J Kariithi - Director GSE Ecotours

How old are you?
29

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Social entrepreneur, GSE Ecotours Ltd

How long have been doing this?
Two and half years

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
Working with local communities in Africa to enhance their livelihoods

What’s the best bit about your job?
Organising a homestays’ visit from start to finish.

What’s the worst thing?
Not having a regular pay check at the end of every month!

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Incredible highs and incredible lows.

What were you doing before this?
Assistant programmes manager for an Environmental Consultancy firm.

What was your very first full-time job?
Customer service assistant in a Call Centre.

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Be prepared for a lot of hardwork, also be ready to sacrifice some material comforts to get where you want.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
Plenty, but I can only talk about one of them which is to expand our markets to the US and perhaps Asia & the Far East.

What do you do to relax?
Dancing, reading & of course travelling

Who do you live with?
With family members.

Whereabouts do you live?
Maidstone, Kent & Nairobi, Kenya

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Not sure…… perhaps offer tax credits against reduction of carbon footprints and emissions both by individuals and corporate organisations.


As cheap and easily available oil is expected to run out in the next couple of decades, what do you think will be the predominant form of transport in 2027?
I think it would still be the car but with cleaner fuel…. I might be very wrong on that though.


Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
Yes…… don’t want to say.


What have you done that you were most proud of?
Setting up a company with high logistical outputs but with very little financial backing.


What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
War and any ongoing conflicts in world make it a very unsavoury & unsafe place for everyone from Guatemala to Guernsey Island.


Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Oprah Winfrey, her consistency and dedication to her career whilst overcoming a lot of hurdles to get where she is today is inspiring and provides motivation for everyone in our generation.

What’s your website address?
http://www.gse-ecotours.com/


What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
http://www.travelmole.com/
http://www.scenestorm.com/
http://www.smartplanet.com/

Shauna Chapman - Founder of Quail

How old are you?
37


What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
I founded and own an ethical fashion label for women called Quail By Mail. I operate Quail on a full time basis from my live/work studio in Brixham, south Devon.


How long have been doing this?
1.5 years


What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
I import ethical, heritage, fairtrade and organic fabrics from India, South Africa and Indonesia and I utilise young British fashion designers and manufacturing units in Devon to produce funky, original clothing.


What’s the best bit about your job?
Standing back and looking at a finished Quail garment that has huge eco and ethical provenance that wouldn’t have otherwise existed, and then someone comes and buys it and jump up and down with glee!


What’s the worst thing?
Dealing with accounts and book keeping and being asked to present Business Plans to boring people who don’t care about what Quail is about, just if the numbers look logical.


What have the last 12 months been like for you?
I quit my full time job so that I could concentrate on Quail. I’ve been developing my clothing patterns from scratch, which takes time. But the bulk of the time is spent trying to get attention from magazines and newspapers who only love and write about the big boys, who are barely ethical or eco-friendly. I call it ‘Green Wash’.


What were you doing before this?
I used to work in the City of London.


What was your very first full-time job?
Working for a sign making company near Heathrow.


What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Save as much money as you can before you start or better yet keep working and do it on the side until you’re really ready to take the leap. Always bear in mind that the most successful people in this world all had to start somewhere.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
I’d like to expand Quail By Mail to offer wholesale clothing to quality clothing boutiques. I’d also love to work with some fashion graduates from the Art & Design College in Plymouth, before they all troop off to London.

What do you do to relax?
I am a keen gardener so I have an ‘organipanico’, which is a Cuban word for an organic kitchen garden, usually in a courtyard. I also like to go to farmers markets and go for a walk on the beach.


Who do you live with?
My husband and lots and lots of indoor plants. There are pigeons in the eves too.


Whereabouts do you live?
In a GrII listed former ship’s chandlery about 50m from the sea in Brixham, South Devon (Torbay area).


If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Cancel all orders for guns, bullets, fighter planes and aircraft carriers and assign all the soldiers and navymen to Britain’s farmers and convert all arable and grazing land to organic production. I’d make Britain the first certified organic country.


As cheap and easily available oil is expected to run out in the next couple of decades, what do you think will be the predominant form of transport in 2027?
Our feet.


Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I like wood-burning fireplaces.


