Green and Away

Sustainable Practices and Environmental Audits

greenandaway — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:29:45 +0000

This summer we plan to carry out an environmental audit and to assess our carbon footprint. We don’t expect this to be a straightforward business as most of the parameters are designed with buildings in mind, not tents. We are very fortunate to be offered some expertise from one of our supporters who works at an environmental consultancy which will be a great help.

When we started Green and Away every aspect of the project was considered from a sustainable angle, from the food, to the toilets, to heating the showers. The criterea has always been that we make the least environmental impact we possibly could. However if you are a prospective organiser looking for a venue, the guidelines for choosing an eco-conference centre ask, amongst other things, to check if grey water is being used to flush toilets. We don’t use grey water for toilets as we have composting toilets not flush ones. This means our water usage is much lower but we are also not causing energy use outside

A G&A composting toilet

our conference centre, normally used in disposing of the sewage, and we should have plus marks for producing a compost that can fertilise trees therefore giving a net gain! We don’t use disposable plates, cups and cutlery, we use second hand ones we have bought from a car boot sale thereby lengthening the life of the utensiles and reducing the embodied energy per item per year of use. We wash everything by hand so no electricity is used and we heat the water with solar power when the sun shines or wood if it doesn’t – both carbon neutral systems. We do encourage the use of public transport although country buses are notoriously few and far between. Some conference organisers arrange a mini bus pick up from the station which enables more people to use public transport.

The problem with standards is that they have to have arbitary fixed boundaries around the business. This means that one is not really taking in the cradle to grave impacts of each system in use. For example the embodied energy used in solar panels along with the implications of mining precious minerals could mean that the units are very carbon hungry in their manufacture but very sustainable in producing electricity. So how easy it is to compare solar electricity with a coal-fired power station electricity?

Some years ago, one of the executives of an environmental organisation was taken to task for driving a ‘gas guzzling volvo’ as this did not seem to fit with the image of sustainability he was trying to portray. His answer was that his volvo was over 15 years old and had at least another 10 years of life left in it. If it is run to the end of its life and one takes the embodied energy of manufacture plus fuel used into account, a volvo looks quite sustainable. What is not sustainable is buying a new car every two years and scrapping them when they are only four years old for some relatively minor damage. It is quite a shock walking round a car reclamation pound and seeing how many quite new vehicles are being broken up because they have a pranged wing.

Solar Hot Water heater

Our culture of replacement over repair and trading up for the next new model is making far more demands on the earth’s resources than is sustainable. We really need to lift our viewpoint from what is immediately in front of us and see our activities in the context of the wider world view. Not everything that looks green is green and not everything that looks consumerist is a problem. Ultimately we need to rethink how and what we use, how we can extend the life of useful things by repairing them.

A brand new Eco-conference centre filled with sustainable gadgets may look attractively green but how can that compare with Green and Away’s recycled, repaired, low tech, low impact approach? We will have to see what our carbon footprint shows us and if this is a meaningful tool for measuring sustainability.

Keeping the Environmental Flag Flying

greenandaway — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:20:32 +0000

Last week Friends of the Earth held a big party to celebrate 40 years of activism for the environmental cause. For a relatively small organization, Friends of the Earth has an impressive legacy. Through their more than 40-year history, they have provided crucial leadership in fights resulting in landmark environmental laws, precedent-setting legal victories and the exposure of political malfeasance and corporate greed. FOE was one of the earliest organisations to champion the environmental cause, and inspired people around the world to set up their own environmental organisations. In the early days their staff and supporters were radical and unsual people who were brave enough to stand up for the Earth and against those doing their best to destroy it. Back then there were few people who believed there was a problem and refused to acknowledge one when presented with the facts. Now FOE is an international organisation and only a minority of self-interested people dispute the justice of their campaigns.

Another organisation which was right at the forefront of the environmental movement, in fact even before FOE, is Resurgence. This organisation started as a magazine back in 1966 and grew out of the peace and anti-nuclear movement. It took on its current guise in 1973 when Satish Kumar took over as editor. He has guided it over the years to become “ — a magazine for people who care about the environment, enjoy reading, relish new ideas and are looking for inspiration on sustainable living. ‘ Readers of Resurgence magazine have been people who care passionately about the earth and what happens to it and all its inhabitants. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of Resurgence Magazine.

