October 2017
Greening the Grey
Dear <<Name>>
Autumn has now arrived - see our monthly Nature Now diary for the local lowdown - with a temptation to retreat inside away from senescing outside world. But fear not, there's still lots of wildness and daylight to enjoy outdoors before the clocks go back at the end of the month. And more broadly, there's much more that we can do to green our environs and so keep nature close.
'Urban greening' is the call to action in this month's Bio Blog (excerpt below right), eloquently made by James Farrell of 'Brighton & Hove Building Green' - a voluntary initiative dedicated to promoting nature as an essential part of a healthy, sustainable city, by incorporating green roofs and walls in the built landscape.
See the 'WoW' section (below left) for ideas of places you can go to appreciate inspiring examples of green buildings.
A key place of interest is Madeira Drive, the location of the oldest and longest green wall in Europe! Take a look at our Spotlight piece to learn all about this incredible structure, where the human and natural worlds have been brought together.
Madeira Drive is now the focus of major seafront regeneration plans, including the current crowdfunding campaign led by the city council to secure support to kickstart the restoration of the iconic but now-derelict Victorian Terraces. Please help if you can by pledging your support (before the 30th November).
Lastly, we have an extended autumn half-term break to enjoy coming up in Brighton & Hove, so do have a look at our eco-events Calendar (summary list, left) for inspiration on what you could get up to this month. A particular highlight is the annual Lewes Light festival, where the townscape is literally transformed for the nights of the 13-15th October weekend.
Enjoy the autumnal activities!
Rich Howorth
Brighton & Lewes Downs Biosphere Partnership |
|
|
|
|
 Bio Blog
Nature for a Healthy Home
When we talk about creating safe, accessible and attractive towns and cities, we often forget one thing: Nature.
But aren’t we apart from nature, not a part of it? What does nature in cities do for us? In fact the evidence of how we depend on nature is now quite overwhelming, from improved health and community safety through to functional benefits such as cooling us in heatwaves and soaking up flood water.
Thanks to imaginative planning policies, the UK 'green roof' movement is growing at 17% annually - the fastest in Europe – and a study of Brighton & Hove city centre found 87 football pitches area of roof potential for greening.
‘Brighton & Hove Building Green’ believes that we can bring about many more of these benefits, although accepts that evidence is not enough - people change when they feel as well as think, and we need green spaces for people to interact with.
So let’s remember this key ingredient and bring nature into the very fabric of the city and into our everyday lives. After all, we may well depend on it... read full blog
|
|
|
|
