This is an interview with Eleanor Cunningham who opened the Edinburgh Larder in 2009. In search for sustainable and ethical businesses, coming across Edinburgh Larder was a surprise. Combining locally collected and seasonal produce in recipes which reflect the flavours and tastes of Scotland, she has demonstrated that highly successful business is viable through sustainable practices. Read more…
I was recently invited to sit in on a meeting of the Community of Practice at University of Manchester which is thinking through how to embed Sustainability across the curriculum. This area of thinking and study is massively relevant as it connects with each and every human and living thing on the planet. How we move into greater synergy with our environment and life supporting bio-systems is an emerging field which is complex and multi-disciplinary.
Plants play a critical role in maintaining life on this planet. They sit at the base of the trophic pyramid, providing food all the way up the chain to humans at the top. They provide services such as climate regulation and flood defence. They contribute to soil formation and nutrient cycling, and they provide us with shelter, medicines and fuel.
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This is a podcast of when Susan Brown discussed the complexities of sustainability education at the Ragged University event in Manchester. Here she draws the audience into discussion about the many things which are important to acknowledge and think about in approaching the global problems we face today. Read more…
Humanity at present is like lemmings preening there fur coats before going over the cliff, but we are taking many other species with us. David Attenborough has stated that he can think of no environmental problem that would be easier to solve with fewer people. The difference we can make is the difference between 8 billion and 10 billion but we can only do this by facing up to the problem and braking the taboo of talking about it. We do not need coercion, set limits or eugenics but we do need to talk. Read more…
Have you ever read the Kama Sutra? I have and I recommend it. It is not as most people think a sex manual. It is a guide to right livelihood (‘Dharma’). Much as Shakespeare’s seven ages of man:
All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players. Read more…
Biodiversity is very dry word and can be quite intimidating to many people. The outgoing Chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Government agency responsible for the environment, reputedly claimed it was not a word in his lexicon…Yet primary school children seemed able to get a good grasp of what it means. It is a vitally important topic and it is essential that people understand why. There can be no economy, no social fabric, indeed no life for humans at all without it.
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