The first community based sustainable development organisation in Wales
Y sefydliad datblygu cynaliadwy cyntaf yn y gymuned yng Nghymru

history

Our focus has always been on community action, consumerism, co-operation, active citizenship, social enterprise and responsible stewardship of people and planet.

We believe we were the first community-based sustainable development organisation in Wales.

The respected environmentalist, former teacher and activist Margaret Minhinnick and poet, essayist, novelist and translator Robert Minhinnick founded us in 1997.

Over twenty years later we continue to be at the forefront of leading edge community based sustainable development thinking and practice.

Sustainable Wales has initiated a wide variety of sustainable development activities including

At the base of this page there is a transcript of a conversation between Robert & Margaret Minhinnick presented at the 20th anniversary of Sustainable Wales; which covers some of the very first founding moments of the charity and those involved.

A pre web guide for media interaction from Sustainable Wales…

All Wales Activities

·    Spearheading the Real Nappy Campaign - provision of a wide variety of campaign resources, media/awareness raising/training/network development. Currently WAG fund part-time officer working with Waste Awareness Wales, LA’s and NHS across Wales.

• ‘Finding Our Voices’ 1 + 2 - All Wales conferences on Participatory Democracy

• Write On! – Series of breakfast seminars on office recycling and buying recycled paper

• ‘From Here to Sustainability - Community sector training programme which introduced environmental and ethical policies and practices to organisations.

• ‘Fashion Conscience?’ – Seminar on the unethical Fashion Industry

• 21st Century Living - Local Solutions to Climate Change Conference – Cardiff.

• A Circular Economy For Wales - a series of webinars. www.sustainablewales.org.uk/blog/webinardesignforlife

  
  
  
  
  

Publications include

• Gorwelion - Shared Horizons published by Parthian

• ‘Simply The Best!’ - Encouraging people and environment friendly event /conference organising. Bilingual.(Adopted by the Welsh Assembly)

• ‘Write On!’– initiating a ‘buy recycled’ paper campaign in Wales. Bilingual.

• ‘Dumping The Diaper’ – Real Nappy Campaign Guide - English and Welsh.

• ‘Have I Got News For You’ - local groups campaigning and media advice. Bilingual.

• ‘Deepening Democracy’- a Civic Forum proposal for Wales drafted for Llais Cymru. Bilingual.

• ‘First Class’ – a guide to developing a school’s recycling policy.

• ‘Scarweather Inquirer’ – a reader-friendly information booklet on the proposal to build a large offshore wind farm near Porthcawl.

• 8x ‘Community Connections’ – a periodical magazine focused on sustainability issues (good and bad) in the borough of Bridgend, Wales. 

Videos and DVD Production

• It’s Time for a Real change’ Real Nappy Promotion (for new mums and midwives)

• ‘It’s Time for a Real change’ Real Nappy Campaign (for councils and campaigners)

• ‘From Radioactive Mines to Radioactive Bullets’ - Uranium pollution (used also in America)

• Shine a Light? -  series of community films advocating democratising local renewable energy. http://www.sustainablewales.org.uk/shine-a-light

Local and replicable activity

1. Real Nappy Development Officers in Bridgend, Swansea, Cardiff, Torfaen and Wales.

2. Community based Sustainable Development Officer- operating in Bridgend.

• Production of Community Connections – series of magazines 12,000 copies widely distributed;

• Fair trade, Farmer’s Market and local food network development and promotion;

• Organised Sussed Café at Farmer’s Market;

• Real Nappy Awareness;

• Advancing green and ethical purchasing, supporting Sussed activities;

• Organisation of 21st Century Sustainable Living Festivals;

• Profiling and advocating climate change and sustainable energy;

• Local community group and partnership development;

• Helping groups develop Sustainable Development policies and practices;

• Feasibility into developing urban pocket parks;

• Series of cultural/arts events;

• Fundraising. 

3. Plastic Bag-Free Bridgend Campaign Officer - working with local traders, farmer’s market and council, providing evidence to Welsh Assembly.

4. Development and Management of SUSSED Wales Community Cooperative – retailing local, green and fairly traded goods.

5. Development of ‘The Green Room’ - a cultural space. 

Presented at the 2017 20th Anniversary by Robert Minhinnick (R.) and Margaret Minhinnick (M.)

R. It’s a lot longer than 20 years. But this is a great excuse for a party.

M. In 1994, I was asked to reapply for my job as Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru. I refused and thus resigned.

R. At the same time I was dismissed from the Board of FoE Cymru because of my involvement with an article titled ‘A Split in the Green Movement’ in the Welsh language magazine, Golwg.

M. But Sustainable Wales already existed as much more than an idea.  We both believed the future was in positive solutions.  Dealing with constant environmental crises only invited burn-out.

R. After all, we were both devastated when the ‘Save the Dinosaurs’ campaign didn’t work.

M. As a longtime antagonist in FOE, but as SW Director 1997 I accepted a Welsh Water contract to develop the bag it don’t bin it campaign promoting the idea of sanitary waste not being disposed down the toilet!

After that,  I had an invitation to join HTV’s Grassroots flagship green programme, as presenter and researcher.

R.  I had already edited ‘Green Agenda’, a collection of essays for Seren Books. Now I wrote ‘How Green? – a series of six programmes for BBC Wales…

Soon after this I went into exile, becoming a  writer-in-residence in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for nine months.

