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.

Niki Clarke - Press Officer, Ecocentric

How old are you?
26

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Press Office for EcoCentric. They sell eco gifts and homewares for the stylish & eco-conscious consumer.

How long have been doing this?
For about a year

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
Everything at EcoCentric is eco in some way (as the name suggests) whether it be made from recycled glass, be an organic cushion or fair trade bed linen…

What’s the best bit about your job?
I love getting excited about new eco-chic products out there that will encourage people to go green. It has taken a while for consumers to see that eco is stylish too. Then my job is to tell people about it and get them excited too…

What’s the worst thing?
As it is a small company we all take our turn at the mundane jobs too…

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
A learning curve. My training and previous jobs have been in fashion, so I am getting used to the interiors angle of things. I also love being part of a small company as you get to see the inner cogs whirring.

What were you doing before this?
I was part time for People Tree in PR, and part time web assistant for a charity called Latin Link

What was your very first full-time job?
This one! I had always been a bits-and-pieces kinda gal. I like variety…though it does often lead to working more than full time!

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Volunteer to get experience (but not for too long!), and do what you love.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
I’ll keep them under my hat for now…

What do you do to relax?
I cycle to and from work as buses can make me get agitated and crazy! I also love knitting

Who do you live with?
My hubby Andy – photographer extraordinaire.

Whereabouts do you live?
Peckham. An amazing and buzzing community.

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Make people share.

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?
Can’t really see people giving up their cars. But technology is moving fast and manufacturers seem committed to finding a way… Why exactly did Dr Beeching shut all the railways?

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I take long showers…does that count?

What have you done that you were most proud of?
My gap year in Bolivia, working with women who were in prison because of debt. A small set-up helped them to knit & sew their way to independence for them and their kids.

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Selfishness

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Anita Roddick may be a bit of a cliché, but she really had it all, and I have been following her for years. I would love to be able to achieve and make a difference even a fraction of what she has. ‘Business as unusual’ is the way to go!

What’s your website address?
www.ecocentric.co.uk

What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
www.businesslink.gov.uk – if you can’t find the job you want, make it!
www.peopletree.co.uk – I always ask for vouchers for Christmas and my birthday and stockpile for the new season!
www.facebook.com – great for networking…but possibly a bit too addictive!

Dr. Rachel Dodds - Director, Sustaining Tourism

How old are you?
36

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Director, Sustaining Tourism and Assistant Professor, Ryerson University

How long have been doing this?
Consulting – 10 years
Prof – 2 years

What’s the best bit about your job?
It is what I am passionate about

What’s the worst thing?
I work too much

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Busy but exciting – we just founded an organisation called the Icarus Foundation which is aimed to help Canada become a carbon neutral tourism destination

What were you doing before?
I was doing the same – trying to make tourism more sustainable

What was your very first full-time job?
I was a paper deliverer

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
I hope to keep pushing the agenda

What do you do to relax?
Travel and do yoga

Who do you live with?
My boyfriend

Whereabouts do you live?
Toronto, Canada

If you were Prime Minister (of Canada), what’s the very first thing you do?
Admit that the country’s national policy on the environment needs to change!

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I fly a lot and it is hard to offset – I like to know what projects I am supporting so sometimes forget to offset.

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Not sure, perhaps finish my PhD but…

What are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Our greed is getting out of control – we need to start caring for mother nature!

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
There are probably a few but ….I would think probably the King of Thailand – he loves his country and his people and has done a number of projects that put sustainable development of his country in the forefront. And his people love him- which really does say a lot.

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Network – it is the key in the tourism industry.

What’s your website address?
http://www.sustainabletourism.net

What are your three favourite other websites?
www.theicarusfoundation.com
http://www.toinitiative.org/
and probably travel sites!

Michelle Clarke - Volunteer Development Worker, Action 21

How old are you?
Almost 25

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Volunteer Development Worker. I work full time for Action 21 who work on practical sustainability projects in Warwickshire.

How long have been doing this?
Since February 2007

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
Action 21 is a social enterprise that promotes sustainable living in Warwickshire through: practical environmental action; information and education; volunteering opportunities and volunteer support. We work in four different areas of sustainability: recycling, energy, food and transport. My job involves recruiting and supporting individuals to volunteer with Action 21. It’s great to get local people involved in environmental projects and to provide them with opportunities to up skill themselves and contribute in their community.

