Top Environmentalist, Nicola Peel, starts series of talks at Collyer’s

Nicola Peel, solutionist, environmentalist and speaker, launched a series of talks at Collyer’s in memory of Kirsty Brown, who was a geologist, marine biologist and former student.

Kirsty died in Antartica in 2003 and since then, the Kirsty Brown Fund has been created. The group is covering the costs of the talks.

Dr Ian Carr, Collyer’s head of geology and environmental science, said: “What an excellent choice to kick-off the Kirsty Brown Talks. Nicola has won the People’s Environment Award and was a finalist in the Guardian Observer Ethical Awards, so we were thrilled to have her at Collyer’s. Her inspiring talk certainly had wide appeal.”

With the backdrop of a climate emergency, Nicola offered an optimistic view of the future, focussing on how to live in harmony with the planet.

Dr Carr said: “Nicola illuminated us all with lessons she had learned about life from the people in the rainforest.

“Making a direct link to the environmental science A-level, she went on to describe how we are starting to understand that nature builds structures and materials in a far more efficient way than we do and we have a lot to learn from ‘biomimicry’.”

After the talk, students studied crafts Nicola had brought from the Amazon.