Bioregional

Last updated

Bioregional
Founded1992 as 'Bioregional Development Group'
FounderSue Riddlestone, Pooran Desai
Type Limited company and Charitable trust
Focus Sustainability, Sustainable development, Environmentalism
Location
Area served
World
Method Social enterprise, training
Revenue
£1,380,000 Pound Sterling (2006-7)
Website bioregional.com

Bioregional is a British entrepreneurial charity, which aims to invent and deliver practical solutions for sustainability. It was founded in 1992 on the belief that overconsumption of resources was the driving force behind environmental degradation, and set out to find new ways for people to meet more of their needs from local resources.

Contents

History

Bioregional was founded in 1994 by Sue Riddlestone OBE and Pooran Desai OBE, and began operations in the Sutton Ecology Centre. They first worked on local environmental projects, including the promotion of closed loop recycling in London and Surrey, [1] reviving lavender production in Mitcham and Carshalton, [2] setting up Croydon's TreeStation to turn waste municipal wood into biomass, [3] and establishing the Bioregional Charcoal Company Ltd who help a network of local charcoal producers sell to major retail stores. [4] These projects reflected Bioregional's aim of setting up social enterprises that could make the use of local and waste resources mainstream.

Bioregional began to expand in the late 1990s, and with the completion of BedZED they moved into their present offices in Hackbridge, London Borough of Sutton. Using the learnings from BedZED they developed the One Planet Living programme with WWF, which is the framework for all sustainable communities projects and has an equal influence over their vision as the original bioregionalism focus. Currently a One Planet Living communities is being built in Brighton. [5]

Bioregional currently[ when? ] has around 40 staff in London, as well as regional offices in China, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, Greece, Mexico, and Australia.

Founded in 2005, Bioregional North America is an affiliated Canadian non-profit organization that specializes in fostering sustainable behavior change and collaborative consumption amongst occupants in new and existing buildings across the United States and Canada. [6]

BedZED the UK's largest eco-village. BedZED 2007.jpg
BedZED the UK's largest eco-village.

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carshalton</span> Suburb of London

Carshalton is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated 9.5 miles (15.3 km) south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalton Ponds in the middle of the village. Prior to the creation of Greater London in 1965, Carshalton was in the administrative county of Surrey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Borough of Sutton</span> Borough in southwest London, United Kingdom

The London Borough of Sutton is an Outer London borough in south-west London, England. It covers an area of 43 km2 (17 sq mi) and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to the east, the London Borough of Merton to the north and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames to the north-west; it also borders the Surrey boroughs of Epsom and Ewell to the west and Reigate and Banstead to the south. The local authority is Sutton London Borough Council. Its principal town is the eponymous Sutton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bioregionalism</span> Ecological philosophy

Bioregionalism is a philosophy that suggests that political, cultural, and economic systems are more sustainable and just if they are organized around naturally defined areas called bioregions, similar to ecoregions. Bioregions are defined through physical and environmental features, including watershed boundaries and soil and terrain characteristics. Bioregionalism stresses that the determination of a bioregion is also a cultural phenomenon, and emphasizes local populations, knowledge, and solutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BedZED</span> Housing development in Hackbridge, London

Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge, London, England. It is in the London Borough of Sutton, 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town of Sutton itself. Designed to create zero carbon emissions, it was the first large scale community to do so.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carshalton Beeches railway station</span> National Rail station in London, England

Carshalton Beeches railway station is in south Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton in south London. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southern, and is in Travelcard Zone 5. It is between Wallington and Sutton, 13 miles 72 chains down the line from London Bridge, measured via Forest Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carshalton Athletic F.C.</span> Association football club in London, England

Carshalton Athletic Football Club is an English football club based in Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton. They currently play in the Isthmian League Premier Division and are based at the War Memorial Sports Ground. The club also field a women's team playing in the London and South East Regional Women's Premier Division and have one of the biggest community clubs in England with over 40 junior teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashden</span> Charity in London focused on sustainable energy and development

