Insight

Insight, article or thought piece

Should we chase wellbeing over growth? 

The theme of this month’s Cynnal Cymru newsletter is ‘growth’ in its broadest sense. It’s a word that is often associated with positivity. I’m writing this on the first working day of British Summer Time, although it is still very much spring. Growth is in the air – with the daffodils having sprouted and blossom season in full swing. Growth in this context is very much welcome, even to hay fever sufferers like myself. But there are some debates where the concept of growth is more contentious. 

Our role as Cynnal Cymru’s Fair Economy team is to make a contribution towards a fairer economy for Wales. Our two core work strands are partnering with the Living Wage Foundation in Wales – hosting Living Wage Wales in-house – and working with the Welsh Government to support their ambitions for Wales’ foundational economy. For those of you who don’t know, that’s the ‘mundane’ areas of the economy that are nonetheless incredibly important in underpinning everyday life – think care and health services, food, utilities, and similar. They haven’t always got the attention from economic policy makers that advanced manufacturing or cutting-edge technology have, but they make up a huge section of the economy – with 51% of Welsh employees working in the foundational economy. Their working lives and the contributions they make deserve attention too. 

It’s predominantly through these living wage and foundational economy workstreams that we engage with the concept of growth – the narrower idea of economic growth. Far from springtime flowers to some this concept evokes thoughts of industrialisation and environmental harm. The public policy debate in Wales – particularly where it intersects with the third sector – has seen a debate around whether economic growth is a desirable goal, with efforts to move towards a ‘wellbeing’ approach instead. 

Whereas in years past many would look to settle the inherent tensions between development and sustainability via an ambition for ‘sustainable growth’, some in the Welsh policy space are now looking to other concepts, such as ‘degrowth’, or asking for a ‘wellbeing economy’ to replace efforts to increase GDP. 

To me, a wellbeing economy is clearly a highly desirable aim. Focusing on a broader set of metrics than simply growth makes a huge amount of sense. We know that a rising tide doesn’t always lift all boats. The gap between the rich and the rest is growing. There is increasing evidence that, to some extent, pay has partly decoupled from productivity. The labour share of national income in the UK has fallen in recent decades, as a greater share goes to those who own, rather than those who work. 

Source: Our World in Data

But does that mean we should eschew the quest for economic growth in favour of a wellbeing economy? The chart above – which maps life satisfaction and GDP per capita – suggests this may be a false dichotomy. There is a clear correlation between reported life satisfaction (which I would suggest is fairly synonymous with wellbeing) and GDP per capita. It follows that a growth in GDP per capita – economic growth – is very likely to correspond to a growth in wellbeing. 

It’s right that we look to a broad set of measures when trying to create a fairer economy for Wales. It is fairly unsurprising that the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland find themselves at the top right of the graph – with some of the highest GDP per capita and life satisfaction in the world. 

The Nordic model of strong trade union rights and mass union membership to protect worker incomes is a successful one. It rebalances economies away from the ultra-rich having a unilateral say over how much they pay their workers and how much they keep in their own pockets. Wales would be sensible to emulate it as much as it can. But we shouldn’t forget that this model does include having amongst the highest GDP per capita in the world. 

And whilst there is some evidence of productivity growth (which tracks pretty consistently with GDP growth) and pay decoupling, there is no evidence of a total decoupling. Strong growth in GDP still means rising wages – for people of all income brackets. When we talk about how we can tackle poverty in Wales, economic growth is a tried-and-tested method. 

Economic growth is good for the rights of workers, too. Harvard University’s Dani Rodrik found in his paper ‘An Industrial Policy for Good Jobs’ that the ‘sine qua non’ (for fellow non-Latin speakers, that’s ‘without which, not’ – an indispensable ingredient) of good jobs is a high enough level of labour productivity. That is, increasing productivity (doing more with less), a key component of economic growth, results in jobs that ‘provide a middle-class living standard, adequate benefits, reasonable levels of personal autonomy, economic security, and career ladders’. 

The trade-offs between measures to support economic development and considerations such as equity and environmental protection are complex and multi-faceted. But Wales is one of the poorest areas of Western Europe on many measures. This results in human misery – including child poverty and people trapped in work where they are paid and respected too little. We should be hesitant about well-meaning calls to eschew economic growth. 

The ambition of many to become a wellbeing economy is a welcome one. But the increasingly common refrain of ‘wellbeing or growth’ is looking at the issue the wrong way around. We should instead consider how we can continue to decouple growth from carbon emissions and utilise economic growth in Wales to reduce poverty and increase wellbeing. 

Should we chase wellbeing over growth?  Read More »

Is culture the key to thriving over surviving in sustainability?

Bread for all, and roses too.

From American suffragist Helen Todd’s original speech in 1911, labour movements worldwide have used the concept of bread and roses to fight for the circumstances where populations are not just surviving but thriving, too. In the Well-being of Future Generations Act, culture is explicitly written as one of the necessary elements of a thriving Wales. The Act intends for ‘A Wales of Vibrant Culture and Thriving Welsh Language. A society that promotes and protects culture, heritage and the Welsh language, and which encourages people to participate in the arts, and sports and recreation.”

The ongoing pressure on the cost of living, the health service and heritage and arts organisations in Wales illustrates the everyday challenges decision makers are having to make on budgets and priorities. When austerity hits, one of the first things to be cut is cultural services, and we’re seeing that now across Wales and the UK. The Wellbeing of Future Generations Act challenges us all to not neglect our cultural responsibilities and connections in favour of other priorities.

While we’re not a cultural institution at Cynnal Cymru, we care deeply about wellbeing in all its manifestations. Our Fair Economy team accredit the Living Wage and Living Hours Wales, helping organisations to create working conditions that don’t just meet the bare minimum requirements for living, but help their staff to thrive too. We’ve seen huge transformations where individuals no longer have to work multiple jobs and can spend more time with their families, get enough rest, and engage with the culture and community around them.

