business

Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust – Reshaping Land Ownership in Scotland

How can communities reclaim control over their shared challenges? In March 2002, Gigha islanders managed, with help from grants and loans from the National Lottery and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, to purchase the island from its absentee landlord for £4 million. The island is now owned through a development trust called the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust. The Trust aims to promote: community regeneration, employment and sustainability. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFiudQ0t2ms?rel=0] Many people in [...]

Garry Peterson2016-11-28T09:30:00+00:00business, europe|Comments Off

Urban Office/Urban Farm

Using urban farming to grow food and promote a beautiful work environment in central city

Garry Peterson2016-05-16T08:01:53+00:00business, Food, infrastructure, Technology, urban ecology|Comments Off

Makapads

How can reconfiguring small-scale industrial production enable a community to tap local ecosystems services sustainably to address social challenges? In Uganda, and in much of the developing world, when school-aged girls hit puberty, they are often forced to miss school during menstruation due to the inaccessibility of affordable sanitation products. Fifteen years ago Moses Musaazi, an engineering lecturer from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, was asked by social [...]

Megan Lindow2016-05-06T18:41:56+00:00business, health, sustainable living, urban ecology|Comments Off

Fairphone

Can items we use every day be more sustainable? Can we, as consumers, promote and invest in more socially conscious products to diversify the marketplace? Fairphone is a non-profit company that produces phones that are ecologically and socially conscious. They aim to create a positive social impact at each step of production, which includes mining, design, manufacturing, life cycle and social entrepreneurship. They are expanding the market for products that [...]

ciararh2016-04-07T18:52:03+00:00business, Integrated social-environmental, stop destructive action, sustainable living|Comments Off

Schyst Resande (Fair Travel)

Can tourism be remodelled to encourage learning about sustainable, ethical travel? Tourism is a global industry, and also seen as an important part of economic growth, especially in developing countries. It can be a very positive thing, but it needs to be done in a fair and sustainable way. That is not the case in most places today, and getting the information on how to be a responsible traveller out [...]

ciararh2015-10-29T16:50:55+00:00business, climate change, Education, Integrated social-environmental, Social Seeds, stop destructive action, sustainable living|Comments Off

Songdo Smart City

Can technology and green building provide a prosperous, enjoyable, and sustainable life? Songdo is a newly built "smart city" near Seoul, South Korea. Songdo International Business District (Songdo IBD) has been built of reclaimed land on Incheon's waterfront, 65 km southwest of the megapolis Seoul, South Korea, and close to the Incheon International Airport. As its name indicates Songdo was designed as a corporate aerotropolis, and is part of the much larger city of Incheon. It [...]

Garry Peterson2015-10-15T13:14:00+00:00business, infrastructure, Urban|Comments Off

Seeds are existing initiatives which hold potential to shape the future. They are likely not widespread nor well-known. They can be social initiatives, new technologies, economic tools, or social-ecological projects, or organisations, movements or new ways of acting that have that appear to be making a substantial contribution towards creating a future that is just, prosperous, and sustainable.

We gather seeds from diverse research disciplines, communities of practice, and individuals that have different world-views, values, and problems. This diversity means that not everyone will agree on the importance or value of every seed.