WIRED

The Rise of the Carbon Farmer

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Patrick Holden strolls across the field, pausing from time to time to bend and point out a bumblebee, or a white butterfly, or a dung beetle. A wide expanse of blue sky stretches above. Beneath, undulating green hills, sprawling hedgerows, a horizon broken only by the jagged tips of Wales’ Cambrian mountain range. Sun-soaked goodness.

“Can you see that bumblebee working the clover?” he asks, voice breathy with exertion. “The bird life, insects, butterflies, small mammals, and bats ... the biodiversity of this place is unbelievable.” This is all here, he says, because he’s farming in harmony with nature.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES
Investment sector seeks to put a value on biodiversity

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The world is in the throes of one of the biggest extinction episodes in its history. Of the 8.7mn species of animals and plants on the planet, more than 1mn are in danger of being wiped out, according to the UN.

By some scientific estimates, we are losing species at up to 1,000 times the natural rate of between one and five a year. Pummelled by overfishing, deforestation, rising temperatures and extractive agriculture, much of the natural world is on the brink.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES
Bioplastics start-ups gain ground but green credentials face scrutiny

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If it is difficult to fathom the sheer volume of plastic production in the world today, the scale of associated waste and pollution is perhaps still harder to grasp.

More than three-quarters of the 460mn tonnes of plastic produced in 2019 became waste, OECD figures show — much of it in landfill, but also destined for incineration and leakage into rivers and oceans. And, with their heavy reliance on fossil fuels for raw materials, plastics account for about 3.4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions — more than the aviation industry.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES
Why leather from fishskin and fungi fibres are becoming the height of fashion

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As an avid scuba diver, Aarav Chavda was dismayed to witness the slow demise of the coral reef off the coast near his hometown in Florida. Over the years, the reef’s kaleidoscopic colours vanished along with the ocean dwellers it sustained —buffeted by rising global temperatures, warmer oceans and heat stress/pollution – until one day the entire reef was desolate, resembling a ghostly underwater grave. But there was one creature that thrived: the lionfish.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES
Architects design community solutions for combatting climate disaster

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As another year punctuated by climate catastrophe draws to a close, densely-packed urban communities – from favelas in Brazil to slums on the outskirts of Mexico City – have again found themselves on the sharp end of extreme weather. So-called informal communities are often situated in undesirable, disaster-prone areas – such as low-lying flood plains that lack the infrastructure to drain off excess water. Despite this, more often than not, they are excluded from government-instigated adaptation plans and overlooked in climate funds.

But a number of pioneering architecture firms are now attempting to grapple with these interlinked challenges within vulnerable communities across the Global South.