Let’s be honest, for people who care about the climate, human rights, nature and social justice, it’s a shit world at the moment. A very, very hot shit world right now.
But lots of good things, great people and brilliant initiatives are always there to help restore my equilibrium – as was the case last week …..
ON THURSDAY ….
I was in London for the 26th Awards Ceremony of the Ashden Trust. During that time, an astonishing 276 NGOs, enterprises and community groups have been recognised for their work in promoting renewables and energy efficiency. The cash they get with an Award really helps; the follow-up support is precious; and the reputational benefits are invaluable.
This ceremony was special, a moment to mark the extraordinary leadership of Sarah Butler-Sloss, founder, CEO, then Chair of Trustees and now Ambassador-at-large! Her contribution to this all-important, big wide world of sustainable energy has been astonishing.
(That’s me looking a bit manic!) handing over Sarah’s very own Champion of Champions Award).
ON FRIDAY …..
I found myself walking along the bike trail between Bristol and Bath, wearing The Coat of Hopes.
It was swelteringly hot, and The Coat of Hopes is very heavy – but this was a completely joyful experience.
Back in 2019, a bunch of inspiring climate campaigners set out from Newhaven (on the South Coast) to walk to Glasgow for COP26 – gathering peoples’ hopes as they went, all of which eventually materialised as a colourful patchwork on the Coat itself.
The failure of COP21 would have been enough to crush the hopes of most normal mortals, but Barbara Keal (the artist behind the project), and Helen Locke, the Coat’s Wayfinder and indefatigable champion, and the thousands of people who’ve walked with the Coat up and down the country, on this indefinite pilgrimage, are inspiringly abnormal – in the best possible way!
(And we even managed to record a little film as we got close to Bath – already somewhat knackered, it has to be said!). Watch here
AND ON SUNDAY ..…
Having recently become an Ambassador for a charity called Farms for City Children, set up 50 years ago by Claire and Michael Morpurgo, I visited one of its farms at Wick Court in Gloucestershire.
I’d first come across the charity years ago but hadn’t really clocked the scale of it before and its impact: 3 farms (Nethercott Farm in Devon; Lower Treginnis in Pembrokeshire, and Wick Court in Gloucestershire), hosting groups of 30 or 40 children during term time, for an entire week, reaching more than 3,000 young people every year. These are genuinely life changing experiences for huge numbers of children, with some schools sending groups year after year.
It was Open Day at Wick Court on Sunday, not quite so swelteringly hot, but brilliant to see such enthusiasm – let alone the very beautiful Old Gloucester cattle (one of this country’s oldest and rarest native cattle) and surprisingly well-behaved geese!
The words on the t-shirt: ‘Think Like a Forest’ is the strap line of a wonderful New Zealand-based initiative called ‘Recloaking Papatuanuku’— this being the Māori word for the land or Earth Mother. And ‘recloaking’ is a beautifully poetic way of talking about the restoration of New Zealand’s devastatingly depleted native forests.
(Mind you, they’re up against it at the moment, New Zealand having fallen into the hands of a bunch of crass, neoliberal politicians who care nothing about either the climate or nature – and have just introduced a bill to sell off 60% of the public land managed by the Department of Conservation. Presumably to provide even more opportunities for billionaire boltholes).
Think Like a Forest is also the title of a wonderful new book by Ben Rawlence, made up of the letters he wrote to his two young daughters as they start to navigate a world already profoundly disrupted by climate change. I spent time with Ben the week before at the Well Read Book Festival, hosted by the Wasing Estate – and without doubt the most beautiful venue for a book festival I’ve ever been in!
I found myself thinking a lot about forests, with a whole two hours devoted to a ‘wood air bathing session’ in Wasing’s beautiful woodland, culminating under the spreading branches of a of a 1,000 year old Yew Tree.
If ‘Think Like A Forest’ is my current favourite work of non-fiction, my all-time favourite work of fiction is ‘Wild Dark Shore’, which I’ve just finished. It’s a profoundly moving story of hope and loss in a world increasingly ravaged by rising sea levels.
So, a big thank you to those two brilliant authors, and all those who founded and lead such wonderful initiatives and organisations.
Equilibrium secured for at least the next month!
Jonathon Porritt 26 June 2026
