WildRise.co.uk

Greenworks
Let Nature Take The Lead

• What is Greenworks?

• Greenworks Biodiversity Day 2024

• Programme Greenworks Biodiversity Day

• Contact

GREENWORKS

We are a resident inititive based in Cambridge, UK, advocating for the rewilding of urban spaces.We will turn the local nature-deprived Ironworks residental district into a flagship development of urban biodiversity, benefitting both humans and our fellow travellers on this shared planet.

OUR VISION

We advocate to renegotiate our contract with nature and its nonhuman inhabitants in urban or rural spaces. No matter whether in a former life these spaces were a depot for council vehicles, a site for the separation and management of waste, single storey offices here and there, and tarmac roads to make moving around the site easier - a quintessential brownfield site - 'green' can flourish here too with our care and support.With grassroots activism and political advocay, we can help nature to turn the currently exhausted and infertile soil in Ironworks and beyond into balanced ecosystems supporting trillions of organisms, both large and microscopically small.We take action to push for local policies that allow nature the freedom to do its own thing, to lead the way, and along with many people up and down the land, to take a stand and restore our green and beautiful country.To learn more, please read our manifesto under the link below!

• Manifesto

Do you want to be part of our journey?

Join us and be part of a vibrant community!Please get in touch by following the link below:

• Contact

The UN Biodiversity Day at GREENWORKS

INVITATION TO UN BIODIVERSITY DAY AT GREENWORKS GOES HERE

What is Ironworks? How does it relate to Greenworks?

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH ON IRONWORKS WITH PICTURES OF BROWNFIELDS

The Biodiversity Day at Ironworks

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH ON THE BIODIVERSITY DAY AT IRONWORKS

• Programme Greenworks Biodiversity Day

• Find out about the UN Biodiversity Day

• Greenworks Manifesto

Programme Greenworks Biodiversity day

Join us! Today, Cambridge celebrates its wildlife neighbours!

Come along and see the plans for the Ironworks brownfield site into an all-inclusive biodiverse space!

Day 1: 22.05.2024

Community Center, Mill Road Depot, Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 2AZ

Day 2: 25.05.2024

Community Center, Mill Road Depot, Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 2AZ

Biodiversity

What is Biodiversity?

It refers to all the different life forms on Earth including plants, animals, bacteria and fungi. Many have yet been to be identified. Sadly, the UK is one of the most biodiversity-depleted countries in the world. Its wildlife numbers are in free fall.

How can I support local biodiversity?

The UK is one of the most biodiversity-depleted countries in the world. Its wildlife numbers are in free fall. Here is a list of contrete actions you can take to help fight and reverse this trend!

• How to get involved in Greenworks

Greenworks

The Greenworks Manifesto

Turning Cambridge’s Ironworks into a ‘green’ flagship development.
You can download our full manifesto below.

• Full manifesto

Greenworks

Background to Greenworks

Why we need more action on urban rewilding in the UK

Rewilding benefits natureRewilding is no longer the exclusive preserve of wealthy landowners or successful entrepreneurs with ambitious projects for Scotland. Up and down the country, county councils have also become interested in rewilding, although they sometimes use a different term to describe it .During the last 6 months Inkcap Journal has been undertaking research to find out to what extent county councils and unitary authorities have embraced the concept of rewilding and how many have plans to implement this policy on their own public land. Inkcap used interviews and Freedom of Information requests to gather this information.Around three quarter of councils said they had no rewilding policies or initiatives, and no plans to implement any in the future. However, 40 of the 148 councils - 27 percent - said that they had embraced rewilding, either as an existing approach or as a potential idea for the future. We note from the Inkcap Journal that Cambridgeshire County Council - one of the richest county councils in England – does not currently appear not to have any plans to rewild, but ‘has already pledged to double nature in Cambridgeshire by 2040’ .It is unsurprising that the concept of rewilding Britain should be spreading and so quickly. Certainly, there has been a growing concern over the loss of species and the negative consequences of intensification of farming practices. UK’s departure from the EU and specifically its policies on CAP and the EU Birds and Habitats Directive, have necessitated a re-visitation of land management and subsidies post Brexit. What is perhaps remarkable is how the rewilding idea has spread to heavily populated inner city urban contexts.

What exactly is rewilding?

