Our nearest planet, and why you should experience biodiversity

Which is the closest planet to earth? This is something I thought I knew. I was wrong. And you probably are too.

The answer is Mercury. (and yes I did mean Mercury)

I was reminded of this when looking at the night sky recently. I was lucky to be visiting my rewilding site on a cloudless moonless night. And Venus was incredibly bright. By far the brightest object in the sky.

Next was Jupiter. Which surprised me, I hadn't realised quite how easy it could be to see with the naked eye. Mars was also visible, but less visible than many stars.

I realised I had a gap between my knowledge and my experience.

Many of us do when looking at the night sky. Because we don't usually look. We know from our childhood that the order of our planets from the sun is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and so on. And can probably clearly picture them neatly lined up.

But this is misleading. Oddly if you were into astrology you might have a better idea of this than having a decent science education.

If you regularly watch the night sky - and have dark enough skies to do so - you would notice the planets brightness changes significantly. Jupiter will often be brighter than Mars. Mercury will sometimes be brighter than Jupiter. Venus's brightness can change significantly (it's spectacularly bright at the moment).

The planets each have their own orbit so in practice where they are is very different from the neat order seen in science class. And when their orbits take them to the other side of the sun from us, Mercury will be closer.

This means, on average, Mercury is our closest planet. In fact, Mercury is, on average the closest planet to all the other planets. Here's a nice visualisation: https://engaging-data.com/mercury-closest/

A learning gap

In learning the gap between knowledge and action is often described. But experience is a critical missing component.

In a past life I worked in experiential learning in London Business School. I supported business school students to put learning into practice through their clubs and events. Trying out leadership skills they learnt in the classroom in real contexts. This was part of wider team that developed learning experiences in London and globally.

The results showed that adding experience to knowledge significantly improved learning. This won't be a surprise to anyone involved in education.

It's also what I found when moving from studying rewilding in theory to launching a rewilding business.

Biodiversity: from knowing to experience

This is one of the difficulties of comprehending biodiversity. It's an abstract concept. Whilst it can be easy to learn how and why it is important. It is difficult to get a sense of this.

Rewilding provides a route to experience this.

When you see a degraded landscape - our 'green and pleasant' countryside for example. It is like looking at a blank canvas. Or rather a beautiful landscape painting that has been whitewashed.

By seeing what is there. And what isn't. By seeing the steps to try and fill the colour back in. Restore life. By being part of wildness returning. You are also seeing the importance of biodiversity.

This is why I see Wild Mosaic as a good option for businesses interested in sustainability.

Biodiversity is a huge risk. And it is becoming a growing area of interest for the biggest companies https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/corporate-commitments-to-nature-have-evolved-since-2022

But it can be difficult to get your head around if you're a small business interested in sustainability. So I've created an offer that lets you choose a tile for ￡59 a year and be part of rewilding our first site in Wales.

For this you get regular updates to see how the land and wildlife changes. And a way to engage your employees, clients and customers.

Research shows that the value created by rewilding can be 12 times greater than the cost. https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/publications/revitalising-europes-landscapes-new-report-financing-large-scale-nature-restoration

So your ￡59 can be creating over ￡600 of value.

Come and join us and make your business part of our wild mosaic: www.wildmosaic.eco or drop me a message in my DMs ??