Month: January 2022

During the pandemic Community organisations pioneered new ways of working, finds Space to Connect Project

Stuart Mitchell

The findings of a project aimed at helping to bring communities together to tackle inequality and isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic are being shared today by Leeds Beckett University (LBU) and Locality. The evidence has come from the Space to Connect programme – a partnership funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Co-op Foundation. The £1.6million project was aimed at helping community organisations develop physical spaces such as buildings, allotments, and playgrounds to reduce social isolation. It ran between 2019 and 2021 and funded…

Read More

Better Cotton – the world’s largest certifier of cotton – releases bold target to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions 50% by 2030

Stuart Mitchell

Better Cotton has announced the launch of its ambitious new climate change mitigation target as part of a new strategy designed to deliver substantial environmental, social and economic impact across the cotton industry by 2030. The headline climate change mitigation target has been set to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of Better Cotton produced by 50% by 2030 (from a 2017 baseline). Four additional targets covering soil health, pesticide use, smallholder livelihoods and women’s empowerment are expected to be announced by the end of 2022 with impact indicators…

Read More

This #ThirstTrap is Helping an Important Cause

Stuart Mitchell

Beau Lake and Open are cleverly hijacking the social media terms “thirst trap” and “thirsty” to bring awareness to what being thirsty truly means to the 771 million people without access to safe water. In use for the past decade or so, “thirst trap” is a colloquialism that refers to photos on social media that demonstrate a need for attention. The people who post such photos are often characterized as “thirsty.” The new effort is designed to raise awareness of the Beau Lake “Access-To-Water Bottle” and the global water crisis.…

Read More

DEC raises £26m as 2022 signals ‘unfolding catastrophe’ in Afghanistan

Stuart Mitchell

in the first two weeks after launching an emergency appeal for Afghanistan on 15 December, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) raised £26m for the millions of people suffering in Afghanistan, as they face a desperate and freezing start to 2022. It is currently estimated that over 8 million people are on the brink of famine, with 1 million children under the age of five at risk of dying over the next three months. The appeal was supported by HRH The Prince of Wales, alongside well-known figures, including Gillian Anderson, Dua…

Read More

NERC publishes Collaborative Inclusivity summary report

Stuart Mitchell

NERC has released a summary of discussions between its leadership team and environmental researchers at the Collaborative Inclusivity roundtable series in June. As the nation’s leading environmental science research funder, we know at NERC that we have a role in working to change equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the environmental sciences. The aim of the Collaborative Inclusivity roundtable series was to create a shared space to value lived experience. It aims to share best practice, and identify actions to overcome barriers. In the summary report, we have identified and…

Read More