Both organisations have, in their own small or not so small, ways made a huge difference to the way people think and to the acceptance that we have to take responsibility for what we do on and with the Earth. Although governments are not doing everything needed to protect the environment and the earth, they are aware that this is one of them most important issues that face us today, partly because of activities by these organisations. The environmental movement is a force for change and it is happening.

Green and Away has been one of the many other voices for change. For 21 years we have been hosting conferences and inspiring people to take more notice of the environment and to do something about it. FOE campaigns, Resurgence informs and Green and Away leads by example. We have been supporting green and environmental organisations all of our existence, have hosted Resurgence for the last fourteen years and FOE on five occasions. It is vital for people to meet and come together in order to make things happen. What better place to be pushing forward the green agenda than at the ultimate environmentally sustainable conference centre?

The environmental movement has a lot to celebrate but we are all to aware that there is still so much to do. Convincing people that there is a problem was a huge task and one that has mostly been achieved. Now the challenge is to find another way to live that is more sustainable as well as a better quality of life so that people will happily change. This new way will not be rooted in money and possessions but in community and relationship. It is only when we care and our hearts are engaged with each other and the earth that we are happy to live a different and sustainable life. The rewards for living this way cannot be measured in monitory terms like GDP, but they could be measured in well being or Gross National Happiness as they do in Bhutan. Every summer those of us who live and work at Green and Away find that we are living this way and we aim to enable others to do the same.

The Crew 2011

Recommendations from past interns

greenandaway — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:55:42 +0000

We thought it would be helpful to have a few words of encouragement from past interns for those people wondering whether to apply or not, and what we got was brilliant testamonials about how valuable the experience was. Read on…

“I arrived on day one to the unspoilt rural paradise, the long lush grass beneath my feet and the people who would make the next 2 months so special. Peter, Helen and the rest of the gang are so knowledgeable about not only the Green and Away project, but about sustainability and green debates on a wider scale. The summer passed with many informative discussions with a range of influential “Greenies”, opening my mind to new perspective as well as learning about the eco-life that Green and Away demonstrates so well. From fresh, locally produced foods to solar, wind and fire power, composting toilets, alternative building and usefully reusing anything available, Green and Away certainly practices what it preaches! It is still, three years later the only place I have known to do this with such commitment. The experiences and knowledge I gained at Green and Away have certainly benefited me when finding related jobs as well as influencing my long term dreams!”

Sofia Yarwood (UK) 2009

“I spent the summer of 2009 for seven weeks with Green and Away as an intern. I was assigned to the kitchen and I enjoyed it very much. I learnt so many things regarding sustainable and healthy cooking. I worked as the kitchen manager helping run the field kitchen which was producing three meals for around 35 crew members each day, plus additional catering for around 130 delegates at each of five conferences of two days each. My work included menu planning, stock control, food ordering, health and hygiene awareness, managing staff and volunteers and rotas as well as cooking. I enjoyed the time I spent there so much and I kept volunteering the following year. I feel like I am a member of the G&A family.”

Yilmaz A. (Turkey) 2009

“I can honestly say that the time I spent as an intern with Green and Away was one of my best summers yet! As an intern we got to witness G&A from set-up, through functioning as a conference centre, to take-down at the end. During set-up I found myself leading little construction teams. Completing the various (and often puzzling) structures was hugely satisfying. Whilst the site was running, I spent my time between the office and the kitchen. In the office I got an idea of how the organisation operates and in the kitchen I got to experience being a kitchen manager. I learnt a lot from each of these posts.

It’s hard to say what I enjoyed most about G&A. It was fantastic to spend so much time outdoors in beautiful surroundings and I loved the sense of accomplishment at the end of each day. But I think what I liked best was the real sense of community and being able to enjoy simple pleasures with a wonderful group of people. I hope to go back soon!”

