Guest Articles

Sustainability and green issues are now very much mainstream, with governments, businesses and individuals all involved. ‘Sustainable Tourism’ is making an impact on many of the UK’s popular summer destinations.

We usually think of sustainable tourism as involving nature-based travel that benefits conservation and communities abroad, but as the recession has begun to bite, tourism at home is becoming more popular than ever before and as one of the main economic drivers in the UK.

A year ago my partner and I bought 15 hectares of land just north of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and set out on an adventure in search of an alternative lifestyle to the one we had always experienced in the city. Our vision was to grow (organically) as much of our own food as possible, use only renewable energy sources, reuse all our “waste” products as inputs back into the farm, and offer the farm as a healing community for anyone who wants to live and work with us.

A Typical day at the farm

Sustainable Development is about ensuring a good quality of life for everyone, now and in the future.

This can be achieved by living within the Earth’s environmental limits, while also creating a just and fair society and attaining a strong, stable economy.

Here in Wales Sustainable Development has been made a constitutional duty for the National Assembly of Wales. They have to consider sustainability in all their functions, one of which is Education.

Trees play such a large part in our lives. Collectively, they are the lungs of the earth, whilst individually they can each be self sustaining eco-systems in their own right. On a more subtle level, they can be symbolic of many aspects of human life, including our businesses. I’ve used this idea to map out some ideas on maintaining sound sustainable business relationships.

Roots

Many people have heard of the term PR, or Public Relations, but how many actually know what it is? To most, images of hilarious TV show "Absolutely Fabulous" spring to mind, or stereotypical caricatures of booze-fuelled glammed up Sloanies schmoozing editors with champagne in a bid to secure some column inches...

Not only is this an exaggeration but in fact, a sadly negative picture of PR. PR is actually a very helpful and invaluable way of gaining media coverage, public awareness and ultimately, sales.