Culture plays a key part in unlocking sustainability action and is often forgotten in technical debates around carbon reduction. As Gus Speth, US climate scientist put it:

“I used to think that top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that thirty years of good science could address these problems. I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a cultural and spiritual transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.”

How are our team thriving while surviving?

Sometimes we think about culture as something serious, expensive, and reserved for a few kinds of activities. But just like sustainability is made up of the little changes that add up in all our work, cultural well-being can come from small moments in our everyday lives. Outside of their work at Cynnal Cymru, our staff have rich lives engaging with cultural moments both big and small.

Abi, our Membership Officer, spends one day a week as an apprentice at an antique jeweller, learning how to make and repair fine jewellery. Recently she’s been challenged by learning how to use CAD design as a tool to design and model jewellery, exploring a whole new creative community. Our Head of Business Development, Clare, recently joined a group at the NoFitState circus building to watch part of the Festival Mondial de Cirque de Demain, livestreamed from Paris. When we can take the time for them, these moments of intercultural engagement can inspire us to think outside our daily spheres and even try new things.

Fiona, our Finance Officer, stops crunching numbers to write fiction when she’s not at work. She’s currently working on two novels, one that’s nearly finished and one that’s a fresh project – an old school, tongue-in-cheek heist set in the modern day. Our Marketing and Communications Officer, Beli, also writes fiction, having recently written a short story for the Beyond/Tu Hwnt bilingual anthology of Welsh deaf and disabled writers.

As a crafty team, our staff are often sharing ideas and tools. Recently, our Living Wage Programme Lead, Grace, gave Fiona some embroidery frames and she’s started a new project from them, planning to make two pieces of iridescent insects. There are so many ways we can appreciate and explore ecology and sustainability in ways that are creative, whether that’s researching beetles for a creative project or photographing the beautiful view on one of our coastal walks in Wales, like our Living Wage and Human Resources Support Officer, Alys, who recently walked some the Pembrokeshire Coast.

Blue Lagoon Quarry photographed by Alys Reid Bacon

Integrating Cultural and Sustainability Work

Too often, we can become siloed in our approach to sustainability. The Well-being for Future Generations Goals challenges us to think about everything that a society needs to thrive. No single person or organisation can do it all, but when we work together, we can make lasting and impactful changes. As a membership organisation, we are inspired by the organisations from outside the sustainability sector who are committing themselves to sustainability work, such as our members Arts Council Wales, Ffilm Cymru, and Media Cymru from the arts sector. We’re all aware of the need to change our behaviour to look after our climate and natural environment, and at Cynnal Cymru we’re committed to empowering organisations from every sector to turn that knowledge into actionable steps.

So how can culture help sustainability?

At the recent South East Wales Climate Coalition event, our former Board member Andy Middleton reminded the audience that “change happens by those who hold the best parties.” Joy, creativity, and culture must necessarily go hand in hand with our passion for a better society.

One of our members Coleg y Cymoedd have embraced an Every Day Every Decision approach to sustainability to encourage their staff and students to drive the culture of change based on what is important for them. The technical aspects are still happening, but just backstage. These kinds of innovations that think about what drives behaviour change are so important and integral to our ways of working at Cynnal Cymru.

Another change in culture is moving towards long-term thinking. This is one of the ways of working encouraged by the Future Generations Commissioner. We have benefited from attending the Futures Hub training as they begin to build a community of practice around the change of culture.

To quote educator and author Peter Drucker: ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it.’

If we’re too busy looking at the numbers, the facts, the long reports of data, we can neglect to imagine a future that is full of joy, passion, and creativity. Wales is a land of song, literature and culture, and we must savour and treasure these things in little and large ways to create a sustainable future that is authentically Welsh, authentically ours.

Is culture the key to thriving over surviving in sustainability? Read More »

Storytelling and its potential to create change

This was the takeaway from our latest event, Can Stories Change Our World? , which brought together Cynnal Cymru members and other sustainably-minded businesses. We brought in three speakers to discuss how they use storytelling in their work and talk to us about the power and challenges of storytelling as change. This is clearly a topic on many people’s minds right now. It’s something we talked about in our September newsletter, and drew in a huge number of questions during this event. We discussed questions such as how you deal with apathy and depression in climate conversations, how to use comedy and positivity to tell poignant stories, and how to specifically reach Welsh audiences through storytelling style or platforms.  

Ant Green, founder of animation and illustration studio Motion Manor designed for positive change, discussed the importance of telling visual stories that imagine a fair and sustainable future.  

“In climate narratives, we’ve created a doom and gloom outlook because it’s the clearest outcome. We know what a bad outcome looks like, but we’re not so sure about the details of that good outcome.” 

Motion Manor, a Cynnal Cymru Member, have used their animations and illustrations to visualise this positive future for organisations such as the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations. While they use animation and illustration, Motion Manor ensures that their stories are rooted in reality – for Ant, that’s the key.  

“Show a snapshot of real people doing real things, even when using stories or illustration.” 

Camille Lovgreen, Cynnal Cymru’s Sustainability Advisor, echoed Ant’s sentiment of needing to situation any storytelling in real life examples, even when writing fiction. Alongside our Sustainability Strategist Karolina Rucinska, Camille wrote a series of fictional stories envisioning Wales in 2051. In their imagination, Wales had implemented all sustainability advice and was seeing a thriving environment and community. Through this set of stories, they were able to begin a conversation around what it looks like to successfully implement climate policy, as well as inspiring the hope that energises this movement.  

A similar set of stories was created by the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales (NICW), looking at Wales in 2100. The Chair of the NICW, David Clubb, was our third speaker. David stressed the importance of taking out time when thinking about long-term futures. David also discussed the need to evaluate not just how but where you’re telling your stories. NICW have recently made the decision to leave the big platforms, namely Meta and X, and move to open source versions that fit into their values. This decision comes at a time when many organisations and individuals are moving away from big name platforms in recognition of their censorship, unethical practices, and goals that don’t look out for regular people.

