Our partners and inspiration
RE-PEAT (LINK) is a youth-led collective changing hearts and minds for and through peatlands. RE-PEAT supports the emergence of transformative relationships between people and peatlands through workshops, educational programmes, intersectional collaborations and creative campaigning.
The Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR) is the central coordinating institution for the funding of research, development and demonstration projects in the field of renewable resources for the production of bio-based products and/or bioenergy in Germany. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, FNR funds various research projects (LINK) in the field of peat use reduction and peatland protection. FNR is also responsible for raising awareness about peat use reduction among German citizens (LINK) and professional gardeners (LINK). At the international level, FNR has organised online workshops on peat use reduction (LINK) and peatland protection (LINK) to support knowledge exchange and networking.
More information is available here: (LINK)
The HOT project (LINK) is dedicated to promoting peat-free gardening among hobby gardeners. Our goal is to understand how best to encourage this sustainable practice and provide gardeners with the tools and knowledge they need to make the switch. We conduct surveys, run experiments, create information materials, and offer training sessions for gardeners and industry (Training LINK; info LINK). HOT is managed by the FNR (LINK) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Germany (LINK).
Peaty People
We want to introduce people who work to preserve peat bogs. All of them have their own motivations. Let´s take a look at what brought you in contact with this topic, which is a bit hidden from so many other people in our society.
Ireen van Dolderen
Before entering the magical world of peat, I was involved in the Dutch climate movement. Upon learning about the carbon capture ability of healthy peatlands and the emissions resulting from peatland destruction, I was shocked that I never heard about them before. I wanted to draw more public attention to this topic and apply the lens of climate justice to peatlands, so I joined RE-PEAT. About 4.5 years later, I am more in love with peatlands than ever before, and I become more impressed by all their gifts to this world every day. Through my work with RE-PEAT and beyond, I hope to contribute to preserving, restoring, and appreciating these wonderful landscapes and their communities.
Kate Foster
Why do I want to help protect peat bogs?
Peat bog restoration is on one hand a technical exercise to bring water levels up, but community involvement is also vital. Raising awareness is cultural work!
Living in the Southern Scottish uplands, I began to foreground the characteristic Mosses and Flows and gain insight to their ecological value. In 2016, I began my arts project, Peat Cultures, in order to work with people committed to invigorating peatlands culturally and environmentally. I used peatlands as a route into learning about Dutch culture and landscape too, though residencies in Wageningen University. I am keen to support the youth-led collective RE-PEAT in the push for a shift in mindset about the value of peatlands and to demand attention to peatland justice. Peat-free wildlife gardening is my companion project.
I love surviving wetlands for what they offer to my quality of life – a lively wildness experienced through the senses with special plants, creatures and sounds.
Environmental artist in Scotland and The Netherlands. LINK.
Lukas Fraser
Why do you engage with the topic of peat bog protection?
Like many, my introduction to the importance of peatlands was linked to their incredible carbon storage abilities, but my love for them now is much more complex. Peatlands are queer, in-between ecosystems that have so many hidden secrets and quietly uphold cultures and livelihoods, while remaining hard to classify. They are misunderstood and mysterious, but they have so much to give.
While I grew up in the English Midlands, I spent a lot of time visiting family in Sutherland, Scotland, which has a huge expanse of bogland. I heard stories about my relatives cutting peat as children, as well as the Highland Clearances, and did my own research on the injustices surrounding the afforestation of the Flow Country, and got a real feeling of the richness and cultural importance of these ecosystems, and now I really want to share the joy and complexity of peatlands with everyone else.
Bogs are also a huge creative inspiration for me - for some slimy boggy art, or to say hi, my instagram is @wetbog.jpg
