Julia Hailes MBE

Sustainability Pioneer

Incredible Edible was amazing (May11)

They’ve planted corn on the cob outside the police station. They’re lettuces in rose beds. And tomatoes on waste land.  There’s even vegetables planted by school children in the graveyard.  Incredible Edible, based in Todmorden is guerilla gardening at its best. The station master loved broccoli, so when he died, they planted broccoli all around the […]

Project Dirt – in your neighbourhood (Jan10)

Project Dirt was set up in 2008 as an independent online network to help connect green minded people.  The idea for people to learn from others doing ‘real projects’ in their neighbourhood.   I was a member of the judging panel for the Project Dirt’s Timberland Earthkeepers Grant awarding five projects up to £2000 each.

We need more Bedzeds (Nov09)

Bedzed – Beddington Zero Energy Design   William Steel, Generation Green Think Tank member   Did you know that cats give off about 10 watts of heat and dogs about 15 watts. I suspect that a friend of mine with a Great Dane gets as much heat from his as a human though – roughly […]

Haller transformation (May09)

Below is an article I wrote for Telegraph website about millipedes, hippos and Haller in Kenya. I’m a trustee of Haller – a charity, I co-founded that supports sustainable living in Kenya. In March I spent a week just North of Mombasa looking at how things have progressed since my last visit over four years […]

Off to Kenya and street lights closer to home (Mar09)

Denuded landscape near Mombasa Sustainable agriculture training plot near Mombasa   The offending street light on Coker Hill   Rural view from my house Another morning digging ourselves out of the drive. As I was heaving large mounds of snow into the bank I was thinking about where I’ll be in a couple of days […]

A week away (Mar07)

When I say I’m going to be out of the office this week, people assume I’ll be on holiday. Actually this couldn’t be further from the truth. – I’m spending Monday in Brussels advising Procter & Gamble – they have asked me to sit on an Environmental Advisory Panel relating to their cleaning and detergents […]