I'm Sam, a Service Design MA student. Before joining the RCA, I worked at Meta for 6 years as a content designer, focusing on trust, safety and identity product experiences. My focus at the RCA has been on sustainability and social justice, and I've worked on projects relating to poverty, food security, water pollution and agricultural sustainability.
In the UK, farmers are not adequately rewarded for growing food, and need to rely on other income streams to survive. The idea of Natural Capital, where a monetary value is placed on the earth's resources and ecosystems, offers a potentially crucial way for farmers to earn a fair living. By helping to increase air and water quality, grow trees or increase biodiversity, farmers could be properly compensated for the work they do, especially by large companies trying to offset their environmental impact. But, corporate players are exploiting the system, which is creating mistrust within the farming community, and making the system weighted against small and sustainable farmers. Our project looks at the systems and interactions within the natural capital market, and looks for interventions that will re-balance the system.
Approved