News & Info

VINE is now four years old, and has been launched as a not-for-profit organisation.  Recent developments include this year's series of events looking at leadership, future farming and addressing climate change and the start of a research project on the Nature of Conservationists. Two MSc students from Edinburgh University and Birkbeck college are looking at how conservationists thinking relates to their personal beliefs and inspiration and how this aligns with that of their organisations. Their project synopses can be read here and here, and introductory information here.

For VINE's newly revised Vision for 2009-2011, please look under Project Documents. Our activities fall under four objectives:

1. To support individuals in exploring the role of feelings, senses and intuition in nature conservation, and to support them in developing a personal nature conservation ethic that encompasses these

2. To help explore the philosophical framework for nature conservation decision-making

3. To help enable those working within the nature conservation profession to integrate actions and decisions stemming from the above into their working practices.

4. To promote wider discussion of ethics and values in nature conservation.

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Non-VINE events and news we think will be of interest to VINE members are listed below.

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  • 05.07.2010 - 'Re-wilding' Europe and the return of predators - ZSL Communicating Science series

    6.00pm on Tuesday 13 July 2010. Doors will be open from 5.00pm on the evening and seats will be on a first-come, first-served basis; please arrive early to ensure you get a good seat. The evening has been organised by Organised by Nathalie Pettorelli, Rosie Woodroffe and Sarah Durant, Institute of Zoology, ZSL. 'RE-WILDING' EUROPE AND THE RETURN OF PREDATORS
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  • 16.04.2010 - OXFORD REAL FARMING CONFERENCE ON TOUR

    7th MAY 2010, 10.30am until 1pm A Million New Farmers - Why we need them and where we’ll find them In the new world of climate change and high oil prices, Britain’s mechanised, oil-dependent agriculture is no longer fit for purpose. A global scientific study concluded that high-input grain monocultures – like those covering much of lowland Britain – provide neither good food nor security of supply (IAASTD Report, 2009). Instead of monocultures the world needs “poly-cultures” – diverse cropping patterns adapted to local conditions. In the UK this will mean a shift to more complex systems such as mixed farming and agro-forestry. The one certainty is that these methods will require a lot more people to run them. Where do we find the skills and how do we create the farms that will feed the British people well and sustainably in an increasingly insecure world? While we have no absolute answers, this conference will provide firm guidelines to a better farming future.
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  • 16.11.2009 - Wild Connections

    A networking event hosted by the SpeyGrian Education Trust on the beautiful and wild island of Tanera Mor. One of the SpeyGrian storytellers/poets - Ian Stephen from Lewis - may bring a traditional boat across to Tanera during that week as part of the 10 year celebrations for SpeyGrian.
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  • 02.08.2009 - Seminar: Food, farming and conservation - British Ecological Society with Flora locale

    Tuesday 20 October Fordingbridge, Hampshire Facilitator: Dr Barbara Smith Keynote speaker: Simon Fairlie (rural sustainability commentator and author of Can Britain feed itself). Chairman: Poul Christensen (Natural England). Other contributors: Tim Benton, Henry Buller, Patrick Whitefield, Sue Everett & others. This workshop will explore how the pressure to increase food production can be balanced with the need to maintain and restore farmland biodiversity. Issues to be addressed include: Can Britain feed itself – and at what cost? Should food production and nature conservation be geographically integrated or segregated? Can the rural land management schemes deliver? Challenges for interdisciplinary projects will be discussed. The output will be a paper for policy makers and NGOs.
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  • 02.08.2009 - Wildland Research Institute Launch Event

    Wildland Research: setting the agenda 2010-2020 10:00am-4:30pm Wednesday 21st October 2009 Charles Thackray Building, Clarendon Road, University of Leeds The Wildland Research Institute (WRi) at the University of Leeds is running a cross-agency seminar and workshop as part of the launch week for the institute. The seminar will address how the statutory conservation agencies and NGOs might promote wildland and rewilding as a means of delivering public goods and services such as flood mitigation, biodiversity and landscape amenity. The seminar will additionally look at the relevance of UK wildland within a European context with particular reference to EU resolutions on wilderness and large natural habitat areas. The purpose of the day will be: • To launch WRi by exploring wide ranging potential for wildland, such as ecosystem services, recreational opportunity, natural and cultural heritage; and • To better understand what we need to know and how to begin realizing that potential.
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  • 26.05.2009 - Zero carbon Britain 2: co-creating a vision

