“Leading the
Sustainability Journey” workshop, which is taking
place on the afternoon of the 15th October is
the first in a series of events on “Leadership & Sustainability” being
organised by Future Conversations and the Association of Sustainability
Practitioners. 

This
particular event is a bringing together the worlds of sustainability and
business transformation to open up new ways of communicating, creating teams and
producing results with less effort. 
We will address communication, effectiveness and
influence issues – taking our ability to make a difference to a new level. 
It is relevant to anyone working in a setting where they are involved with
sustainability issues and where they can impact the thinking and action of
others. 

You can find out more and
register for the event at www.future-conversations.co.uk/leadingthesustainabilityjourney.htm.

Click here to download the flyer for the event

Somerset based fair trade furniture and homewares retailer Myakka demonstrates that an ethical approach to business benefits everyone. Despite the recession, the directors have increased the amount of support they are giving, both to Myakka’s suppliers in India and now local communities in Somerset.

“Supporting our suppliers and their local communities is very important to us,” commented Georgie Hopkins, director of Myakka. “When we visited our main furniture suppliers in northern India at the beginning of the year we set a number of community projects in motion.  Providing new desks for the children at SKSN school is the second project to be completed so far and represents a collaboration between Myakka and our main supplier.”

Myakka has donated £2,000 towards the cost of materials with their
supplier covering the cost of production, enabling SKSN school to
receive 70 new desks and benches for students who previously studied
sitting on the floor.

As a member of the BAFTS (British
Association for Fair Trade Shops) the focus is on supporting suppliers
and their local communities. Myakka has chosen to go one step further
and join the Somerset Guardian Scheme operated by The Somerset
Community Foundation. This allows the directors to support their local
communities in Somerset, as well as Myakka’s supplier’s and their
communities in India.

The Somerset Community Foundation
supports local children, youth groups and older people, those with
special needs or disabilities, sports groups, art and drama projects;
aiming to build stronger communities for the benefit of everyone in
Somerset. As a Guardian, all monies pledged are invested as part of the
foundation’s endowment fund. The income from the fund is then used to
provide a long term sustainable source of grants to address local
needs. Currently the Somerset Community Foundation is the only
charitable body in Somerset administering the government ‘Grassroots
Grants Scheme’ whereby the government will top up funds by 100%.
Therefore Myakka’s financial support is worth much more to the
Foundation and those it supports in the locality.

Simon
Whitehead, director of Myakka commented. “We are proving that operating
a business ethically is more profitable for everyone, even in this time
of recession. It’s important to us that we support our local community
as well as those of our suppliers. The Somerset Community Foundation
offers the most accessible method for us to support small-scale, local
projects.”

Myakka specialises in solid wood furniture and
tailors the designs of each piece for the British market.  The
furniture is made in northern India by skilled craftsman using the
latest German computer controlled machinery ensuring the quality is
second to none. With a sophisticated ecommerce website, a Warehouse
Outlet in Wincanton, Somerset and a comprehensive mail order catalogue,
Myakka has a large database of loyal customers across the UK.

This summer Myakka is celebrating a decade of business with a huge 10th Birthday Summer Sale.

For more information about one of Somerset’s leading ethical businesses visit the Myakka news blog at www.furniture-home.myakka.co.uk or the online shop at www.myakka.co.uk. Select this link for further details on The Somerset Community Foundation: www.somersetcf.org.uk.

Application deadline 30 September

From the 9-16 December 2009, a Christian Aid team of 50 cyclists will take to the road and ride 140 miles from London to Copenhagen to highlight the start of the UN climate change summit and raise vital funds for Christian Aid projects in the developing world.

With three days cycling between 25 and 65 miles a day, the bike ride is open to all levels of cycling fitness. The group will leave London on the morning of 9 December, cycling through the English countryside to Harwich and, after the ferry ride, through the Danish islands to Copenhagen. Participants will cycle for no more than six hours a day and there will be two free days in the Danish capital before the group returns to the UK.

In Copenhagen, the cyclists will have the chance to make their ‘green’
presence count by joining thousands of climate change campaigners from
all over the world at a mass rally calling for a fair and effective
deal to combat climate change and to help the millions in the poorest
countries already suffering the effects of climate change.

“Cyclists have always been at the forefront of the green movement.
This an amazing opportunity to make a real difference by making your
voice heard at the crucial climate change talks in Copenhagen and at
the same time raising money to help some the world’s poorest people,”
said Alison Gregory of Christian Aid.