Essentially, the term rewilding refers to minimal human intervention and management of land and nature taking care of itself. In its most radical form the aim is for the human hand to be withdrawn and for animals, plants and trees to do their own thing. Islington Council has provided a helpful definition.The term rewilding originally referred to large-scale restoration of ecosystems with the aim of minimal human management so that natural processes shape the landscape and its habitats… Recently, however, the term rewilding has made its way into the public domain as a term that is used to describe any kind of wildlife friendly natural habitat creation, for example creating a wildflower meadow in a park or planting a small area of new woodland (op.cit.)The charity Rewilding Britain , argues that 5 principles are at the heart of rewilding (see below), three of which involve a partnership between humans and nature; ‘let nature lead‘, ‘work at nature’s scale and ‘support people and nature together’. The society argues that rewilding can help to reverse species extinction, tackle climate change and improve our health and well-being through the application of these ethical values:1. support people and nature together
2. let nature lead
3. create resilient economies
4. work at nature’s scale
5. secure benefits for the long termInstead of, or in addition to, driving out (by private car, bad?) to the countryside, the countryside is coming to us, ‘on the street where you live’. We know the public is overwhelmingly supportive of Britain becoming ‘wilder’.The wonderful consequences of all this green activity, and where it is happening, is the boost it is giving to wildlife. Insects, trees, plants and birds – the animal world – are blossoming. But its significance doesn’t stop there. The increase in fauna and flora is making a powerful contribution (albeit each manifestation may seem small) to re-setting the balance between incoming/outgoing greenhouses gases that lies at the heart of the climate issue.Whether the activities springing up are of a minimalist version of rewilding or its aims altogether more radical, the outcomes must be good if it brings people together, gives them a sense of well-being and encourages them to love nature in all its forms. What is most welcome about rewilding is that it can work in small spaces as well as on large canvases and that it isn’t just an activity for ‘toffs’, as some see it.

Rewilding is essential for human well-being

One of the positive outcomes of lockdown was that people said they wanted to be closer to nature. An opinion poll commissioned by Rewilding Britain discovered that 81% of Britons support rewilding, with 40% strongly supportive and just 5% opposed to it. A YouGov poll in October 2021 found that 83% of the public supports Britain’s national parks being made wilder.The Guardian recently reported on the celebration of tree and forests through such activities as tree hugging and identified the ancient forest of Hainault Essex as one location where individuals and groups meet to hug Fairlop oaks. Tree hugging around the world is common. Lionizing trees and tree hugging is not the preserve of hippies or Swampy (Dan Hooper) and his co-protesters. Swampy was one of the tunnel digging, tree climbing protectors of trees at the Fairmile protest in Devon in 1997 trying to stop the creation of the A30, £50m dual carriageway link road between Exeter and Honiton. It has an ancient history and people have sacrificed themselves to protect them (usually unsuccessfully) from being felled.What amount of biodiversity in our cities is enough to benefit our well-being? There is some evidence from research studies on the health benefits of access to the natural world. Anecdotal accounts suggest that there is a correlation between access to nature and happiness, but good evidence can be hard to come by.Andrea Mechelli, Professor of Early Intervention in Mental Health at Kings College London, together with landscape architect Joanna Gibbons, have undertaken a pioneering study titled Urban Mind. It is a citizen science project in which participants recorded their feelings and mood and related these to the environment around them. Their responses were sent through three times a day using an App on their smartphones. It is a real-time account of living in the moment. The researchers wanted to know to what extent trees, birdsong and access to water have a significant effect on an individual’s mood.Their research discovered that biodiversity benefits those not suffering from mental health issues as well as those who do. It makes a measurable impact 7.5 hours after the feeling was recorded. Moreover, multiple green features cumulatively, in combination, have a greater impact than one single natural feature does on its own.Joanna Gibbons says in relation to planning policy ‘it is irresponsible to build to a certain density without having the right amount of accessible nature because this is what we as a species need in order to support our well-being’.In summary: on the grounds of human well-being and encouraging diverse and healthy habitats at Ironworks, we recommend to Cambridge City Council and South Cambs. District Council through their shared Greater Cambridge Shared Planning arrangements and working together with Cambridgeshire County Council reformulate all their existing excellent ecological strategies and planning requirements, with examples of work already achieved, into an integrated rewilding programme for the city.

Examples of urban rewilding

Nowhere is more advanced in implementing this policy than London. It has adopted and adapted the idea with enthusiasm. A group of conservationists, with expertise in rewilding, have been commissioned by the mayor Sadiq Khan to bring back nature to London on an ambitious scale . The rewilding plan will cover the entire Capital of nine million people. Working with partners from borough staff, government agencies and local people, the city is undergoing a transformation. (Lord) Zac Goldsmith says that while ‘Rewilding projects are already happening in London, …“they want to turbocharge that work” ’. Ben Goldsmith, Zac’s brother, is a sponsor.Volunteers are planting trees to capture CO₂ and to reduce the risk of flooding. Example; Streets are being transformed by the presence of planters with scented flowers and herbs. Small patches of grass are being turned into ‘pocket parks’ (see photo below), otherwise known as ‘parklets’. The phrase ‘guerrilla gardeners’, that became well known in 1973 with a history that goes back further than that, is being heard again.On the animal front, a pair of nonhuman ‘citizens’ – beavers, eponymously named Sigourney and Justin Beaver – were released in the northern borough of Enfield in March this Spring. The last time beavers were living in London was 400 years ago. The ‘Get inVOLEd’ project is introducing water voles to local rivers. I could go on.It would be wrong to deduce that this inchoate movement is led from the top, important as its leaders such as George Monbiot, Ben Goldsmith, Zac Goldsmith, Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree, and many others have been. Spontaneous activity is erupting all around us from grassroots engagement. One only has to walk round the streets off Mill Road and see this phenomenon for oneself.The human creativity behind all this is awesome, to use a popular American adjective.

• Manifesto action points

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