How to Save Democracy: Giving Nature a Voice

Jon Alexander meets entrepreneur Simeon Rose and former politician Jane Davidson, one of the key drivers of Wales’ pioneering Well-being of Future Generations Act, to understand why and how we must give nature a voice in our organisations and our societies.

We are now living in a democratic emergency. Autocrats, authoritarians and outright fascists appear to be on an inexorable rise, while few politicians seem capable of charting a credible path forward in the face of today’s immense challenges – and in the course of all this, the climate and nature emergency seems to have disappeared from the agenda.

Yet just beneath the media radar, another story is taking shape: a story of democratic renewal and reinvention, with citizen participation, deliberation, and defiant joy at its heart. Despite the headlines, pioneers are demonstrating new ways of making decisions and running organisations and societies that are commensurate with the scale of the challenges we face.

Simeon Rose and Jane Davidson are two such pioneers who have long been in conversation with one another across the valleys of West Wales where they both live. Simeon sits on the executive team at the cosmetics company Faith In Nature, the first business in the world to give Nature a seat on its board, a move now being replicated by businesses and other organisations across the world. And as Welsh Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Jane played a key role in the establishment of the independent Future Generations Commissioner who is a voice for people not-yet-born. Both these innovations give Nature a voice right upfront in strategic direction, have led to major change in their immediate contexts, and if replicated across the world, have truly transformative potential.

Join Jon Alexander, author of Citizens and co-host of the How To Save Democracy podcast, to get under the skin of these two stories and the links between them – and to explore how giving nature a voice in every organisation and every nation could make a major contribution to help save democracy in its current malaise.

Event Schedule

6:00pm: Pre-event socialising and networking

A cash bar will be available for refreshments.

6:15pm: Event begins

7:30pm: Event ends

Speakers:

Jane Davidson is on a mission to mainstream sustainability. Her know how and passion were forged as a Welsh Government minister, university Pro Vice-chancellor and land restorer. As the author of #futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country, she tells the story of why Wales was the first country in the world to introduce a law to protect future generations – The Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act came into law in 2015. She has spent the previous two years chairing the Wales Net Zero 2035 Challenge Group: ‘Pathways to a Prosperous and Resilient Wales’ was published in autumn 2024. When not working, she can be found in the sea or on the Wales Coast Path.

Simeon Rose is Brand Director at Faith In Nature, Co-creator of Nature on the Board, and the author of Nature’s Boardroom. After a twenty year career in advertising, in 2021, he asked “Could Nature run the company?” The company in question was Faith In Nature. In August 2022, Faith In Nature became the first company in the world to appoint Nature as a director – and Simeon traded writing ads for peanut butter and beer, for speaking and writing about integrating the Rights of Nature into corporate structures. Nobody is more surprised by this than him.

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