VIDEO: The Common Thread – Material and Soil Health

Thank you to all who registered for the 3rd conversation in The Common Thread series co-hosted by the Nature Lab and Southeastern New England Fibershed. For those who missed it, below is a recap along with a recording (above) of the whole conversation.

September 30th hosted the third live conversation of The Common Thread virtual series with Fibershed Executive Rebecca Burgess and Designer Tareq Alzawawi RISD MID ’19. Our guests presented on the regenerative possibilities of soil health, and how every individual has the opportunity to positively impact local and global ecosystems.

All consumption and production systems, both locally and internationally, are composed of a series of smaller cycles– but these smaller cycles are often extremely disconnected. Rebecca noted that the idea of sustainability is “so tethered to marrying consumption and production communities, and bringing them closer together versus spreading them farther apart.” This is exactly what Fibershed aims to accomplish by “supporting local natural fiber systems and establishing relationships between farmers and makers.”

Tareq suggested that sustainable solutions to environmental issues should focus on passive strategies, biomimicry, and regeneration. He argued that we must adapt to support the natural cycles that already exist, and implored us all to think about how our “participation could change elements of a [natural] system.” One person’s input or output can drastically affect an entire cyclical system, and small actions can lead to bigger impacts.

Watch the full recording here.

Join us for our last conversation in the series on Wednesday, OCTOBER 7th at 12 PM Eastern time for the 4th and final live session of The Common Thread virtual series with Natural Dyer + Textile Artist + Hancock Shaker Museum Artist-in-Residence, Brece Honeycutt, and RISD Museum Costume & Textiles Associate Curator + RISD Apparel Faculty Member, Laurie Brewer.

This conversation will focus on COLOR and ECOLOGY from history to present day. How does color’s relationship to regional ecology and history impact the curation of how colors are represented in fashion and textiles?

RSVP here.

Watch all the Common Thread recordings here.

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