There’s always a crowd of people at Watergate Bay just north of Newquay, even on days when the weather’s so bad the seagulls stay at home. One reason for this is no doubt the Extreme Academy, loved by both locals and tourists seeking some adventure on the waves. But another big draw has got to be a rather fabulous restaurant called Fifteen Cornwall, which hangs from a cliff so close to the beach you can see into the rock pools below.

As well as having the most spectacular...

On my arrival, the reception at Dorset Rural Skills Centre (DCRS) straight away provided proof to the cynical nursery-rhyme believer just what a straw bale building can be. A beautiful timber A-frame roof sits on substantial straw walls and demonstrates that they practice what they preach here. The building acts as a wellinsulated and great-looking resource centre with excellent natural lighting and a shady veranda for slurping re-hydrating tea after building exertions

Rob...

Developer Tim Stirrup was determined to go down the eco-route with this building which currently houses several small local businesses and an art gallery. He wanted to demonstrate the structural viability of building with earth – perhaps the lowest impact building material there is. “Building from the earth around the site with no processing or travel was appealing and gave the structure the lowest embodied energy possible” he says.

Rammed earth construction typically involves packing...

Children at Lanlivery Community Primary School have a living green carpet on their roof. Made from sedum – a low-growing succulent that doesn’t require watering or trimming – this eco-innovation keeps things cool in summer, warm in winter and is great for surrounding wildlife. Parents and staff in the tiny village near Lostwithiel decided to roll up their sleeves and build themselves an extension to the small school when pupil numbers increased. Using locally-sourced timber, recycled...

The strange boat-like development at Jubilee Wharf in Penryn has often been cited recently as the greenest place to live in the UK. Designed by Bill Dunster the pioneering architect of BedZed (that low energy community housing project in Beddington) this structure is a perfect place to rent a cosy flat or work studio. With super insulation, sun-traps and natural ventilation you can recognise it amongst the rest of the seafaring paraphernalia by the six wind-turbines parked outside....

What then are the basic rules that we as consumers should follow? How can we buy fish in an eco-friendly way and play our part in ensuring that we do not contribute to a worsening situation? First of all we can make sure that if buying from a fishmonger we seek reassurance that the fish comes from a sustainable source (this should not be difficult as all fish sold must be accompanied by traceability information). As far as supermarkets are concerned, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose are...

What is it about the drum that inspires you Pete?
I have always had a connection with rhythm as far as I can remember. I used to play on and break a lot of our glasses, so my parents had a drum sent over from my uncle in South Africa. At the age of five my true path opened. I taught myself to play, trusting my inner understanding of rhythm. Years later I travelled to Africa when I was ten years old, and again was deeply touched by the drum. It moved me in a way that nothing...

Up until that time, Hamish had been a successful furniture manufacturer. “I thought I had it cracked” he admits, “I was really part of the commercial rat-race”. But now he has become one of the best-loved dowsers in the World and definitely, in my opinion, an ‘earth healer’. He lectures internationally and has authored several books including the ‘Sun and the Serpent’, ‘It’s Not Too Late’, ‘The Wee Book of Dowsing’ and ‘In Search of the Southern Serpent’. It’s usually hard for...

“Let’s fight the filth with forks and flowers” cries Richard Reynolds, as he leads another covert battalion into war against the crisp packets and other detritus that have found homes on our kerb-sides and traffic islands. One thing these guerrillas can’t bear is an orphaned public garden becoming a rubbish dump … or a wayside verge stripped of trees and left to collect cigarette ends. Their aim is to make things more beautiful for everyone.

“Some guerrilla gardeners...

The main problem we have, as Richard explained, is that our global food-producing machine is entirely dependent on oil and gas at the moment. If you think about the whole process of making food, from the artificial fertiliser to the pesticides, from the machines to the packaging to the food miles, you’ll be hard pushed to find one part of it that doesn’t use a lot of the stuff. In fact, at current estimates, each one of us in the UK is eating the equivalent of 3.5 barrels of crude...