How do we tell our own stories? 

For Ffilm Cymru, the development agency for Welsh film and a Cynnal Cymru Member, visual storytelling is embedded into their work.  

Films such as this can be used to encourage behaviour change through emotive storytelling.

Ffilm Cymru’s work relies on the power of storytelling:  

“Stories have the power to provoke immense transformation in our society, as we’ve seen recently with ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office. They can also affect smaller personal shifts in perception and awareness that can snowball into positive change. It’s up to organisations like ours to help harness that power, and promote action on climate in creative, engaging and entertaining ways.” 

Just this month, Media Cymru and Ffilm Cymru Wales have launched a climate themed R&D content fund to support more climate stories and sustainability storytelling.

Is storytelling just for arts or cultural organisations?

Many of the attendees of our event came from organisations outside of the creative sector. The reality is that in every sector, telling your story in a way that reaches the right people is crucial.

Thrive Women’s Aid is a Cynnal Cymru Member organisation that supports women, children, and young people in Neath/Port Talbot who are affected by domestic abuse. They help survivors rebuild their lives and independence in safe communities, supporting entire families to break the cycle of abuse permanently and foster healthier, safer environments for all.

In this video, they tell the impact of their work through simple and effective storytelling.

As we look into the new year, it’s a great time to consider the stories you tell, and how and where you’re telling them.

Can Stories Change Our World? was part of Cynnal Cymru’s quarterly series of Cardiff-based events. Make sure you check out our next event coming soon, Growing the Sustainability Workforce, where we’ll hear from Future Generations Leadership Academy participant Abi Hoare and Finley Povey from Transport for Wales. The event is free for Cynnal Cymru Members, Sparc|Sbarc residents, and we have a limited number of free places for Cardiff University students. Don’t miss it!

Storytelling and its potential to create change Read More »

Being human in the age of disinformation. On trust and climate change communication.  

Have you ever asked for advice from someone who wasn’t necessarily an ‘expert’ on the situation or topic? What made you do that? Was it that they cared about you and understood you? Was it their profession, a common background, or shared beliefs that led you to trust their judgement?  Perhaps you judged their trustworthiness based on how you’d seen them act in other situations? 

What does that mean for climate communication? Inspired by a recent pilot training, our Sustainability Strategist Dr Karolina Rucinska considers the role of trust in climate communications. 

— 

When I was in secondary school, staring at a whiteboard with mathematical equations would fill me with dread. I could not make sense of these abstract concepts at all. But when my friend sat down with me and used plenty of real examples, it would all suddenly click in my mind. In other words, by showing me how the equations mattered in my own life, I was able to truly understand them. Was that school friend more educated or credible than the maths teacher who had been teaching for decades?  Certainly not, but he found a way to relay the information in the right way for me . It took me years to realise that I just needed the right messenger for the information to sink in. A recent training by Climate Outreach cemented this idea for me.  

Trust is a big deal 

Trust is a combination of three factors: the person who seeks it, the person who gives it, and the context. Thus, trust can be interpersonal and institutional, and it is fundamental to all aspects of our lives.  According to the 2023 edition of the Ipsos Veracity Index, the top five trusted professions are nurses,  pilots, librarians, doctors and engineers, but the least trusted are politicians, government ministers, advertising executives, journalists, and estate agents. This suggests that we can trust unbiased and highly trained people with strong codes of ethics and who can help in life-threatening situations.  

But we are all guilty of asking for a second opinion. Even after a long call with an expert, like a doctor, we call our nearest and dearest before making big decisions. Don’t we?  

In times when information is distorted, opinions divided, and situations are developing too fast to grasp, we reach out to people who mirror our beliefs. And given that trust in politicians  is at an all-time low,, how can citizens trust what is being told to us?  

Trust at scale  

The good news, according to the 2023 Climate Barometer Tracker survey,is that the UK public do trusts naturalists, conservationists, charities, and NGOs. The bad news, and because climate change impacts all aspects of our lives, is that we listen to other voices too.  So, if you are an expert on climate change, pandemics, flooding, vaccinations, and people prefer to call their mums rather than trust you, don’t take it personally. Instead, find voices that resonate with the audiences you want to reach. 

The Climate Outreach research report on the issue of climate communication  found that trusted people are seen as some combination of: 

  • human 
  • sincere 
  • down to earth 
  • kind 
  • reliable  
  • honest 

Who do you think of when you imagine these qualities? Likely those people closest to you, rather than experts putting out reports on climate change.  

Earning trust in climate messages, at scale, is desperately needed. With so many conflicting messages and a deep skepticism about the media from many of the general public, there is a lot at stake. 

Take low-carbon heating, for example. You can have all the facts and figures, but at the end of the day you’ll likely make the decision because a neighbour or friend made the switch and convinces you to do the same. 

Earning trust at scale, therefore, goes beyond finding the right “already trusted” messenger or influencer such as scientists.  Earning trust at scale needs everyday messengers who can relate, convey real passion, have a deep, lived experience and are credible.  For example, a chef who runs a small restaurant with seasonal foods speaking to other chefs who are looking to diversify their menus and cut food waste. A parent who walks their kids to school speaking to parents who want to stay active and reduce petrol costs but feel alone with the challenge. But earning that long-term trust requires a few more ingredients, plus an unbroken chain of promises, and results. 

The triangle of trust 

The Trust Triangle, first coined by Frances Fei and Anne Morriss in 2020, was adopted by leadership trainers and coaches because it elegantly displays the key elements that leaders and teams need to perform. 

Now, it has been applied by Climate Outreach in their quest to communicate effectively. They advocate three qualities that communicators need to demonstrate for their audiences to trust them and be open to influence: 

  • Passion: This person really cares about this issue. 
  • Credibility: The person knows what they’re talking about. They’re not just making it up on the spot. 
  • Empathy: The person understands that people have different perspectives. They’re not lecturing or talking down to others. 

