Getting the kids out there – avoiding Nature Deficit Disorder…

Last Child in the Woods

This post is written by Joanna Yarrow Founding Director of Beyond Green and Wilderness Wood Director

I had the privilege of being brought up in the middle of a 62-acre Sussex woodland.

The upsides of an outdoor childhood
Of course, as a status-conscious child I moaned about the lack of TV and (early edition) computer games. Despite my gripes, I knew even then that my surroundings were affecting me beyond just limiting my street cred. With no burning interest in botany, entomology or ornithology, I somehow nonetheless picked up a barrage of country lore that baffled my schoolfriends. I won cross-country races without really trying as my legs were strong from years on foot and bike. I knew how to find free snacks and stay warm and dry outdoors, how to cook campfire feasts and what to do if the flames got out of hand.

I was bewildered by tough London 16 year-olds shrieking with excitement at their first experience of bouncing on a thick bed of pine needles on visits to the wood. I envied their outfits but was shocked by their hysteria. Where had they been?!

Does it matter that kids don’t get outside?
Of course very few children will experience quite such a nature-immersed childhood as mine. But in our ever more sanitised and mechanised world, most children have at best a hands-off relationship with nature. After tens of thousands of years of children playing and working primarily outdoors, the last few generations have seen such interaction with nature vanish almost entirely. And the evidence suggests that this dissociation with nature is more than just a sad erosion of a nostalgic ideal of childhood. In his excellent book ‘Last Child in the Woods’ author Richard Louv argues that the implications for children’s physical and mental health – and for the future of environmentalism – are immense.

The ‘biophilia hypothesis’ suggests that humans thrive best when they interact with nature. Studies on people ranging from prisoners to hospital patients show that those with a view of a natural landscape heal faster. Others show that children playing in natural playgrounds think more creatively and are more likely to play inventively and cooperatively than in concrete ones.

Lack of outdoor play is a contributor to the rise in childhood mental health problems and obesity. And lack of exposure to nature is a possible contributor to the rise in attention deficit disorder.

What’s keeping kids indoors?
When he interviewed parents, Louv found the main thing keeping kids indoors was parental fear. Although statistically abductions are lower than in decades, ‘stranger danger’ means many parents are afraid to allow their kids outdoors. Combined with a reduction in green spaces nearby and requirements to ‘keep off the grass’, it’s little wonder that kids succumb to the attractions of computer games, social media and TV (the average Brit now watches over four hours of TV per day!).

Getting out there at Wilderness Wood
So it’s wonderful to have the chance to address this trend head-on in our wood. In our 62-acres of lovely Sussex countryside we provide a whole range of opportunities for kids and their families to get a taste for the great outdoors and build the confidence they need to re-engage with nature.

Visitors can explore a network of nature trails and a woodland adventure playground. They can cook outdoors year-round in Wild Cookout glades, enjoy local organic food and drink in our timber-frame Barn café, and sleep under the stars in Wild Camps or ‘glamp’ in our beautiful converted horsebox.

As well as providing a great place to explore we bring the place to life with a range of activities designed to bring kids (and accompanying adults!) out of their shells and demystify the outdoors. Educational activities for schools complement their curriculum (from minibeasts to ecosystems). Our team of enthusiastic rangers run hugely popular birthday parties (with themes ranging from Gruffalo Hunts to Robin Hood and Fairy Gardens) and every weekend and on school holidays we run activities that individual children and families can book into – from Survive in the Wild and Castaway Adventures to Monster Hunts and firelighting skills.

We’re also running a growing number of courses for all ages including bushcraft skills, outdoor cooking, foraging and basic woodcraft which we hope will foster lifelong passions, as well as Easter, Christmas and other seasonal festivals.

We can’t all live in the middle of a wood. But I hope that a day or two at Wilderness Wood can help to rekindle some of the magic of the outdoors for children and their families. Our biggest achievement will be if we can inspire people to keep on embracing nature when they go home – even if it’s just a rampage in the park. Please keep ON that grass!

