LIVING BEAUTIFULLY
Living Beautifully by beautiful.business is a regular newsletter to share and inspire a different way of looking at the world. What would our world look like were we all to make it a little more beautiful?
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01. Beautiful Conversations
In honour of the recent Earth Day let's celebrate our fragile planet with this compelling film, Earthrise.
The iconic images of Earth, taken in 1968 by the astronauts of Apollo 8, had a powerful impact on the astronauts themselves and the world.
Earthrise explores the beauty, awe, and grandeur of the Earth and captures the voices of the Apollo 8 astronauts recounting their experiences and memories.
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This is a joyful conversation – Jony Wilkinson, I AM podcast – with Sadhguru, a yogi mystic from Southern India, who many refer to as an enlightened being.
Sadhguru was in London to share the message of his latest and arguably most pressing campaign “ The Conscious Planet save soil movement.”
Go for a walk and listen. I highly recommend you do so.
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This is a wonderful conversation – Krista Tippett, On Being podcast – with David Whyte, poet and philosopher who believes in the power of a “beautiful question” amid the drama of work as well as the drama of life and the ways the two overlap. He is also interested in the underlying meaning of everyday words.
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02. Beautifully Made
ZWD aka Zero Waste Daniel: is a New York based clothing designer and zero-waste lifestyle pioneer who uses pre-consumer waste sourced from New York City’s garment industry, as well as other hard-to-recycle materials, to create his line of genderless clothing and accessories that send nothing to landfills.
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Reyner Banham was an English architectural critic and writer best known for his theoretical treatise Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, and for his 1971 book Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies.
Read this brief insight to the man and a piece of his writing about crash test dummies - Prevento Mori.
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Elaine Yan Ling Ng is a Hong Kong-based designer and innovator. Most recently, she has been working with design brand, Nature Squared, on CArrelé, a range of tiles made from waste, or to be more precise, eggshells. Listen in.
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“The word artist is a little funky … I would self-describe as a guy who makes stuff.”
Azikiwe Mohammed embraces the modest, the eclectic, and above all the helpful. Mohammed works in a range of mediums and skill sets from painting to puppets to furniture to tapestries, informed by the unpretentious aesthetics of the Black homes and spaces he traverses.
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The uncertain future of skiing in Scotland has inspired Jamie Kunka to make sustainable skis out of wood. Based in his cabin in the Scottish Highlands, Jamie is the last ski maker in Scotland.
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03. Beautifully Restorative
The charity EarthPercent is providing a simple way for the music industry to support the most impactful organisations addressing climate change.
Also see A Greener Festival.
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Back in 2008 (yes, really) the community owned island of Eigg, a remote Scottish island, made change happen. They built the world's first standalone energy grid powered by the wind, sun and the island's streams.
Imagine, if more communities worked together to build their own energy grids!
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When Arabs and Berbers colonised Spain early in the eighth century, they brought techniques in water conservation acquired over centuries in the Middle East.
“The Islamic agricultural revolution was the first green revolution. They brought together techniques and knowledge about water, soil, plants and also how snow behaves,” says José María Martín Civantos, an archaeology professor at the University of Granada and the driving force behind the MemoLab Project.
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In 1991, arborist David Milarch had a near-death experience that inspired a personal quest to reforest our planet. He would harvest the genetics of the world’s oldest trees, initiate tree-planting efforts to combat climate change, and help restore the planet’s health. Remarkably, he has been doing just that.
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My advice, create a wildflower meadow, it's like making a charitable donation to nature — you’ve done something amazing for biodiversity.
Horticulture Rising, a podcast dedicated to finding the "human in horticulture", hosted by Brandon George, explores the work of Nigel Dunnett; Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunter; landscape architects Grant Associates; James Hewetson-Brown, specialists in wildflower turf; and Joshua Sparkes, in which he makes an important point about children being taught the importance of biodiversity from an early age.
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04. Beautifully Built
Margent Farm in the Cambridgeshire Fens grows hemp and have built the farmhouse and a studio from their hemp, designed by Paloma Gormley of Practice Architecture.
Read about Margent Farm in Architects Journal.
Read more about Paloma Gormley of Practice Architecture and Material Cultures who are inspiring new architectural uses and pushing awareness of what can be achieved with sustainable bio-based materials in RIBA Journal.
