Chris Rose works as a consultant in environment and communications for non-government, public and private sector organisations. “From childhood I was in love with birds and drawing them. Through that I became a scientist, a conservation volunteer and subsequently a campaigner. Now I live in Norfolk with my partner, two children and a springer spaniel.”

Extensive repertoire of activity

Chris Rose has had a distinguished career in the campaigning environmental movement.
He began as Conservation Officer for the London Wildlife Trust, responsible for handling planning inquiries and land management. Following that he was employed at Friends of the Earth as a campaigner on wildlife, agricultural pesticides and acid rain. From 1988 – 92 he was Director of Media Natura, a media industry foundation working on environmental communication. Prior to that he worked on communications and campaigns for WWF International based in Switzerland. Then from 1992-8 Chris Rose was Deputy Executive and Programme Director of Greenpeace UK and Strategic Adviser to Greenpeace International.

Chris calls himself an ecologist and amateur naturalist. However his repertoire of activity is extensive.

“I have campaigned on forestry, tropical deforestation, wetlands, ozone depletion and global warming, and have worked as a nature reserve manager. My publications include ‘The Dirty Man of Europe’ (Simon & Schuster) and with Charlie Pye-Smith, ‘Conservation and Crisis’ (Pelican). I’ve also written video scripts, Parliamentary drafts, scientific and popular articles in The Independent and other newspapers, and magazines such as Royal Society of Arts, Nature, BBC Wildlife and New Scientist. I edited the journal ECOS, ‘Eco’. Also, I attended too many climate negotiations and am a founder of the British Association of Nature Conservationists, Climate Action Network, Media Natura and the London Wildlife Trust.

Putting the lid on fossil fuels

“While at Greenpeace I devised a new organisational strategy including market-based solutions campaigning, and was joint leader of the Brent Spar campaign. I wrote “Putting the Lid on Fossil Fuels: Why the Atlantic should be a frontier against oil exploration”, and visited Rockall and received a writ for £1.4m from BP in Atlantic Frontier oil campaign”

Chris Rose graduated from Aberystwyth University in Botany and Zoology, undertook an MSc. in Conservation Science at University College London, and spent 4 years researching lichen ecology at Chelsea College London.Chris Rose is co-founder of the Fairyland Trust charity with Sarah Wise. They founded it to engage young families in nature, which they do through multi-art-form imaginative country fairs and events.

Chris Rose on the need for more nature awareness

A sample of Chris’s writing extracted from Three Worlds : https://threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org/

The nature movement needs to think about and work to build and promote public nature culture, not just increase it’s memberships, funds or build better arguments. Unless prospective politicians experience this, they will not, cannot, change Westminster culture. The UK’s history changing culture of food, health and safety, inclusivity and protection of the built heritage, show it can be done.

Rebuild nature ability

The first and critical step is to increase and rebuild Nature Ability (aka Natural History Knowledge, Eco-Literacy).  The ability to recognize and put names to species of native plants and animals is the most basic ABC level.  A GCSE in Natural History is welcome but will not be enough, and studies show formal teaching has less effect on Nature Ability than social connections.

We need a national promotional campaign and programme for nature awareness, ability and understanding.  In 2012 the government spent £125m on adverts promoting the ‘Great British Countryside’ but to tourists, not UK citizens.

The great majority of UK children and adults have become more in favour of nature as a concept but unable to put a name to it, or tell if a place is rich or poor in nature, or if it is real or fake.  As a society it is as if we are increasingly in favour of literacy, while becoming increasingly unable to read.

‘Professionals’ unable to tell wild from ornamental flowers… or bees from wasps

Most people are probably better able to tell one wine or type of architecture from another, than identify plants or animals, or distinguish ancient woods from planted ones.  Most children cannot identify a Bluebell (their parents have not been tested).
‘Professional’ communicators in the BBC, Greenpeace, Department of Education, The Guardian and local newspapers, and outside the UK, even the UN and science publishers,  have shown themselves unable to tell wild from ornamental flowers, wild bees from honey bees, one common bird from another, or bees from wasps.    As a result, the Honey Bee became “The Wrong Poster Bee” in campaigns against pesticides, which led to a boom in Honey Bee (livestock, not at risk) keeping, which itself threatens endangered wild bees.

‘Nature ignorance undermines attempts to protect nature’

UK culture places greater importance on knowing about references to nature in literature, such as Wordsworth’s poem about daffodils, than being able to tell a real Wild Daffodil (the sort he saw), from a ‘fake’, an ornamental variety.  Editors and others would not tolerate such ignorance in covering art, sports or politics.  This nature ignorance undermines attempts to protect nature.

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