I don’t have a hello thank you for
having me my little small book of notes
today it’s my little kind of really
encourage especially young people
growing up carry a little book of notes
around because I think it’s quite
important to often capture all the
little things that are running around in
your mind and and often when I’m asked
to do talks and various places I have
this little book that I refer to and all
my little RAM random ramblings that go
in there come into here so I’m going to
talk about a few of them today so this
talk came along I was asked a quite an
interesting moment in my life a few
months ago I often get quite angry about
stuff stuff to do with trying to make
the world a better place and perhaps the
way we’re not doing a very good job and
and yeah them but there was one
particular thing that there’s been
really a moment of realization that I
had and it’s been on my chest for a
while so I’m going to use this an
opportunity to kind of vent a bit of a
bit of frustration at that so we live in
a very interesting time you’ve had some
interesting talks today and I think
earlier on you probably had some
certainly voice seen today earlier I
missed the early ones but the last few
talks on them until challenging our
world today and how we should approach
it with with with the environment
certainly quite strongly there’s a route
and I and I work in the environmental
sector and in the social sector as well
and it’s important that we we always
continue to strive to try and improve
social justice environmental justice and
it’s quite difficult when you have a lot
of very depressing facts coming out of
the news I think it’s upsetting when you
when you hear that what we’ve just been
hearing about there the amount of
resources that we’ve used in such a
short space of time it’s upsetting when
you read about global warming and maybe
the way that people aren’t listening
about out still the way that the sea
levels are rising polar caps are melting
the gap between the rich and the poor
the environment and the way that we
treated here I don’t know
you guys familiar with the state of
nature report that came out last year
it’s quite important in my line of work
and and now identifying that almost 60%
of the species in our country size are
in decline barn owls barn owls which
were synonymous with our country sides
when I was a child of vanishing and it’s
and it’s not setting thing there is food
poverty throughout the nation people
people are struggling to have access to
good food local food organic food food
that isn’t harming the environment in
any way and and I find myself thinking
you know what are we doing about it and
and is that enough and I don’t think it
is quite frankly but that’s just a small
part of what makes me angry at the
moment I think it’s it’s the kind of
constant anger that one it’s always
there and has been for many years but I
think one of the things that I’ve
recently realized is making me quite
angry is the apathy from from people
that I come across and that’s always
existed and and it’s the general public
there is often an apathy to some of the
things we talk about some of the things
can be quite damaging to here and your
brain shuts down and you don’t wanna
process it you don’t want to face it
almost and all right I can understand
that to a certain extent but the people
that are starting to make me angry at
the moment are the ones the ones that do
care about it but do nothing and you may
have some friends you may you may be
involved in stuff yourself you may also
be one of these people as well I
certainly was for many many years like a
kind of recovering smoker if you like
you know the kind of smoker that that
quit smoking and then turns around to
you and tells you how awful you are for
smoking well that’s kind of personal
turned into about the way I treat the
environment so I I did an environmental
degree I went traveling I came back I
was like I’m gonna change the world I’m
gonna get her a material good I spent a
lot of time in India it’s amazing should
all go there and and I thought you know
everyone’s got a change we’ve got to
make the planet a better place but
everybody kept at kept turning around
and it’s pointless what’s the point
like global global warming isn’t really
that bad you know what people say about
peak oil isn’t really gonna happen
you kind of get quite you look all the
scientific work out there and you see
all these big companies and they’re all
funding these big evil companies and
they’re all funding research and perhaps
how global warming doesn’t really exist
how perhaps you know it’s not going to
be a crisis that we’re going to be okay
and you just think what’s the point or
what’s the point in trying such a big
mountain to climb how can how can I
climb that mountain how can i really
make a tangible difference so for many
years I I kind of regressed and shied
away from that and I just carried on
trying to live my life doing what I
thought was right and then and working
away and then I had a moment a few years
ago where I am then what caused it
really I just kind of woke up one day
and it was just I’m just not happy with
my what I’m doing with my life
and I turn around my partner and I told
her I think I’m going to quit my job I
think it’s time that I did something
important amazingly she was very primal
that despite other possible financial
insecurity and the several months of
looking around for the right job and and
waiting and waiting and waiting and
thankfully that my job came about and I
was one the lucky ones that fell into
that and now I’ve got the opportunity
and where I work to have a real tangible
effect on people on the environment on
the the way that people are thinking and
approaching work on on the way that
people approach social justice you know
no it’s not just about the environment
it’s about how we treat people how we
look after people how we look after
ourselves and we watch out for one
another how we encourage each other as
well and it’s and it’s about the
positive messages as well there’s a lot
of negativity out there but there’s a
lot of wonderful people doing a lot of
wonderful things in this world I mean