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Architects Declare, which many practices have signed up to, regenerative design feels part of the missing puzzle about construction and climate change.
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05. Beautiful Reads
Design Emergency – Alice Rawsthorn, Paola Antonelli
I believe that many designers are motivated by a desire to bring good into the world, regenerating our world, economies, societies.
A collaboration between design critic Alice Hawthorne and MoMA design curator Paola Antonelli began as an Instagram Live series during the pandemic. Aimed to highlight the importance, versatility and pragmatic imagination of design and to explore a process that will also address the climate emergency, refugee crisis, soaring inequality, abuses of technology and other major challenges.
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I have been reflecting deeply on philosophy this past month. In part because I am designing a new programme, but also as I have been so inspired by the book Metaphysical Animals, featured in the previous issue of this newsletter.
Phillipa Foot and Mary Midgley were two of four women philosophers who were credited with developing an alternative picture of human beings and their place in the world.
Is goodness natural? Philippa Foot Aeon Magazine.
The ethicist who insisted that humans are inherently interconnected. Mary Midgley once argued that philosophy is, among other things, like plumbing. Times Literary Supplement.
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The Wild God of the World: An Anthology of Robinson Jeffers
“One may contribute (ever so slightly) to the beauty of things by making one’s own life and environment beautiful, so far as one’s power reaches. This includes moral beauty.”
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06. Beautiful Food
I want to celebrate World Central Kitchen who have been highly active in the Ukraine, right from the beginning of the invasion. #ChefsForUkraine makes and delivers close to 300,000 daily meals, expanding relief efforts in Ukraine.
WCK founder, and Michelin star chef, Jose Andres. an example of the very best of who we are as a humanity, a Beautiful Business, doing something truly beautiful – listed in the appendix of Do Build.
We need a world built on the values of generosity, compassion, and cooperation.
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Dan Saladino is a journalist and presenter of the weekly Food Programme on BBC Radio 4 where he’s been reporting on food and agriculture for the past 15 years. It’s a great career for someone who loves food and culture – and it has shown him how important – and precarious diversity is.
Read about why the loss of diversity in our foods matters and his book Eating to Extinction.
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It all started with rumours of an 800-meter underground organism hidden under the streets of Cambridge and a plate of mushrooms on toast. With cream. In this three-part series, Tim Hayward falls down a rabbit hole into kingdom (or as some call it queendom) Fungi.
Fungi the new frontier BBC Radio 4.
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07. Beautiful Experiences
Run the Source: Martin Johnson embarks on his most challenging run, as he explores the connection between Black British history and the River Thames. Martin attempts to set a new fastest known time on the 184-mile Thames Path—running from the Thames Barrier in London to the source of the river in the Cotswolds. What starts as a grueling and ambitious record-breaking attempt turns into a journey of discovery. He learns both about himself and the entangled history between Black people and the river. Martin hopes his run will encourage more diversity in the sport of trail running and inspire others to get out beyond the city and run.
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‘A roaring carnival of humanity’, described as ambitious, accomplished and fascinating, features 150 life-sized figures in masks and hand-sewn costumes. The Procession by Hew Locke, British-Guyanese sculptor and contemporary visual artist.
The Duveen Galleries, Tate Britain, London, from 22 March 2022–22 January 2023.
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Artist Steve McQueen states -
"Art can act as a thermometer to test the climate, the temperature we're in, to test how far we've come and also how far we need to go."
This world premiere of McQueen's video installation, Sunshine State, commissioned and produced by the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2022, is a reflection on the beginnings of Hollywood cinema and the influence that it has had on the perception of issues of identity.
Sunshine State, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, to 31 July 2022. |
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08. Beautiful Insights
NASA on climate: utility of information, words, concise, telling us about the state of this beautiful blue fragile ball hanging in the vast and endless void. We need to learn to love our earth more more. Read Too Hot to Handle: how climate change may make some places too hot to live.