What’s the best bit about your job?
My job puts me in touch with a wide variety of the community and working with a wide team of volunteers is really inspiring and rewarding. I’m always having interesting conversations and meeting new people. It’s also great to see what voluntary work can do for people – especially those who do not think it’s for them and to see the change in people is really great.

What’s the worst thing?
There’s just not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do. The sustainability agenda is huge and there are always more things that we could do. We’re a small organisation and the task seems immense!

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
The last 12 months have been really exciting but incredibly busy. Sometimes there seems little time for reflection and to think about what we’ve done. They have been great though as I’ve learnt so much, met so many people and really had some fun times.

What were you doing before this?
I was doing a placement with Groundwork Oldham and Rochdale which involved doing environmental education with Groundwork and working for Rochdale Borough Council in their sustainability department. Prior to this I was doing various voluntary jobs with environmental organisations and running my own social enterprise in Nottingham.

What was your very first full-time job?
My placement in Groundwork was my first full time job. Prior to that I was working full time hours but not just in one job. It was hectic! I wasn’t paid to work for Groundwork but it was still a full time job. Never underestimate the value of voluntary work!

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
I would suggest volunteering in the areas of work that interest you and getting as much experience as you can. It’s also a good chance to work out what you really want to do and what floats your boat. It’s very rewarding to work part time in paid work to pay the bills and then volunteer as much as you can in things you really care about. You get to meet so many people who always give you advice and sometimes you can be lucky enough to get paid work in the organisation you volunteer for. There is loads out there to do and you get so many skills. You can always start your own ethical job up – starting a social enterprise is hard work but so rewarding!

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
I’m not sure what the next 12 months hold as I’m not sure how much job will pan out with funding and the projects that I’m working on. I think I’ll take each day as it comes as if you endlessly plan, you never can really live in the moment!

What do you do to relax?
Yoga, tai chi, going out dancing, visiting friends, walking, reading, talking to my housemates, watching films.

Who do you live with?
A girl who works for Guide Dogs for the blind, Kat, and a lad who works in the Computer Games industry, Edd. They are the same age as me and just happen to be in Leamington for their jobs too.

Whereabouts do you live?
Leamington Spa, just south of Birmingham.

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
I would take some drastic measures to get people out of their cars and would also want to try and people consuming soo much!

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?
Bicycles – it’s the only way! People will see the light! What with more obesity and mental health problems, congestion, social exclusion and stress, people should get on their saddles. I would make sure that people paid the true cost of driving their cars and that people really thought before getting in their cars.

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
Actually – I haven’t really but I am a bit rubbish at persuading others to be green – I feel like I’m annoying them! I’ve given up flying, am vegetarian, cycle everywhere and only buy second hand clothes but there is always more you could do.

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Set up the Crocus Café with a group of friends in Nottingham. This is a social enterprise which has a variety of aims and is a really great thing to have been involved in. It certainly helped me get my current job.

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Climate change.

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Tony Juniper – Director of Friends of the Earth. He’s such a good public figure for the green movement and I find him really personable and interesting. He’s really good at talking about environmental issues. It’s a shame he’s not in the public eye as much as he could be.

What’s your website address?
www.action21.co.uk

What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
I have to admit it but Facebook is one of my favourite – it really is such a good way to communicate with people and it can put you in touch with inspiring groups of people. It’s also a great way to keep in touch with people.
I’m also loving Wikipedia as my knowledge always needs extending.
And I guess I would have to say our website as a team of volunteers are updating it and editing it and it’s really going to come alive!

Susan Morley - Reception and Signposting Co-ordinator, Northern Refugee Centre

How old are you?
43

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Reception & Signposting Co-ordinator, Northern Refugee Centre, Sheffield

How long have been doing this?
9 months

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
At Northern Refugee Centre we work very hard at being fair, honest and environmentally friendly. We also make sure that we are non-judgemental and try to treat everyone as equal regardless of their race, religion, sexuality, political beliefs etc according to our Equal Opportunities policies.

What’s the best bit about your job?
Being able to help an asylum seeker or refugee to make their life better in whatever way they need us to. I have also learned an incredible amount about different cultures and countries.

What’s the worst thing?
Being sworn at by frustrated and angry clients and never having enough time.

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Very stressful and a very steep learning curve.

What were you doing before this?
I was the Office Manager at Northern Refugee Centre.

What was your very first full-time job?
Youth Opportunities Scheme job in a community theatre company.

