Benedict Furness
Aspiring ethnobotanist currently travelling around the world by bicycle.
Location London
Activity
-
The complexity of this process cannot be understated, but at its core life can most accurately be described to operate in this manner. Now, when we consider sustainability in relation to climate change, what we are actually postulating are ideas for how best to limit the negative impact our species is undoubtedly having on our biosphere.
Through our own...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Taking the word literally, sustainability can be most accurately described as the 'ability' for a given system to 'sustain' itself, or proliferate through time. Simple enough. Interpretations arise when we begin to apply this concept to specific systems.
The processes by which a given system sustains itself vary considerably depending on the system....
-
Benedict Furness replied to Benedict Furness
...multiple directions, dipping from one discipline to another, asking advice from friends and experts from different fields, to form collaborative responses to complex issues.
Today's world is more interconnected than it has ever been so it follows that our problems are more complex, and therefore, more demanding of interdisciplinary solutions.
The way I... -
Benedict Furness made a comment
Hello, I'm Benedict, from London, England.
I am a trained biologist with an interest in plant biology; in particular, plant communication and ethnobotany. Last year I sold most of my possessions and bought a bicycle and started cycling around Europe, which, thanks to Brexit, was about to become more disconnected from me. I took the opportunity to learn from... -
Benedict Furness made a comment
Tiny invisible microbes were the first organisms to inhabit the earth. The simplest expression of life's fundamental principle, the passing on of information from generation to generation, through reproduction; microbes where the point at which chemistry became biology. We have evolved from these humble beginnings, but in doing so, microbes haven't gone away....
-
No, but I would like to!
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
I enjoy that this series is titled 'Invisible Worlds' because, in a way, what we are talking about with anthropogenic activity, is a fourth kind of invisible world, that being the one contained within our shared culture, language, knowledge and experience. Whilst the unfathomably tiny remain invisible to us because our eyes are incapable of detecting any...
-
Would have been so cool if they had installed light sensors at various parts of the sculpture, from which a mean light level is recorded and taken to influence the rate at which the oxygen 'O's are expelled. This could have then been coupled with a dynamic lighting set up (or left alone to change throughout the day) to really illustrate the way cyanobacteria...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
We have coevolved alongside billions of microorganisms. They have evolved in accordance to the same laws of natural selection as we have, continually shaping and being shaped by the environment, with populations gradually changing, splitting off and dying out over time. This has paved the way to where we are today, with almost every nook and cranny of our...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
As we learned in a previous chapter, fertiliser run-offs are dumping a disproportionate amount of ammonium and nitrates into our oceans, where they can influence heavily our ecosystem. Not only do we risk reducing the amount of nitrogen available to plants, but the presence of ammonium and nitrate pollution in water can result in harmful algal blooms, which...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Phosphorus atoms present within the biosphere were made use of by organisms since the dawn of life of earth. Being highly reactive, phosphorus atoms are usually bonded with other elements to form complex molecules. Life found a way over time to make use of phosphorus in the form of these molecules, most notably, phosphates (PO4). Abiotic pathways opened up in...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Whilst I agree that each of us should be doing more 'at home' to reduce our carbon footprint, the overriding narrative should be one of corporate responsibility. 100 corporations are responsible for 71% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Whilst many of us may 'buy in' to the services provided by some of these corporations (energy, transportation and food etc.)...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Potassium is an electrolyte, meaning that it tends towards existing in states which carry inherent charge. This makes it incredibly useful for facilitating both the transportation of liquids between and within cells as well as the generation of electrochemical gradients, responsible for transmitting information between neurons of the central nervous systems...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Someone threw a ball and you want to know where it's going to land. It's in mid flight and all you have to go off is a short snapshot of where it is now. You could analyse that snapshot over and over, trying to work out the ball's ultimate destination, but you would most likely not succeed. Without considering where the ball was thrown from, in which direction...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Oxygen is recycled within the biosphere. The exact number of Oxygen atoms contained within all of earth's ecosystems doesn't change, barring the gradual evaporation of earth's atmosphere into space over time. What may change, however, is the position of this finite amount of Oxygen within the system. Whether it is held in molecules with other elements (such as...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Our biosphere is a vast and dynamic system. You can't change something somewhere without influencing the myriad pathways which converge and diverge there. There is no doubt that anthropogenic activity is threatening each of these systems, and that damage to one will cause damage to another.
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Hello everyone. My name is Benedict, I have been cycling around Europe for the best part of a year, learning about sustainability and permaculture whilst meeting some incredible people. What this trip has taught me, more than anything, is about the interconnectivity of all things. I am hoping this course will be eye opening and provide food for thought during...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
I studied biology in Bath and have visited Exeter and The Eden Project on several, separate occasions. I was volunteering in Athens for a refugee charity before the coronavirus pandemic struck. I have since moved back to London and am looking to take the opportunity to learn. I plan on studying ethnobiology at a Master's level, starting in autumn 2021. Looking...
-
Benedict Furness replied to Veerle Engel
@VeerleEngel This really helped me understand the points discussed in this section. Thank you for sharing your perspective!
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Veganism is a fast-growing 'movement' centred around eliminating the consumption of animal products. It has been put forward as a solution to climate change and marks a general shift towards greater consideration of nonhuman life.
Views towards veganism vary considerably; principly because the movement (the act) itself encompasses several schools of thought...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
This scenario encompasses all three dimensions of justice put forward by David Schlosberg. At its core, this is a recognition issue. The decision-making process is based upon modern, scientific principles of conservation. The authority of the indigenous communities is neither present nor recognised. The ultimatum presented to the Adivasi communities does not...
-
It is estimated that up to one million trees will be destroyed as coal is extracted. This is an environmental justice issue operating at many scales. Locally, it will contribute to further pollution and elevated health risks. It will destroy one of the country’s oldest forests and displace vulnerable communities who depend on the forest to...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
A recent article in The Ecologist caught my attention. Currently, more than 65 per cent of India's electricity is generated in thermal power plants, of which almost 85 per cent are coal-based. As India's coal-consuming industrial sectors continue to grow, so too do numerous health and environmental concerns.
India has emerged as one of the world's most...
-
Benedict Furness made a comment
Hello!
My name is Benedict, I am a British European living in Bristol. Whilst studying for my Biology degree I became interested in plants and plant-people interactions. For my dissertation, I investigated Closed Ecological Systems and their viability as life support systems for long-distance space travel and interplanetary colonisation.
It has always been...