Posted 24 May 2012 by Bruce

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Seeing the wood for the trees? Joanna Yarrow at the Royal Forestry Society Annual conference

trees_colours

This is post is written by Joanna Yarrow, Founding Director of Beyond Green

Last month I joined experts from across the forestry and woodlands industry at a conference organised by the Royal Forestry Society (RFS) and the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) to look at new ways of valuing the UK’s woodlands and forests.

I’m a relative newcomer to the world of forestry (as a child growing up in a wood I made the most of the outdoor life but studiously avoided anything to do with the technicalities of trees…) and felt particularly out of place as the only person in the room not wearing tweed. There were plenty of in-depth expositions about how to best to calculate the price of a tree. Not much consensus, but some nice scene-setting from Natural Capitalism: “while there may be no ‘right’ way to value a forest, a river or a child, the wrong way is to give it no value at all”.

As perhaps some lighter relief amidst the learned arboriculture, I talked about what we’re up to at Beyond Green’s sister organisation Wilderness Wood in East Sussex. In contrast to the vast tracts of land available to many of the landowners present, we’ve got just 62 acres where we juggle the many challenges of combining award-winning productive forestry with the highs and lows of inspiring and engaging visitors in sustainable living.

When my parents applied for planning permission to build a home in the wood 30 years ago the planning authority questioned the feasibility of two people earning a living wage from managing just 62 acres of woodland. Whilst there’s certainly been no gold-rush in the UK’s forestry industry, 3 decades on we employ 12+ full time equivalent staff plus a number of seasonal contractors. The key is diversity – we juggle a combination of woodland management, production of firewood, poles & fencing, furniture and garden products with education, family activities & events, courses, delicious local seasonal food & drink and more. All under a guiding ethos of balancing ecological, social and economic performance.

In recognition of its approach to forestry and the diversity of its activities, in 2010 the wood won the RFS Excellence in Forestry Award. Last year the BBC Politics Show visited. They wanted to use us as a case study showing how the ‘private sector’ could be a positive force in running woodlands (so therefore no need to worry about that sell-off of national forests everyone was squeaking about). In my interview on the show I pointed out that unless there’s a large and untapped mass of values-driven committed plate-spinners out there just desperate to run woodlands in the way we do it’s very unlikely that market forces alone would result in Wilderness Woods springing up across the country! (But if you are one of those types do please get in touch…!)

So when the good tweedy folk of the RFS beamingly said how nice it was to see us having such fun in the wood I had to point out that if any of them was contemplating doing something similar they should be prepared to feel like this at the end of every day:

One last thought: if forests are as important to the whole nation as last year’s uprising against the government’s proposals to sell of national forests suggested, it would be great if the RFS could attract a slightly more diverse audience:

Posted 23 May 2012 by Bruce

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A working title: ‘Beyond Green in Broadland’ becomes ‘North Sprowston and Old Catton’

NSOC Logo

This post is by Neil Murphy, Director, Policy, Planning and Economics

We’ve held off giving our project in Broadland a name for as long as we can, but the time has finally come to adopt a working title.

There are several reasons why we’ve resisted naming the project: places, not developments, have names and those names properly come from local custom and practice not developer marketing logic; we abhor the bland anywheresville names the volume house-builders typically confer on their projects; and the scale of land across which we are working is such that a single name would seem somewhat crude and trite given the mix of historic territories, not to mention parish geography, it encompasses. Above all, however, a proper noun has not seemed necessary.  ‘Land in Broadland, north of Norwich’ has always sufficed.

But… not having a name was causing a few difficulties. First, as awareness of the project gradually rises, reference to the project as ‘Broadland’ or ‘Broadlands’ is becoming more widespread: this is confusing and inaccurate – worse, even, than the few instances we have seen of people thinking ‘Beyond Green’ is the place-name! Second, and more prosaically, as we move into the drafting stages of a planning application, the mere absence of a proper noun is making for very turgid and potentially unclear drafting (‘the proposals’… ‘the Beyond Green scheme’…’it’, etc).

