Symposium

 

Saturday 3 June

Book tickets

 

Our Active Environmentalism programme builds our knowledge and ways of seeing and considering our relationship with our environment. They are based on the premise that individual decisions tend to be the right ones when given access to sufficient information and collectively they add up to global change.

Our Symposium on 3 June 2023 will unpack and examine some of the issues we are currently facing in problem solving around the environment. One of the key ones is understanding the metrics we are all working to and whether they are working, is there a consensus?

With the help of a number of environmental experts we will shed light on the problems that confront us as individuals and what we can do collectively to mitigate the damage. We will also hear about technological advances being made to resolve the many issues we face and how to facilitate further changes in our way of thinking about our relationship with the environment.

 

 

Timetable

 

10:00am  Arrival

10:15am  Welcome introduction by Johnny Messum

10:20am  Jonathon Porritt, Former UK Director of Friends of the Earth
Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt CBE is a British environmentalist, sustainability campaigner and writer. He is known for his advocacy of the Green Party of England and Wales. He is Founder Director of Forum for the Future, a sustainability non-profit working globally with business, government and civil society to help resolve some of the biggest challenges the world faces today.

10:30am  Melanie Squires MBE, FRAgS, South West Regional Director, National Farmers Union
Farmers vital, central role in today’s Food systems
From Cornish farming stock Mel joined the SW NFU (Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Cornwall & Devon) in 2002, Director since 2006. Recently appointed to lead the new NFU South region which now incorporates Hampshire & IoW, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire & Oxfordshire, alongside the previous counties.  She is part of the NFU’s management team, and for the last three years led the organisational programme for Inclusion, Diversity and Equality.

10:40am Guy Turner, Trove Research (carbon credits)
Guy has 30 years’ experience in research and strategy in sustainability and the energy transition. In 2006 he joined New Energy Finance (NEF) to create the carbon market research business. In 2017 Guy joined BP Economics where he was responsible for global oil supply analysis and worked on BP’s Energy Outlook. From 2018 to 2020 Guy was the Strategy and Analysis Manager at EDF Renewables, overseeing market and financial analysis to support investments in offshore and onshore wind, solar, battery storage and hydrogen.

10:50am  Edit Kiss, Integrity Global Partners

11:00am Break

11:30am Group Q&A: The True Cost of Consumption

12:15pm  Lauren Davis, Arup Foresight Future Cities Designer
Collective imagination: towards a regenerative future
Arup has a design-led foresight approach helping to answer complex questions that require a broad and holistic look at the future. Most recently their work has focused on Regenerative Design, which looks to build knowledge and expertise around societal resilience, planetary health, and the regeneration of ecosystems.
Lauren Davies is a designer and researcher in Arup’s Global Foresight team. Previously working as a lecturer in Design practice, she holds a BA(Hons) and MA in Design from Goldsmiths, University of London. As a critically engaged designer, her practice uses and develops design methods for visioning possible futures in the context of the current ecological crisis.

1:00pm Lunch
To continue the conversation, join fellow delegates and speakers in a lively group lunch in our Messum’s Restaurant marquee.
£25 per person, one course with vegan options available, please indicate dietary requirements/preferences at booking.

2:30pm  Dr Rebecca Watson, University of Cambridge ‘Noah’s Ark’

3:15pm  Anna Pavlova, Common Waters introduction. Future of Energy: Fusion systems are coming!
Anna Pavlova is a U.S.-based climate tech entrepreneur, at the forefront of the country’s decarbonisation efforts.  Anna also brings policy experience to the table in her previous career in Washington, DC in the energy transition policy space. 

4:00pm  Break

4:30pm  Sam Sutoria and Poppy Mason-Watts, WaterBear – film screenings and in conversation
WaterBear is a free streaming platform and publisher that brings inspiration and action together. WaterBear is the home of award-winning and sustainably certified films that you can stream at any time, and on any device for free. WaterBear encourages its community  to switch from mindless scrolling and engage with entertaining films that cover a breadth of topics in the environmental and humanitarian space. Working alongside hundreds of planet partners, both brands & NGOs to produce original content that entertains people into action by making it effortlessly easy. Enjoy the act of saving our planet. Sign up for real change: https://join.waterbear.com/ 
Sam Sutaria
is CEO of Waterbear. Prior to roles at WaterBear, Sam was the GM of The European Nature Trust (TENT), produced content and campaigns at Nice and Serious, and trained with the BBC’s Natural History Unit in Bristol. Sam is also the Founder of social enterprise DrawFor, and a Trustee of the Hartswood Trust, the Aegean Film Festival and London Riverside Film Festival (re-launching 2024). He is a passionate conservationist, photographer and deeply committed to transforming systems across the media industry. 
Poppy Mason-Watts is Chief Impact Officer at WaterBear. Poppy oversees impact campaigning, editorial and community growth for impact, she was also part of the founding team. Prior to WaterBear, Poppy held client-side roles at National Geographic and FOX, and has spent 14+ years’ working on global campaigns for FMCG companies.

 

Catch up with our Active Environmentalism online talks