Wilding Weekend – June 2024
Full steam ahead for our third Wilding Weekend. It will be on 15th and 16th June in sunny West Dorset, near Beaminster! Opening hours will be 10.30am to 4.30pm. The garden is wild. Come and have a look. We have wildflower meadows, a cascade of ponds, insect homes, a medieval walkway, a bat-egg (!), mown […]
Wilding Weekend 2024 (Apr24 Update)
Full steam ahead for our third Wilding Weekend. It will be on 15th and 16th June in sunny West Dorset, near Beaminster! Opening hours will be 10.30am to 4.30pm. The garden is wild. Come and have a look. We have wildflower meadows, a cascade of ponds, insect homes, a medieval walkway, a bat-egg (!), mown […]
In conversation with Isabella Tree (Nov23)!!
The Electric Palace in Bridport was packed. The Bridport Literary Festival or Bridlit had managed to get Isabella Tree to come and talk to me in front of the 400 people who were able to get tickets. The focus was the newly published ‘The Book of Wilding‘ which is an easy-to-read manual on what can be done on […]
Menus for the Wilding Weekend (Jun22)
Refreshments and cakes all day – we’re serving homemade iced nettle tea, elderflower cordial, delicious quiches, salads and cream teas. And then there’s ice cream in cornets, including rhubarb and rosehip flavour. See the menus below to find out more. All food profits are being donated to Operation Future Hope, which is working with schools […]
Rubbish Cups for the Wilding Weekend (Jun22)
My Manifesto for COP26 and beyond(Oct21)
I’m delighted that Cop26 is getting a lot of attention. I think it’s great that young people – with Greta leading the charge – are voicing their anger at what’s happening to the climate. It’s incredibly positive that more and more businesses around the world are trying to make meaningful changes. Not so good is […]
TV Clip from ‘Kilroy’ with recognisable faces! (1989)
I was amazed to discover this edition of Kilroy in my archives. I remember doing it but I didn’t remember how many well known people were participating. Stephen Fry looking very young but who sadly doesn’t speak. Imran Khan who was a prominent man about town at the time – and is now President of […]
The Green Consumer Guide & Week Green Consumer Week TV Clips with Julia Hailes 1988
Published in 1989 ‘Green Consumer’s Supermarket Shopping Guide’ was written by John Elkington and myself – Julia Hailes. It was launched on our ‘Green Shopping Day’. When I was researching The Green Consumer Guide, none of the supermarkets had a clue about ‘green products’. When I asked them what environmental things they were doing they […]
1989 Video of Julia Hailes on BBC Nine O’Clock News launching ‘Green Shopping Day”.
Green Shopping Day was organised by Julia Hailes and John Elkington from SustainAbility, to launch their second green consumer book – The Green Consumer’s Supermarket Shopping Guide. At the time there was some controversy about the idea of encouraging people to buy products with less environmental impact, rather than simply reducing consumption. This video from […]
Julia Hailes talking about organic produce (1989 Approx)
Organic produce was quite a niche market in the 1980s. I remember talking to a group of enthusiasts about getting it into the supermarkets and they were decidedly unenthusiastic about the idea. There was quite a purist approach and they didn’t want it to become too commercialised. I couldn’t disagree more. There may be some […]
Clip from TV-AM with Anne Diamond 1989 – Julia Hailes interviewed about green supermarket products
Anne Diamond was very enthusiastic about green consumerism. On her programme again, I’m talking about the sort of ‘green products’ people could look out for. Actually, there weren’t that many and some of the discussion is out of date! Researchers had managed to find organic crisps which contributed to saving the hedgehogs and even organic […]
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…..