Crafting a trusted message therefore is about being authentic and knowing yourself as well as the audience. Yes, it is also about showing hard facts, but always within the context and tone of your audience. 

Trust starts with your first audience: yourself 

’One thing I have learnt from the past few years working in the field of sustainability is that to connect with others, we better know ourselves first. In climate change, where food preferences and chosen mode of transport can lead to arguments, we better know why we do what we do.   

To start you crafting a message, begin by asking yourself a few questions: 

  • How reliable am I? 
  • Do I trust myself? 
  • Am I someone that others can trust? 
  • What’s motivating me to communicate? 
  • Do I have a genuine interest in understanding where my audience is coming from? 
  • What non-climate interest makes me feel passionate? 

To find out how to use these questions, and to fully appreciate the ideas shared in this piece, and to put them all together, I recommend reading the report Beyond Trusted Messenger and to follow Tara Bryer for further updates about the training. 

If you or your organisation would like to take deeper action against climate change – including communicating with staff, customers or wider stakeholders – please get in touch! 

Being human in the age of disinformation. On trust and climate change communication.   Read More »

Sketching Out a New Future: A Policy Focus

Sketching Out a New Future: A Policy Focus

Every month in Cynnal Cymru’s excellent newsletter (subscribe here), we explore a different question or topic through the lens of our core organisational aims of a fair and just society, an inclusive low-carbon economy, and healthy, restored ecosystems. 

Last month, we thought about how to handle complexity within times of change in our job roles or the wider sustainability conversation. This month, we’re thinking about what it means to craft and build a new future together. We’re a few weeks out from an election that saw the Conservatives leave office for the first time in 14 years, with Labour winning a majority of 172 seats. Labour’s campaign slogan was simple: Change. 

The public policy landscape has started to shift already, with 40 pieces of legislation introduced by the new government (and an additional two carried over from the previous parliamentary session). 

Unsurprisingly for an organisation called Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales, we have a core focus on sustainability. We also want to ensure that action on climate change leads to a better society, and doesn’t leave workers behind – that’s where our Fair Economy team comes in. For an organisation that has this focus on sustainability and a fair economy (such as fair working practices), there is plenty for us to sink our teeth into. 

Sustainability

One of the new government’s flagship policies has been the creation of a new organisation called GB Energy – a new, publicly-owned green power company. The UK Government intends to invest over £8bn in this organisation over the next five years – a major spending commitment. 

It’s still early days for GB Energy, and there’s more to learn about how it will operate as it comes into life. However, it seems that a core remit will be co-investing in emerging renewable energy technology and scaling up investment in more established technologies. Essentially, it will aim to unlock private sector investment in renewables by de-risking and clearing the way for this investment. 

Chris Stark – former Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee – has also been appointed to lead a new ‘Mission Control’ that will aim to break down barriers and accelerate progress on clean energy projects.  

UK Labour appears to lean on some of the work of economist Professor Mariana Mazzucato. Labour’s ‘five missions to rebuild Britain’, chime with Mazzucato’s 2021 book ‘Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism’. This book was inspired by the space race, which, in the US, took a ‘missions-based’ systems-engineering approach to coordination of the public and private sectors to put human beings on the moon. 

Sound familiar? This appears to very much be the approach of the new UK Labour government with regards to its ‘National Missions’, ‘Mission Control’, and the public-private approach of GB Energy. 

This plan is not without controversy. Many will question the need for private sector involvement, with the inevitable siphoning off of proceeds into private profit, particularly where the public purse is de-risking projects – although the government would counter that private expertise and buy-in is necessary. 

There is a particular sensitivity in Wales, too. GB Energy has already announced a partnership with the Crown Estate in England and Wales. The Crown Estate owns a substantial amount of Britain’s land, including the majority of the seabed, and public money will be used to lease this land to develop windfarms. 

There have been calls for the Crown Estate to be devolved to Wales, a position long supported by the Welsh Government. However, the UK Government does not have this as a proposal in its legislative agenda.    

Fair Work: Policy Highlight

There is news on the fair work front, too. The King’s Speech included a new Employment Rights Bill. The UK Government has said this Bill will enhance a long list of working rights: 

  • Banning ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts 
  • Ending ‘Fire and Rehire’ and ‘Fire and Replace’ 
  • Making parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal available from the first day of employment (whilst retaining the option of probationary periods) 
  • Removing the lower earnings limit for Statutory Sick Pay 
  • Flexible working the default from day-one for all workers 
  • Making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work (except in specific circumstances) 
  • A new Fair Work Agency to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights 
  • A new Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector, with potential expansion to other sectors 
  • Removal of some restrictions on trade union activity 
  • Simplifying the process of statutory recognition for trade unions 
  • Introducing a regulated route to ensure workers and union members have a reasonable right to access a union within workplaces 

This appears to be a strong set of proposals to strengthen workers’ rights in the UK. However, the detail will be crucial – for example, the ‘teeth’ that the new Fair Work Agency is given, the exemptions for employers around new rights such as protecting new mothers, and how broad the definition of ‘exploitative’ zero hours contracts is. 

The Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector will be particularly interesting, and is under-remarked on. ‘Fair Pay Agreements’ are essentially an industry-wide employment agreement, where government brings together trade unions and employers to agree minimum pay rates and conditions across the sector. 

The UK model of collective bargaining currently focuses largely on the firm level. Research has found that this model poses a significant challenge to trade unions, which have to secure agreements workplace-by-workplace. It also found that no country which operates on this model has collective bargaining coverage of over 35%, with collective bargaining coverage only remaining high and stable in countries where multi-employer or sectoral agreements – such as these Fair Pay Agreements – are negotiated.  

That the UK Government is now proposing to bring sectoral agreements into the social care sector, potentially as a ‘proof of concept’ for other low-paid sectors, is significant. If rolled out successfully and more extensively, this could be the start of a quiet revolution in the UK’s industrial relations settlement.  