What have you done that you were most proud of?
That I’ve stuck to my childhood thoughts that the world will be a different place if I keep my end up.


What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Over population.


Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Prince Charles. Big change is ahead. Long live the Queen but I can’t wait for the King.

What’s your website address?
http://www.quailbymail.co.uk
http://quailbymail.blogspot.com


What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
I like original people doing original things and then blogging about it:
http://www.fedbybirds.com
http://www.skinnylaminx.com/
http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

Chris Dow - Development Worker and Trainer for Dynamix

How old are you?
39

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
I am a Development Worker and Trainer for Dynamix Ltd, a creative training worker co-operative. As we are worker, manager, owners I am also a Director of the company.

How long have been doing this?
7 years

What’s the best bit about your job?
There’s an incredible diversity day to day with my job so there’s never time to get in a rut and if you do, then you have a lot of power to change things as you are your own boss (as well as everybody else of course).

What’s the worst thing?
Communication can sometimes let us down as we all lead busy lives and training doesn’t just happen 9-5. As we are almost entirely dependent on fees for our work, when things go quiet it can get a bit scary as to whether we’ll have enough money for next months wages bill…but we have been going since 1989! There are crunch moments of responsibility too particularly with personnel issues when you wish you had a boss to deal with it….

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
It’s been a very busy time for us in the last 12 months. We’ve had 2 major contracts running, one with the Welsh Assembly delivering training around participation and one with Play Wales helping them to design play work training. As well as helping the project management of these contracts I’ve been sorting out the development of our own training space below our office, getting a new web site designed, filling in tenders……

What were you doing before?
I was a community based environmental projects officer for the local council.

What was your very first full-time job?
A countryside ranger for a local nature reserve.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
Once we get the website online, we’d like to use it as a way of publishing some of our training activities – over the years we’ve designed a huge quantity of material, currently residing on our computer server. We’re also developing more international and European training. We are intending a redevelopment of a project around encouraging co-operatives and social enterprises in educational settings (www.case4us.com) to see if we can help to make it a nationally available programme across the UK.

What do you do to relax?
Living on Gower is an ideal place to surf, hang out at the beach and walk along the cliffs. I’m also a keen musician too, listening and playing.

Who do you live with?
I live with my family (partner Kira and two children Max (5) and Alys (7))

Whereabouts do you live?
I live in a chalet type dwelling on Gower’s coast 10 minutes walk to the beach!

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you do?
Devolve power to the counties – imagine the great Socialist Republic of Yorkshire (I come from Leeds originally)

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I love skiing…I daren’t think about the impact of all those lifts and snow cannons, never mind getting there.

What have you done that you were most proud of?
I’ve tried to live with integrity and treat people as I’d like to be treated. Isn’t pride a sin though….

What are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Intolerance worries me….why can’t people just get on…..yes I know it isn’t that simple but come on……

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Hard to say. I admire people I know and generally speaking I don’t know anyone in the public eye. Is that a cop out? There are good people out there doing good things though….

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
You can do the same sort of work in all sort of organisations (teach or train), but if you want more control over your own destiny, in effect to be your own boss, co-operation is extremely empowering to individuals and a powerful movement for social change.

What’s your website address?
www.dynamix.ltd.uk or www.case4us.com

What are your three favourite other websites?
www.magicseaweed.com (for the surf report)
http://www.blackle.com (don’t know if it really makes a difference but it reminds you)
http://www.playwales.org.uk/ (because they need to play)

Annette Pinner - Chief Executive, Vegetarian Society

How old are you?
53

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
I’m Chief Executive of The Vegetarian Society

How long have been doing this?
18 months

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
We help people become and remain vegetarian which reduces animal suffering and killing and has positive benefits for the environment and global sustainability .

What’s the best bit about your job?
The people I work with each day (inside and outside the Society).

What’s the worst thing?
Paperwork and bureaucracy

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Fantastic! Our ‘Silent but Deadly’ environmental campaign has been a great success. Mars Bars became vegetarian again and we have built stronger working relationships with partners.

What were you doing before this?
I worked for the Environment Agency as Area Manager for Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire.

What was your very first full-time job?
Post-doctoral research at Oxford University in soil chemistry.