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
It’s not easy and you have to be passionate about the sector that you are working in to make it easier to balance the stress with being able to make a difference to peoples lives. It’s also important to have a clear understanding of their issues to enable you to effectively deal with people and how their situation affects them and their lives. Being a ‘people person’ definitely helps!

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
I wish to learn more about the countries of origin of our clients to gain a better understanding of why they have ended up in the UK and what they have fled from. I also want to do some training around the best way to deal with difficult clients.

What do you do to relax?
Walk my dogs.

Who do you live with?
My partner and 2 children

Whereabouts do you live?
Sheffield

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
I would allow asylum seekers to work (and in fact, provide support to help them find decent employment)

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?
I have no idea.

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I don’t always recycle as much as I should. I am also guilty of not switching things off (eg phone chargers, speakers on the pc, tv at the mains)

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Raised 2 beautiful children who care about people and are empathetic. Work wise, I know I am a friendly face who clients who are (hopefully) put at ease when they come to our service and are assured that I will do my best to make sure they are given the help they need.

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Poverty

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Can’t think of anyone

What’s your website address?
www.nrcentre.org.uk

What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
www.bbc.co.uk
www.refugeeaccess.org.uk
www.amazon.co.uk

Paul Bright - Cornwall Sustainable Building Trust

How old are you?
57

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
I am an Environmental Scientist, with a building background, I manage both Cornwall Sustainable Building Trust and Sustain Cornwall Ltd.

How long have been doing this?
5 years.

What’s the best bit about your job?
Making a difference and effecting people to Change.

What’s the worst thing?
Dealing with blinkered people occasionally.

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Too busy. I need help.

What were you doing before?
I was in Community Involvement with English Nature.

What was your very first full-time job?
A demolition worker.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
I am working with colleagues on a Zero Carbon kit house for Cornwall- but I didn’t say that ….right?

What do you do to relax?
Play with my grand children and make cider.

Who do you live with?
My wife.

Whereabouts do you live?
On a smallholding in Cornwall.

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you do?
Resign.

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
My secret is not to have secrets, what you see is what you get!

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Had kids and been there for them.

What are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Human greed.

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
The Dalai Lama. I like his smile.

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
It’s a growth area, know your stuff and you should find a satisfying job and make a difference.

What’s your website address?
www.csbt.org.uk

What are your three favourite other websites?
I honestly don’t have 3 favourites.

David Ferguson - EDF Energy

How old are you?
31

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
I am Head of Corporate Responsibility Strategy at EDF Energy, one of the biggest energy companies in the UK.

How long have been doing this?
About three years

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
I am responsible for developing the sustainability strategy for the company. This means persuading the business to make ethical, long-term decisions that are in-line with the future needs of people and the planet. EDF Energy has a carbon footprint roughly equal to that of Tunisia, so there is a scope to make a huge difference.

What’s the best bit about your job?
Successes. We’ve had a few.

What’s the worst thing?
Meeting people who don’t see the need to change

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Eye opening. Being an optimist I’d like to think that we’ve seen a step-change in efforts to combat climate change, suddenly it’s front page news. Al Gore and Nicholas Stern have made a huge contribution. This has made my job of persuading the business to change a lot easier. In fact, in June 2007 we launched something we called ‘Our Climate Commitments’. It’s a bit like a political manifesto in that it sets out how we will massively reduce our climate change impact between now and 2020. The headline target is a 60% reduction in the carbon intensity of our electricity generation.

What were you doing before this?
I was a consultant for a couple of years, working with companies that were just starting to think about corporate responsibility. Before that I did a Masters course at Imperial College, and before that I was a travelling, climbing bum.

What was your very first full-time job?
Apart from working in supermarkets, factories and climbing shops my first ‘grown up’ job was as a consultant.

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Easy: be passionate but rational. The need for change is immense and immediate but I am always required to provide a business case to justify why reducing our carbon footprint is a sensible thing to do.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
As an energy company we’ve focussed mainly on climate change as our key challenge. But it’s not our only challenge and we’re looking at the wider social impacts of our business. We will soon launch a set of ambitious commitments along the same lines as Our Climate Commitments but focussing on our social impacts and responsibilities.

What do you do to relax?
I am a keen rock climber and love travelling, although I’ve been cutting back on flying in the last couple of years which has meant that I spend more time climbing and travelling in the UK.