Given Cynnal Cymru’s longstanding work on the real Living Wage (we’re the Living Wage Foundation’s Accreditation Partner for Wales and host Living Wage Wales in-house), there’s a particularly interesting commitment to deliver a ‘genuine living wage’. The Low Pay Commission, which suggests the minimum wage rate (or National Living Wage as it’s now called) will now have to consider the cost of living when making its recommendation. 

For our part, the real Living Wage is set directly according to the cost of living, based on a basket of household goods and services. That’s a different remit to the one of the new Low Pay Commission, so we’ll be keeping an eye on any differences in the two rates. 

What does this mean for our future? 

There is so much we could say around policy that relates to fair work and sustainability, and the impacts these changes could mean for our foundational economy too.  

There is clearly a huge amount of change being undertaken that speaks to the things we care about at Cynnal Cymru, encompassed by our vision of a fair and just society, an inclusive low-carbon economy, and healthy, restored ecosystems. . 

We know that legislation can’t deliver everything and it doesn’t work on its own. We also believe in the power of partners, citizens and action-focused advocacy to bring about the transformative change that we need.

If you want to stay up to date on policy news related to fair work and sustainability, subscribe to our newsletter or become a member and receive regular advice and support. You can also learn about how to become a Living Wage employer here.  

Harry Thompson is Senior Programme and Policy Lead: Fair Work and Economy and manages the Fair Work and Living Wage team, which work towards Cynnal Cymru’s strategic goal of a fair and just society.

Sketching Out a New Future: A Policy Focus Read More »

Holding complexity in sustainability

Holding Complexity in Sustainability  

Living daily on this planet, particularly in Western countries, we are all faced with the reality of our disproportionate contribution to the climate crisis. We know that we have a responsibility to do something – but what? With so many conflicting and changing sustainability narratives, it can be difficult to know the right thing to do when faced with complex and complicated advice. How can you know that the information you’re receiving is accurate, timely, and the best option for you and  the wider world around us?  

We are in a time of climate anxiety, with so many apparent ‘quick fixes’ that make us feel good but turn out to do more harm than good. The fear of accidentally causing more harm can lead us to become frozen by indecision, stuck with old sustainability policies and practices and no real shift in our mindsets. It’s scary to look carefully at our climate impact, particularly when we know that everything we do necessarily impacts our environment and other people. Will we be judged by others for not knowing the newest advice? What if we can’t make the changes suggested to us because of issues like finances, staffing shortages, or accessibility? 

As an organisation working to help people change their behaviours around climate and nature, we’ve thought carefully about the nuance and complexity of sustainability conversations. We know that shame is not a good motivator and that the weight of eco-anxiety can take a heavy toll. In order to make collective change, we must be each other’s allies and cheerleaders. Our model of training, membership, and advice services all seek to meet every organisation where they’re at, without judgement, and work together to get you to the next step of your journey. We also don’t shy away from recognising the emotional impact that dealing with these issues can bring. We aim to create space for understanding and managing that emotional impact. 

Our staff have reflected on how they manage the complexity of sustainability conversations, as experts who have spent years working to help change mindsets and behaviours across small and large organisations. If we can carry the complexity of knowing our lives necessarily contribute to climate change, while still reducing our impact and protecting our land, we can find the hope that leads to action.  

Making Climate Science Accessible

Our climate is one of the few things that impacts all of us all of the time. Yet climate science is often siloed and separated from the general public, who receive advice and instructions without always knowing why and the costs and benefits of both action and inaction. As sustainability experts, we must be open to these questions and concerns from the general public and translate what we know into language that resonates with them.  

Phoebe Nicklin, our Policy and Engagement Officer, uses her background in community engagement to connect dense policy research with the people whose lives will be affected by it.

“It always comes back to the people for me. Who am I trying to make the world a better place for? I think about the people in my community, my friends and family, and future generations, and I’d like to make the world a better place for them. For me, when I get bogged down in details or disheartened at things not moving fast enough, I bring things back to that personal level. We like to say that by grounding it in the earth and bringing things back to basics the complexities become less scary.”

Connecting to people and their stories is crucial to maintaining hope for our future, and remembering that sustainability is interconnected with all our other social concerns. We believe that most people and organisations want to care about sustainability and the world around us. We are all living in the world, so why wouldn’t we? It is unfair to suggest that people don’t care about sustainability issues, when maybe they just don’t yet understand them. We’ve all experienced that feeling of embarrassment when we don’t know something we think we should. We aim to not make anyone feel that way, and we do that by creating ways for groups to engage in and understand climate science in the format that suits them. 

Our Sustainability Adviser, Camille Lovgreen, co-wrote a series of stories envisioning a Wales in 2051 where interconnecting societal problems had been considered in future planning.  

“Most people don’t know the language of sustainability, and I don’t blame them – it’s really jargony. I want instead to connect them to the day-to-day of what does this look like in practice, making it more tangible so it isn’t this theoretically abstract thing. Our Wales in 2051 stories were an example of connecting people to those tangible things, bringing in practices towards a better quality of life with more inclusion, more collaboration, and seeing how that can look in real life.”  

When we envision a better future for our communities, we may imagine access to nutritious food, great healthcare, and a thriving natural world. How do we get there from where we are now? The practical work to get us there can take different forms, and we must think about the ways people in all positions of society can come together to create change. If we think of sustainability as simply farming or cleaning rivers (although these are certainly crucial parts!), we neglect many of the human elements of this work that are blocking us from making progress.  

What is blocking us from making change? 

In a country suffering a cost-of-living crisis and still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not surprising that people are still focused on rebuilding and trying to regain lost ground, with less time to focus on sustainability. If people are struggling to meet their basic needs, how can they find the time and energy to take care of our world? In our roles as agents of change towards a better climate, we must recognise those who have been excluded from and forgotten in climate conversations. How can we claim to be looking after our planet without looking after those who are most marginalised within it?   

