Prose and a Poem

Here’s a small taste of our set-up process, lovingly described by one of this year’s new volunteers, Rosie. She was also kind enough to write us a beautiful poem, which I feel truly captures what it’s like waking up on site each morning.

Arriving at G&A the day before setup I found a small kitchen tent, two caravans and an otherwise empty field; it seemed lost in the Worcestershire countryside. Now just over a week into set up and the village green is ringed with tents, marquees, domes and of course the yurt (not that I had ever put up a yurt before). But more than that, the people who have arrived since then have transformed the site. From the amazing interns and ever-working trustees already in residence, to the influx of volunteers all with their own inspirations and stories to tell, G&A has become a vibrant and exciting community. I have learnt so much, tried new foods and even participated in my first hen night (best wishes to you both for all the years to come). I have also made friends that it feels like I have known for much longer – it’s hard to believe that a group can become so tight-knit in just a few days. There is so much variation in where we have come from – which is so much more than birthplace or nationality – and what we have done before, however, none of that matters at here as long as you’re willing to give it a go. Don’t misunderstand, it is hard work and serious too. Just like any service provider Green and Away has a deadline to meet. We have to be ready to host conferences and provide all the facilities expected of us.

 

There is a routine and a rhythm that the site breathes by, that captures a sense of belonging and acceptance that is often lacking in the world at large. Working with the environment to get the best out of both people and nature, okay, so it may sound a little hippie-ish but I assure you it’s not, its common sense, sustainable and more importantly it works year on year.

Morning

In and out,

breathing.

The rhythm of the site,

other people, the plants,

living all around.

The rising sun mourning the loss

of the diamonds in the grass.

Which it sees but

for the briefest glimpse.

Then gone in the growing light.

Rejoicing, after, in the songs

soaring from the birds.

Echos of their wings

flitting between tent and tree

awash in new beginnings.

Stirrings, soon to emerge,

the steam off boiling water,

the feel of bread dough

beneath the hands,

the calls of morning greetings.

Setting up for Set-up (part 2)

Welcome back G&Aers! I hope you enjoyed howling at the moon and reading all about Yanna.

Now it’s time for us to meet Rob. I gave him the usual opening question:

I’m still trying to work out that whole who am I? question, but I’ve experienced some pretty interesting things along the way. After dropping out of med school after half a year, I switched to a philosophy degree, then took a year out in the middle of that to work as campaigns officer for the student union. Following that, I worked as a teaching assistant for a year, did a permaculture design course over weekends, ran the school allotment and played in a truly awful band. I then volunteered for six months on a volunteer exchange programme with the VSO – the first 3 months were in Eastern Sri Lanka, whilst the next 3 were in Burnley.

Wow, Rob, that’s seriously impr- …oh I’m sorry you’re not finished.

Upon returning, I worked for 3 months at Scope as a carer, then spent the next year studying for a ridiculously intense MSc, which involved cramming a psychology degree into a year, with a masters dissertation tacked onto the end. For 4 months I worked doing admin for Sure Start Centres, before volunteering as a team leader for a youth development programme in India for 3 months, which brings me up to now.

So how did your now end up at G&A?

I first heard of G&A when I met Clare Eddington during the 2010 Green Party election efforts in Brighton – she said that she was about to do an internship at a conference centre in tents in a field, and it sounded pretty interesting, but I didn’t think to check it out further at the time. Later that year I volunteered for 6 months, and one of the other UK volunteers was Claire Turner. We stayed in touch, and she came to visit my home in Brighton. When she turned up she was absolutely glowing from this amazing summer that she had just spent in a field near Worcester, and it sounded right up my street.

What would you like get out of this summer?

I think I am most looking forward to trying out a new way of living – not just one of camping, sustainable technology, or community-based living, but all three combined. Plus a mix of very interesting people. I’m sure the organisational experience in the office will be invaluable to the future, as will having spent 9 weeks living and working as part of a team.

Spending so much time on site is a challenge but very worth it. The rest of the world pretty much falls away behind the trees and we allow our little community to define itself by the people who arrive and what they bring with them. The often indefatigable rain can make such a long stint in the field a real effort, but the constantly changing mix of people is like a new weather front every few days. Who knows who will drift in next?

Unfortunately, dear readers, due to some unforeseen personal circumstances our friend Rob must delay his arrival on site for a few weeks. Our best thoughts and wishes are with him, and I know after that mighty intro I’m not the only one who’s excited to meet him as soon as possible. Until then we’ll be checking in, and I’ll keep our blog-&-away readers up to date on any and all breaking intern news.