M.  I made eighteen editions of HTV’s Grassroots, a magazine style programme –describing the problem but offering a perspective on a sustainable solution. ‘Overpackaging - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,’ ‘Time banking’, Contaminated land, Expansion of Opencast Coalmining/Energy Efficiency amongst them.

R. Eight hours apart,  we collaborated via  fax from Saskatoon Public Library on the two ‘Grassroots’ series.

R. In winter, Saskatoon was more than chilly. Minus 30 on some nights.

M.  But thanks to HTV, I at least, got a warm clothes allowance.

R. I borrowed a sheepskin coat and wore my Bridgend Boys Grammar Technical School scarf.

M. Meanwhile, powerful agencies were unhappy with some of the Grassroots work. These included the UK’s Ministry of Defence, and the international Peabody Coal Company of America.

Then we got down to developing Sustainable Wales backed by the greatly missed Environment Wales, an Assembly grant supporting body.

Procter and Gamble, the multinational was later irritated by Sustainable Wales’s first all-Wales Campaign ‘The ‘real nappy’ campaign. And they spent time lobbying the Welsh Assembly waste-dept staff to withdraw their support.

R. Sustainable Wales has always stressed  the need for strong environmental and cultural links. Thus in 1995, before its charitable status, it had joined the celebrations of Swansea ‘s City of Literature award, with several events.

The charity invited John Clark and Ann Szumigalski to Wales. Ann, a very young 75-year old witch, identified the presence of a ghost in the Minhinnick household in Park Avenue. Lucy Minhinnick was delighted.

M. Around 1996 Sustainable Wales had begun to highlight issues around the use of depleted uranium in weaponry.

With Lucy, we toured uranium mines in Arizona, filming on reservations  the tribal people who mined the stuff, especially the Navaho and the Hopi. We were creating our own film. Robert visited Iraq to continue the filming.

R. This continued our film, a film with the worst ever title: “From Radioactive Mines to Radioactive Bullets”. In Iraq we hired Nazaar Joori, with finance supplied by Beatrice Boctor. It’s hard to believe that Nazaar can still be alive, so great has been the subsequent turmoil in Iraq.

R. Yes. From Death Valley to Babylon. Sustainable Wales at least got us out of the house. I remember driving in the snow to Birmingham to film UK army veterans. And filming Welsh veterans in a pub in Barry for the uranium film.

M. Sustainable Wales is about people, not issues.

Well, one day Richard Thomas walked in off the street and asked what the charity Sustainable Wales was, and how might he play a role.

After volunteering for a while and with the help of our reserves and later a Landfill Tax grant, he was employed. 

R: Before too long Richard contacted musical buddy Peter Morgan, still mourning the demise of their band, The Incredible Tractors.

Peter supplied the music for the film of ‘Black Hands’ edited by Peter Thorp. Also music for the long poem, ‘An Opera in Baghdad’. All part of the Iraqi connection.

M. To operate alongside our real nappy awareness raising, we must mention our support for the development of social enterprise Gentle Touch’ nappy laundering a pioneering service based in Ystrad Mynach, run by Natalie Sergeant (Connections here illustrate the waste issue and green job creation solutions)

Other project staff posts have included those for Angharad Dalton, Kathryn Warren, Cindy Evans, Joe Newberry and Mark Jenkins.

R. Some great people have served as Trustees and Chair of the charity. David Thomas, with his medical awareness. Brian Mayne, local authority and waste strategy,  Frank O’ Connor – Eco Design, John Drysdale,  Bruce Kennedy TV.  And Especially Christine Eynon, always supportive.

Our Trustees and volunteers are very important and a great big thanks must go to them.

There are many names not mentioned here. And scores of projects not referenced. Yet not forgotten.

Oh and last year MM received a ‘Special Recognition Award’, from Cynnal Cymru recognizing over 30 years of environmentalism and sustainablility.

M. Our work in SW is responding to The Welsh Gvts ‘Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015 and The Environment (Wales) Act 2016, the School’s Curricula ‘Education For Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship’ and also the UN’s International Sustainable Development Goals.

M. Generally today, people locally are familiar with one Sustainable Wales project – the shop, SUSSED. This sells local, green and ethical goods. It’s a community cooperative or social enterprise.

Money is a vote which we can use every time we shop and SUSSED helps make ethical shopping easier for the local community countering the uneven benefits of ‘globalisation’.

The Green Room

R. But more people are becoming used to the Green Room, at the same premises. This space is used for readings, lectures, debates, training, a pop-up cafe and all kinds of performances, most recently by internationally-renowned artist, Kevin Sinnott.

M. Partnerships and networks are crucial. Locally, we host the Bridgend FT Partnership and are involved in a number of activities with them.

Renewable Energy

Film, as we have seen, has always been important.  Our series of renewable energy films ‘Shine a Light?  / Golau Newydd? launched in Chapter and ‘CAT’ on youtube are a direct challenge to LA’s to back local energy. New films are being edited as we speak.

Melanie Johnson, our new Vice Chair, is deeply involved with renewables and she is looking into how we might create an actual local energy project.

M. The future? Who knows? I’ll say something about that at the end. But possibly more films. 

R. And, in terms of live performance, in twelve months, look out for ‘Letters from the Future’. This includes a polar bear dying of heat stroke in Buenos Aires. I’m announcing it now so that I can be held to account if it’s not completed.

M. BUT the future is very uncertain. We have to create a staff position. No-one in the shop or charity as a whole is remunerated. We understand it cannot continue like this.

If anyone else would like to help, please get in touch.