I’m proud to say today (22nd November 2024) Abundant Times is celebrating its first birthday. Over the past year, I’ve been very lucky to interview some truly inspiring environmental and social warriors who are working hard to bring awareness to the difficulties we all face through positive climate action.
Huge thanks to the following contributors who have been so kind to share their work and stories with me. Don’t miss the new blog coming soon, highlighting the important work ‘Sustainability Champion of the Year’, Olivia Shave (aka @ecoewe) is doing to bring comprehensive food, farming and sustainability education into the national curriculum.
Follow the links to read the blogs:
Anna Locke – Author of The Forager’s Garden – “Observation is also about connection. Sometimes when I’m on the land I’m just being because it really helps to be present when you’re working with nature. When you’re deep in observation you go into flow and when you’re in flow, nothing else exists, it’s just the present moment.”
Cath Hodsman – Entomological artist, illustrator, teacher, conservationist, wild garden enthusiast and all-round earth champion – “Art and nature shall always be wrestling until they eventually conquer one another so that the victory is the same stroke and line: that which is conquered, conquers at the same time,” Maria Sibylla Merian.
Marga Witteman – More Trees Now – “If you look at the science of the biodiversity and climate crisis that we’re in, it’s so overwhelmingly negative and scary. Everybody responds differently but it can make you feel hopeless, angry and sad. You have to find a way to channel that into something positive if you don’t want to be paralysed by all of those emotions.”
Mick Tumilty – Founder and Director of Elmbridge Community Eco Hub – “…we know that cumulatively, from the time we opened in February 2022 to yesterday (12th January 2024) we’ve saved 36,365kg of food. I also know that food has gone to 9000 people locally – approximately 1000 different people. In the first month we saved 85kg of food now we’re saving about 400kg per day.”
Jenny Jefferies – Award-winning author, columnist and radio producer/presenter –“Everyone’s heart is in the right place in wanting to make a difference but there will be no fundamental change if the people at the top aren’t meeting the people at the bottom and in the middle.”
Bonkers Busway – Campaign to stop the planned route for the Cambourne – Coton – Cambridge busway, otherwise known as C2C – “When I started campaigning it was more out of indignation and as I began to bring in experts I realised that everybody should worry about this bit of land and not because we’re so very special but we are what’s left, one of the few fragments of land where nature is still clinging on.” Anna Gazeley.
How do you ignite your inner activist? – “We make, ship, sell and discontinue products with no regard to the end of their lifecycle and as consumers we buy those products in the same blinkered state. We are sleepwalking our way into catastrophe, but the alarm is ringing and it’s time to wake up.” Kate Ford
Ansima Casinga Rolande – Permaculture Educator, Mentor and Speaker – “The rate of infections are growing, we don’t have access to clean water and we only have two jerry cans of water per day per family, which is about 40 litres and that means there is a higher rate of diseases growing because of poor sanitation.”
Erin Wiedmer – Soil Scientist – “The coolest nematodes are fungal feeding. They have this little knife inside their mouth which they throw out like a spear, into the fungi. Some fungi also have a really cool way of capturing nematodes, they have special cells like lassoes. They set traps and as soon as the nematodes hit the trap, the lasso springs shut and captures them.”
If you have a project you’d like to share on the blog, give me a shout – AbundantTimes1@gmail.com.
Sending love and positive vibes,
Kate
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