So, as I mentioned in the last post, an early few of our trustees are at this very moment showing the new troops around the site. By the time the rest of us arrive we will be stepping into the lush, ceilingless home of a brand new community of friends, colleagues and family. Hopefully a few more of them will have time in their busy adventure to talk to me for a further blog. But with one of our longest ever seasons ahead, and a truly diverse line-up of organisations on the books, right now it’s time to stop talking and start doing.

A New Season – A New Team

When I first attended Green & Away in 2009 they were just at the beginning of a little experiment, having hand-selected a small team from the many who applied, the season would see this organisation’s first interns. It is a learning experience for all who attend, from the first time to the twentieth time, but for those chosen few it would be a summer of responsibility, a test of dedication, and an education like no other. With many hundreds of delegates passing through all summer, what position would you feel most comfortable filling? At the time no one had any idea what each job might require of them – office, kitchen, light industrial, H&H…what do they even mean?

It’s been a few years now. The dust has settled, turned to mud, been kicked up and resettled. Each year a new team of interns has taken it upon themselves to help run Europe’s only tented conference centre, and each year they have done fantastic, some say magical, work. With an eye to the coming season, I asked our newest group of vivid young environmental crusaders to introduce themselves.

Ingvild

Please tell us who you are.

My name is Ingvild Hokstad, and as you can tell from the name, England is not my native country. I am born and raised in a small, cold and beautiful village in the Norwegian mountains. Although pristinely picturesque, my hometown grew a little too small a little too soon in my life, so at the age of 15 I was already looking up study abroad options. This led me to apply for United World Colleges at the age of 16, and half a year later I was on my way to a two-year stay at UWC Atlantic College in South Wales. The road from there was a short one, ending up in London for my undergraduate studies. This leads us on to my topic of study and perhaps biggest interest, which is politics; the study of the governing and the governed, the foundations of modern society, and the interactions between institutions and individuals. Under this very wide category many more of my interests and activities are derived; human rights, sustainability and political equality being some of them. Outside of university life I enjoy running, yoga and martial arts, as well as having spent a lot of time volunteering, my favourite session being teaching dyslexic children reading and writing.

Wow, that’s an impressive introduction. I wish my interests were half as interesting. Still, someone has to watch cartoons all day, right? So, tell us what you think about Green & Away.

I expect that this will be fresh take on internships with practically oriented daily tasks. As I will be working in the office I hope to gain more knowledge and skill in management and organization. I expect to be given challenges and responsibilities within the management area of things; as well I am sure we will be offered any needed support. I also envisage rain, and lots of it – it is England after all. Hence, I figure we’ll get some hands on tasks in adapting to the different changes in weather. Hopefully, we’ll also get to work with the various organizations attending the conferences. I’m also hugely motivated for the educational workshops G&A are setting up for the interns, I anticipate I’ll be trying my hand at some mild debating and opinion sharing as well. Expectations aside, I’m excited to take on any challenge headed my way and I’m very optimistic about this summer.

You’ll certainly be enjoying the summer rain, Ingvild. Remind me to stay out of your way during the debates…it sounds like you know what you’re talking about. But I’m sure our broadly intellectual trustees and volunteers can provide you with the challenges and stimulus you crave. What about your future after the summer?

I hope to gain experience in management and knowledge of the operational side of Green & Away as a conference centre. Beyond this, I hope to learn from the people around me, as I know Green & Away attracts a wide range of hugely knowledgeable and remarkable people. Since I wish to work in public policy making, I’d love to gain a further insight into environmental solutions, social enterprise and the workings of various interest groups. This will certainly be something valuable to bring with me in my future career. I think an internship at G&A will help me push some boundaries and stimulate solution-seeking ways of thinking.

As well as gaining from this experience myself, there’s another thing I’d like to gain from this summer; I’d like to walk away with a feeling that I have contributed to Green & Away positively and offered my qualities in hope that it will have helped in making this an excellent summer. Lastly, I’d love to make friends with the cats I heard occupy the G&A office.

A beautifully touching statement there. When you arrive with love and a desire to do good (and know how to safely use a sledgehammer) there’s nothing that can go wrong and nothing that you can’t achieve. Thanks, Ingvild!

Rachel

Please tell us more.