About 15 years ago in 2015, rising oil prices, international climate change agreements, and the findings of the Royal Commission on ‘Food Security’ made the UK Government reconsider its commitment to the World Trade Organisation’s pro-globalisation, liberalised, unrestricted free-trade approach. This led to it prioritising national food security was above international trade. Local authorities across the country made local food procurement a priority, kick-starting a rapid expansion...

So what effect is this having? It’s hard to quantify in absolute terms, but a career spent working with diverse client-groups within natural settings convinces me of the significant contribution the natural world makes to a person’s health and well-being. We are told by current medical research, that hospital patients recover more quickly when listening to tapes of birdsong, and that joggers on a treadmill have lower heart rates if they are looking at a picture of a country scene....

I believe that we are entering a new phase in the evolution of humankind. It is one that is spreading from a deep grass roots level, creating hope and healing and a clear direction to move in. The roots of this transition lie in a major shift of consciousness as we move from our old separatist way of ‘us and them’ thinking, to a new understanding of our place in the interconnected web of life.

This is not new. Our tribal ancestors understood the interconnectedness...

“When I moved down to Devon to be near my grandparents after my parents split up, along with my brother and sister, I was one of the only black faces around. It is hard as an adolescent to have a sense of identity when you have no-one like you in your life. When you’re young, you want to be the same as everyone else, not stand out. I remember feeling very ugly as a young woman. I’m sure my skin colour and hair had a lot to do with this.

My hair was a huge problem....

The Levellers were huge in the eighties and nineties - their first hit album ‘Levelling the Land’ is still likely to be in your collection if you were remotely into the independent, travelling, outraged scene. They broke records for the size of their audience at Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage in 1994 and have since been selling out big venues with their angry folk-punk-fiddles that never get old. Would they do anything else I wonder – should their relevance wane? “To be honest I’m...

In retrospect, what has this huge trip been about for you Jason?
I started out seeking answers to big questions we all have to face at some point in our lives: the definition of true happiness, true meaning and purpose in life. I’d always felt disenfranchised by the capitalist society that I was brought up in, and the pressure to join the ranks of worker bees to contribute to a profit-based economy. While money is certainly important, it just seemed there way too...

Do you think we can turn climate change around before it’s too late Dale?
Yes. I do think we can – but not in the way and at the rate we’re going about it. We’ve really got to get to grips and take it seriously, but at the moment the talk isn’t translating into hard policies. We have to completely change the way we live. If it’s anything less than that we haven’t got a hope.

And what role will renewable energy play?
Well, the...

“People are more likely to do something if they feel part of a group” say Rob whose job is to inspire people in their streets, villages, churches and schools to take up a sustainable energy project. This could be anything from bulk-buy loft insulation to a full-on community wind farm. “You can switch off the lights in your own home and wonder if it’s really having a global impact” he continues, “but if all your neighbours are doing the same, or if the whole town decided to do it,...

The human animal has always journeyed into wild places, ever seeking out an intimacy and communion with nature and her inhabitants. Typically this journey is undertaken with the aspiration to feed our hunger for connection to the ‘sacred’ and to seek revelation regarding the identity of our place within the circle of life. We go to the wild to ask the perennial question: ‘Who Am I?’

The reason we can seek the answer to this core question amongst our animal kin is that they...

Molly is a ‘gaian economist’ and self-confessed ‘ideas merchant’. As an author and academic she speaks regularly for the Green Party and the Transition Town Movement and has some great ideas on what should be happening with our money in a bright and sustainable future. Because we’re really confused about economics, we asked her to explain.

Why is economics so scary for most of us Molly?

The ‘professionals’ use maths and complicated language to put us...

Manda Scott’s Boudica books are brilliant! If you are remotely interested in the spiritual beliefs and day to day lives of our shamanic, pre-Roman ancestors then they are a big must – a gripping read that will completely change the way you look at the world. What Manda has done in these four fabulous tomes is to mix together the things we know about this country’s infamous warrior-princess with lots of skills and practices that we can still find use for today. When her latest...