What drives us?

We envision a flourishing, resilient, bioregion where we are inspired to find purpose, and where we care for the ecology, economy and culture of this place we call home. 

Our vision is to grow a learning network reflective of this region’s uniqueness through which we collaborate, co-create and tackle real world problems.

We believe that by working together in practical and imaginative ways, citizens of South Devon can more effectively look after their natural assets, regenerate regional systems for food, water, energy and waste and enjoy life.

Meet the team

Isabel Carlisle

Isabel Carlisle

Director

Isabel is a communicator, educator and large-scale project organiser. Her experience in the London art world (where her work included writing as an art critic for The Times and curating exhibitions at the Royal Academy) led her to set up and direct the Festival of Muslim Cultures that took place across Britain throughout 2006. Over 120 events in almost every conceivable art form brought audiences into contact with the Muslim world in order to build bridges of understanding between cultures. Isabel moved to South Devon in 2010 and created and led learning programmes for children and young adults with Transition Network. Since 2012 she has trained in Regenerative Development and Design with Regenesis.

Jane Brady

Jane Brady

Director

As a creative director, Jane has led and inspired inter-disciplinary teams for global design and architecture firms in London, Boston and San Francisco, creating comprehensive communication solutions for retail and corporate clients. She specializes in strategic overview, visioning, concept creation, design and branding, maintaining her own design practice in support of clients such as California Trout. As BLC co-founder, Jane brings design into the heart of BLC’s practices as a way to try things out, get stuff done, give form to ideas, spark conversation and inspire action. In combination with systems thinking and regenerative approaches there are no limits to its potential for good.

Nick Paling

Nick Paling

Director

Dr Nick Paling specialises in the analysis, visualisation and communication of strategic information to engage stakeholders and ensure that environmental actions are co-designed, targeted and co-created in locations that give the greatest magnitude and diversity of social, cultural, economic and environmental outcomes. For ~15 years, Nick has been working as a ‘knowledge-broker’ and co-creation-facilitator on local collaborative governance, participatory environmental planning, community-based climate resilience/adaptation and Nature Based Solutions projects. Since 2017, Nick has been working as a European Commission (Horizon 2020 and Joint Research Centre) Technical Expert.

Paul Pivcevic

Paul Pivcevic

Associate

Paul has been a consultant and coach to leaders leading large-scale change across Europe and the US for more than 20 years. Clients have included RWE/Innogy in Europe, NPower in the UK, Pacific Gas and Electric in the USA, the Welsh Government, Marks & Spencer, the Ministry of Defence (UK) and through Still Moving Consultancy also Rolls Royce, Roche Pharmaceuticals and Santander Bank. He has also worked as researcher, leading and participating in a number of research projects through the University of Bath. Since training in 2019 with Regenesis Group in the US, pioneers of 30 years work in regeneration, he is focusing his work on bringing ‘living systems’ thinking to his leadership work, to business and public service innovation, and to working with fellow citizens in the River Avon bioregion to bring to life a new economy which re-frames wealth, social justice and well-being.

Elena Plugaru

Elena Plugaru

Associate

Passionate about making ideas happen, Elena has managed and delivered business events for clients such as ViiV Healthcare, IBM, Cisco, Gartner and the Growth Faculty – from small international advisory meetings for 10 people to conferences of 1,500 attendees, with budgets ranging up to £600k. Elena holds an MA in Regenerative Economics from Schumacher College and a BA (Hons) in Events Management. Confident in managing complex projects, budgeting, training, producing websites, reports and templates, Elena demonstrates her versatile management, design and communication skills across a wide range of tasks.

Emilio Mula

Emilio Mula

Associate

Emilio Mula is a filmmaker, visual artist and animator. For over 20 years Emilio has communicated stories about the environment through social engagement and art projects using films, animations and visual installations. Emilio is currently experimenting with sensors in nature to create real time, interactive experiences, and working with climate data to convert it into more visceral audiovisual information in order to develop new ways of understanding the changes that are happening in and around us.

Advisors and friends

Glenn Page

Glenn Page

Glenn works across the boundaries of science/policy/practice with 30 years of experience building bioregional and ecosystem stewardship. Founder of SustainaMetrix in Portland, Maine, projects have taken him across the country and around the world working with government agencies, NGOs and universities. As the first Director of Conservation for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland, Glenn was awarded the title of “Environmental Hero” by U.S. Vice President Al Gore in 2001. Glenn is a constant source of inspiration to BLC, and is particularly gifted at activating people’s potential for change.

John Thackara

John Thackara

“To do things differently, we need to see things differently.” John is a writer, curator, event producer–and visiting professor at Tongji University–with a focus on social, ecological and relational design and urban-rural reconnection. He curated the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years and was commissioner of the 2019 China exhibition Urban-Rural. John has curated biennials and place-based xskool workshops in 20 countries. He is and his most recent book, How To Thrive In the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow’s World Today, was published in China in 2019.

Pamela Mang

Pamela Mang

“The world is complex. We need to stop dumbing it down. The current state of our world requires us to work hard to fully understand the complexity of living systems and to design elegant approaches that honor and appreciate that complexity.” Pamela works with project development teams and community groups to build critical systems thinking skills and holistic planning processes and designs that can address complex systems problems and opportunities. She also works as a faculty member for The Regenerative Practitioner series.

Angie Greenham

Angie Greenham

Angie’s entrepreneurial background in the cultural, creative and publishing industries has led her to management roles with small, creative and impactful organisations. Angie thrives working in small can-do teams where the primary focus is growing environmental, social and economic participation in communities. As a Citizen Journalist and Producer on the side, Angie researches civic value, social justice, community led participation and is passionate about keeping the work relevant to stakeholders and audiences. Her work is guided by the belief that living more cooperatively is not only possible but, rather, how people and planet can survive and thrive.

We work in and at the intersection of economy, ecology, learning, arts and culture and the gaps in between.