Hi, my name is Rachel and I am one of the new maintenance interns. In my free time (if I ever have any!) I love doing arty things. I also enjoy hiking and swimming and although I can’t sing to save my life, I still love to, when no-one’s listening! At the moment I am studying Mechanical Engineering at Durham University. I am really interested in renewable energy and the environment, and would like to specialise in this subject. My interest in this area sparked from my belief in God and my desire to care for the earth that He created for us.

Well, Rachel, having worked the fires that heat G&A’s showers in the morning, I can tell you that being unable to sing does not stop anyone from trying. And why should it, eh? If you’re lucky perhaps you’ll hear the confused yet manly grumblings of me and Kevin as we partake in another singing workshop – have you ever wondered what a sad bear sounds like? No that’s not the real question. How did you find out about G&A and what hijinks do you think you’ll be up to this summer?

In my search for summer internships related to renewable energy I came across the organisation. This seemed the perfect way to spend my summer – learning more about how to practically look after the world, as well as using some of the engineering knowledge that I have been studying. The thing I am most excited about is meeting new people, and learning from my experiences with them. I am hoping to discover ways to live more simply and to reduce my need to constantly rely on electricity and home comforts. I enjoy being busy and I’m sure there will be plenty of things to keep me occupied on site. The idea of spending the whole summer in a field sounds like fun – I love camping!

We certainly have a lot of camping. In fact you could say it’s our defining feature. As one clever reporter once said: it’s in tents. There’s no doubt you’ll have one of the best summers of your life. Bring it on, I say.

Amy

Please tell us of yourself and of your life.

My name is Amy Macfadyen, I am 20 years old, I love to cook, sew, dance, sing and dress up. I am a people person, I am fascinated by human beings, how they socialise and react with one another. I am currently self-unemployed and am taking myself to the university of life. Doing lots of courses, my main focus is that of becoming a Doula (birth support) and working with children and pregnant women in vulnerable situations. I have always strived for independence and although I am incredibly close to my family, I left home at 16 to spread my wings. I spent 6 months working as an au-pair in France. I then went onto India, Cambodia and Vietnam where I had time to see many different cultures and ways of life that supported my belief that I can learn all I need to know from the people I meet along my life journey. I believe that within everyone I meet there is so much untapped knowledge that I want to create a space where it can be passed on, to me or others. I live by the ideal that I want my work to work around my life rather than working to retire, which I feel a lot of people do.

Very wise words. It seems the school of life has taught you well so far. Without even realising it I think a lot of us who attend G&A, and keep coming back, think along very similar lines to you. There’s always someone new to meet, someone who can make you see the world differently and, very often, make you see yourself differently too. How did you hear about G&A?

I heard about G&A from a dear friend of mine who has visited many times and has always dreamed of doing one of the internships, but with two young children the practicalities of this make it unlikely. When she forwarded this to me I could see immediately that it would suit me and my current situation incredibly well.

So much of what happens at the site each year comes in some way from word of mouth. It’s the greatest tool we have, in my opinion. That and the mattock. Mattocks are ace.

I am very aware that the internship will require a lot of hard work, I will be doing the kitchen internship so will be creating incredible meals and become a pro at quantities. I also hope to meet lots of inspiring people and be challenged in regard to the work but also people ideals.

The kitchen internship has challenged many, but beaten none. From all that hard work comes incredible reward and it’s something you’ll carry with you forever. What about your future?
Socially I live a very communal life at the moment, but dream of living in a community outdoors and embracing the principles of sustainable living. I feel like I will learn a lot from green and away and the people who I will meet. I also believe that in the near future we will be seeing increasing food shortages and the main reason for my interest in the kitchen internship is that I want to feel confident feeding large numbers of people that I feel will be in great need of good, nutritious, locally sourced food.

Sounds like the same reason I practice with my crossbow. Who knows what apocalypse is coming? Haha. Seriously, though, G&A is one of the best places to live and learn about the issues that affect us and will continue to affect the coming generations. What I personally like most about the organisation is that it’s run on a very practical level by intelligent, forward thinking people from all walks of life. And while some of us dream and sing and dance like hippies, we’re dedicated to changing the world with economics, with science, with simple solutions. And with compost. Just wait till you see all the compost.

Well, that wraps up the first instalment of Get to Know Your Intern, with me Andy Melhuish. In the next post we’ll be talking to Yanna and a few more of this year’s studious team. Are you excited for the summer yet? It’s almost time for shorts, for grass between our toes and for the sun above our canvas heads. Until then keep dodging those raindrops.

Sustainable Practices and Environmental Audits

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

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