How does a network evolve, maintain, and grow? Was this a conference, a meeting, a thinkspace? On the spectrum of gatherings, this was more about connection and relationship building than I had expected. Heading into this, I carried an assumption that we needed clear aims and direction as a network to have a chance at momentum, expansion, and value. By the end of the three-day event, I was delighted to have found deeper personal connections with the others I more often see through online check-ins, LinkedIn posts, and an impressive portfolio of projects. We share a strong sense that we are part of a rapidly growing movement, one that can offer some of the change needed to face a multitude of collective and interdisciplinary challenges. As it turned out, the space allowed for some to share the fatigue that can inevitably come alongside such drive and excitement, and this was grounds for connection.

*Photo by Thomas Rickard of the Buff Tip moth*

The place had as much of a role in this as the design and facilitation. Hazel Hill Wood does not provide electricity, and signal is poor. What's more, the forest and wildlife that appropriately took part in our gathering is the result of decades of care to balance human presence with more-than-human needs.

Frameworks were set to guide us, the central one being the Three Horizons model — the current paradigm (H1), already-emerging innovation (H2), and barely-visible, radical changes that may one day prevail (H3). In complement, the lead facilitator, James of Leading Through Storms CIC, offered the four pathways of spirited leadership model that emphasises training body and mind, deepening relationships, exploring what matters, and creative experiments. Beyond frameworks, I appreciated the intentions behind it all — care, respect, the explicit freedom to choose, contribute, change direction, or rest as we felt appropriate. All of this allowing our fuller selves to enter the place: excitement, drive, imagination, empathy, despair, anger, and, at times, vulnerability.

The morning of day two kicked off with a cycle of conversations:

Rivers of Hope with Josh Levene, who tested his theory of change for river rights movements in the UK;
Ecoforensics for Rights of Nature with Mika Peck, empowering communities to capture effective ecological data; and
Ocean Rights with Lucy Ward of the Earth Law Centre, as they navigate taking the success and challenges of Panamanian ocean rights, and look to pilot the model legislation in their Rights of Coral Reefs Toolkit.

It was fascinating to see the personal side of professionals whose work I appreciated in the past, and to connect by working on problems together, as participant-peers, rather than watching lectures with PowerPoints in that ‘full to empty vessel’ way.

After lunch, we moved to Open Space, this is a method that allows anyone to make invitations to sessions based on what they felt was needed and could offer at the time. I offered an invitation to share deeply held fears and hopes. This was not taken up directly, but it was heard and recalled at various times in the spaces between session, prompting people to share their stories.

There were many questions put forward for the Open Space. Someone suggested we role-play the three horizons, which each person embodying an intervention and exploring how different horizons might respond to it, and how it might be adapted to achieve lasting, meaningful impact. Others wondered about network members paying subs and funding, internal competition, and the suggestion of a big conference. There were questions about the organisations and disciplines in the network, communication styles, and whether we should just all be in the river already! I found myself in a larger discussion, mixed with several groups. We talked about including those that go deep and those that do not (and the legitimacy of both) and aiming at the masses vs aiming at the powerful on top.

Rights of Nature may be regarded as an H2 intervention that can constructively bridge from the current dominant (declining) system (H1) to a more generative future system (H3) because it starts from concepts familiar to us through H1 (rights) but looks to apply innovative thinking to their use and interpretation (changing the dynamic and relationship between the human and more than human).

H2 innovations create a sense of the possible out of which the new H3 may emerge, but the H3 vision also makes the H2 innovations more plausible, as they make sense through the H3 lens when they still seem strange and challenging if looked at from H1. There is an element of mutual reinforcement, as issues of governance, rights, representation, guardianship etc layer on one another to form something more substantial than the individual parts.

Elements of H1 will continue to have value for us and should be retained through this process of change. However, it is important that H2 initiatives, such as rights of Nature, are applied in ways that enable that effective bridging to a new way of being (eg life-ennobling business practices) and are not simply absorbed into H1 (eg every company has ‘Nature on the board, but few listen to it and corporate behaviour continues much the same).

Underlying the potential for the movement to accelerate is growing evidence of silent climate and nature majorities. Most people are concerned, but underestimate the concern of others, and many professionals welcome opportunities to shift their roles to connect better with this awareness. What H3 imaginaries and examples are best placed to legitimise the bridging innovations that seem risky and alien to H1 systems? Can emphasis on planetary health and participatory democracy be messages that unite people? Which H2 innovations create the most fertile ground for the future paradigm to emerge? The suite of approaches this network engages - Interspecies Councils, nature governance and guardianship, nature arts and activism, the rights of species, rivers, and ecosystems - carry a collective force that is being increasingly recognised in H1 institutions and contexts.

