Matthew Shaw bids farewell to People Need Nature, the charity that has been promoting nature’s emotional, sensory and spiritual value since 2015.
In March 2020 I became a trustee of a Dorset-based charity called People Need Nature. A couple of weeks ago came the news that People Need Nature is to close — although its legacy will continue on. I wanted to think back on some of the achievements from People Need Nature and share them with you.
Founded as a charity in 2015, People Need Nature’s mission was to promote the emotional, sensory and spiritual value of nature. Over the past 11 years there have been many high points. Let’s start with the reports written by CEO Miles King. A pebble in the pond sought to lay out a new vision for England’s agricultural policy in a post-Brexit world, and Where there’s muck tackled the issue of multibillion-pound tax shelters in regards to farming. These reports were written to create debate around land use, with the aim of informing and changing government policy.
My first involvement with People Need Nature came in my work as an artist. I joined a team made up of writers, ecologists, artists, entomologists, activists and so on. We all travelled to Lodge Hill in North Kent to visit the military training camp — with our eyes and ears on nightingales, not war. Lodge Hill was threatened by housing development and so we went to survey and be inspired to create reports and work of an artistic nature in response to what we found. Many of the outcomes from this are still available today on the People Need Nature website. The responses created by those of us involved with the Lodge Hill visit influenced the eventual salvation of the site.
Another project that I have been proud to support was a collaboration between People Need Nature and the Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network. Over six years a poet was commissioned to set a challenge to young people who would then explore writing nature poetry, many for the first time. Selections of these were published on the People Need Nature website each year. The highlight was when one young poet read out their poem at the Glasgow climate conference COP21. I am delighted to say that four of these poetry challenges have been collected together for a book titled The earth that whispers at my feet that will be published this spring by the Poetry Society.
Additionally, it was a pleasure to have worked on a project in conjunction with Lush cosmetics and the late Simon Emmerson of The Imagined Village and the Afro Celt Sound System. People Need Nature produced a meadow soundscape for National Meadows Day in 2017. Miles and I then created similar artistic responses to nature during the first Covid lockdown when so many were stuck at home, anxious about the future. We posted daily videos of the natural world on our daily walks, offering up the small seasonal changes and the stunning natural beauty of that spring and summer which was so at odds with the uncertain times we lived through. Hopefully it was of some use in brightening the day for people unable to get out.
In 2020 The National Trust asked People Need Nature to explore a project creating community involvement in woodland creation while also exploring how art can be integral to these environments. This led on to The National Trust progressing with their plans for large-scale woodland creation. Around this time we also worked on a green social prescribing project based at Pundbury in Dorset, promoting nature for wellbeing and exploring how nature, art and spirituality can be helpful for those of us struggling with our mental health.
Another notable achievement came from Keith Datchler, one of People Need Nature’s founding trustees. Keith created a meadows project in Battle, East Sussex which continues to this day. Similarly Miles started the Poundbury Nature Project in 2019, focussing on the green spaces around Poundbury and acting as something of a showcase of what can be achieved for people and nature by careful management of our green spaces. Despite this being the final chapter of People Need Nature as a charity, the Poundbury Nature Project will continue, led by Miles into the future.
I would like to extend my great thanks to Miles and all trustees past and present who have generously given their expertise, passion and time to this organisation. With Miles’ leadership, People Need Nature brought nature to many people, encouraging us to protect the natural world — and to see nature, art and spirituality as ways to enrich our lives.