you’ve heard several talk is today and
all of them are overall very inspiring
and then it shows you that change is
happening
I think the Millennials I read the other
day some one of those wonderful Facebook
stats that pops up on your feed 80% of
Millennials want to be involved in
ethical
business fantastic lots around true that
is but fantastic is it step in the right
direction
and and the thing that that winds me up
though is on my Facebook feed and
especially on times of elections you get
you get people who are always there’s
always memes memes and these and these
little videos that people are putting on
board on their Facebook page and it pops
up and they’re all like oh you know you
got to get behind Jeremy Corbyn because
he wants to change the world he wants
make society better he wants to do this
and that the other thing and I think you
know maybe that’s maybe because I’ve got
a very lofty bubble of friends these
days but I think but I think the thing
that frustrates me is that I know a lot
these people I know they’re not doing
anything about it it’s one thing to vote
for someone you believe in to put them
into office to make a change for you but
that change will never happen unless
unless you actually make a difference
about it unless you get off and you you
know you get off your ass and you go and
engage in the community in one way or
another to make a difference and I think
it’s it’s not the most difficult thing
to do to ask of someone to give up eight
hours a month hours a month eight hours
and in a month us two hours a week to do
something good it’s not a huge arts and
I know it’s difficult when you have when
you have a full-time job and you’re
working very hard and I appreciate it is
hard but if you can’t give up the eight
hours and there’s things you can look
inwardly into your life so you can think
about everything that you do in your
life am i eating too much meat you know
should we have but one night a week of
vegetarianism that’s how my partner and
I we started we did this about four
years ago we just I mean it briefly
cause I did when I start working an
organic farm but and had a huge
abundance of vegetable all the time but
we were like such question as to whether
do we need to eat so much me I don’t
know where you’re kind of always felt
that you have to meet with every every
every dinner you eat every meal you have
you have meet with it well actually
let’s try not doing that you know
as a consequence we’re not vegetarian
we’re not vegan but we’re probably about
80 percent accidentally vegetarian now
and there’s a nice thing it’s really I
lose weight you know I was putting on
weight quite badly but I lose weight now
it’s wonderful I feel better I feel
fitter I feel stronger and if everybody
if everybody did one meal a week it was
meat free the whole imagine the effect
on the whole of the planet he’ll be
phenomenal
and it’s not just that you can look at
what you’re doing you look at your car
your transport do I need to use my car
as much again we had a we had a moment
and I do things with transition bath and
I work on the transport side of things
and and I see I see the issues we have
around air quality at Bart and it upsets
me but I grew up in bath I went to this
school you know I used to walk to school
every day very surreal moment walking
here earlier on today about many years
but it upset me how much the air
pollution was we put a self-imposed
congestion charge we drew out a line all
around the city and we said you cannot
drive the car within this boundary you
drive the car within this boundary you
have to put money in the pot every bit
of money that went in that pot that went
on making sure that all the products in
our house that we were using we cleanse
to be in green products it had to we had
to start somewhere so we created this
pool and now you will struggle to find
anything that is not environmentally
friendly in our house and I think that’s
a really small change you can do it’s a
really easy thing to start in your own
house and again if everybody started
doing those little changes in their
house
the effect that I would have on the
environment it’s a scary thought trying
to change the world it really is and
this is it’s a huge mountain to climb
and there’s these these barriers that
are down there there’s stop you you know
it’s it’s difficult to climb them it’s
difficult to break them down but when
you start looking at the small newer
changes you can do the things you can do
tomorrow when you wake up tomorrow
morning and the positive impact that
will have on the world you do not
underestimate it because that’s where I
started and four years later you know I
find myself in a situation where I’m
running an organic farm
that that is helping people who are
vulnerable that is helping the
environment and showing a new model for
how perhaps we can grow food and engage
with other people I’m I’m involved in in
transition bath and I’m trying to make
it a difference as to what we are doing
I give up
eight hours normally a bit more they say
eight hours a month roughly for
transition and and that’s having a
positive effect I’m involved in that I
run a run a organisation in Bristol
about getting local food into Bristol we
started last year called Bristol food
producers it’s networking all these
wonderful amazing agroecology colleges
all these growers and sometimes I just
take a moment just to step back and
think I probably am involved in
something a bit bigger than I ever
thought I would be and that started very
very small I had to make the change in
my life and that just spiral 1by world I
knocked off one thing I thought was the
next thing I knocked off the next thing
I knocked off the next thing and all I
want to say to everyone here today is is
you have to you have to forget that
notion of doing something one day don’t
always think oh you know I’m you know
I’m gonna make this difference in the
future I’m gonna change it you know
forget one day and think day one think
tomorrow is day one about that the first
time I’m gonna change something in my
life that has a really positive effect
and do not underestimate what that
effect will have thank you
you