Into the evening was a chance for us to get to know some more of the species we ultimately want to serve and live alongside. The sun set across a forest of tall, slim sentinel trees, interspersed with shimmering shade. Charley, who works as an ecologist at Hazel Hill Wood, presents us with images of 16 bats. Handing out devices that bring bat calls into frequencies we can hear, she explained how bats in fact have eyesight quite like our own. In the dusk and night, their sonic navigation can be heard, rapidly increasing in frequency just as they hone in on an insect. This translation of their frequencies into our own brought a wholly different sense of connection, offering a chance to imagine ourselves diving between branches in a world of sound.

The next morning was similarly special. For those who drew themselves out of bed early enough, Charley had set a moth trap. As we woke gently, so we gently woke the moths from their dozing in the cool morning air. I had never realised just the variety in patterning, body type, and size that moths presented. Of perhaps 2,500 species of moth, over 400 have been noted on the site, showing just how well protected and precious it is. A new-found fondness came about, as their tiny, fuzzy bodies lay upon my finger or disappeared into the foliage.

On the last day, we discussed the next steps for the network. A shift in coordination is expected. The current coordinator will step down in time. This central role is open to adapting, being split between different people, and reshaping what we do over the next year. A beautiful characterisation was offered of us as a flock of birds, coordinating with each other, but not yet a mycelium of more structured and consistent relations.

Pragmatically, we could envisage more members being welcomed, public as well as network-only events, subgroups, and, most importantly, future conferences to expand and enrich relations and conversations that we know lead to effective actions. There was a desire to connect professionally on shared questions, at the same time keeping our whole selves in mind and asking not only what we are doing but how we are. There is a desire to integrate different forms of time, creative, intuitive, unstructured moments to give room to unconscious and felt intelligence amidst our productivity-driven workplaces and culture.

As the facilitator James offered, if this is an emergency, then it is time to slow down. This is not a call to an introverted paralysis, but the care and attention needed to sustain well-designed work in a complex world. Action, and the broader shared vision that it contributes to, makes sense together.

We connected in a different way to typical conferences, with time to walk in the forest, moments of silence, breaks to connect to others’ personal as well as professional stories. The place encourages a retreat mindset, slowing down, finding rest amidst work, reflecting, and noticing the other species we share this earth with. There was space to voice something of the anxiety and fear that we carry as we cope with constant messages of destruction and risk, as well as the hope that bring us to the work and to work together.

I can see that while we hold Rights of Nature in common as a concern, our frames and aims overlap and diverge; for most present, legal tools are one part of a larger movement involving culture and institutions, leading us to a more nature-centred, participatory, and resilient society. In the end, the three horizons sheets on the wall, left for us to populate with examples and strategies, lay for the most part empty given our attention to connection.

There are pockets of Horizon 2, no doubt, in the River Guardians, council motions, nature-on-the-board experiments, and cultural awareness of climate, nature, and the need to reorient to a living world. Exactly what that means and how we engage across Horizons 2 and 3 was not articulated in the time we had together. There were high levels of interest in the model, and it is something the group could usefully return to in the future to explore in greater depth. For example, it could help us more rigorously ensure that the innovations that have already emerged become stepping stones to a new future system (H2+) and are not co-opted by the existing horizon. We should encounter the risk that every company has a nature director and every council a river charter, but nothing changes in terms of our relationship with the natural world.

The focus was on forming relationships, it is these in turn that create the rich tapestry of possibilities that we can draw on for action, something we have already witnessed unfolding in the network to date.

Holding social movements, scientific insights, legality, and institutional patterns together let us see the potential synergies for a movement that is thus far loosely defined and rapidly evolving. For the network itself, the members find value in knowing of so many others who share language and values, opportunities for collaboration, and the sharing of successes and invitations.

*Photo by Thomas Rickard of the Jersey Tiger moth*

Gratitude to the humans and more-than-human life that led this weekend, and to that place, as a remarkable host to conversations we trust will be in service.

Written by Thomas Rickard, in collaboration with retreat participants

Connections across Horizons: The 2025 retreat

Introducing: Ecoforensic