Who do you live with?
My girlfriend

Whereabouts do you live?
North London

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
I’d impose exorbitant tax on personalised number plates. Honestly, more than a billion people in the world live on less than $1 a day so if you have money to waste on a personalised number plate then there are more useful things you could do with it. On a slightly more serious note I think the first big challenge would be to make carbon part of the way we price things, perhaps through a personal carbon allowance.

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?
Electric cars. But we need to get a move on. There’s lots of expensive oil still waiting to be extracted.

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I drive a campervan. It’s not very efficient, so I don’t drive it much. And I got it to help wean me off long-distance flights.

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Getting a distinction in my Masters degree. I’m not very academic and I worked very hard.

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Our obsession with buying stuff. And religion.

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Richard Dawkins for his championing of sensible, rational thought.

What’s your website address?
www.edfenergy.com

What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
www.guardian.co.uk
www.facebook.com (not at work, of course)
www.ukclimbing.com

Steve Moore - Relationship Manager, Triodos Bank

How old are you?
Still in my 30s

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Relationship Manager for Triodos Bank, lending to renewable energy projects across the UK.

How long have been doing this?
Five years

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
Working for a bank where the credibility of the people and organisations you’re lending to is more important than growth targets alone is a privilege. Not all renewable energy projects are a good thing; particularly those reliant on intensive farming techniques. I’m encouraged to explore the issues that concern me. Fortunately, there’s also plenty of commercial opportunities in wind and hydro as these industries continue to flourish.

What’s the best bit about your job?
Working in a specialist, and relatively complex, area that’s in demand and experiencing dramatic growth - even if the talk about renewable energy industry is often disproportionate to the action on the ground.

What’s the worst thing?
It’s predominantly desk based, and the sector is shifting more into the corporate environment.

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Busy. There’s been a lot of lending to a whole range of interesting projects from small to larger scale developments.

What were you doing before this?
I was a disillusioned high street banker.

What was your very first full-time job?
Wide-eyed, naïve high street banker.

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Get a wide breadth of experience in areas that interest you and then ask yourself again what you really want to do. It may be this, or it may not. There could be some interesting distractions en route - often the richer your experience, the more rewarding your employment when you settle on a particular line of work.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
There are a number of interesting projects that should come together in 2008, but they’re confidential so I can’t share them.

What do you do to relax?
Read, run, cycle and enjoy the children.

Who do you live with?
My wife and two children

Whereabouts do you live?
In easy reach of the centre of Bristol and open countryside.

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Make local figure, George Ferguson, mayor of Bristol.

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?
The car. You didn’t ask what would be fuelling it!

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
Yes. We’re all paradoxical – especially those who say they are not.

What have you done that you were most proud of?
I once played in the world unicycle hockey championships.

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
There isn’t any one individual, but for the purposes of this interview Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for his uncompromising commitment to seasonal, ethically produced food.

What’s your website address?
www.triodos.co.uk

What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
www.cyclingnews.com
www.howies.co.uk
www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/sw/bristol_forecast_weather.html

Alex Smith - Managing Director of Alara

How old are you?
54

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
MD of Alara and working for our stakeholders

How long have been doing this?
32 years

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
The opportunity to develop a company with sustainability at its heart.

What’s the best bit about your job?
Working in the Permaculture Forest Garden around the back of the factory

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Very exciting

What were you doing before this?
Living totally, without using money

What was your very first full-time job?
Picking Strawberries

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
If possible learn from other peoples mistakes.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
Spend more time on company development

What do you do to relax?
Pay attention to the moment.

Who do you live with?
My wife Katrina and 4 year old daughter, Daria.

Whereabouts do you live?
Islington, London

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Implement “Contract and Converge “ for the UK

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?
Peak oil will happen before 2027 and bicycle will be the predominant form of transport

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
Cheese

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Bringing up such a beautiful daughter and starting Alara with no money at all.