As businesses, on top of thinking about our carbon emissions and waste, our sustainability work requires reflection on the treatment of the people who work for us. As the Living Wage and Living Hours Wales accreditor, we have a team dedicated to improving fair work practices in Wales. Our Living Wage Programme Officer, Grace Robinson, meets with organisations at all different stages of their journey to support them in becoming a Living Wage or Living Hours employer.   

“I’ve always been someone who wants to do a job that helps people. When an organisation becomes Living Wage accredited, they obviously have to pay the real Living Wage as a minimum. So in order to accredit, lots of organisations will give their staff a pay rise to meet that minimum. I think that’s the biggest part where I see that we’re making an impact, changing people’s lives for the better.” 

Have you ever rushed into sustainability action, only to find that people don’t seem to want to engage with it? Especially within organisations, leaders can sometimes be out of touch with their staff, not knowing how to engage them with new sustainability practices. Instead of simply introducing new mandatory policies, we can dig a little deeper into understanding what our staff need. When our staff are paid well, feel respected, and trust us to support and nurture them, they are more likely to engage with new policies and practices.  

How do we effectively change hearts, minds, and actions? 

While most of us are aware of the climate crisis, we are all on different steps on our journey to understanding our sustainability responsibilities. Every individual and organisation has a different idea of the best steps for them. With different values, priorities and concerns, one path of action may be perfect for one organisation and impossible for another.  

If we meet these conversations with rigidity, assuming that we know what is best for an organisation or individual, we are bound to experience resistance and may even end up pushing them further away. 

Our new Sustainability Trainer, Chris Woodfield, is used to encouraging conversations with people on all steps of their journey, having started his career working within community activism.  

 “For me, it’s about framing what we’re doing. One tool I often use is called The Business Transformation Compass from Forum for the Future. It looks at what mindset we’re coming from, and looking to shift our thinking from a risk mitigation and zero harm mindset towards a do good and just and regenerative mindset focused on building capacity for justice and regeneration. This helps us look at the system as a whole to move beyond sustaining and maintaining to enabling life to flourish and thrive.”   

Conversations around changing attitudes and habits can be tricky and need to be handled with care. If we want to turn sustainability aims into actions, we need to recognise that a sense of control and agency to act for the things that we care about are far more powerful motivators than fear or shame.   

In our sustainability advice services and training courses, we think about the values and needs of each organisation and develop sustainability goals to match them. That’s where our membership programme becomes so useful. Learning from similar organisations across different sectors has helped our members discover appropriate sustainability goals for them, feel less alone on their sustainability journey, and practice peer accountability. 

Can the sustainability journey be made easier? 

In the past few years, our lives have all changed hugely, meaning our habits have changed, too. It can be difficult to focus our attention in a specific direction, which can result in our sustainability aims getting left behind. Even with the pressure on organisations to meet sustainability goals and a widespread awareness of climate issues, time-poor organisations may struggle to find the time to dedicate to meaningful sustainability work.  

Noticing this, we’ve adapted things like our membership offer to fit with the needs of our members, particularly when it comes to their time. Our large quarterly member events always bring in a great crowd, alongside our digital events that are held each month, but developing this programme has required a lot of listening and adaptation from our Membership Officer, Abi Hoare: 

“Members ask us for networking opportunities, and they are always so engaged at our in-person events. But there are always practical issues, from people’s availability to wider issues of transport infrastructure and budgets. With the shift to remote working, people are more spread out and structuring their lives around being online, so in-person events can be tricky. We balance our in-person sessions with online sessions, having taken accessibility concerns into consideration, but we’re always listening to ways we can expand and evolve our programme.” 

If your events are under-attended, it’s worth thinking beyond the idea that people don’t ‘want’ to engage, and questioning how these events might be inaccessible. This could be down to practical issues, such as the space used and the time chosen, as well as interconnected issues such as clear event marketing, pricing, and the return on investment for your attendees.  

Many organisations are struggling financially, particularly in the third sector. One question that comes up sometimes is why should we budget for sustainability? When budgets must be cut, it makes sense to ensure that this sustainability work is, in itself, sustainable for us. This is why we think carefully about our pricing structure, offering different tiers and kinds of support to meet each organisation’s needs and budget.  

Fiona Humphreys, our Finance Officer, has seen the organisation grow and evolve over three years. She has reflected a lot on the value sustainability training provides. 

“As climate science changes so rapidly, we need to ensure that we continue to develop alongside it. The paid services we offer factor in our team’s research into evolving climate science, and purchasing our training helps an organisation to remember the value and importance of climate consciousness. We put a value on our work because we believe it has worth – and doing so allows us to offer pro bono work where it’s most needed, while also ensuring that we can continue to provide a service that is both up to date and effective in helping our clients become more sustainable.” 

When we have conversations around the need for sustainability action, it’s important to remember the nuanced factors that affect people’s behaviour. Through our training, advice, fair work, and membership services, we work with organisations of all sizes to take the next step towards more sustainable ways of working. When we’re honest with ourselves about our progress and our pitfalls, we can begin the journey of deepening our positive impact on the planet. Even as experts, we all have a way to go, and we hope you’ll join us in navigating this complex journey.  

Ready to start your sustainability journey? Get in touch to hear about our membership, training programmes, and sustainability advice.

Holding complexity in sustainability Read More »

Wales in 2051: The future of governance is us

The journalist’s interview with Cleo had given him another glimpse into how Wales had come to be so focused on people’s well-being and environmental prosperity, and he was starting to realise that all the different working blocks of Wales’ society and its different sectors served to support each other – healthy food, clean and safe environments, rooted in education and put into practice.

He wondered how such a transition, in which all sectors simultaneously worked towards a similar vision of a healthy society, was made possible. He realised that many other countries had talked of similar ideas and tried them.

But they hadn’t managed to put all their ideas into practice simultaneously, and thus hadn’t supported each other’s continuous progression. The journalist’s curiosity as to how Wales had succeeded had prompted Cleo to suggest he speak to Gwen-Eddo, the leader of the local governing structure called the Citizens Assembly.