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Interview with Shayle Kann, partner at Energy Impact Partners, who shares the five core challenges towards decarbonisation:
1 Low-cost, zero carbon electricity, 2. Confront industrial emitters: Steel, cement, chemicals and aluminum… 30% of all GHG emissions come from manufacturing alone, 3. Solve transportation, 4. Build the carbon management industry: It’s time to create a massive market for the capture and removal, storage, transportation, and finance of the net zero transition, 5. Decarbonise Maslow’s basic needs: Everybody on the planet requires food and shelter. This means agriculture and construction - with steel, cement, aluminum, and lumber. These big industries must shift to net zero as well. HBR Podcast .
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Why Are Nature-Based Solutions on Climate Being Overlooked? This new study from Stanford looks at how much energy one person really needs in order to live a happy, healthy life. They identified 75 gigajoules a year as the magic number – about a quarter of what the average American uses annually. Yale 360.
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Black Holes, Symmetries and Impossible Triangles - In Conversation with Roger Penrose at the London Institute of Mathematical Science. Sir Roger Penrose is a mathematical physicist and Nobel Laureate whose work spans impossible triangles and tilings that bear his name to the mathematical underpinnings of black holes.
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The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) defines and promotes best practices in emissions reductions and net-zero targets in line with climate science. Provides target setting methods and guidance to companies to set science-based targets in line with the latest climate science.
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Architecture "lagging behind other sectors" says IPCC climate report author Dezeen.
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Stakeholders incorporated: Can capitalism change if company charters stay the same? While more companies are adopting stakeholder-friendly mandates, they remain exceptions to the rule, with the industry still confused about the exact meaning of such alternative structures. Financial Times.
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CEOs must change their ways before the next corporate scandal breaks, opinion piece by the Portas Agency, ESG Telegraph.
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GE Renewable Energy, COBOD and LafargeHolcim announced that they will partner to co-develop wind turbines with optimized 3D printed concrete bases, reaching record heights up to 200 meters.
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Wind Passed Coal, Nuclear Power in U.S. for First Time on Record – Bloomberg.
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The geopolitics of fossil fuels and renewables reshape the world. To navigate the long road to net zero, energy researchers must grapple with the lessons of history. Nature.
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UN climate report’s fashion takeaways: Time for nature-based solutions. Nature-based solutions are key to a viable future, according to the newest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as it urges industries to accelerate efforts and investments. Vogue Business.
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A study of satellite data from the World Resources Institute found that land controlled by Indigenous peoples and local communities can sequester on average 2X more carbon per hectare than land owned by large outside parties.
This new study shows that this type of ownership is essential if the Paris agreement’s national carbon emissions commitments are to be met. Inside Climate News.
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Greener electricity: 10% of global electricity consumption is now powered by wind and solar, according to the latest annual report by independent UK energy think tank Ember.
Read Emily Atkin’s new explanation of the difference between 1.5C vs 2C – GQ magazine.
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"There is one more piece of advice I have for you: don't get impatient. Even if things are so tangled up you can't do anything, don't get desperate or blow a fuse and start ranking on one particular thread before it's ready to come undone. You have to realise it's going to be a long process and that you'll work on things slowly, one at a time." – Haruki Murakami
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09. Beautiful Leadership
The Paris-based business Veja is partnering with Sea Shepherd, an ocean conservation nonprofit known for its controversial, direct-approach tactics in confronting illegal fishing. More activism.
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Dr. Rangan Chatterjee is a British physician, author and host of the podcast ‘Feel Better, Live More’. He’s known for the TV show ‘Doctor in the House’ and his appearances on BBC Breakfast.
Rangan shares with us the simple techniques he uses to lead a more fulfilling and happy life. For Rangan, the most important aspect of life is nourishing our relationships and having “unmasking conversations” in which we are vulnerable and open with each other. Listen in.
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Narrated by Peter Coyote, a new biographical documentary of the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
A Cloud Never Dies was released to coincide with an Open Letter from his students calling for peace and an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.
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10. Beautiful News
I've been fortunate to spend some time in Cornwall recently working with the Eden Project's senior leadership team, as well as offering insight and provocation on what the Boardroom of 2030 might look like to a range of Cornish businesses. That was immensely enjoyable. Its great to see the idea of beauty, and design becoming such an inspiration and invitation for business to become truly regenerative.
Join the movement – at Beautiful Business we are creating the world’s largest design firm. Design is the means by which we deliver the change we need, enabling us to make the businesses that our world needs.
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Send us a beautiful hello for more information, or to request an application for our six-part programme.
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