Becky Piggot (UK) 2009

“As a graduate student studying international environmental policy, I chose to intern at Green and Away to gain an outside perspective on how others around this world take on environmental issues. While at Green and Away, I learned valuable skills in sustainable food practices, alternative energy, volunteer management and organizational structure. I also greatly enjoyed the ‘afternoon chats’ from the trustees, which covered interesting topics like building dams for tribal communities in Sinai, alternative medicine and hydrogen automobiles. These skills and lessons were very tangible as they dictated your daily routine while on site. My time at Green and Away has helped me live a happy and healthy life, as well as prepared me for a career in community-based environmental activism. Most importantly, I met amazing people who still continue to inspire me from a distance.”

Sarah Gilliam, (U.S.A) 2010

“Through being a kitchen manager intern at Green & Away 2010, I gained important skills and lasting friendships. Right from the start of the application process I was kept in the loop by the management team, and that continued until the end of site takedown when we left the site we had found it. I learnt more than I could have ever expected from my experiences there, particularly in terms of personal growth and development. I’m so happy to be part of the Green & Away family, and I plan to return for a third time this summer!”

Bryony Ridge (UK) 2010

“Green and Away is perfect for potential interns who want responsibility with a strong support network around them, as they are expected to work hard and autonomously yet there is always somebody there to help you if you need it. Regular mentor sessions ensure that you are never out of your depth and allow you to track your career and personal development. But, it’s not only work! You will meet a fantastic array of people from all different walks of life and live in a truly unique community that teaches you more than any office ever could.”

Miriam Al-Sayed (UK) 2011

“As the maintenance intern for Green and Away I learnt a great deal of practical and organisational skills, how an organisation is run and how to organise a group. I made some good friends, got to do a range of things that I’ve never tried before such as carpentry, and to top it all off I got as much free tasty food as you could eat three times a day!

I was shown the ropes (quite literally) by Peter Lang as to how to carry out my job and received some excellent training, regularly working with the other interns as a team. It was an experience I greatly enjoyed and would highly recommend it as a highly informative great experience.”

Gordon Moran (UK) 2011

Thank you to all the past 20 interns for all your hard work and dedication. We couldn’t have done it without you.

If you know of anyone who would like to follow in the footsteps of Gordon, Sophie, Yilmaz, Miriam, Sarah, Bryony or Becky, please show them the Internships page of our website for more information.

Arts and Crafts at Green and Away

greenandaway — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:21:09 +0000

Having just got our 2012 internship programme off the ground with advertisements and a good number of applications already, it is time to turn our attention to the appointment of an Artist in Residence.

For the last two seasons we have engaged young artists to work with us to engage delegates and volunteers with the natural world, to interact with nature and to see it from a different perspective. The intention is that once engaged people will take more notice and more care of the environment and live more sustainably.

For the first year of this scheme we had a pair of artists, Ana Ospina and Cara Flynn who operate under the name of Fourth Wall Creations. They came up with lots of wonderful ideas including the outdoor sitting room, the conversation tree, pinhole cameras with exposures lasting for 1 month, and “Mr and Mrs Cranston”, photos taken of the same two people in the same place at the same time every day for a month.

There are loads more great photos Cara and Ana’s website.

Our second AIR, last year, was Charli Clark. Charli was a recent Arts graduate living and working in London and Bristol.

Charli says “my work… normally focuses on our relationship with nature and how we experience it…..I look to highlight new ways of seeing and feeling the world around us and found that living a basic way of life, consistently outdoors at Green and Away, allowed me to gain a new experience of our world.” Charli then set about conveying that experience to others. She designed and built a human scale bird’s-nest for a bird’s eye view of the world, a musical tree,

You can see more of Charli’s work on her website.

Green and Away is inviting applications from Artists for Residency this summer. See our website for more details.

This summer we also plan to engage a Crafts-person in Residence too. Look out for more details in future blogs and on the website.

Passing on our environmental expertise

greenandaway — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:01:45 +0000

In the next few days Green and Away will be advertising for 7 people to come and join our management team on an internship. As a voluntary organisation, where even those in charge can’t always spare 8 weeks of their summer to come and help run Green and Away we have had to find a way to plug the gaps. For the last 3 years we have run our internship programme to offer the opportunity of learning many new skills to young people who are keen to find work in the charity or environmental sector. In just two months the interns learn about event management, people management, commodity supply, maintenance, food, cooking, health, renewable energy, and lots more.

