This is issue number 2 in our series ‘The Alphabet of Climate Solutions’. Join our learning journey this month and contribute to our community Notion document here. We wrap up last month’s learnings at the bottom of this post.
Where did all the bugs go?
When I was 5 years old my parents decided to buy a house in the countryside in the south of Austria. That way we could spend our summer holidays away from the city and close to my dad’s family. It was a big house, over 100 years old and with a huge overgrown garden. A meadow dotted with wildflowers, bees and bugs buzzing around and wild ivy that had taken over the back of the house. It was enchanted. Or at least that’s what I thought when I saw it for the first time. When you pulled back the grass along the concrete wall you could expose hundreds of little frogs that had been seeking refuge from the blistering sun. My mum had an old VW Polo with a tiny little sun roof that me and my brother loved sticking our arms out of while she was driving. And what I remember most vividly after having driven back home from the nearby swimming lake were the countless bugs in my mum's car headlights when we were going back in the dark. The next morning my little brother and I would squat in front of the car examining the number plate with all its little insect victims on it. I know this sounds weird but as a kid that is something really interesting. We tried to identify the different types of bugs that got squashed, and counted them. Most of the time they were in the hundreds and we lost track. As we grew older and found more interesting things to do than counting dead insects on a number plate, I did notice that every year there were less and less. And when my dad said that the birds are dying in our area because there wasn't enough for them to eat, it was the first time I made the connection.
B is for Biodiversity
What is biodiversity? The good old internet says ‘Biodiversity is the number and variety of life on earth so yes, that includes plants, animals, insects, fungi, bacteria, people – every living being.’ For the entire month of April we’ll be looking at how biodiversity or a lack thereof affects life on earth and contributes to the climate crisis. As well as what we can do about it. We have lots planned this month and like last time you will be able to add your contributions to our community Notion document where we gather all of our resources and learnings on the topic.
To kick off the topic we’d invite you to reflect on the following questions:
What's your earliest and/or most profound memory with nature?
Did you feel connected to nature? If so when was the last time you realised it?
Do you have a bug story?
Have you noticed first hand how the natural world is changing? If so, how has it impacted you?
Share your story with us
When we were writing this newsletter we both got inspired by each other’s early memories of our bond to nature and how we discovered it. You read Lisa’s at the beginning of this post and below you can read Tash’s. We’d love for you to share yours as well! Comment on this post and we will feature the best stories on our social media 🌾
For as long as I can remember, I've been visiting my grandparents' farm in the south of England. As children, we built dens in the woods and listened to my granny talk about the primroses, other wild flowers and the Purple Emperor butterflies that the woods next to the farm were famous for. She instilled in me a love of nature while trying to keep a functioning farm going. Last weekend, I was at the farm again and saw a Yellowhammer bird in a hedgerow. It's an arable farm and I help to manage it now. In the last two years, we have brought a Countryside Stewardship scheme onto the farm, where we've put aside some areas of the land to be friendly to wild birds and other areas to bring wild plants in, which in turn will attract insects. Also, the hedgerows aren't as strictly managed any more and it's early days but I'd like to think that yellowhammer was a hopeful sight and a sign of things to come. The farm has lots of woodland as neighbours. One side is managed for timber and Christmas trees and the other is run by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and is a SSSI (see our open Notion document). Purple Emperors are rare still but I hope that'll change. Two ponds have been dug recently, partly to attract Great Crested Newts. They run conservation days once a month and I've pledged to join them this summer and perhaps beyond. There is another woodland SSSI very nearby so while it might not be the Knepp Estate (yet) I feel I'm perfectly placed to make a difference. And I will.
Join our IG Live chatting to Tatiana Rubiano about the world of fungi
Since we read ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’ we got excited about the world of fungi and how these amazing organisms (did you know they are neither plants nor animals?) play a crucial role in healthy ecosystems. Their amazing properties can be harnessed for a vast majority of things. From growing fungi into furniture and design pieces to healing trauma, fungi are powerhouses that have been around longer than humans have. We will be diving deep into the topic of fungi with sustainability enthusiast Tatiana Rubiano. Please note: The date for this event will be announced via our Instagram.
About Tatiana: Colombian living in Estonia. After studying anthropology and economics she went on to venture into the world of design and sustainability. Currently super excited about material design and starting to become obsessed with fungi. She recently completed an internship with Cara Cara Collective in Helsinki, a studio that turns biowaste into art and design pieces.
Learn about Extraordinary Insects in this month’s bookclub
Our sustainability book club is also dedicated to our new alphabet format and for this month we will be reading ‘Extraordinary Insects, by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson.
About the book: Insects influence our ecosystems like a ripple effect on water. They arrived when life first moved to dry land, they preceded - and survived - the dinosaurs, they outnumber the grains of sand on all the world's beaches, and they will be here long after us. In this book, we will discover life and death, drama and dreams, all on a millimetric scale. Like it or not, Earth is the planet of insects, and this is their extraordinary story.
Reflecting on last month’s topic: Activism
Last month felt heavy for a lot of us. Without going into what has been all over the news in the past few weeks we just wanted to add a few lines and thoughts on activism. Now is a more important time than ever to take action and stand up for our rights, values and what we care about. We need people who want to make an impact. Big or small. And how you make that impact is up to you. We aren’t here to tell anyone how to make the impact they would like to see but we hope that last month and especially our bookclub read ‘Be the change’ by Gina Martin inspired you to take action. We certainly felt called to keep doing what we’re doing and hope that And The Future? provides a space for all of you to get inspired, empowered and activated.
Our main take aways from last month were:
Activism isn't just about protesting and marching the streets. Activism is about acting, about DOING. It's about taking a topic close to your heart, raising awareness and advocating for change.
Activism can be any action, big or small, that we do consistently, that contributes to positive change. The key here is consistency.
Gina Martin is Tash’s new favourite author. “I love her story, how she writes and how she makes activism accessible to even closet activists like me. (Side note, me calling myself a closet activist is a huge step forward: not long ago, I wouldn't have called myself an activist at all)”
Self education is the most important thing you can do to challenge society.
Activism requires a lot of strategic behind the scenes work and thinking.
Denouncing 'clicktivism' and 'armchair activists/online activists' is counter productive. We can't know how much impact a simple click, like or share can have. Despite that, being able to protest, march in the streets, campaign and push for change is a privilege not everyone has.
Effective activism consist of the three A's: Awareness, Advocacy and Action.
Us 'regular people' have a propensity to get angry about stuff and then demand someone else solve it, but as an activist that is your job. (Quote from Be the Change, p.270)
'No one becomes a better activist by refusing to work with someone because they think differently. (Quote from Be the Change, p.273)
If you want to dive deeper into the subject you can check out all the articles, essays, podcasts and more in our community sourced Notion document.
Want to make more time for action?
You care about the planet, people and taking action for positive impact, but you find it hard to make time for it and/or don’t know where to start? This is why we started Future Hour. It’s an hour where we meet up online every Friday lunchtime (1pm BST) to work on that project/campaign/<insert what applies to you> that we haven't found the time in the week to do. You can read more about it here.
And that’s a wrap! But actually this is only the beginning. You can follow our deep dive into biodiversity on our social media channels: Instagram and Linkedin. If you have any questions please add a comment to this post, DM us on Instagram or send us an email to hello@andthefuture.com
Lisa & Tash ✨
A huge thank you goes out to last month’s contributors to our Notion document Sandra and Christina! 💚