having me my little small book of notes
today it’s my little kind of really
encourage especially young people
growing up carry a little book of notes
around because I think it’s quite
important to often capture all the
little things that are running around in
your mind and and often when I’m asked
to do talks and various places I have
this little book that I refer to and all
my little RAM random ramblings that go
in there come into here so I’m going to
talk about a few of them today so this
talk came along I was asked a quite an
interesting moment in my life a few
months ago I often get quite angry about
stuff stuff to do with trying to make
the world a better place and perhaps the
way we’re not doing a very good job and
and yeah them but there was one
particular thing that there’s been
really a moment of realization that I
had and it’s been on my chest for a
while so I’m going to use this an
opportunity to kind of vent a bit of a
bit of frustration at that so we live in
a very interesting time you’ve had some
interesting talks today and I think
earlier on you probably had some
certainly voice seen today earlier I
missed the early ones but the last few
talks on them until challenging our
world today and how we should approach
it with with with the environment
certainly quite strongly there’s a route
and I and I work in the environmental
sector and in the social sector as well
and it’s important that we we always
continue to strive to try and improve
social justice environmental justice and
it’s quite difficult when you have a lot
of very depressing facts coming out of
the news I think it’s upsetting when you
when you hear that what we’ve just been
hearing about there the amount of
resources that we’ve used in such a
short space of time it’s upsetting when
you read about global warming and maybe
the way that people aren’t listening
about out still the way that the sea
levels are rising polar caps are melting
the gap between the rich and the poor
the environment and the way that we
treated here I don’t know
you guys familiar with the state of
nature report that came out last year
it’s quite important in my line of work
and and now identifying that almost 60%
of the species in our country size are
in decline barn owls barn owls which
were synonymous with our country sides
when I was a child of vanishing and it’s
and it’s not setting thing there is food
poverty throughout the nation people
people are struggling to have access to
good food local food organic food food
that isn’t harming the environment in
any way and and I find myself thinking
you know what are we doing about it and
and is that enough and I don’t think it
is quite frankly but that’s just a small
part of what makes me angry at the
moment I think it’s it’s the kind of
constant anger that one it’s always
there and has been for many years but I
think one of the things that I’ve
recently realized is making me quite
angry is the apathy from from people
that I come across and that’s always
existed and and it’s the general public
there is often an apathy to some of the
things we talk about some of the things
can be quite damaging to here and your
brain shuts down and you don’t wanna
process it you don’t want to face it
almost and all right I can understand
that to a certain extent but the people
that are starting to make me angry at
the moment are the ones the ones that do
care about it but do nothing and you may
have some friends you may you may be
involved in stuff yourself you may also
be one of these people as well I
certainly was for many many years like a
kind of recovering smoker if you like
you know the kind of smoker that that
quit smoking and then turns around to
you and tells you how awful you are for
smoking well that’s kind of personal
turned into about the way I treat the
environment so I I did an environmental
degree I went traveling I came back I
was like I’m gonna change the world I’m
gonna get her a material good I spent a
lot of time in India it’s amazing should
all go there and and I thought you know
everyone’s got a change we’ve got to
make the planet a better place but
everybody kept at kept turning around
and it’s pointless what’s the point
like global global warming isn’t really
that bad you know what people say about
peak oil isn’t really gonna happen
you kind of get quite you look all the
scientific work out there and you see
all these big companies and they’re all
funding these big evil companies and
they’re all funding research and perhaps
how global warming doesn’t really exist
how perhaps you know it’s not going to
be a crisis that we’re going to be okay
and you just think what’s the point or
what’s the point in trying such a big
mountain to climb how can how can I
climb that mountain how can i really
make a tangible difference so for many
years I I kind of regressed and shied
away from that and I just carried on
trying to live my life doing what I
thought was right and then and working
away and then I had a moment a few years
ago where I am then what caused it
really I just kind of woke up one day
and it was just I’m just not happy with
my what I’m doing with my life
and I turn around my partner and I told
her I think I’m going to quit my job I
think it’s time that I did something
important amazingly she was very primal
that despite other possible financial
insecurity and the several months of
looking around for the right job and and
waiting and waiting and waiting and
thankfully that my job came about and I
was one the lucky ones that fell into
that and now I’ve got the opportunity
and where I work to have a real tangible
effect on people on the environment on
the the way that people are thinking and
approaching work on on the way that
people approach social justice you know
no it’s not just about the environment
it’s about how we treat people how we
look after people how we look after
ourselves and we watch out for one
another how we encourage each other as
well and it’s and it’s about the
positive messages as well there’s a lot
of negativity out there but there’s a
lot of wonderful people doing a lot of
wonderful things in this world I mean
you’ve heard several talk is today and
