GREEN FUTURE, BLUE GROWTH

Green Future, Blue Growth

The future is green – and blue! At the Livebarefoot Fund our aim is to support new, exciting and innovative projects to help the planet while also revolutionising footwear and design.

Biome Algae is one such company. This year they are trialling sustainable seaweed farms off the coast of Devon and Cornwall. We’ve joined up with the Devon Environment Foundation to provide a social loan to help this project set sail.

The trial site is expected to yield 72 tonnes of native brown and red seaweeds every year while also creating long-term, sustainable hatcheries and an outreach programme, working with local communities for kelp conservation.

And seaweed is awesome. Not only is it tasty and nutritious, it can also be used as a natural food additive, source of protein, in medicines, for methane-reducing animal feed, fertilisers and in bio-packaging and bio-materials.

Seaweed farming provides jobs while protecting the ocean and increasing water quality, enhancing biodiversity and habitat regeneration while also being a valuable carbon sink (that means helping regenerate the planet!). Seaweed farming involves absolutely no land, water, fertilisers or feed to grow in the open ocean, it can be scaled up across Europe to focus on high value-added products.

At the LBF we are not only excited about sustainable seaweed farming itself, but also how this can help future footwear.  At LBF we envision a future of circular, regenerative footwear, where the barefoot shoes we wear on our feet have a positive impact on the planet as well as all of us living on this green and blue planet.

Watch this space for future update on the seaweed farm trial in Devon/Cornwall!