After much debate we’ve decided to adopt the working title of ‘North Sprowston and Old Catton’ to provide the temporary proper name we now feel the scheme needs. We hope this moniker is a reasonable working title for the purposes of planning – it has the virtue of being geographically accurate and illustrates our belief that any new development can and must integrate with established neighbouring communities.

The real name(s) for this place will be something that comes, over time, from a mix of local consciousness and the place’s intrinsic qualities (‘Little Denmark’ would do…); and if there is to be a formal name if and when the scheme becomes a real, live development we would hope that it could come from a more exciting process – such as a schools competition – than a bunch of us sitting around a table on a Wednesday morning.

Posted 22 May 2012 by Bruce

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Dan Doctoroff at NLA

Dan Doctoroff

This post is by Bruce McVean, Integrated Design Manager at Beyond Green

This morning NLA hosted an interesting talk by Dan Doctoroff, CEO and President of Bloomburg and former deputy Mayor of New York. While working for Mayor Bloomburg’s administration Doctoroff oversaw the development and implementation of PlaNYC, which provides an ambitious and comprehensive framework for developing a sustainable (in every sense) future for New York.

His main theme was that friendly competition between London and New York drives innovation in both cities and ought to allow them to maintain their position as great world cities long into the future. Both cities are very similar in terms of size, diversity of their populations and forecasts for economic and population growth. By a long way they lead the world as centres for financial industries, with Doctoroff claiming New York has a slight edge over London (using the number of Bloomburg subscribers as the measure).

Doctoroff sees quality of life as essential to ensuring London and New York’s long term success. It is at the heart of his ‘virtuous cycle for a successful city’ – quality of life attracts people (residents and visitors), which drives the economy, which provides the money to invest in projects to improve quality of life. Those projects must be part of comprehensive strategy for urban transformation. The High Line for example has not only created a fantastic new public space in the centre of the city, but was also the catalyst for wider change in over 40 neighbouring blocks.

Creating a great city for walking is central to the PlaNYC transport strategy and has driven much of the rapid transformation of New York’s public realm over recent years. Improvements that are also helping to create a cycle network that in terms of its eventual coverage and quality of provision is miles ahead of London’s Cycle Super Highways.

The first London Plan, drawn up under Ken Livingstone, was the template for PlanNYC, but New York’s plan is much more ambitious. Doctoroff politely suggested that New York was still learning from London, using the example of the cycle hire scheme (which London can hardly claim to have pioneered), but it is London that must now learn from New York.

Posted 17 May 2012 by Bruce

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London’s election cycles

Vote Bike

This post is by Bruce McVean, Integrated Design Manager at Beyond Green and Founder of Movement for Liveable London

The votes are being cast and we’ll soon find out who will be Mayor of London for the next four years. It remains to be seen whether the unprecedented mobilisation of London’s cyclists will help decide the outcome, but judging by the polls it seems unlikely that Ken Livingtsone (the preferred candidate amongst the big two) will emerge victorious.

Regardless of the eventual outcome this election is likely to prove pivotal in deciding the longer term future of cycling in the Capital. London’s cyclists are more politicised than ever thanks to the fantastic efforts of Londoners on Bikes (an organisation that didn’t even exist 6 months ago, that has turned out to be a very smooth and savvy operator); strong campaigning from the London Cycling Campaign under the banner of Love London, Go Dutch; and the excellent Cities fit for Cycling campaign run by The Times. They’re also increasingly vocal and visible – a process that started in 2011 with hundreds taking part in the first Blackfriars flashride and culminated (for now) with 10,000 braving the rain to join LCC’s Big Ride last Saturday.

Judging by his track record and manifesto commitments four more years of Boris Johnson won’t be great for cycling, but it need not be disastrous. Johnson has signed up to both The Times Cycle Safe manifesto and LCC’s Go Dutch principles. That doesn’t mean he’ll necessarily deliver on those commitments, but it does make it easier for the cycling community to hold him to account. In the short term this will hopefully mean that at the very least some of the most dangerous junctions will belatedly be improved and the next generation of cycle ‘super’ highways ought to be an improvement on the last.

