We talk to Head of Sustainability, Rob Delius, about his remarkable personal project: A Funeral for Nature. He shares his motivations for co-organising the procession and discusses the power of ceremony in encouraging collective action.
Rob, could you start by describing the Funeral for Nature?
Working with global environmental performance group Red Rebel Brigade and other advocacy groups, I instigated the idea and vision for a huge scale mock funeral procession through the centre of Bath.
It was essentially an ambitious piece of street theatre, designed to deliver a powerful single message about the biodiversity crisis. With 400 Red Rebels, it was the biggest performance they’d ever produced. Add in dozens of drummers and hundreds of ‘mourners’, the event took on an other-worldly, almost spiritual feel.
We were perhaps blessed with the sunny weather, but thousands of people turned up to watch. It even inspired other Funeral for Natures to be held in Lisbon, Gothenburg, Sydney, Tasmania, and Boston on the same day.
There’s obviously urgency to the message, could you describe that for people?
To put it mildly, the biodiversity trajectory we’re on is not good. The UK has lost 60% of its flying insects in the last 20 years, and there’s been a 68% global drop in populations of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, and amphibians since 1970. It’s hard to deny we’re at code red for nature.
The lack of coverage of this—and the recent State of Nature report which concluded that the “UK is now one of the most nature depleted countries in the world”—galvanised me to propose the Funeral for Nature.
Why a piece of street theatre?
Environmental marches seem to be attracting limited media attention recently and in some cases, are turning people off. A rabble of people with placards and banners can not only send an unclear message, but they can sometimes feel divisive and critical without offering solutions.
We wanted something awe-inspiring and beautiful against Bath’s Georgian architecture. Something that would capture the imagination of onlookers and encourage them to read the procession’s order of service, with its nature crisis statistics and practical suggestions for action.
What was the overarching message you wanted to convey?
In short, we all have the power to make change, but we need to be ‘pro-activists’. As wildlife presenter, Megan McCubbin, said at the event:
“It’s time to take the word activism back. Activism can mean whatever you want it to mean. As long as you are doing something today that’s different to what you did yesterday.”
Taking action was how the idea came about. I wanted to do something outside of the architecture and construction bubble and help the State of Nature findings reach as wide an audience as possible.
Was there anything that surprised you about the reaction?
I think it’s important to say that the event was entirely peaceful and many commented on the positive energy it emanated.
More specifically though, two reactions have really stuck with me. John Featherby, one of the BCorp Leaders, commented on how the event tapped into the concept of ‘spiritual capital’, and observed how rituals are making a comeback. Another highlighted the writing of Robin Wall Kimmerer:
“Ceremony focuses attention so that attention becomes intention. If you stand together and profess a thing before your community, it holds you accountable. Ceremonies transcend the boundaries of the individual and resonate beyond the human realm. These acts of reverence are hugely pragmatic. These are ceremonies that magnify life.”
So it feels like we need more creativity in how we communicate these big societal challenges?
Yes. Megan McCubbin, who spoke at the event with Chris Packham, reaffirmed that for me when she said:
“I love that this is a performance piece. Arts and culture must be woven throughout our actions… they bring more people into the discussion.”
This was also the thinking behind Stride Treglown’s Sinking House piece, another collaboration with artist Anna Gillespie in 2021, which aimed to engage new audiences and inspire action by communicating the climate crisis in a powerful, visual way.
As the dust settles on the event, are there any lessons you want to share?
For me, three themes have emerged.
First, we need collective action. To create great change, it’s time to abandon business as usual and truly engage and inspire the public, local businesses, landowners, authorities, and government. Creating the ‘Funeral for Nature’ itself took a hugely collaborative effort, involving many environmental campaigners; artists; landscape designers and gardeners; and countless others with textiles and performance backgrounds.
Second, the art is just as important as the science. David Attenborough said the climate crisis is actually a communications crisis. We need to be more creative in getting the messages across—not just in how we relay the facts, but how we communicate hope. As a creative industry, we subconsciously choreograph on a day-to-day basis through our work and are uniquely positioned to use our creative skills to be effective communicators and to bring about change.
Third, we can all be change-makers. Whether as a construction professional who’s able to champion nature on your projects, or anyone outside the industry who can urge those in a position of authority to act on the biodiversity crisis; help raise awareness with friends, family, and colleagues; make ethical consumer choices, or take practical action as a community or an individual.
We’d like to congratulate Rob for his inspiring work turning an idea into action. As a practice, we believe we should use our projects to re-imagine a more beautiful, abundant world that’s good for wildlife and good for people.
Last month we published our open-source Maximising biodiversity by design guide; we’re aiming to dedicate 30% of the site area of all projects to nature restoration in line with the Wildlife Trust’s 30-by-30 campaign; and we’re training all of our landscape architects to be Building with Nature assessors.
