Old tricks

Old tricks

By Alex Robinson, 8th August 2024

Sometimes, ‘innovation’ doesn’t mean creating something brand new. Taking a well-known idea or approach and applying it in a different context can do the trick.

From subscription meal kits to crowdfunding to the Dyson vacuum, we’re surrounded by examples of innovations that came from shifting old knowledge into new contexts (my attempt to create ‘chocsticks’ – chocolate chopsticks – is a rare example of failure in this arena.)

At Hubbub, we’re blown away by the impact of the Community Fridge Network. It’s grown from a single fridge in a Derbyshire town to a collective of over 650 fridges across the UK, supporting over 600,000 people and redistributing 18 million meals of surplus food last year.

So we got to thinking, where else could this approach work? 🤔

Introducing the Community Nature Network

Our new venture will bring together UK-based community nature groups to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

Our Community Nature Network aims to:

• Increase access and connection to nature with new or improved green spaces
• Channel funding into community-led green spaces
• Show that getting outdoors is for everyone – not just those who already seek it out
• Champion nature as a powerful hook to inspire planet-friendly habits

…and much more besides. We will be led by our members and will support and represent them as best we can.

Why is it needed?

We know that spending time in nature is good for us. Despite this, a third of people in the UK spend less than an hour a week in nature.

What’s more, access to nature is not fairly shared throughout society: we need new spaces, and new ways to engage with it.

We also know that when we feel connected to nature, we’re more likely to be inspired to take climate action.

Through In Our Nature, our city-wide climate campaign in Manchester, and many other nature projects, we’ve learned that community-led green spaces are a kind of multiplier: valuable for nature and biodiversity while offering all sorts of co-benefits, from health and wellbeing to community resilience.

That's why we’re bringing nature closer to people and people closer to nature, by supporting community-led green spaces to thrive.

But community groups have also highlighted common barriers, such as access to funding and educational resources. They value peer-to-peer learning and connections, but there are few avenues available to make it happen.

One solution? Networks.

Running the Community Fridge Network has taught us that networks are powerful tools - and can be a great way to surmount these barriers: 

• They connect people, ideas, and resources.  
• They allow for knowledge sharing and skill building.  
• At a local level, working together creates a sense of agency for change.  
• At a network level, diverse groups working together demonstrates impact, inspires others and helps to amplify lesser-heard voices.

The Community Fridge Network shows how these projects can develop over time, too. Many of the spaces now are ‘more than just a fridge’. These ‘food hubs’ offer things like cooking classes, fruit and veg growing, community meals or social skill-shares to bring their communities together. And it all started with just one fridge.

So, what will the Community Nature Network become as it grows? We can’t quite say for sure, but we’re excited to find out.

Dig in

We’re grateful to the support of Bentley Environmental Foundation and Wates Family Enterprise Trust for helping us to launch and run this network.

To build this movement further, we’re actively seeking more partners to support the Community Nature Network and the Community Fridge Network: if your organisation is curious about supporting community-based projects,