Arc, our parent company is changing with the times, and with it so is Artecology. Since we first started our journey across the world of constructed habitats for wildlife a decade ago, we’ve had a nagging worry about what we do here. For us this concern has never been far away, and in fact since the news broke recently that the UK Government is to make Biodiversity Net Gain a mandatory requirement on all new civil infrastructure and building projects our worries have become amplified!
Surely Biodiversity Net Gain is a great stride forward, so what are we worried about you ask?
It’s always been a concern for us that the constructed habitats we invent, design, prototype, test and sell could be used as an aid for greenwashing. We know the systems we sell work well for wildlife but that doesn’t mean they can’t ever be used for the wrong reasons. If the things we make at Artecology should ever become mere Net Gain box ticking devices then we will have failed in our quest to ‘shape better places for people and wildlife’.
So how can we try to ensure our products aren’t used for tickbox expediency/green washing?
At Artecology we think there are a number of ways that we can guard against this -
1. Think about, and market the things we make less as ‘products’ and more as ‘solutions’.
2. Do not mass produce any of the constructed habitats we make.
3. Make sure every habitat that leaves our studio is design specifically for the bespoke setting it is intended for. Think solutions not products.
4. Don’t be manufacturers in the typical sense. Use hand making techniques to deliver the best possible gains for wildlife and people, and create habitats for each site we’re pointed at solving one problem at a time.
5. Engage with stakeholders. Wherever possible make sure at least one of the following services is included with every constructed habitat intervention we make - Citizen science, education projects, community outreach and stakeholder engagement. This is the definition of real net gain.
6. Operate as a registered Not For Profit organisation. Make designs ‘open source’ wherever possible.