2020 VISION With Arc & Artecology
By Nige. Director Artecology. Views my own!
Calamity Chain
It appears that we are now witnessing the devastating reality of biodiversity collapse and climate breakdown. So, we must now come to terms with the fact that the delicate natural balance of our home planet IS compromised. There I said it! Across the world, mainstream TV and social media networks push-feed a calamitous chain of environmental events directly in to our homes via billions of electronic windows. The view is grim, images of storm torn human settlements are becoming normal. Stories of displaced communities and families made homeless, not by military warfare this time but instead by natural systems going horribly wrong, fill our screens and minds constantly. Every day it plays out in real time and it seems as though all we can do is sit on our sofas and gawp at the god awful news and pictures that our mobile devices and TV’s spew forth at us.
For those of us not yet standing in the actual line of fire or up to our knees in hurricane assisted rising tides there is another insidious force creeping up on us from the unfolding eco-catastrophe. Climate breakdown and its ugly sibling biodiversity loss are taking a toll on the hearts and minds of more and more human beings who feel all they can do is look on helplessly as their home planet thaws and burns around them. This year the U.K. health service will see record numbers of people suffering from ‘ecoanxiety’, a stress disorder that the American Psychological Association defines as - ‘a chronic fear of environmental doom’. And it’s not just happening here in the U.K. For millions of people across the planet the fear of environmental collapse is all too real. It seems the depressing outlook is already affecting the way people are making important life decisions about where best to live and work and whether or not to bring children into an uncertain world. Climate breakdown and the destruction of the natural world are embedding in the human psyche like no other existential threat has before.....and if you think about it, so it should because based on all the evidence this is an entirely rational fear for to have.
The Groundswell Reaction
In response to the global crisis, people across the planet are redirecting their fears into collective efforts of eco-activism with the hope and intention of pushing forward the changes needed to secure a sustainable future for our species and our planet. Children are striking, extinction rebellions are happening, protest walks for wildlife are popular and a myriad of people powered actions all point to a groundswell of public environmental awareness. Marches and gatherings are spontaneously springing to life across the globe and all are demanding one thing - change. However set alongside this surge of activism is a growing sense of deep hopelessness coming from many who see no meaningful change happening at a political leadership level. As Greta Thunberg said recently “we are being listened to now but still we are seeing no action”. And so a feeling of powerlessness and angst grows among the masses and is made worse by a growing sense of frustration coming from the political inaction. In their list of predictions for 2020 NESTA has said that as the ecoanxiety contagion spreads among society, health services will be inundated with people literally sick with worry. They believe that this year could see doctors prescribing eco-ativism and so called ‘nature based interventions’ as remedies to depression and illness stemming from worries about the planet. Environmental activism and a regular dose of the natural world may be dished out on prescription it seems, imagine that! As a significant footnote to this, interestingly (in a ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ sort of way) NESTA see this predicted workload pressure on U.K. health services as a potential driver for actual governmental policy change on climate and biodiversity loss.
2020 VISION With Arc & Artecology
Over the holiday a surprising number of friends and family have expressed to me their own worries about the state of the planet. Knowing that I work on environmental projects they have asked me what I think about it, how I feel, should they be concerned etc. I think they ask me this stuff in case I have some insider knowledge about what’s going on. So I just say that whilst I am concerned about the futures of my children I don’t yet feel helpless to do something about it. I tell them that I count myself extremely lucky that my working day consists of me and a handful of friends devising and implementing new ways to make the world a better, more ecologically functional and therefore more livable place. You see it’s literally my job to believe it’s not too late for change and that we at Artecology and Arc can make it happen by design. Is that delusional?…..maybe, I do also sometimes skip to work you know!
I work for Arc and Artecology two emerging, and now merging, small businesses run by a bunch of exceptionally talented folks who are brimming over with ideas, skills, knowledge and experience all applied to the combined fields of social and natural capital generation. And here’s the thing, during 2019 something interesting happened. The environmental and community projects our team work on gathered considerable interest from the corporate sector and as result, as well as commissions, offers of investment followed. But it’s not just the brilliant cross-discipline expertise of my mates or the opportunity to grow our organisation that has me walking to work with a spring in my step these days, it’s also the tangible sense of hope emanating from our office and studio situated in Sandown Bay, which itself nestles in a corner of the Isle of Wight UN Biosphere Reserve. This hope coming from such clever folks is far from delusional. Assuming all goes to plan, 2020 will see the small businesses that are Arc & Artecology become one new company where our innovative brand of realistic applied ecology/sociology (sprinkled with hope) will be magnified by an ability to scale up our practice and reach. Our new mission is pretty straightforward, to expand our R&D and to take what we already know works to people and wildlife across the planet. 2019 was interesting for us because our preparations for the merger and investment process have helped us to crystallise our mission so that the way forward has fallen into sharp focus, not just for our potential investors but for us too. Crystal clear 20/20 vision is what we’re all about for the decade ahead!
The even better news is that it’s not just Arc and Artecology preparing to go large, environmental and social organisations/academic research projects across the globe are scaling up and expanding their operations in response to a growing international demand for action on climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse. For me it’s really interesting that where those with political power appear to be failing to properly act on the gigantic world problems we face, a growing number of company investors and shareholders seem to be leaning ever harder on CEOs to do more for the environment as part of corporate strategy. If this continues I imagine politicians will inevitably follow suit no matter what their political affiliations or personal beliefs.
So this year my 2020 eagle eyed vision is looking out for a pattern that I think is already shaping up and just might suggest mainstream corporate strategy is in some places changing for the better. Two things could be at work that are causing this to happen - 1. The way us ordinary folks are using our money by making informed and ethical spending decisions, and 2. - The reality that many company shareholders and investors are likely to be as terrified as the rest of us about the future of our planetary home….they’re people with families too right?
If I’m right about any of this and shareholders and investors do become increasingly environmentally savvy and start demanding environmental gains as well as financial ones then maybe it’s possible that sustainable corporate activity will join forces with the current social movement to create a critical mass of eco-activism. If that were to happen governments would have no choice but to follow suit because as we know money talks and when it does politicians tend to listen.
So, this year whilst we’re out protesting on the streets I think we’d do well to keep at least one eye on any meaningful shifts in strategy coming from big business, and what’s more if we see it happening we should support it by making a ton of positive noise about it. Who knows if any of this comes to pass we might all be heading off to work with a hopeful spring in our step coupled to a new peace of mind from the knowledge that positive change is actually happening.
Anyway, watch this space….changes are afoot!