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
1) Peak Oil 2) Climate Change

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Peter Melchett, Policy Director at the Soil Association, who I respect for being a consummate political activist.
What’s your website address?
www.alara.co.uk

What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
www.peakoil.com
www.soilassociation.org
www.wikipedia.org

Sarah Irving - Ethical Consumer magazine

How old are you?
31

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Writer and researcher, Ethical Consumer magazine

How long have been doing this?
Since 1999, with a break in the middle

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
Firstly, Ethical Consumer’s main purpose is to research what companies do to the environment, human rights, animal welfare and on issues like GM and political donations – whether it’s good or bad, and then make that information as widely available as possible. We do that by producing Ethical Consumer magazine and a consumer information website called ethiscore.org, and providing information for companies and charities who want to know more about the ethics of their suppliers and sponsors.
Secondly, Ethical Consumer as an organisation tries to operate as ethically as possible. We’re a workers’ co-op, which means that everyone gets a say in how things are run. We work from a co-operatively-run workspace in a social housing building. We use renewable energy, print the magazine on recycled paper using environmentally-friendly inks, and generally try to think through the implications of our sourcing and policy decisions.

What’s the best bit about your job?
Hearing about real changes that people have made because of information they’ve had from us – whether it’s one person choosing to buy ethical products at home, or an entire company deciding to switch to selling only energy-efficient white goods.

What’s the worst thing?
All the really depressing information we have to read through about appalling things that companies do, whether it’s the conditions for child labourers picking cotton in Uzbekistan, or Kettle Chips hiring union-busters in Britain, or the amount of companies that still depend on selling us cheap flights that are destroying the planet.

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Hard work – we’ve had a lot more consultancy work in, which is great because it reflects the growing interest in information about company behaviour and sustainability, and hopefully people will act on what they know.

What were you doing before this?
I’d quit my job at a bookseller and had spent the previous year travelling and doing volunteer work with various groups, including the Women’s Environmental Network.

What was your very first full-time job?
A bookseller at Blackwell’s.

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Get some proper solid skills, whether it’s computer skills, bookkeeping, design – the ‘ethical’ sector is full of people like me who had some vague humanities degree and had done some volunteering. What will set you apart will be having some practical use, rather than a history degree and a desire to do good. I wouldn’t have hired me as I was eight years ago!

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
Sleep. Plant the heritage variety apple trees I have on order from Keeper’s Nursery. Get married! And at work, help to launch our revamped new website next year.

What do you do to relax?
Read Barbara Kingsolver or Ahdaf Soueif books, get muddy on my allotment, or eat chocolate in front of Sex & The City DVDs. Sometimes drink tequila and dance, but I don’t seem to be able to do that as often as I used to!

Who do you live with?
My fiance Marc, an NHS physiotherapist, and my cats Delilah (large, black & white) and Cassidy (blue-eyed and slinky with 3 legs)

Whereabouts do you live?
Moss Side in Manchester

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Implement personal carbon rationing, so that if rich people find it so important to be able to live in big expensive houses, fly on a weekly basis and drive gas-guzzling cars they have to pay out really serious money to do it. Making air travel expensive is often portrayed as a matter of making ordinary families unable to get their one holiday in the sun. Actually, most cheap flights are taken by affluent people who fly regularly for things like weekend breaks in Europe or even, nowadays, the Gulf or USA. That’s really unacceptable and it has to stop.

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?
Bicycles, I hope! Maybe if there are more of them around, there will be market incentives to develop really good rainwear for cyclists, too.

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I really, really need to replace our probably hideously inefficient old boiler

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Some of the things in the answer to ‘what’s best about your job,’ but also some of the things I did when I was doing voluntary human rights work in Palestine. I played a really small role, but I know for a fact that there’s at least one guy, who has young kids, who is still alive because I happened to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right information. That’s a pretty amazing feeling.

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
The ones that really grab me personally are violence against women and the Palestinian people’s struggle for their rights, but on a global scale nothing tops climate change at the moment, because if we don’t address this, and soon, nothing else is going to matter anyway…

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Journalist Robert Fisk for his integrity and willingness to say deeply unfashionable things, and writer Barbara Kingsolver for writing about the world’s problems and possible solutions to them in a sane and profoundly beautiful way.

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

What are your three favourite other websites of the moment?
www.ethicsgirls.co.uk, because it makes ethical living fun and fresh
www.seat61.com, because it gives amazingly useful, practical information about getting to all sorts of places on trains – and I can use it to plan a non-flight honeymoon to Morocco!
www.creamogalloway.co.uk because I visited this maker of organic, fair trade ice-cream recently and was really inspired by their holistic approach to running a financially and environmentally sustainable business. They’ve installed renewable energy generation on-site and really think in-depth about animal welfare, as well as making absolutely gorgeous fair trade, organic product product itself.

