We were honoured to be a partner of Content Rising in Wakehurst in June with an outstanding slate of speakers: Speakers and workshop hosts | Content Rising.

The event, co organised by Tamsin Bishton, Charlie Peverett, and Greenhouse Communications, was hosted in beautiful Wakehurst, “technically the most biodiverse place in the world” as it hosts the Millennium seed bank, as outlined by Susan Raikes, its Director.

This is a very special place where nature and science come together for our wellbeing.

It was so inspiring to hear the Youth voices Panel with Chantelle Lindsay and Lira Valencia, a London Wildlife Trust wildlife ranger, Instagram influencer with over 95k followers, and zoology student.

We also heard from Vanessa Terschluse, who works with Greenhouse Comms, grew up in Brazil, specialises in indigenous communities, and is a member of the Club of Rome.

Together they advocate to break down the barriers to access nature with their own voices and with narratives that are relatable for young audiences.

All the speakers had in common to be empowering in their own way, encouraging all to take action, while allowing yourself to be a real human and be silly, force yourself to rest and find hobbies that make you happy to avoid being burnt out by eco anxiety.

Jon Alexander presented his book, “Citizens”, providing a framework of ideas to reframe the narratives for our society: we need to create a new story, tapping into collective minds and resources, we are citizens before being consumers! Collective creativity is our key, let’s not forget about our power of action. Big change starts small: let’s remember that the NHS started as a group of local miners. Our story is one of courage and not fear. The ANTIDOTE | Empowering Collective Action platform shares tangible examples from gamechangers, as “The world is overwhelming right now. But there are people building a future that works, and they’re doing it in communities just like yours, showing what’s possible when we take charge together.”

“They tried to bury us, but they did not know we were seeds“, attributed to the Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulos, was quoted in the afternoon as a powerful symbol of resilience and the potential for “growth” in the face of adversity.

The afternoon was filled with several workshops, enabling all the participants to enjoy the fantastic environment at Wakehurst. The trees are particularly exceptional

The finale was uplifting with international climate lawyer Farhana Yamin, one of the architects of the Paris agreement. No less. According to her, “The reason why there is such a backlash currently is because we have won so many battles”, but that “No revolution using repression has ever succeeded”. The majority of the world believes in respect.

We need a system change, go back to values and emotional connections. Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory showed that, we need to fight the myth of scarcity.

According to her, citizens assemblies, alternative ways of governance and ensuring inclusive representation – with diversity but also other species – and using our imagination are the way forward. Think cooperatively for collective well being; Competitive should be replaced by Care; We need to invent and live in the future, be in the present, rehearse the future we want and make it happened collectively!