all of them are overall very inspiring
and then it shows you that change is
happening
I think the Millennials I read the other
day some one of those wonderful Facebook
stats that pops up on your feed 80% of
Millennials want to be involved in
ethical
business fantastic lots around true that
is but fantastic is it step in the right
direction
and and the thing that that winds me up
though is on my Facebook feed and
especially on times of elections you get
you get people who are always there’s
always memes memes and these and these
little videos that people are putting on
board on their Facebook page and it pops
up and they’re all like oh you know you
got to get behind Jeremy Corbyn because
he wants to change the world he wants
make society better he wants to do this
and that the other thing and I think you
know maybe that’s maybe because I’ve got
a very lofty bubble of friends these
days but I think but I think the thing
that frustrates me is that I know a lot
these people I know they’re not doing
anything about it it’s one thing to vote
for someone you believe in to put them
into office to make a change for you but
that change will never happen unless
unless you actually make a difference
about it unless you get off and you you
know you get off your ass and you go and
engage in the community in one way or
another to make a difference and I think
it’s it’s not the most difficult thing
to do to ask of someone to give up eight
hours a month hours a month eight hours
and in a month us two hours a week to do
something good it’s not a huge arts and
I know it’s difficult when you have when
you have a full-time job and you’re
working very hard and I appreciate it is
hard but if you can’t give up the eight
hours and there’s things you can look
inwardly into your life so you can think
about everything that you do in your
life am i eating too much meat you know
should we have but one night a week of
vegetarianism that’s how my partner and
I we started we did this about four
years ago we just I mean it briefly
cause I did when I start working an
organic farm but and had a huge
abundance of vegetable all the time but
we were like such question as to whether
do we need to eat so much me I don’t
know where you’re kind of always felt
that you have to meet with every every
every dinner you eat every meal you have
you have meet with it well actually
let’s try not doing that you know
as a consequence we’re not vegetarian
we’re not vegan but we’re probably about
80 percent accidentally vegetarian now
and there’s a nice thing it’s really I
lose weight you know I was putting on
weight quite badly but I lose weight now
it’s wonderful I feel better I feel
fitter I feel stronger and if everybody
if everybody did one meal a week it was
meat free the whole imagine the effect
on the whole of the planet he’ll be
phenomenal
and it’s not just that you can look at
what you’re doing you look at your car
your transport do I need to use my car
as much again we had a we had a moment
and I do things with transition bath and
I work on the transport side of things
and and I see I see the issues we have
around air quality at Bart and it upsets
me but I grew up in bath I went to this
school you know I used to walk to school
every day very surreal moment walking
here earlier on today about many years
but it upset me how much the air
pollution was we put a self-imposed
congestion charge we drew out a line all
around the city and we said you cannot
drive the car within this boundary you
drive the car within this boundary you
have to put money in the pot every bit
of money that went in that pot that went
on making sure that all the products in
our house that we were using we cleanse
to be in green products it had to we had
to start somewhere so we created this
pool and now you will struggle to find
anything that is not environmentally
friendly in our house and I think that’s
a really small change you can do it’s a
really easy thing to start in your own
house and again if everybody started
doing those little changes in their
house
the effect that I would have on the
environment it’s a scary thought trying
to change the world it really is and
this is it’s a huge mountain to climb
and there’s these these barriers that
are down there there’s stop you you know
it’s it’s difficult to climb them it’s
difficult to break them down but when
you start looking at the small newer
changes you can do the things you can do
tomorrow when you wake up tomorrow
morning and the positive impact that
will have on the world you do not
underestimate it because that’s where I
started and four years later you know I
find myself in a situation where I’m
running an organic farm
that that is helping people who are
vulnerable that is helping the
environment and showing a new model for
how perhaps we can grow food and engage
with other people I’m I’m involved in in
transition bath and I’m trying to make
it a difference as to what we are doing
I give up
eight hours normally a bit more they say
eight hours a month roughly for
transition and and that’s having a
positive effect I’m involved in that I
run a run a organisation in Bristol
about getting local food into Bristol we
started last year called Bristol food
producers it’s networking all these
wonderful amazing agroecology colleges
all these growers and sometimes I just
take a moment just to step back and
think I probably am involved in
something a bit bigger than I ever
thought I would be and that started very
very small I had to make the change in
my life and that just spiral 1by world I
knocked off one thing I thought was the
next thing I knocked off the next thing
I knocked off the next thing and all I
want to say to everyone here today is is
you have to you have to forget that
notion of doing something one day don’t
always think oh you know I’m you know
I’m gonna make this difference in the
future I’m gonna change it you know
forget one day and think day one think
tomorrow is day one about that the first
time I’m gonna change something in my
life that has a really positive effect
and do not underestimate what that
effect will have thank you
you
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