Briefing No. 35
What we’re reading
On the Greenwood Place bedside table
When northern Kenyans find elephant bones, they lay down blossoms and branches as a mark of respect. In our changing world, these values are vitally important. For decades, northern Kenya was one step away from war. Wildlife was decimated. Yet, facing the most extreme challenges, people united. The Greenwood Place community visited the Northern Rangeland Trust in 2018 and saw proof that human dedication to the cause of conservation, and to one another, can make a difference. Sonal took Peter Martell’s book Flowers for Elephants with her to visit family this month in Kenya.
The Good Life
"The Good Life" is making its way around the Greenwood Place team. Based on findings from the 80-year-long Harvard Study of Adult Development, this landmark book draws out the longest and richest study of human lives anywhere to ask what makes for a fulfilling and meaningful life? A good life? .
Canopy
Our partner Canopy received a $60 million investment over six years through The Audacious Project this month to transform the world's paper, packaging and viscose supply chains. We lose over five billion trees a year to paper, packaging and viscose textiles. Canopy is poised to catalyse a dramatic scale-up of Next Gen pulp production capacity and purchasing, preventing the logging of Ancient and Endangered forests. By turning food waste, agricultural residues, and textile waste into Next Gen fibres that can be used for packaging and clothing, Canopy’s work will protect the planet's most critical forest ecosystems.
Five Seasons
“For me, garden design isn’t just about plants, it is about emotion, atmosphere, a sense of contemplation. You try to move people with what you do. You look at this, and it goes deeper than what you see. It reminds you of something in the genes - nature, or the longing for nature.” Piet Oudolf, landscape designer. Nick Bent, CEO of Upreach, recommended this documentary to us. He told us that it was absolutely entrancing. We agree.
To Be A Healer
For years, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has been naming and investigating loneliness as a public health issue. When people struggle with loneliness, not only is it bad for their mental health, increasing their risk of depression and anxiety, but it also increases their risk for heart disease and premature death. Murthy discusses here how we can reclaim lives that are full of joy and connection to one another and why it is so urgent that we do.
Matar
Directed by Bafta-winner Hassan Akkad and starring Ahmed Malek (The Swimmers), Matar is a powerful exposé of the UK's asylum system and the hardships and discrimination faced by those trying to rebuild their lives in England, told through the story of one man and his experiences working as a delivery driver in London.
Drawdown Lift
Work to address climate change often overlooks the well-being of people experiencing extreme poverty - those who are often most vulnerable to a changing climate. This new report lists out readily available and financially viable climate solutions that increase income and improve food security for the most vulnerable
A Space Elevator
Take a trip to space and explore the atmosphere in the world's only space elevator.
And Finally…
Spring has finally, truly arrived. Few have matched Chaucer’s lyrical praise for the finest month in Troilus and Criseyde:
In May, that moder is of monthes glade,
That fresshe floures, blewe, and whyte, and rede,
Ben quike agayn, that winter dede made,
And ful of bawme is fleting every mede.
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Greenwood Place provides philanthropy support, advice and execution for a small group of strategic philanthropists. We take an entrepreneurial approach to tackling tough social and environmental problems. We work closely with our clients to find the places where they can make most difference, we support their learning and we partner with them to achieve real, lasting change.
The Greenwood is the place in Shakespeare's plays where characters go to grow, change and learn.