talking to a couple of friends who are senior folk in the world of sustainable change - one's a Prof at a leading Universtity and the other a UK Environmental Director for an international business. Neither had taken holiday this year.

For too many weeks I've been early to rise and late to bed, writing programme bids, proposals and emails to get government and business to step up to the challenge of real change. I've not been playing much either, so it was a delight, a relief, and a great energiser to go for a surf yesterday lunchtime for a couple of hours. Half a dozen friends were at Whitesands too, taking a break from work. It was warm and sunny; add 4' waves, and Wednesdays don't get much better.

I'll be doing it more often. Lunch breaks are good.

Biomimicry and Waste

I posted a blog reply on 2degrees about how to look at waste differently. It occcurs to me it's worth thinking about more:

Biomimicry can provide a useful lens for thinking about waste. Nature has been creating life on earth for around 3.4bn years and has done so for the whole of the time without creating any waste that is toxic or un-needed at a system level - waste from one organism is always nutrition for another.

Nature has cleverly been doing this high performance, zero waste growing using a only dozen or so atoms from the periodic table. When Homo Sapiens discovered the power of fire, we started a process of working out how to use all of the other atoms - everything in the periodic table gets used for something that we make - and it's from these non-naturally occurring root stocks that we've created much of the waste that is now an issue.

Cradle to Cradle Design is one of the most useful frameworks for detailed consideration of waste as nutrient, and is area for profitable consideration by all businesses who process materials. It has never made much sense to 'throw away' stuff that's taken a lot of energy, money and materials to make.

Go Wales

We ran the follow up session to Hay on Earth a couple of weeks back, and as part of the re-gathering, collected thoughts from the 20 or so participants about what's been happening in Wales in the six months since Hay. Quite a lot, it would appear.

• 2011 commitment to zero carbon residential housing is a whole lot closer
• There's a National Energy Savings consultation going on
• Wales' 3% CO2 reduction target, in areas of develoved competence, will be linked to the UK Govt's Climate Committee targets in December
• WAG are playing their part in developing the European Community Renewables strategy
• There's a new ad campaign and media work on climate change
• Wales' new SD scheme, One Wales, One Planet,  is out to consultation, with ace facilitator Steve Bather at the controls of the public feedback process.
• There's also consultation on a 70% waste recycling target, and commitment to kerbside waste food collection
• Wales' new Green Jobs Strategy is also out to consultation
• There's also a consultation (you could spend half a lifetime reading these) on Axis 2 of the Rural Development Plan for Wales
• The Sustainable Travel Towns initiative is developing in Wales, to 'rethink the disposition of towns'
• Friends of the Earth's Low Carbon Communities is alive and well, with CO2 reduction targets of 40% by 2020
• WWF's are continuing their excellent work on One Planet Wales, with further projects on food, transport and homes.
• There's a new UNDP cooperation programme between Wales and Uganda
• The Convergence-funded Business Dragons programme is taking shape (with a big need to refocus on real targets and energy security)
• There will be a big Welsh sustainability presence at the Smithsonian Institute's annual Folk Fair in Washington DC in June / July next year. TYF will be present to talk through the adventures of sustainability
• The Hay Festival team are starting to organise a UNESCO sustainability festival for 180 countries, due to take place in September 09
• The Wales Transition Network is flourishing with new communities signing up monthly
• There are strong sustainability appraisals in some of the new LDPs, particularly in SE Wales
• Lastly, there's discussion about whether Wales becomes a UN Regional Centre of Expertise on SD

Phew.

1% for the Planet

It's always good to spend time making plans with people going on the same journey as you. I had the pleasure of doing so a couple of days back with Terry Kellogg and Kate Mitchell from 1% for the Planet, 'a growing alliance of 1036 businesses who donate 1% of their sales to environmental charities.

TYF has been members of 1% for the last three years, and it's been the best business decision I've ever made. We've used the funding to enable a climate change website for schools, and more recently, to fund the workshops at Hay on Earth, which have had a profound impact.

We're talking to the folks at the main Hay Festival about running a 1% for the Planet workshop for new and prospective members to get together and plan big, good change.

Giving away 1% of revenue is a serious commitment, but then, if you run a serious business, why not prove it?

Biomimicry

Schumacher College is one of the most unique and effective educational institutions in the land, in large part because the content of it's programmes are relevant, current and inspiring, and also because every single person who works at the College, be they teaching staff, kitchen wonders or office staff, totally understand what the College is trying to achieve, why it's important, and what difference their contribution can make. Every person is there to make a difference, and whether it's the musings of Director Satish Kumar that inspire, or the wonderful energy that Wayne Schroeder serves with the meals that he and his team of particpant-chefs create, the evidence abounds that an integrated approach to education has much to offer the mind and body.

As part of their series of short courses, I had the pleasure of teaching at the College recently with Michael Pawlyn (Exploration), Professor Julian Vincent (Bath Uni) and Graham Dodd (Arup) on a week-long biomimicry programme; participants from around 10 countries provided a valuable extra dimension. Elements of the programme that stood out were:

Seawater Greenhouse project - Michael Pawlyn's elegant descrition of this impressive collaboration with Charlie Paton was an inspiration - and provided clear evidence that not all of the technologies that are needed to make a difference to sustainability and climate change need complex man-made technology. The original inspiration for the project comes in part from the humble Namibian Fog Basking Dune Beetle  which collects droplets of water from the air.

Strength and structure - Julian Vincent provided clear and powerful examples of the way that the strength of shells such as the abalone is created by simple yet effective use of combination structures of mineral and organic matter, as described in this article on treehugger . Julian showed how hierarchy (of materials) in nature is used to create strength; it struck me how hierarchy in organisations seems to create weakness - perhaps because the connections between the layers are improperly formed, relying purely on 'structural' rather than 'organic' bonds.

TRIZ - Julian Vincent also took students through this deceptively simple yet powerful problem solving framework. First developed in Russia, it has the capability to help people concentrate on the real issues rather than the symptoms

Biomimicry in organisations was my main focus, along with a session on 'levers for change'. In particular, I have been interested in the way that workplaces so rarely echo the proven dynamics of healthy relationships that have developed in nature ove the last 3.4bn years. Focus on 'partnership' seems to squeeze out opportunity for relationship, managers and leaders forget to 'build from the ground up' and 'shop local' and miss out on opportunities to engage the hearts and minds of their employees using the same principles that are used to create healthy ecosystems.

In January, I am likely to be working with Michael Pawlyn and Julian Vincent to deliver a biomimcry workshop for a leading architect practice in Copenhagen, and in June, will be back at Schumacher College with Dayna Baumeister and Michael P; for information on this programme, please contact the college directly.

Peter Head, Director of Sustainability at Arup, said of Schumacher College:My experience at Schumacher College was really challenging and inspiring. It helped me become more deeply rooted in my commitment to developing sustainable cities. I recommend professionals spend time at Schumacher College as I know it is a place where future leaders are developed .