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you? Follow your heart, look for opportunities, take some risks.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
We’ll be running a campaign on animal welfare as well as continuing our environmental campaigning. We’ll also be expanding our training for professional chefs - we want people to be able to eat better vegetarian food in workplace canteens, hospitals and schools as well as in restaurants.

What do you do to relax?
Spend time with friends and family, meditate, go to the gym, read.

Who do you live with?
My husband and sometimes my daughter (when she’s home from university)

Whereabouts do you live?
Manchester

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Tax meat production!

As cheap and easily available oil is expect to run out in the next couple of decades, what do you think will be the predominant form of transport in 2027?
Trains and trams (regular and frequent ones I hope!)

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I hate being cold so I probably use more energy heating the house than I should.

What have you done that you were most proud of?
That there are fewer nauseating smells in Wigan! I probably shouldn’t go into too much detail but I guess I can say that I lead a team at the Environment Agency that worked really hard to get a particular operation to stop sending out some pretty foul smelling stuff. On a personal note, leaving the Environment Agency to come to VegSoc. Lots of people told me I was crazy to give up such a well paid and secure job, not to mention the final salary pension, but I know working here would be more in line with my own values and beliefs.

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Excessive consumption based on, what seems to me, the mistaken idea it will make us happier.

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
The Dalai Lama – because he exudes both kindness and wisdom and is so true to his values and beliefs sometimes under great pressure.

What’s your website address?
www.vegsoc.org

What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
www.stephenbatchelor.org – I’ve been on several retreats with Stephen and Martin Batchelor and love their practical and open approach. There are talks, very informed discussions and beautiful photos on the site.
www.resurgence.org - the site for Satish Kumar’s Resurgence magazine. Inspiring articles and videos.
http://knowleseddyknowles.blogspot.com/ - lots of interesting photos and writing. OK, it’s a site our son runs along with 2 colleagues but what the heck, I love it!

Adam York - Ethical Grocer

How old are you?
44

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Grocer, Buyer and Veg Grower; Unicorn Grocery Ltd, Manchester and Glebelands Market Garden Ltd, Sale.

How long have been doing this?
15 years

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
Preoccupation with feeding the public well and earning a living in a way that enables me to sleep at night.

What’s the best bit about your job?
Seeing quality fruit and veg arrayed in front of appreciative customers. Trading and making deals over new supply. Seeing large team of fellow members pull together.

What’s the worst thing?
Dealing with the fallout from laissez-faire New Labour and seeing some of the ugly stuff from the 1980s come to fruition.

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Tough retail competition, harsh Summer conditions in 2007, trying to keep up with the rapid global changes taking place as Western Capitalism slips away...

What were you doing before this?
Bringing up my son/part-time jobs

What was your very first full-time job?
Watford Gap services, wearing Captain Scarlett hats and getting very hot!

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Be determined, gain experience with others and get on with it. Remember if it goes wrong it really is better to die on your feet than live on your knees. While you retain a sense of humour you still have power.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
Aquire land for more food production, read more good stories, go dancing more, nuture more enthusiastic traders and innovators, learn how to sail properly.

What do you do to relax?
Get out of urban madness. Spend time with people doing different things.

Who do you live with?
Partner, housemates+ vicious terrier.

Whereabouts do you live?
Whalley Range (post Smiths version).

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Accept that inequality of wealth/relative wealth matter a lot. Pursue policy agenda based on this and trying to make quality of life improve for the greatest number of people.

As cheap and easily available oil is expected to run out in the next couple of decades, what do you think will be the predominant form of transport in 2027?
Shank’s Pony, stay fit. A smooth road needs asphalt needs oil. Expect big changes soon.

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
Wanting to torch Tesco HQ?

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Tried to stick to my principles and the values I was brought up with. Finding that pioneering eco writers of the 1970s have been vindicated and I was right to be inspired by them. Resisting the complacency and materialistic dross of much about me, maybe doing some manual work keeps you grounded?

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Imminent likelihood of mass starvation globally.

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Alan Simpson MP(!) Getting on with eco-projects and speaking out consistently against New Labour globalistas.

What’s your website address?
www.glebelandsmarketgarden.co.uk
www.unicorn-grocery.co.uk

What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
www.countercurrents.org peak oil tab, Peter Goodchild articles particularly. www.independent.co.uk business comment.
http://resonancef.com/ listen for tunes.