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Category: Reading UK

Posted on 26/03/201813/06/2018

Start Somewhere – Share and Connect (On and Offline) (5)

Start Somewhere - Share and Connect (On and Offline) - Sustainability Tip (5) This is the final tip in the 5 part series looking at everyday activities,…

Continue reading → Start Somewhere – Share and Connect (On and Offline) (5)

Posted on 27/02/201804/04/2019

Always Question And Make Your Choice Count (4)

The Role, Responsibilities and Choices of Product Designers and Buyers Having trained as a Product Design Engineer, I've always enjoyed solving problems, looking at peoples's…

Continue reading → Always Question And Make Your Choice Count (4)

Posted on 14/02/201831/05/2018

Try a Taste of Sustainability (3)

This is 3rd in a 5 part series looking at everyday activities, organisations and campaigns that support contributing to sustainable change. Although focused on Reading UK, it…

Continue reading → Try a Taste of Sustainability (3)

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Without words

Friday! Forget-me-not 💙 Just being completely present with family visiting from around the world and some focus on delivery of workshops and proposals this last week. . Hope you’ve had wonderful weeks and managed to prioritise some time making the most of some beautiful sunshine days and whatever is important to you ( which is not always, and many times, not work). . I’ve still some catching up to do and some lovely things to share next week 😉 . . . . . . . . #forgetmenots #ecoliving #sustainabledesigner #humannature #rdgukbiz #itsthelittlethingsinlife #fridaymotivation #thelittlethingsinlife #wildlifegarden #inspiredbynature Today’s “desk” 😍 Slowly getting the confidence back to make more with my hands and heart and less with the head. 🙌 With an engineering background, and with many jobs, it can often mean that as you “progress” you spend more time on spreadsheets and managing people and things. Technology can also make us feel that if we’re not online it doesn’t count. 💻 Less hands on and doing, designing, creatively making and experimenting. Even when you work for yourself it can take time to rethink, realign and get a balance. 💙 So today I’m out in the garden shed, letting my hands do the work and this beautiful, worn old work table take the weight of my shoulders. 🛠 What’s you work view today? . . . . . . . #makingchange #ecodesigner #durabledesign #seconhhand #shedlife #homeoffice #freelancerlife #materialvalues #deskview #simplethingsinlife #lowwasteliving #rdgukbusiness #womenengineer #digitalditox #creativespace Definitely a “hug in a mug” sort of day today. ☕️ When it’s grey and rainy outside time to warm up those creative muscles inside. 🙌 P.s. after a bit of research we found that @clipperteas has changed over to plastic free teabags so they can go straight in the compost. No more splitting open each individually to empty in! Now they just need to sort the inner box packaging to be fully aligned. 🌿 . . . . . 📷 via @highlysensitiverefuge #teatime #wednesdaywisdom #startupnature #plasticfreeteabags #plasticfree #itsthelittlethings #lowwastelifestyle #teamakeseverythingbetter It’s a rhubarb jungle out there! 😯 Make that WAS. 🥧 Suggestions & recipes most welcome. Although we’ll be sharing some with our neighbour. Have to say, don’t think I’ve ever cooked with it before. 🤔 . . . . . . . #rhubarbrecipes #rhubarb #growyourown #inmygarden #saturdayfood #greenliving #slowliving #slowfood #jungle Ever wondered what that plant or animal was? I know I do all the time.... 🤔 Came across this recently updated app from @inaturalistorg launched in collaboration with the Netflix Our Home series & @wwf 🐼 I took it for a wee test run in the woods on the evening dog walk and seemed to work pretty well. Hello wild garlic! 🙌 Think it uses a combination of image recognition technology & community, user knowledge to learn species & identify. 🧐 Nice example of a little gamification added as well to encourage continued use! 🌳 Hopefully I’ll be able to figure out what’s in the garden now..... 🌿 Got me thinking if anyone has any other "apps for the environment" that they've used? . . . . . . . . #ecotech #greendesign #ecodesigner #technicalnature #plantidentification #getoutdoorsmore #tech4good #greenliving #rdguk #imagerecognition #ourhome #davidattenborough #urbanecology Morning feels, slowly unfurling 🌿 . Ooh, reminds me I have a good fern story from the weekend (as you do), that I haven’t got round to share yet! 😉 . . . . . . #inspiredbynature #loveferns #nationalgardeningweek #greenliving #ecodesigner #biophilia #morningview #rdguk #itsthelittlethings #noticethelittlethings #lovenaturesbeauty Hello 👋 it’s been a while since I popped on here properly for a wee intro - and to new followers, thank you for joining this exploration of being a human-kind in this complex ( sometimes extremely mucked up) yet oh so beautiful world 💚 I’m Erica ( guess you know that one) and I’ve worked as a sustainable design & circular economy programme and business innovation consultant/ collaborator for almost 5 years ( yikes has it been that long). 