    A series of six public events offer the opportunity to learn about and co-create a blueprint for a sustainable future. All six seminars will be conducted in 2009 bringing leaders in sustainability to the Dyfi valley. All six events will be held at the Centre for Alternative Technology, Europe's leading eco centre. The seminar afternoons are based around six research papers which will feed into CAT's Zero Carbon Britain 2 report, a coherent blueprint of what our energy future could be like.
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  • 26.03.2009 - RESOLVE seminar: The World on a Plate: Food, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and our Changing Climate

    Thursday 23 April, 2009, 1300-1400, Oak Suite, Rooms 1 and 2, University of Surrey, Speaker: Tara Garnett, Food Climate Research Network (NB: this seminar was supposed to have been held on the 3 Feb but was snowed-off) The food we eat in the UK contributes around 19% of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At a global level, the overall contribution made by the food system is more significant still.
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  • 17.02.2009 - The Future of Rural Land Use

    Thursday 4 June, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS
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  • 30.09.2008 - Ends of the Earth

    Do you think you have what it takes to make the next Planet Earth? BBC One is looking for nine people to take part in the experience of a lifetime. Encountering extraordinary animals in amazing locations and testing yourself to the limit, this series will culminate with one exceptional individual securing a year’s placement at the BBC’s award winning, world famous Natural History Unit.
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  • 08.07.2008 - Wild Nature, Human Nature

    Deep sustainability through Ecotherapy
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  • 04.03.2008 - Write up from VINE course at Schumacher College, Dartington 27-28 November 2008

    Developing Your Personal Ecological Philosophy: This morning I saw two goldfinches at our bird feeder – I haven’t seen these my favourite birds for years. They remind me of the short break from lectures when Stephan Harding, the resident tutor, asked us to go into the garden of the delightful medieval vicarage which is now Schumacher College and communicate with nature by touching plants, even rocks, which are also part of Stephan’s natural world. He had sown the unusual idea in us that not only do we feel plants when we touch, but they feel us too – touching is a two-way communication. I didn’t get very far with detecting the plant responses, but the jackdaws made themselves aware to us with their extraordinary antics and noises, and gave us a more solid part of nature to hold onto. I don’t believe it - I nearly said jackdaw people! Actually Stephan refers to all living things, including bacteria, as non-human beings, and includes rocks and water. Even salt, carbon and nitrogen compounds, the gases of our atmosphere with their complex interactions are known affectionately as chemical beings.
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  • 28.10.2007 - More than us – conversations between humanity, the arts and ecology.

    Inverness, 29-30 November 2007
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  • 03.07.2007 - Land, Spirit and Community - What sustains us in times of challenge?

    Saturday 7 July 2007, Eden Project, Cornwall. This workshop will explore how we can gain understanding and help form new relationships between mankind, nature and the divine. Cost: £35/£25 concessions.
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  • 03.07.2007 - The spirit of land, sea and soil

    Friday 7 September - Sunday 9 September 2007 St Martin's, Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly is one of Britain's finest archipelagos, a cultural landscape of great beauty and interest. It is a natural confluence of the Celtic cultures of Cornwall, Wales, Brittany and Ireland. Here the spirit in wind and water, earth and sky speaks as strongly today as it did when the sea-faring tribes of old traversed this region. In this conference we will share experiences and explore this spirit through walks, talks and cultural events throughout the islands. Do join us for a unique three-day conference in this special place to explore our Celtic roots and rediscover the spiritual imperative of our links with sea and soil.
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  • 13.03.2007 - What are the ecological consequences of ‘wilding’ as a long term conservation strategy?

    To address the one of the top 100 ecological questions of high policy relevance in the UK British Ecological Society Conservation Ecology Group, in association with the Centre for Integrated Research in the Rural Environment, University of Wales Aberystwyth; The Wildland Network and Ecology Matters Ltd. 12, 13 July at Greynog Hall.
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  • 28.11.2006 - Heathland Art Project

    The Forestry Commision are currently working on an exciting proposal to celebrate and profile Britain’s heathlands and promote the significance of heathlands to the general public through artistic interpretation
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