I recently
volunteered to help Ethical Junction on their stand at The Sustainability Show
at the O2 Arena. The event was a great success for all who attended and afterwards I got a call
out from EJ’s Simon Botterill thanking me for my help. He also asked me if I would like to take his place at
this years Walk Your Talk Conference in Wales as he was now unable to attend. Although I was a little apprehensive I jumped at the chance and thought I’d share my experience with you.

‘Walk Your Talk’ is
a gathering organised by Social Venture Network for people to inspire and be
inspired, and as a wayof moving great ideas into great actions. It was the 5th WYT and this year it took place
at Buckland Hall, Nr Brecon – an amazing mansion in equally amazing grounds,
and wonderful local, organic vegetarian food.

The theme for 2007
was ‘How can we create sustainable communities around us?’. You would expect a list of lectures to
attend, but the whole event was run on Open Space Technology, where there are
no formal workshops, talks or presentations.
You do however have the opportunity to present or lead a discussion or
event on any issue, related to the theme, about which you feel real curiosity
or passion. You could choose one of the beautiful rooms in the mansion to
hold your talk, or Walk you Talk in the grounds.

So on Monday
morning after many of the attendees had announced topics they would like to
discuss I found myself deciding which groups I wanted to join. There were many varied topics, examples being from ‘Hypocrisy of
sustainability/Personal Carbon Shadows’ to ‘A walk to the See Horses &
Talk About Overcoming Fear of Change’ and ‘How can media be used to connect and
empower sustainability?’ to ‘What have we done, what have we not done, and
what should we have done.’. There were many more thought provoking topics and the 3 days were filled with earnest discussions
about how to put talk into practice.

The whole event -
from organisation to fruition had been arranged with every detail in mind and it
was lovely to find that no matter what background you were warmly welcomed and
encouraged to express yourself freely. I
personally left feeling a new surge of confidence to continue being a very
small cog in the sustainability movement, and plans are already afoot for more
involvement. WYT (www.svn-uk.com/wyt/) was an amazing
experience, which I would highly recommend – thanks to Ethical Junction.

Sue Jueno – All Things Eco

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