🙌 It’s sometimes hard to package my work as the content and collaborators are varied, mixing my background in product design engineering in the consumer electronics world, and utilising design thinking & impact experience in NGO’s programmes & campaigning. But the threads that run through them all are: Sustainability, circular economy, EcoDesign and regenerative focused Always questioning Striving for better design and getting deeper into the problem, understanding the underlying issues, getting to the root cause Combining product, tech approaches with human behaviour, policies or campaigning “blending” approaches for change. Bringing a personal touch and committed approach. To quote someone I’ve worked with “ you’re the one I can go to to get sh*t done” Really caring about helping you make a positive impact Helping you to be you and me to me while building - safe and enriching environments to share, learn, grow and take action for a better world. 🌎 I’m continually inspired by the amazing people I’ve collaborated with! 🤛 On the more personal side: Love my family ( which includes the pooch we adopted, 2nd hand like many of my clothes....) Cycle everywhere as much as possible ( so may arrive a little scruffy but energised to a meeting ) Finding a better balance and being kind to my energy levels ( suffer from adrenal insufficiency & endometriosis ) Tend to say “yes” a bit too often to things.... Nature is my therapy and getting out in her more and away from screens ( also getting slightly obsessed with gardening, growing & recently did a course on permaculture design). Continually working on my self-doubt ( thanks @saspetherick ) An emotional and sensitive being ( and that’s ok) 💙 Oh and I have a “side project” coming soo So it was Earth day on Monday ( no I didn’t forget, but spent the day digging in the earth creating a wee wildlife pond in the garden), thus also avoiding all the Earth day merchandising. 😉 And yes everyday is Earth day! Anyway, it may have slipped you by ( especially if you’re an @ecosia convert day to day), but the mighty Google relaunched their “Your Plan, Your Planet” online interactive tool to support learning about the sustainable actions you can take in the home and the circular economy. ( a little gamification to support awareness raising & behaviour change). Alongside their #Mysuperg also taking on the sustainable stuff in the home theme. 💻 Anyway some nice visual graphics, stats and overviews to help think about your actions and choices a little more. Could be great to use as an educational resource in schools too. Although it does miss a bit of a connection to nature for me (naturally) and the combined ethical side of sustainability. 🌳 You’ll find it at ( yourplanyourplanet.sustainability.google ). Hopefully folk who aren’t already doing or thinking about these things will come across it to! 🙌 On a side note, I had a quick scroll down the comments on it on their feed. “Where’s your Easter artwork?” “ where can I buy that google bottle & pens” At least with all their followers this can begin to help filter through..... 🤦‍♀️ . . . . . . 📷 @google #yourplanyourplanet #ecodesigner #sustainabledesign #ecochoices #sustainableliving #earthday #circulareconomy #greenliving #womenintech #digitalgraphics #infographics #ecotech #behaviourchange #smallsustainablesteps #gamification Ooh, I’m talking fashion today 💃🏻 Maybe not something that pops up in these little squares of mine explicitly very often, ( I’ve always been a second hand, charity shop kind of girl, that now has actually become more fashionable.....), but in terms of trends and insight I’ve worked in the crossing over sustainable design and waste, ethics area for a while. 🤔 It’s @fash_rev week, a campaign & wider movement I’ve supported for a number of years and today, especially, its also a time to remember the horrific ranaplaza disaster in a Bangladesh garment factory, that cost the lives of so many ( over 1,100 people died when it collapsed ). Do read more about it on their feed. 💙 To be honest I struggle with the term “sustainable fashion” and the word fashion itself makes me a bit nervous in relation to sustainability, so often associated with the latest trend, season or catwalk. A particular time and often driven by economics to sell more. Don’t even get me started on the “Fast” business models 🐈 Now I’m a lover of definitions, and the background of words, etymology, and when getting back to the root of fashion there’s actually a beauty to the word rather than the short termism associated. It seems to come from Latin faction - factio “ the art of making”, from facere “ to make, bring about do” 🙌 So let’s reclaim the word, not to be the new, the shiny, the latest, the extrinsic, the passing BUT to truly mean “ to make, bring about, Do sustainability” . . . . . . #ecofashion #sustainablefashion #theartofmaking #fashionrevolution #whomademyclothes #shopsecondhand #slowliving #slowfashion #fastfashion #lovedclotheslast #loveyourclothes #fashionrevolutionweek

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Erica Purvis
erica@technicalnature.org.uk
+44 07944677630

Reading UK

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