The cost of the trip is
£875 per person which you can either pay yourself or raise in
sponsorship as part of a commitment to raise £1,900 for Christian Aid.
There is also an initial £99 registration fee. The price includes all
accommodation, the ferry, transport back from Copenhagen and most meals.

Participants will get full support from Christian Aid’s
dedicated events team with lots of training, preparation and
fundraising advice and a free Christian Aid T-shirt.

For a
brochure, the full itinerary, route profile, registration form and
fundraising tips log on to www.christianaid.org.uk/events call 020 7523
2248 or email events@christian-aid.org.

A great opportunity to take time out to develop more confidence, energy and effectiveness in your business development

10% off for EJ Members until 20 October

We all know the amazing value of taking time out to think or plan away from the pressures of work – but we always put it off. How about a conference which offers the opportunity to learn and recharge in beautiful countryside?

Last year, Ethical Junction got involved in an extraordinary gathering for people to inspire and be inspired about moving from great ideas to great actions. Our experience made us see the idea of Strategic Awaydays in a new light. As a result, we’ve organized a special EJ discount for this year’s gathering because it so clearly advances ethical enterprise and lifestyle.

Walk Your Talk is a chance to take your business/organisation on an exceptional strategic retreat which is guaranteed to enrich and refresh both you and your work. Not only do you get the space to relax, think and plan, but you do so with around 60 other enthusiastic, energetic and inspiring people who are doing the same thing – entrepreneurs, execs, designers, artists, activists, inventors, investors and consultants.

The result is that the whole gathering acts like an expanded team which puts its energy into helping each other with advice, new ideas, partnership deals and more. It’s like having 60 talented colleagues show up in your organisation for three days. You set the agenda, you talk about what you need to talk about, and you get to meet people who share your interests and concerns.

We love figures, so we did some maths and reckon that by adding up the equivalent person hours and brain power brought to bear on a business, each day of retreat is worth about a month in the office.

So how does it work? Walk Your Talk is held in ‘Open Space’, a facilitated process in which there are no designated leaders. Instead, you steer your own course as the conference evolves, discussions deepen, and connections and realisations emerge. The dramatic Brecon Beacons provide the backdrop for three days of reflection and interaction in a warm and friendly environment, whether on strolls along the banks of the River Usk, or beside the fire with a drink. People learn by walking and talking, sharing passions, curiosities, hopes, expertise and questions. Drawing on each other’s wisdom and experience, everyone supports each other towards the creation of really good personal action plans to take back into their lives and work.

The Walk Your Talk team use a question designed to make it easier to find a common threads amongst a wide range of interests. This year it’s ‘Can we afford to work without heart?’ This question brings up lots of practical issues, like how to balance head and heart stuff, how to set a truly heart based culture and how to communicate it well.

As an Ethical Junction member, you’re entitled to 10% off the fee if you book by 20 October. Fees at individual and small business rates include accommodation, food, facilitation and all that brain power of your fellow guests. The only extras are your bar bill, and a supplement if you can’t bear the thought of sharing a twin room.

Walk Your Talk is at Buckland Hall in the Brecon Beacons from 16-19 November 2008. Full details are on www.walkyourtalk.net and to claim the EJ price, simply mention your membership in the ‘special requirements’ box of the on-line booking form and make your payment for the total shown, less 10%.

What people said about Walk Your Talk in 2007

“A wonderful clearing house of inspiration, wisdom, debate and motivation.”
Jason Elliott, Ethical Jobs

“An absolute must in a crowded diary. Although the thought of taking time out from the office caused some anxiety, the reality was worth every moment.”
Thea Allison, Brighton & Hove Business Community Partnership

“The most extraordinary experience where I felt alive, alert, and came home hopeful and zinging from head to toe. Nothing will ever be quite the same again and the only disadvantage has been that conferences with pre-arranged agendas now seem rather staid and stale.”
Anna Jenkins, Ethical Change

“It has value as a practitioners’ personal development space, allowing those engaged day to day in trying to make the world a better place to recharge, reconnect and refocus.”
Andy Middleton, TYF Group

Will Aid is a partnership between solicitors and 9 UK charities. The campaign puts you in touch with participating solicitors who will draw up a basic Will free of charge during November. In return for this service, the solicitors hope you will choose to donate to the Will Aid charities the fee they would normally charge.

The suggested donation level is: £75 for a single Will, £110 for a pair
of matching or ‘mirror’ Wills, or £40 for a change or codicil to an
existing will. This provides a fantastic opportunity for people to put their affairs in order and help others at the same time.

