The roots of it lie in the accident of buying a house in East Sussex, originally intended as a weekend cottage. It was the landscape that provided my damascene moment. I became aware of the preciousness of a vanishing landscape and that gave me the bug for the environment and archaeological ecology. It spread beyond the back garden and into the neighbouring fields and when 40 acres of land came up for sale, in a fit of courage or stupidity I took out a large mortgage and bought it. I’m proud to say that after 20 years of managing the land for biodiversity we have taken it back by 500 years.

 

It was completely life-changing. Biodiversity is high on the eco agenda now, but back then it was far less understood. But it doesn’t earn money, so we offer limited upscale eco-camping in hand made caravans along with cranky wood fired showers! The environmental impact is as near zero as we can get it. It helps people learn about a low impact lifestyle. In fact the farm has become something of a beacon site for all sorts of groups interested in the environment.

It has also fundamentally changed my business life. I’m a partner in Robertsbridge Group which advises business on sustainable development issues; a director of Biomass Future Generation; and still a director and partner in BASE, which is all about bringing the upside of sustainability to life for business. 

 

Two things. Firstly climate change. If you manage land you are acutely conscious of climate and I can feel it changing around me every year, quite radically. The landscape cannot adapt and the processes of change are not being noticed in the city. It’s quite terrifying.

Secondly, population growth and shift and the social unrest that will come from mass migration. The planet isn’t equipped to provide water, food, energy or a stable climate where people will want it. These are the four pillars of prosperity and we have the technology to help but we aren’t implementing it.

 

It’s for something terrible. It takes a crisis to force change, so it’s not a nice thing to hope for but an extreme climate change driven event may make people wake up. We’ll be reaching critical levels of GHGs pretty soon and without a crisis there’s not much hope.

 

My mentor is Tom Burke. He ran Friends of the Earth at one point, founded and chaired the Green Alliance and is a founding director of E3G, the sustainable development ‘change agents’. He has crossed all the boundaries, working for NGOs and big businesses, and advising governments; he’s an academic, teacher and writer. His knowledge is compendious and he is an inspiration.

 

A couple. Climate change deniers might as well join the Flat Earth Society. Meanwhile some businesses, particularly in core commodities, are absolutely shocking, culpable beyond belief and seemingly impervious to criticism. 

 

And where do you sit on our Green Gauge (where 10 is deep green and 1 is a hint of apple)? 

I’m not green (sorry Green Rewards). ‘Green’ is just a label and it has done the environment no favours. I’m an environmentalist, radical enough to know that we have to manage the energy and initiative of our capitalist infrastructure with a new, positive environmental agenda.