The catering interns manage a field kitchen producing up to 200 meals three times a day, plus bread and cakes, while coordinating a staff of 20 people. For a 20 year old whose previous experience was helping out in the local pub when on holiday from university, this is a big ask but one that Bryony rose to magnificently.

The office interns have to give an introductory brief every one of the 100 or so volunteers who come through our gate during the course of the summer, arrange social events for the volunteers, liaise with conference organisers, keep track of all people movements on site and carry out various projects as well as the day-to-day task of keeping a large organisation running. Emily and Frances had the additional task of acting as PA to the coordinator and they coped wonderfully.

The maintenance interns are responsible for the integrity of more than 50 assorted structures, the solar and wind power, solar hot water system and a collection of willing handymen. Gordon was more used to a lecture theatre and studying Anthropology than keeping all our spares and repairs sorted plus care-taking the site but he did a brilliant job.

The deal for our interns is that they work for nothing, the same as the rest of our staff of volunteers and trustees, but they get all food, a tent if they need one, an intense training period, lots of responsibility and mentoring from the coordinator. In addition we provide an education program aimed at widening their knowledge of the environmental sector and send them away with a full report and reference for future employers. For some it is a baptism by fire and they do things they never thought they could.

Green and Away has benefitted enormously from these wonderful people and they have made strong friendships with each other and other volunteers. It has certainly show us that the calibre of graduates is not only excellent but what amazing young people they are.

Applications are due in by 23 March for interviews on 14/15 April. If you know of anyone who might be interested and internship with us please direct them to the Internships page of our website.

Being an environmentally sustainable, eco conference venue

greenandaway — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:47:39 +0000

Green and Away was founded over 20 years ago when being green, eco or sustainable was something that only sandle-wearing bearded hippies understood or did. Now most businesses are looking to improve their environmental and CSR credentials by assessing their environmental impact and trying to minimize it.

Whereas most businesses have had to scale down their environmental impact, Green and Away has never had to. We started from the humble beginnings of a few tents and a tap in a field, and have grown organically in harmony with the sites we use. Because the aim was to be sustainable, sustainability and low impact eco technology have been a central feature of our existence. Over the years we have grown and incorporated eco technology where we can. We power the site with solar panels and wind turbines and heat water with solar and waste wood. We have always looked at ways to keep our carbon footprint as low as possible. We were charging a carbon offset fee for car drivers and calling it a tree fee right from the beginning. This income from car drivers has paid for planting trees on the sites we have used and elsewhere.

We have always aspired to being the most sustainable conference centre anywhere and we think we are. We have sustainable policies for travel and transport, food and drink, buying equipment, composting, water use, and sewage. What really helps in being green is having very little money! Lack of finance makes one look for resources that are re-used, recycled, reinvented, borrowed, second-hand or from nature. In the early days there was no way of measuring this but now there are ways to work out ones carbon footprint so this summer to find out what it is. However, are there standards that will help us assess the environmental impact of our crockery collection bought from car boot sales? Or for the acquiring of donated old velvet curtains for seating? No doubt there are ways of measuring the use of grey water to flush eco toilets but what about when there is no water usage in composting toilets? It will be an interesting project to carry out and we look forward to the results and hopefully a clear green conscience.

New Year – New Season

greenandaway — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:25:13 +0000

Now we are in January the next incarnation of Green and Away does not seem so far away. We are starting the year with our Volunteer Winter Gathering. This is an annual event for all those involved to spend some time together. This year we have hired the Youth Hostel at Stow in the Wold so that about 30 to 40 of us can meet and go for walks, take part in a quizz, play games and socialise. Our volunteers are our most important resource. Without them we could not function and we are entirely dependant on their goodwill.

We are about to start advertising for this year’s bunch of interns. (What is the collective noun for several interns)?! We are looking for about 7 bright young (or maybe not so young) things to help us run Green and Away. They get lots of on the job training, lots of responsibility and lots of experience. We have had some really great people working with us over the past 3 years that we have been running this scheme and are looking forward to meeting our next bunch. There is a page on our website about internships under the volunteer heading.

There is lots to do to get ready for the new season, kit to buy, trees to plant, equipment to build and repair and lots of planning. What keeps us going is the excitment and enthusiasm for the project. Green and Away seems to have life of its own at times and it runs smoothly on its tracks. Roll on the summer.