Will Aid is supported by TV celebrity, Graham Norton. He says,

“The
only way to ensure the people you love are provided for when you die is
to have a proper Will. Living together, even for years and years, gives
you no inheritance rights and if one partner dies without a Will, the
other may be left with nothing – not even the shared home. Even married
couples and civil partners are vulnerable. If there isn’t a Will, the
surviving partner may only inherit a proportion of the estate. So don’t
tempt fate – make a Will with Will Aid in November.”

Making a
Will and keeping it up-to-date is an important way of protecting family
and loved ones in the future. This year, people should take advantage
of Will Aid to review their arrangements, especially since the
Chancellor announced changes to the Inheritance Tax (“IHT”) rules.
These changes, which were incorporated in this year’s Budget, should
reduce the tax burden on married and civil partnership couples or at
least enable many Wills to be simplified, bringing more within the
scope of a Will Aid basic Will.

Will Aid solicitor David Sinclair says, “Will
Aid is a great campaign and one I am proud to be a part of. It provides
you with an excellent opportunity to either make a Will for the first
time or amend your existing Will in light of these changes. Most
importantly the donation for making or amending your Will goes to the
Will Aid charities.”

Since its launch in 1988, the scheme has
raised almost £7m in donations and very much more in legacies. The
money raised is shared between the participating charities: ActionAid,
British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Help the Aged, NSPCC, Save the
Children UK, Sight Savers International, SCIAF and Trocaire.

In
the last campaign, more than 7,000 people were motivated to make their
Will with Will Aid and they donated almost £700,000 for the Will Aid
charities. They also pledged millions more in legacies to the Will Aid
charities and other causes.

Make your Will with a Will Aid
solicitor this November, and make a real difference to people in need
in the UK and around the world, helping to transform the lives of
children, families, elderly people and whole communities. Take the
opportunity to leave a legacy to your favourite charity and you will be
ensuring their good work can continue for years to come. And, most
importantly, you will be ensuring the security of your own loved ones.

Prospective
will-makers can find a convenient participating solicitor by using the
Find a Solicitor function on the Will Aid website www.willaid.org.uk or
by contacting the hotline 0300 0300 013. They can then make their
appointment by email or telephone.

A Schumacher College course
October 14-17, 2008

Those on this participatory Mythodrama workshop will benefit from a unique form of experiential learning that combines theatre practice, psychology and philosophy with organisational development.

The sessions utilise Shakespeare’s timeless play ‘As You Like It’.
Participants will explore for themselves a fascinating journey of
renewal, philosophical thinking, creative expression and new
possibilities, an invaluable process for leaders in sustainability.

Teacher:
Richard Olivier is Artistic Director of Olivier Mythodrama. He is at
the leading edge of bringing the world of theatre into the development
of authentic leaders. From 1999-2005 he was the Master of Mythodrama at
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

For further information on our courses, please see our website:

www.schumachercollege.org.uk

+44 (0) 1803 865 934
admin@schumachercollege.org.uk

A truly depressing documentary on Channel 4 the other night – The Lie of The Land. Quiet anger masked by unfailing politeness characterised a group of ordinary farmers as they watched, not just their livelihoods, but a whole way of life disappearing before their eyes. In the face of a twin assault from government bureaucracy (new regulations to ‘protect’ the environment means more red tape and less scope to manage the infinite variations that land and animals in the real world require) and city dwellers’ demand for ever cheaper food, their bewilderment was heart rending.

At root is a confused and, in many cases, irrational attitude to animals and the realities of rearing them for food. On the one hand we demand an end to fox hunting (a largely symbolic gesture in the face of the many other forms of animal abuse that we know nothing and apparently care less about); on the other, the way we have turned food into a commodity like anything else (to be produced ever more ‘efficiently’ and at ever lower cost) leads directly to the import of meat from countries where attitudes towards animals don’t bear inspection – while, at the same time, to the culling of healthy animals on our own farms because they have no economic value. The net result is that the day is not far off when Britain will no longer produce beef, pork, poultry or milk.

For those of us who eat meat and care about animal welfare, it really is time to reassess the choices we make on a daily basis. Are we going to be accomplices in the destruction of a centuries old way of life simply because supermarkets provide us with cheap food – with the end result that we will become dependent on other countries to feed us? Or are we going to face up to what it means to eat meat and attempt to understand the cycles of life and death that are implicit in its production? If we care about animals then the answer must be that we try and get closer to the people who actually rear them; and that means buying local produce from butchers and farm shops who know where their meat comes from and the conditions in which it was produced. If you know the farm your meat comes from, you can always go and visit …