A day in the life of Gwen-Eddo

A few days after meeting with Cleo, the journalist was walking around the local park, full of families and groups of people out enjoying picnics, barbecues and games.

He was due to meet Gwen-Eddo by the fountain, and when she came into sight, guiding her wheelchair along the path to meet him, she gave him such a warm smile that he immediately felt comfortable, returning her smile with one of genuine pleasure.

Gwen-Eddo introduced herself as the leader of the Citizens Assembly, the local governing body. “But unofficially,” she said with a grin, “people call me the chief connector and sense maker.” This role had once had a largely administrative function, but was now, Gwen-Eddo explained, very much a governing role. “I listen to people, facilitate their listening to each other, and put what I hear into our plans.”

“I attend community events to speak to residents and get their honest opinions on challenges they experience, and ways they think these challenges could be addressed. I log all concerns and bring them to the rest of the council for further discussion. The citizens are the real heroes; I’m just the facilitator and enabler.” She paused and gave the journalist another disarming grin. “I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? You’re here to ask the questions but I’ve just jumped in and started talking.”

“No, this is exactly what I want to hear,” the journalist assured her. “How does that work? How do you go about considering everyone’s opinions?”

Between technology and empathy

“Well, it depends on what they’re asking for,” Gwen-Eddo replied. “Some people talk about having cleaner local rivers and anti-littering practices, while others want more opportunities for young people to get involved and gain skills. At the same time, we have people telling us that they struggle with loneliness, especially those from older generations, or wish for greater wheelchair access or improved cycle safety on the roads. So what they want and need varies a lot, and depending on the complexity of the challenge and whether there’s a diversity of opinion on how to address it, we either arrange a citizens’ assembly or tally public opinion from our community app.

“For context, the community app is our local community’s tool for democratic decision-making around expressed challenges and concerns. Any local resident can either anonymously or in their name log a concern or a suggestion they have for the town.

“Every resident can view a collated list of concerns and suggestions, and there’s an option to either agree or disagree with them, so we can get an overview of public interest. The app allows everyone to get more involved with local development and gives people a place to communicate about their hopes and desires.

“At the citizens’ assembly, we get a sense of the people’s voice so that we have a better compass for acting on democratic opinion. Although we have this app, I still like to speak to people in person to feel more connected to those I serve. It helps to build trust, get more people involved in the democratic processes, and get an even better understanding of their individual views.

“The app has been developed to be as accessible and easy to use as possible, but we know there will be those who struggle to use it, such as visually impaired people or people who for whatever reason are uncomfortable using digital technology. Our office has several dedicated mobile community champions who can meet in person with anyone who doesn’t use the app, and they’ll listen to any requests and write them up.”

Prioritising with the end in mind

“So how do you decide what to focus on first, and how do you determine an appropriate outcome for a community challenge?” the journalist asked.

“The concerns or suggestions with the greatest community support are the ones we focus on first,” Gwen-Eddo told him. “Then we move down the list to address the least popular requests later. However, we do discuss and address all queries. When it comes to deciding how to tackle a given community challenge – for example older people experiencing loneliness – we at the council look through all the suggestions that people had made on the app, as well as setting up a citizens’ assembly for people to discuss the matter in person and exchange ideas.

“Ideas are shaped through facilitated conversations that turn everyone’s insight into action using the Three Horizons Framework. In the case of loneliness among older people, the citizens collectively decided on three different ways to involve older people and lonely people in general more within the community, one of which was to put nurseries and elderly living homes together. Another measure was a befriending service that organises social outings for people to meet, cook together, go for walks or play games. The third measure was an intergenerational exchange, where a younger person might learn how to cook or learn a new language from an older or lonely person. In exchange, the younger person might teach the older person about the newest technology or help where help is needed.

“All residents voted together using participatory budgeting techniques to decide the share of resources going to each project. All three measures then became implemented as a community-led scheme. Social enterprises saw this as a business opportunity when they realised that this gap existed in the market, so they created affordable services for all three ideas, which created jobs but also tackled some of the societal challenges facing young and old people.

“For other challenges the council will work with existing companies in the local community and subsidise them for projects around infrastructure – to build safe cycle lanes or more accessible parks, for example. But we still go through the process of gathering both public and expert opinion to learn about the best ways to ensure that any undertaking is inclusive and user-friendly.

“All we do here at the Citizens Assembly is facilitate the conversation, offer a platform for people to discuss the challenges in a safe environment, and connect the right people and companies to the right projects.

“We have this model of democratic decision-making in place for local residents of all ages, but have also seen a rise in younger people expressing their opinions through the community app. Young people’s voices are as important as anyone else’s, so we created a youth assembly to give them equal value to the older generations’ voices. And as part of every project, we consider the impact our decisions and actions will have on nature and our environment.

“The great thing about this participatory democracy model is that it feeds into the national governance structures. So we don’t just carry out these projects as a one-off, we also inform policymakers of the challenge and our decisions, which can help other communities and improve funding models. The citizen assemblies, of course, can vote on national policies too. And the council is also responsible for holding companies accountable for their actions and ensuring that they follow legislation, via whistle-blowing schemes and audits. This is because the role of the Citizens Assembly is to ensure that the well-being of future generations is being implemented on the ground.”

Connecting skills

“My job is to sense-check proposals – and not just those submitted by companies,” Gwen-Eddo added, “but also by the council and other authorities. There are more people in roles like mine around Wales, and we were selected because we were the most vocal, the most radical, but also the most down-to-earth. I come from an activist and nursing background, and others in my position come from social care, teaching and campaigning or with backgrounds in psychology, and most of us haven’t had any political training. We were selected because of our ability to listen, to connect a wide range of issues, and communicate them effectively to others.

