Julia Hailes MBE

Sustainability Pioneer

To burn or not to burn (Mar24)

Are fires the best way of getting rid of garden waste or clearing landscapes? I believe that the answer is generally ‘no’! But garden bonfires are ubiquitous and even conservation bodies are using burning as part of their land management plans – for example burning the brash from hedge-laying or trimming and site clearance of […]

We’re going to the Big One – Friday 21st April 2023

The invitation is for everybody to Unite to Survive at ‘The Big One’ – a four-day action from the 21st to the 24th April 2023, where people from all groups and movements, not just XR, will gather throughout Westminster and at the Houses of Parliament. Here are our banners… Come and join us….

Wild about Wilding (Jan23)

We organised the very first Wilding Weekend in June 2022, at our home in West Dorset. It was also the first garden opened through the National Garden Scheme (NGS) that was included primarily for its ‘wilding’ rather than for beautiful borders, impeccably mown lawns and other attributes of more traditional gardens. The next Wilding Weekend […]

The Rubbish Project is hiring! (Jan22)

Brilliant opportunity for an entrepreneurial commercial director to work with circular economy pioneers. Click here to find out more. The Rubbish Project is a fast-growing company with too much work and not enough time. Would you like to be part of a team creating a ‘waste-free world’? Do you want to make a positive environmental […]

Cop26 The Time to Act is Now (Nov21)

Al Gore was forthright. He said that at the Paris COP in 2015, the key challenge was denial. In Glasgow, the message is clear – it’s delay.  The exciting thing about joining the marches with Greta was the feeling of being one of many who recognised the dire predicament the world is facing.  There were […]

Laughing gas in hospitals & dental practices should be banned (Oct21)

Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas has a global warming impact that is about 300 times more than CO2 – and it depletes the ozone layer too.  The vast majority of it is used in agriculture and other industrial activities. However, that’s not the issue I’m tackling in this blog. This was inspired by […]

Peat in compost is environmental vandalism (Mar21)

That’s what Monty Don says and I agree. But it’s incredibly common. UK gardeners are responsible for destroying our ‘rainforests’. It has to stop and we can make it happen. OK, so why is this such a big deal? First and perhaps most importantly, peatlands are essential in our fight against climate change.  Whilst they […]

Green Consumer Compilation – TV Clips with Julia Hailes from 1988-90

Many people will be surprised to know how much interest there was about green consumerism in the late 80s and early 1990s. It was kicked off by the publication of The Green Consumer Guide, co-authored by myself and John Elkington, in 1988. The book had 11 print runs in the first month, shot to the […]

ANIMALS TURN HUMAN…(May20)

A role reversal. Imagine humans behaved like animals and vice versa. What would we think about our homes being destroyed, our oceans poisoned and our forests being hacked? This video does the imagining for us. It shows human’s petrified on a shrinking ice block, whilst polar bears sit in offices and wheel trolleys through over-stocked […]

How Covid-19 is Changing the world (Apr20)

The Covid Crisis is sowing the seeds of division – young vs old, local vs incomers, poor vs rich etc. People are worried that we’ll never get ‘back to normal’ whilst others are wondering if that’s actually desirable. And, there’s also concern that the impacts of crashing the economy may even outweigh the terrible toll of the virus. However, there are positive initiatives too. I thought it would be interesting to look at some examples of what different organisations are thinking and doing…..