The Green and Away Annual Cycle

greenandaway — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:09:00 +0000

In these short, dark days of winter with skeleton trees, dead vegetation, snow and mud, the lush green of our site in summer seems a distant memory. One of our aims is to connect people more closely with nature by living with it and in it during conferences. By building Green and Away out of canvas in a field, it is a part of nature and like nature, G and A has a yearly life cycle with the seasons. Now it is in hibernation, with all the equipment dormant but safely stored for the winter and the field can recover unimpeded. However, this quiet time is also important for planning, preparing and looking ahead to next year.

The first event of 2012 will be our Winter Weekend Gathering for our volunteers in February (the midpoint of our year) where we can all reconnect, reminisce and look forward to the summer season. The Spring is the time for organizing the summer with our Spring Trustees meeting, appointing the next crop of interns and doing essential maintenance on our kit. In summer Green and Away blossoms into being as a fully formed conference centre, we renew old friendships with volunteers and welcome organizers and delegates followed by the end of season packing up. During the Autumn we review the year and the Trustees meet for the Annual General Meeting. This cycle has flowed through the years, with Green and Away being reborn each year in a slightly different, and we hope, improved form.

We look forward to 2012 as yet another opportunity to meet amazing people, give others wonderful experiences connecting with nature, and further our aims of reducing the detrimental aspects of people on this beautiful earth.

With best wishes for a wonderful 2012

- the G and A team

Happy Christmas from the team at Green and Away

greenandaway — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:05:26 +0000

During the summer season we meet many fantastic people, some are volunteers, some are delegates and some are speakers at the conferences. They are inspiring us by pioneering a more sustainable way to live or setting up eco businesses or writing books and giving lectures about a better way to live. They teach us a great deal about sustainability and about how amazing people can be and meeting them is one of the joys of being involved with Green and Away. However, not only do we gain a lot from them, so too do they gain from their time with us. Here are some of the wonderful things people have said about us:

Thank you once again for another fantastic weekend at Green and Away. The

feedback was all really positive – not one negative comment. Amazing – must

be getting pretty good at this after 21 years!

I was on the Sustrans weekend and absolutely loved the site, not to

mention all of the wonderful volunteers.

I would like to say that we had a brilliant time at Green and Away – everything was smoothly organised my you, Helen and your team of volunteers. I hope we can do it again next year! We will be in touch.

Hope all is well and you have had a successful season! Thanks again for providing us with such a fantastic venue for our FestiVol, the volunteers are all still talking about it.

Here’s wishing all our past and future delegates, past and future volunteers and trustees a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year. We hope to see you all again on site at Green and Away in the near future.

Looking back at the past few summers

greenandaway — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:06:57 +0000

December and the end of the year is a good time to look back back at the past and see how far we have come. Green and Away has been in the business of hosting conferences for most of it’s 21 year history. It started out from very humble beginings when the Green Party decided to celebrate it’s 18th birthday in a sustainable way by holding a festival on a farmer’s land. It was so successful that it was decided to do the same the following year. However it was a lot of work for one weekend and it was more sensible to use it for more than one event. That, and the recognition that there was no environmentally sound conference venue in the UK, led to inviting a second organisation to use the facility in the third year, and some ten organisations in the fourth year! With each year we have become more sophisticated, refined and complex so that we can provide really comfortable camping for our delegates as well as a unique conference experience. We know we do what we do well, because the feedback we get is consistently good.

The comments from Tom are typical of the feedback

I wanted to thank all of you at Green and Away for hosting a really wonderful conference with WFA/GGA. You provided the ideal venue for us, with delicious food too served every day; and I know that a lot more people as well as I were delighted with the result. The event provided such a good opportunity to meet and share ideas and information with like-minded people. I realise that you all work very hard to do so. Thank you indeed

With good wishes,

Tom Gabriel,

One of the reasons why we have evolved they way we have is that we listen to the positive suggestions made by delegates and organisers and try hard to implement them where we can. And at the end of each season our trustees gather to review the summer to see what improvements we can make so that we can continue to make the Green and Away experience even better year on year. We are looking forward to making the 2012 summer season our best yet!

Our welcoming entrance