Jason Boom - Environmental Community Warden, Hebden Royd Town Council

How old are you?
37 on the birth certificate, but the years have been unkind, I look a little older.

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
I’m the Environmental Community Warden for Hebden Royd Town Council.

How long have been doing this?
I’ve just passed the first anniversary, still in the honeymoon period.

What is it about your job that makes it ethical?
I consider appropriate/sustainable issues all the time. The small size of our organisation means this has to be considered at all times.

What’s the best bit about your job?
Walking past a site/project that I have been involved with and thinking…..I did that!

What’s the worst thing?
Too many projects being caused by unthinking residents/politicians/businesses. Respect for others would put me out of work.

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Busy, I’ve met so many interesting people and realised it’s not just me who wants to change where I live.

What were you doing before this?
I spent 3 years looking after my young family and before that ran a retail business for 10 years, Health Foods and pills & potions.

What was your very first full-time job?
Stacking shelves at ASDA, a great motivator for getting out and improving yourself.

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Start local, volunteer in your home town/village and see the difference you can make where you live. You’ll then realise how you can improve people’s surroundings.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
Learn to say no. This is a skill that I really do need to learn – does anybody know of a training course for this?

What do you do to relax?
I tend not to, more volunteering followed by trips to the Pub. I do like Musical Theatre but find it expensive to take the whole clan.

Who do you live with?
Long suffering partner Julia and the brood Tom, 5, William, 3 and Molly, 2.

Whereabouts do you live?
Luddenden, 3 miles from Hebden Bridge in the old Village Hall.

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Invest in Common Sense, a commodity in short supply. Add in some respect, remove greed and away we go!

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?
I’d like to see walking make a return, if only people would work, shop and play close to where they live. There seems to be a preoccupation with getting away from where we live, if it’s that bad don’t bloody live there!

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
My three spot lights in the kitchen, they use more electric than all the other bulbs in the house, I refuse to eat my cornflakes in dim light.

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Yet to have an answer for this one, the latest project seems to always be better than the last one. I’m chuffed to have lovely kids.

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Big business and the way individuals don’t realise how they are being manipulated. I get manipulated but at least I am aware of it.

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Difficult one, I really admire the chap on Grand Designs called Ben who built his home out of wood from the woodland he manages.

What’s your website address?
I’m not posh enough to have my own but I appear on the Heb Web regularly, updates on work new projects etc. I like to been seen on paper too, the Hebden Bridge Times is very accommodating.

Andy Middleton - Founder of TYF

How old are you?
48

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Eco entrepreneur and adventurer – I’m Founder and MD of The TYF Group

How long have been doing this?
22 years

What’s the best bit about your job?
Freedom to choose what I do, and knowing that I can make a difference

What’s the worst thing?
Not having enough to time everything I’d love to do

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Exciting and bit like winter in nature – all of the good stuff happening in places where you can’t see it growing

What were you doing before this?
I ran a windsurfing and surfing school for a couple of years and before that, I worked as a geologist in a gold mine in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia.

What was your very first full-time job?
Geologist’s assistant, gold exploration.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
Start and grow a training and events business that gives us the capacity to share good practice and management skills for a sustainable future

What do you do to relax?
Surf, mountain bike, cycle and guitar with friends and family

Who do you live with?
My wife Sarah and four fantastic teenage children

Whereabouts do you live?
On the coast in St Davids, on the west coast of Wales

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Introduce Contraction & Convergence as a fair share way of managing our carbon reduction journey.

If you had to choose just one of three identical products which differed only in that one was Soil Association certified organic, one was certified Fairtrade and one was produced 10 miles from your home, which would you choose and why?
Vegetables and bread – locally grown/made; tea and coffee, Fairtrade; rices, pasta and oils, Organic. Why? Seems to be the best mix of do good, consume less, make a difference.

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I have more surfboards that I can use at one time

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Creating a business that shows it’s possible to make a difference, have fun with good people, and make enough money to live and grow strong

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Most people seem to have no idea of how serious the current environmental situation is.

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Satish Kumar, Editor of Resurgence – he’s the living embodiment of walking lightly and talking wisely

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Be really clear about what’s different about you and your product or service; leave fear and failure at the door and try lots of small steps quickly to accelerate your learning; build networks like there’s no tomorrow

What’s your website address?
www.tyf.com

What are your three favourite other websites at the moment?
www.dothegreenthing.com; www.howies.com ; www.guardian.co.uk