Author: Oliver BroadbentPage 2 of 10
Sometimes when I write on this blog I like to distill my thoughts around one topic. But when there’s lots going on I prefer to write in more…
Here are my notes from reading the RESTORE report ‘ (REthinking Sustainability TOwards a Regenerative Economy) Sustainability, Restorative to Regenerative – edited by Martin Brown and Edeltraud Haselsteiner…
If we want to think really regeneratively about engineering and the creation of buildings, then maybe we should consider building materials as a common resource. I realise that…
As James and I start to delve into the writing for our book on regenerative design for structural engineers, I am gathering my thoughts on what regenerative practice…
This month I am writing an article on that explores what if we restricted construction material use to those from a local catchment. Rather than a global supply…
At our local allotments, permaculture teacher Mike Fiengold re-distributes food waste in the community. Even after he has sent food to various local charities there is lots left…
After a two-year break I am back on my bike in London. This morning a short hop from Paddington to Kings Cross. Having moved to Bristol almost four…
Please, take the meat out of meetings. Then you can say, no animal died in the making of this decision. Some meetings are pointless. Don’t add to this…
I am a connoisseur of email-reduction strategies, so I share this for friends and colleagues of mine who I know are struggling with this at the moment. The…
In today’s planning session for the Regenerative Design Lab with my co-facilitator Ellie Osborne, we asked what if we made the lab itself a regenerative system? Based on…
This announcement always irks me. “To ensure a timely departure, train doors will shut 40 seconds before departure.” It reminds me of what a senior Network Rail manager…
When renewable systems are over exploited they fall into a desertlike state. In this state the system population is too low to support regrowth and the system structures…
Where I live, coal was so abundant near the surface that you could have dug a hole in your garden and found it lying there. This coal was…
I have nothing to say but lots to show you – Walter Benjamin. I heard this quote this morning on In Our Time and it really struck me….
Work on regenerative thinking progresses on all fronts. Book writing with my friend James on Monday (read his excellent blog on this process), developing regenerative practice at Hazel…
It’s the first thing we do at Hazel Hill Wood. Light the fire for everyone else. A clutch of tiny twigs, a handful of finger-thick branches, and some…
I’m getting this down while it is fresh in my mind following a planning conversation with Will Arnold this morning for our Net Zero Structural Design course. In…
I underlined these words in Meadows’s Thinking in Systems primer. ‘Thinking about resilience enables us to observe and enhance a system’s restorative powers.’ As with so much in…
Last Friday I took the train from York to Hull. Onboard I was speaking on the phone to Will Arnold about our Net Zero Structural Design Course. As…
Seen at Turnpike Lane station. Both left and right lead to the buses, but why is right prioritised? Was there once a member of staff who got so…
In times gone by, people went to the cinema to stay warm. The movie theatre offers a place of shelter from the elements and also an escape from…
Sharing my working notes from today.
As I continue my exploration of regenerative design in engineering, correspondents have said it would be helpful to gather examples of regenerative design. Templates that we can look…
The cornerstone of our democracy is the right to protest. At the moment the government is pushing through amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that…
Hold this figure in mind: 7%. In 2019 the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) published a report concluding that in order to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees, we…
In the bakery where I often go to write in the mornings they are having heating fitted. The cafe is in a warehouse and it gets cold in…
We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf. He didn’t really mean it. In the end, everyone stopped believing him. Wolf didn’t mean anything. But…
I just dreamed up this example to explain why our mistakes show up at system boundaries. Have you ever noticed that the moon looks much bigger when it…