From passive solar heating to ‘sit spots’, author Richard Louv suggests three ways we can experience more nature in our daily lives

1. Choose a ‘sit spot’

Jon Young, one of the world’s preeminent nature educators, advises finding a special place in nature, whether it’s under a tree, the hidden bend of a river, or a rooftop garden. “Know it by day; know it by night, in the depth of winter, in the heat of summer,” he writes. “Know the birds that live there, know the trees they live in. Get to know these things as if they were your relatives.” They are.

2. Practise ‘friluftsliv’

‘Friluftsliv’ is a Norwegian term that roughly translates as ‘free air life’. It’s a lifestyle idea that promotes outdoor activity as being good for all aspects of human health. It’s pretty straightforward – just be outside as much as possible. Work it into your schedule by committing to being in nature for a minimum amount of time every day, or a certain number of days a month.

3. Design with nature in mind

Arrange your furniture in sync with the sun’s movements, so that sleeping and waking relate to the available light. If you’re designing a house, place large windows on south-facing walls for passive solar heating. Combine solar panels with skylights and use lights that adjust throughout the day via sensors.

Richard Louv is an author as well as co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Children & Nature Network. His most recent book is Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life. He is working on his tenth, about the evolving relationship between humans and other animals.

A webinar that explores what we mean by ‘green church’ and what church communities can do to pray, promote and protest in support of recovering biodiversity, mitigating climate change, acting sustainably and connecting with nature.

As one doctor puts it, “People like me need your help.”

By raising questions and taking on a more active role in decision making, patients can do their part to avoid needless medications, tests, treatments or procedures, says neurosurgeon Christer Mjåset.

“Doctor, is this really necessary?”

Find out more: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/prevent-unnecessary-medical-care-by-asking-your-doctor-these-4-questions-first?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing began as one friend helping another and has gone on to explore issues many older men might find hard to discuss.

A couple of years ago, early in his time as controller of BBC Two, Patrick Holland got a call asking if he’d have a meeting with Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse, who wanted to pitch an idea. Of course, he was a massive fan: they were comedy heroes of his in the 90s. But then the meeting happened and Holland’s heart sank, because the project turned out to be one about … fishing.

Find out more: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/oct/02/mortimer-and-whitehouse-gone-fishing-mens-health-male-friendship?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

A 15 minute news item from Channel 4…why there’s an urgent need for system-wide change to protect, promote and recover biodiversity

Do you work with organisations which would benefit from our people power?

Let us lend a hand

At Aviva, we employ thousands of talented and enthusiastic people who could have just the skills you need to move a project forward.

We do all we can to empower our people to give back to their communities. As part of this, every employee gets up to 21 hours a year of paid volunteering leave, which they can use during work hours to help out their communities. 

Our big push

From 12 to 16 October 2020 we will be running a ‘Volunteering Week’ event. Our aim is to have 20% of our UK workforce (approximately 3,200 people) making use of their volunteering hours by helping out causes in their communities.

To make it as easy as possible for our people to volunteer we’re hoping to collaborate with volunteering organisations, as well as national and local charities, to provide volunteering opportunities. We’re particularly open to opportunities that have a climate focus, as well as any that can be done digitally or remotely, to accommodate Coronavirus concerns.  We can currently allow up to 6 people, socially distanced, for outdoor group events in an outdoor setting, and of course Government guidelines would need to be adhered to at all times.

We ran this campaign for the first-time last year, and our people really embraced the challenge, giving around 8,000 volunteering hours to support over 80 charities. We’d love to build on that success this year and give charities all the help we can throughout this difficult time.

Volunteering Week

Opportunities should be able to take place during working hours and non-remote projects will need to be based near to one of Aviva’s primary locations:

• Bristol, Dorking, Eastleigh, Glasgow, London, Norwich, Perth, Sheffield, York

Interested in our help?

We’ll be promoting opportunities internally across our locations throughout September, with the aim of signing people up, ready to leap into action during Volunteering Week.

Please feel free to share this email with organisations you think would have appropriate opportunities needing support during Volunteering Week (or require volunteers on a long-term basis or later in the year).  We just ask that this form is completed fully and submitted by 11^th September 2020 to tell us what support would be helpful.  If there is any imagery (with the appropriate permissions) to include with the volunteering opportunity, please send this through to the email below.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch at volunteering@aviva.com.

Many thanks,

The Aviva Corporate Responsibility team

#StrongerCommunities
Aviva plc, registered Office: St. Helen’s, 1 Undershaft, London EC3P 3DQ. Registered in England No. 02468686. www.aviva.com

Well, I’ve managed a full-on programme of garden work so far, including some long overdue maintenance to garden furniture and structures….I’ll share some pics in due course.

I also spent a couple of hours making a little garden for my next door neighbour, Hattie (age 3). Some of you may know that I’m keen on recycling and in particular have marveled at the sorts of things people can make out of pallets. I’ve done a little of this myself in the past, not only in my own garden (where they are used as compost and leafmould containers), but helping primary school children create some vertical planters. Having demolished our rather old, and in places rotting, wooden arbour and similarly decaying raised planter, I had a few pieces of trellis and board left….. as well as a pallet of course.

After some slight adjustments, and the side boards having been nailed into place, I lined it with landscaping fabric. The result is a special ‘portable’ (when empty) garden. I also supplied a selection of plants, which will hopefully engage Hattie in gardening..though I know she is already into growing having seen her sunflowers last year, and she also has a rather impressive set of gardening tools (3 year old scale of course).

I started the ball rolling with a pot of compost and a couple of first early seed potatoes which she has now planted in the pot. The pallet garden (having been painted up) followed, and Hattie went about filling it with compost from my wheelbarrow (I think Mum and Dad may have helped).