'Life is everywhere, even in the most developed of spaces!' The Long Listen Podcast with Ian Boyd & Joe Redston

Perfect Friday listening.. or anytime listening in fact! Our naturalist/ecologist Ian Boyd’s interview for Joe Redston's podcast series covers the collective work here at Artecology, Arc and our not-for-profit The Common Space, and answers all your questions with wide-angled, practical advice on nature, wildlife, urban conservation, plus community regeneration.

Listen out for…

* What's a naturalist and why we believe nature engagement and outreach is all-important… when bugs aren't insects and the extraordinary lightbulb moment that even a hint of taxonomy sparks in a schoolyard...

* How can we gain maximum ecological value from the built world - understanding punctuation, wildlife’s territory and travel plans...

* The Three-Pot Planet or how to create your own ecosystem (think edible, niche and caterpillars not butterflies!) And much more!

https://bit.ly/2DicFJo

Thanks for the visit Joe!

Turning the concrete tide – Artecology to feature in BBC Countryfile’s Coastalfile

Unless your TV is at the menders, you can’t have missed that this is a seminal week for the wild world.  Twin emergencies, Biodiversity and Climate Change are finally and fully making headlines… globally, the UN has been pushing the agenda with back-to-back conferences on both and meanwhile here in the UK, Defra have launched a consultation to make biodiversity net gain mandatory in development.  Forget popular plastics for a minute, the world is looking for ways to turn the concrete tide too now… at last.  Meanwhile (zooms in to the Isle of Wight), our small team of ecologists and artists have always been on it.  To find out how Artecology are making that tide work for wildlife, tune into BBC Countryfile this coming Sunday!

With presenter Margherita Taylor at the helm, the BBC Countryfile team joined us on the Solent and our Science Beach to find out more about the coastal side of our work, heading out with Ian Boyd to see how our Vertipools, artificial rockpools, at a Wightlink ferry port are bringing marine wildlife to blank walls, and finding out how artists Nigel and Hannah George employ paper-folding, materials expertise and hands-on sculptural making techniques to transform concrete into beautiful and bio-receptive habitat.

The BBC Countryfile team head out to our living seawall, our Wightlink Vertipools, with naturalist Ian Boyd.

So to see how tides could turn for the better and how art, science and ecology can rewild our world, make sure to watch BBC Countryfile this weekend…  BBC1 Sunday 9th December from 5.45pm https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bvgw3r.

Thanks to the brilliant teams at BBC Countryfile, Wightlink, the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and Bournemouth University!

Hannah George shows presenter Margherita Taylor how sand casting paper art can make space for nature in built environment.

What is The 5th International Marine Conservation Conference?

According to the organisers of the 5th IMCC, those active in conservation of the world’s oceans must go beyond science and use policy and management to catalyze effective and positive change. The Society for Conservation Biology's ‘International Marine Conservation Congress’ (IMCC) in Borneo this week will bring together conservation professionals and students from across the planet to help develop new and powerful tools to further marine conservation science and policy. This year Artecology will be represented by Dr Alice Hall from Bournemouth University whose PhD included a comprehensive study of our Vertipool system. Alice’s talk at the IMCC5 in Borneo will suggest that novel green infrastructure engineering techniques can mitigate for habitat loss caused be sea level rise by creating manmade habitable intertidal structures.

Find out more about IMCC5 here https://conbio.org/mini-sites/imcc5/