Bioregional is a British entrepreneurial

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

, which aims to invent and deliver practical solutions for

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

. It was founded in 1992 on the belief that

overconsumption Overconsumption describes a situation where consumers overuse their available goods and services to where they can't, or don't want to, replenish or reuse them. In microeconomics, this is the point where the marginal cost of a consumer is greater ...

of resources was the driving force behind

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

, and set out to find new ways for people to meet more of their needs from local resources.

History

Bioregional was founded in 1994 by Sue Riddlestone OBE and Pooran Desai OBE, and began operations in the Sutton Ecology Centre. They first worked on local environmental projects, including the promotion of closed loop recycling in London and Surrey, reviving lavender production in Mitcham and Carshalton, setting up Croydon's TreeStation to turn waste municipal wood into

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

, and establishing the Bioregional Charcoal Company Ltd who help a network of local charcoal producers sell to major retail stores. These projects reflected Bioregional's aim of setting up social enterprises that could make the use of local and waste resources mainstream. Bioregional began to expand in the late 1990s, and with the completion of

BedZED Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge, London, England. It is in the London Borough of Sutton, north-east of the town of Sutton, London, Sutton itself. Designed to creat ...

they moved into their present offices in

Hackbridge Hackbridge is a suburb in the London Borough of Sutton, south-west London, just over two miles north-east of the town of Sutton itself. It is 8.8 miles (15 km) south-west of Charing Cross. Toponymy The district takes its name from Hack Br ...

London Borough of Sutton The London Borough of Sutton () is an Outer London London boroughs, borough in south London, England. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to the east, ...

. Using the learnings from BedZED they developed the One Planet Living programme with WWF, which is the framework for all sustainable communities projects and has an equal influence over their vision as the original

bioregionalism Bioregionalism is a philosophy that suggests that political, cultural, and economic systems are more sustainable and just if they are organized around naturally defined areas called '' bioregions'' (similar to ''ecoregions''). Bioregions are d ...

focus. Currently a One Planet Living communities is being built in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. Bioregional currently has around 40 staff in London, as well as regional offices in China, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, Greece, Mexico, and Australia. Founded in 2005, Bioregional North America is an affiliated Canadian non-profit organization that specializes in fostering sustainable behavior change and collaborative consumption amongst occupants in new and existing buildings across the United States and Canada. BedZED 2007

Awards

* See also awards won for the BedZED project * 2024 - Business Green - Consultancy of the Year * 2011 - Bioregional's founders Sue Riddlestone OBE and Pooran Desai OBE were named Social Entrepreneurs of the Year at the Davos World Economic Forum by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship * 2009 - Bioregional's founders Sue Riddlestone OBE and Pooran Desai OBE won the Skoll Social Entrepreneur Award. * June 2007 - Observer ethical awards for Bioregional MiniMills, Invention of the year. * May 2006 -

Ashden Award Ashden is a London-based charity that works in the field of sustainable energy and Regional development, development. Its work includes the annual Ashden Awards, advocacy and research in the field of sustainable energy, and mentoring and practica ...

for Sustainable Energy for Croydon TreeStation

References

External links

Bioregional homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bioregional Environmental organisations based in the United Kingdom Charities based in London Sustainability advocates Low-energy building in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1992