But whether it’s Boris or Ken who starts work at City Hall on Monday, the real opportunities are longer term. Creating the conditions for mass cycling to flourish in London will take time, and it will be at least four years before we find out whether London is to become a true cycling city. If it is, then the debate at the next election can’t be about cycle safety. London’s cyclists, building on the momentum gained during this election campaign, will need to be at the vanguard of a mass movement for a more liveable city, with everyday cycling at its heart. As I’ve argued before, we need a transport revolution not a cycling revolution.

Posted 3 May 2012 by Bruce

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Sustainable development, I presume

Suburbia

This post is by Neil Murphy, Director, Policy, Planning and Economics

Perhaps people are just bored with the subject, but the publication of the final National Planning Policy Framework at the end of March seems to have generated little other than mild relief from supporters and critics alike.  This despite a series of concessions from the draft version that, arguably, go further than the development industry and not as far as the conservation lobby wanted and certainly retain most of the flaws in the draft which I previously highlighted , especially the where-practicals that provide a get-out from anything too awkward.

One inclusion receiving strikingly little comment is the statement that “[t]he policies in paragraphs 18 to 219, taken as a whole, constitute the Government’s view of what sustainable development in England means in practice for the planning system”.  As a way of getting around the criticism that it had not defined what the sustainable development in favour of which it wanted a presumption actually is, this is ingenious: it’s whatever we say.  An adaptation of the Nixon defence, (“when the president does it, it is not illegal”), and the kind of evasion that could easily be the payoff in an episode of Yes, Minister, this amounts to any development allowed under the NPPF being, by definition, sustainable regardless of whether or not it makes any environmental or social sense (any development, of course, always makes economic sense to someone).  The competition is now surely on to see what execrable scheme can stretch the definition farthest, for what pitifully small recompense: whither the next ‘green’ business park with a wind turbine,some shiny PVs and 2,000 parking spaces?

For those of who think sustainable development has a bit more rigour – some of the rigour of, say, a nine-tenths cut in rich-world CO2 emissions by 2050 to avert catastrophic climate change – the NPPF represents just so much more of planners talking their material considerations while the world gets hotter, more unequal and increasingly prone to affluenza.  One thing that can be said for the NPPF, however, is that it ought to make development that really does seek to address the challenges of sustainable development (qua Brundtland rather than qua Pickles) a little bit easier too.  As we at Beyond Green prepare to submit our planning application at North Sprowston & Old Catton, north of Norwich, for what we believe will be the first authentically sustainable urban extension in the country this summer, we hope to hold ourselves to higher standards than the NPPF does.

Posted 3 May 2012 by Bruce

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Bruce McVean appointed as Living Streets Trustee

Living Streets

Bruce McVean, Integrated Design Manager at Beyond Green has been appointed to the board of trustees at Living Streets – a UK based charity that campaigns for pedestrians and promotes the creation of safe, attractive, enjoyable streets where it’s great to walk.

We take walking seriously at Beyond Green. For our own development projects and when we’re advising clients, the walkable neighbourhood is the basic building block of sustainable places – ensuring that all residents are in easy walking distance of the shops and services they need day-to-day. We believe that the creation of high quality streets and public spaces that make walking a pleasure and the natural choice for shorter journeys is an absolute must if we’re to break free from the social, economic and environmental costs of car dependency.

If Beyond Green had been around in 1929 we’d probably have joined the Pedestrians Association, which became Living Streets in 2001. Originally founded in response to the seemingly unchecked rise of the motor-car and the spiralling numbers of pedestrians being killed or seriously hurt on Britain’s roads, Living Streets now has local groups up and down the country. With over 1.6 million children involved in their Walk to School campaign each year, and a range of other campaigns and actions aimed at all walks of life, they continue to champion the rights of pedestrians up to the highest levels of government. This month they’re running the Great British Walking Challenge as part of National Walking Month.

Bruce is passionate about sustainable transport issues (he’s our resident transport specialist and founder of Movement for Liveable London) and is looking forward to helping Living Streets make our towns and cities great places to walk.

Posted 2 May 2012 by Bruce

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