“I can remember walking out and there being rocks here and there. The dirt was just powder; there wasn’t even weeds growing. After Ethan did all of the things with the soils. It’s beautiful because we’re rebuilding what was already here.  Think of when an eagle that went and caught a salmon, ate it and then left some of its remnants; that’s exactly what we are doing here. Because those are the nutrients that the soil needs.  Little by little not only did the plants grow but we started...

SUGi Talks 🌿 EP.09 — Cities in Crisis: How Nature-based Solutions & urban trees can tackle our cities' growing issues. You might have heard the term 'Nature-based Solutions', but what does it actually mean? What do they look like? And how can they help cities tackle the ecological and climate crisis? On this episode of SUGi Talks, we meet Cecil Konijnendijk. Cecil co-directs the Nature-Based Solutions Institute, a think tank dedicated to evidence-based urban greening strategies, and he...

Our cities are expanding. Green spaces are being gobbled up by concrete and asphalt. And what is the cost of this rapid urbanisation? Why do we need Nature in our cities? How can urban forests help biodiversity and community wellbeing?  On this episode of SUGi Talks, we meet James Godfrey-Faussett. As SUGi’s lead Forest Maker, James manages our global urban Pocket Forest and afforestation efforts. In the UK alone he has planted 20 forests, including the UK and Europe's biggest Miyawaki...

SUGi Talks 🌿 EP.08: The Cloud Gardener: Taking on the UK’s urban developers.   Like many of us, during the pandemic Jason Williams, aka The Cloud Gardener, was forced indoors. While on furlough from his hospitality job, he decided to try a few plants out on his balcony. Up on the 18th floor of a high rise in Manchester city, he went from struggling with one marigold flower to transforming his balcony into a thriving ecosystem in the sky. Three years on he’s now a multi-award-winning...

SUGi Talks 🌿 EP03: The Impact: What does science say about our Miyawaki Forests?  Did you know that there is a biodiversity crisis in our cities? How can our Pocket Forests help cities? Do they actually work?  On this episode of SUGi Talks, we meet Dr. Grey Coupland.  Grey is our lead scientist at SUGi, and she holds the key to the rich data behind our Pocket Forests. Based in Perth Australia, she was recognised by UNESCO’s Green Citizen’s campaign for her STEM outreach program which...

SUGi Talks 🌿 EP07: Jordan’s Changing Landscapes: The ecological price tag of urbanisation. In the not-too-distant past, Deema was working as an architect in Amman, Jordan. As one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, Deema watched her hometown become almost unrecognisable as urbanisation swept through its landscapes, forgoing much of its Nature and local biodiversity.  As Jordan’s ongoing desertification continues to threaten its resources, Deema understood the cost of losing so much...

Did you know that underneath the forest floor a sophisticated network of fungi forms a secret super highway between plants? Carrying resources and chemical messengers, this highway acts as a mysterious support system allowing trees to communicate and share material.  The Mycorrhizal Network, or the Wood Wide Web, was popularised by Dr. Suzanne Simard in her book “Finding the Mother Tree”. Today, we speak to Gabriel Orrego, a former student of Dr. Simard, co-founder of Symbiótica and our...

Since time immemorial the traditional lifeways of the Yakama people have been deeply rooted in the natural world.  However, the ongoing trauma inflicted on the community has left this connection to the land fractured, with indigenous knowledge dwindling amongst many of the younger generations. In 2020 Chief Alvarez, of the Yakama Nation Corrections & Rehabilitation Facility, was looking for ways to help the inmates reconnect to the land and plants that once shaped their...

In the 1970s, Japan was undergoing an industrial boom. As the skies filled with smog and pollution soared, public health became a grave concern. In response Professor (Dr) Akira Miyawaki turned to native forests. Understanding their power in mitigating pollution and natural disasters, he developed The Miyawaki Method as a means to rapidly build dense biodiverse forests. Professor (Dr) Kazue Fujiwara was instrumental in the development of the Miyawaki Method, collaborating closely with...

In this episode of SUGi Talks we meet Gaurav Gurjar. Gaurav is a jungle tree expert at Afforestt, and the Director of the Maruvan Foundation in Rajasthan. Over the past few years, Gaurav has been restoring an area of India’s lost desert forest, and with the support SUGi he’s begun the second 4,000 sqm phase of the project. Living on the land, enduring intense heat and drought, Gaurav has worked tirelessly to harness the elements in order to restore the land, and the results are astonishing....

For our very first episode of SUGi Talks, we meet James Godfrey-Faussett. As SUGi’s lead Forest Maker, James manages our global urban Pocket Forest and afforestation efforts. In the UK alone he has planted 20 forests, including the UK and Europe's biggest Miyawaki forest in Barking and Dagenham. Focussing on cities and the chronic lack of Biodiversity in our urban areas, we reimagine what healthy cities could look like. Alongside this, we speak about the healing power of Nature and the UK’s...