News & Info

VINE is now two years old, and has been launched as a not-for-profit organisation.  Developments include the 6 fledgling VINE theme groups which have been set up to provide focus for action on VINE's main themes (see project brief for more detail) and to ensure that VINE remains a grassroots, membership lead organisation.  Please contact the relevant person to join or for more information:

THEME 1. To help the development of a philosophical framework for nature conservation in the early 21st Century

1.1. Help the development of the philosophical framework. Contact Pat Vincent

1.2. Help to develop thinking on practical issues acting globally. Contact Mike Alexander

1.3. Production of a land managers’ short ‘guide/handbook’ on practical issues acting locally. Contact John Bacon

THEME 2. To communicate and nurture the belief within the nature conservation profession that intuition, senses, feelings and ethics should balance and support the scientific foundations of our work

2.1 Provide a forum for the expression and development of values and ethics (especially for those recently taking up the profession). Contact Sophie Lake

2.2. Provide a facility for the expression for the arts linked to nature conservation. Contact: Peter Phillipson

2.3. Help to encourage the use of plain/accessible language.  Contact Kathy Hodder

News and events (see Events for information on VINE events)

  • 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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