Ashden is a London-based charity that works in the field of sustainable energy and development. Its work includes the annual Ashden Awards, advocacy and research in the field of sustainable energy, and mentoring and practical support for award winners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Cotton</span> Welsh entrepreneur and philanthropist (born 1950)

Ann Lesley Cotton OBE is a Welsh entrepreneur and philanthropist who was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2006 Queen's New Year Honours List. The honour was in recognition of her services to education of young women in rural Africa as the founder of Camfed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hackbridge</span> Human settlement in England

Hackbridge is a suburb in the London Borough of Sutton, south-west London, just over two miles north-east of the town of Sutton itself. It is 8.8 miles (15 km) south-west of Charing Cross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cascadia movement</span> Bioregion, proposed country in North America

The Cascadia movement is a bioregional independence movement based in the Cascadia bioregion of western North America. Potential boundaries differ, with some drawn along existing political state and provincial lines, and others drawn along larger ecological, cultural, political, and economic boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harish Hande</span> Indian social entrepreneur

Harish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur, who co-founded SELCO India in 1995. He was awarded with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2011 for "his pragmatic efforts to put solar power technology in the hands of the poor, through his social enterprise SELCO India".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skoll Foundation</span> US philanthropic foundation

The Skoll Foundation is a private foundation based in Palo Alto, California. The foundation makes grants and investments intended to reduce global poverty. Jeffrey Skoll created the foundation in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of the London Borough of Croydon</span>

The London Borough of Croydon has a wide variety of buildings mainly from post-war through to modern. Much of the modern architecture in the borough is centred on the commercial centre of the town, with much of the Victorian designs spread out on both the northern and southern corridors of the borough. Many former warehouses and factories have been converted for other uses changing the external appearance of Croydon erratically.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramesh Kumar Nibhoria</span>

Ramesh Nibhoria is an Indian Punjabi engineer and entrepreneur, and creator of biomass pellet fueled cook stove.

Chris Underhill is an English social entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gidon Bromberg</span>

Gidon Bromberg is the Israeli director of EcoPeace Middle East. EcoPeace is a regional organization that brings together Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists to promote sustainable development and advance peace efforts in the Middle East. It has offices in Amman, Bethlehem and Tel Aviv, employs 40 paid staff and actively involves hundreds of volunteers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Black (computer scientist)</span> British computer scientist

Susan Elizabeth Black is a British computer scientist, academic and social entrepreneur. She is known for saving Bletchley Park, with her Saving Bletchley Park campaign. Since 2018, she has been Professor of Computer Science and Technology Evangelist at Durham University. She was previously based at the University of Westminster and University College London.

E+Co is a non-governmental organization based in Bloomfield, New Jersey, United States, that from its founding in 1994 to its restructuring in 2012 made over 250 clean energy investments in developing countries. Over these 18 years, E+Co maintained field offices in San Jose, Costa Rica, Bangkok, Thailand, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Accra, Ghana. The company's name is pronounced, "E and Co".

Sally R. Osberg an American business executive who formerly served as president and CEO of the Skoll Foundation, where she partnered with founder and chairman, Jeffrey Skoll. She was the founding executive director of the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose.

References

  1. TreeHugger, December 27, 2007, Local Paper for London: Get your Own (Recycled) Paper Back Archived 30 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Carshalton Lavender, SM6". A Picture of Change. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2007.
  3. "London Borough of Croydon and BioRegional Development Group". Carbon Trust. 19 February 2007. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  4. Fry, Carolyn (13 June 2008). "Tread lightly: Buy British barbecue charcoal". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  5. Barr, Damian (15 February 2008). "Green apartments in Brighton". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 May 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  6. "BioReigonal: Experct consultants on behaviour change and sustainable lifestyles, green communities and ecodistricts". BioRegional North America. Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  7. "BioRegional UK founders win Social Entrepreneur of the Year". BioRegional North America. 9 June 2011. Archived from the original on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  8. "Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship". BioRegional. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  9. "The Observer Ethical Awards in association with Ecover - winners revealed". The Observer. 2008. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  10. "Ashden Awards case study on BioRegional's TreeStation project". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 15 July 2008.