“We’ve had rigorous training, though, provided over many years to prepare us for the massive challenge we had ahead of us. Over the decades many versions of this job have existed, and we’ve been called everything from community engagement officers to rebels.” Gwen-Eddo chuckled. “But, here, in this age, we are seen as chief sense-makers and facilitators of radical democracy.”

—

Did you like this story? How did it make you feel? What aspects of the story provoked you the most? Email us on your response on shwmae@cynnalcymru.com.

This being our last character, in the next week we will wrap up the Welcome to Wales 2051 with a short summary.

—

How can we develop and use the skills needed to create a 2051 we are proud of?

Have a look at our range of services https://cynnalcymru.com/sustainability-advice/ and https://cynnalcymru.com/training/.

Please note that some AI-generated content is included in the featured image for this piece.

Wales in 2051

In this mini-series, we follow six characters as they explore sustainability, working life and community in Wales in 2051

Wales in 2051: The future of governance is us Read More »

Wales in 2051 – Green Skills

In this mini-series, told through six characters, we explore what the world could look like in a healthy, collaborative, and inclusive future where governing structures have adapted to fit a way of life that supports planetary boundaries and fair treatment of all people, with well-being as the focus for measuring societal success.

Inspired by CAST’s social visions of low-carbon futures report, the manifesto by the Ministry of Imagination, Ciprian Sipos’ posts about future jobs, and Climate Outreach, we hope to show readers that everyone can play a huge role in achieving a sustainable present and future.

More importantly, through these stories, we want to focus on the role of skills and enabling environments to illustrate that we need all kinds of ideas, people, and institutions working together as one creative hive mind.

Our first set of stories has been developed by Camille Løvgreen and Dr Karolina Rucinska as part of their work on green skills, alongside a series of events and advice sessions.

Here is what they said:

“Nothing moves us like a good story. Through storytelling, we can imagine the future we are working towards, build hope and momentum, and come together to take collective action. These six characters and their setting let us talk, creatively, about big ideas without using big words. This makes it possible for everyone to see how they fit into the current and future world visions”

Karolina

“The idea of exploring these characters  through an imagined society with different operating structures and a different priority on the way we live is not only to imagine what a healthy coexistence between people and planet may look like, but to explore how quality of life can improve with a deeper connection to the people around us.”

Camille

Setting the scene

It’s 2051, just a year after what leaders of the past called the Net Zero deadline. Although the emissions continued to reduce over the decades, only a few benefited from the shift to low-carbon economies. Why? Worldwide, the transition was a disaster. There was a lack of planning, of imagination and foresight, of inclusion and system thinking… Everything that was not meant to happen…happened. Between 2024 and 2035, the world experienced mass unemployment, instability, closure of borders, the collapse of ecosystems, barren agricultural fields, reversal of human rights, and the collapse of economies.

A year after the big two-oh-five-zero, a leading news agency correspondent visited nations worldwide to see how they were doing. Most people had forgotten what 2050 was about, but a few remembered.

Welcome to Wales in 2051

How it all started >>

Meet our characters

The stories are viewed through the eyes of the narrator, a journalist who sets the scene through a message sent to the editors of a leading news agency about their tour around Wales in…2051!

Starting with Adi, each story introduces a new character who describes their day. Each story leads onto the next, showing how we are all connected directly and indirectly and can positively influence each other’s lives.

Adi – a civil engineer with an expertise in environmental resilience

Meet Adi >>

Cameron – a young school boy, friend of Adi and son of Luke

Meet Cameron >>

Luke – a family man and business owner

Meet Luke >>

Aman – a community farmer

Meet Aman >>

Cleo – a doctor

Meet Cleo >>

Gwen-Eddo – a policy-maker

Meet Gwen-Eddo >>

Wales in 2051 – Green Skills Read More »

Wales in 2051: Listening with care for healthcare

Following a stimulating visit to a city-based community farm the day before, the journalist travelled to a more rural area to meet Cleo – a doctor at a community practice known for its innovative approaches to health challenges. 

A day in the life of Cleo  

When he entered the practice, he met Cleo and a team of five nurses in a clinic that contained three medical examination rooms, the reception area, an office space and lounge area for the staff.   

The journalist was keen to know what made this clinic so different to the others he had visited on his European journey.  

Cleo responded, “Well, a lot of our work deals with public health and prevention. One example is our work with schools, as we used to see so many kids under ten with cavities and poor dental hygiene. 

“Several times a year we visit schools and work with the teachers to find fun ways to teach kids and their parents the right way to brush teeth. It’s a simple intervention, but we collaborate with the two dental offices in town and so we know it’s effective. Engaging with the children at their own pace and in ways that they can relate to have been important strategies. 

“We also have a programme to support parents, and particularly pregnant mothers, with nutrition and access to healthy, affordable food – sometimes connecting them with cookalong clubs or food co-ops. We listen to the challenges that people face – which might be money, time, fussy eaters, allergies – and find solutions that can work for the whole family. 

“Although the visits are only a small part of our work, it has been rewarding to see a decline in the number of children coming in with basic, preventable health conditions. This gives us more time to deal with more challenging health cases, and it feels like we’re building a closer connection to our community.”

Sharing is caring   

“Another initiative we have successfully implemented focuses on reciprocity – capturing the enthusiasm of many recovered patients to ‘give back’ to services that supported them. The programme allows previous patients to help current or recovering ones – for example those leaving hospital who may not yet be completely independent.  

“For those where practical and emotional support cannot be provided adequately by friends or family, our programme can help. Regular visits from a previous patient who has undergone the same thing helps manage isolation during recovery. Practical support lets patients recover faster with less worry about tasks such as cleaning or shopping. 

“This approach, building on the successful Helpforce programme, has been instrumental in enabling nurses and other staff to focus on duties where their competencies are more acutely needed.  

“It’s an optional programme, but many former patients have themselves thrived on the reciprocity and love it so much that they have become permanent volunteers in the programme. 

“It works because we are constantly listening to what our patients and volunteers need, so we know how best to use their skills and benefit from their ideas.” 

Relating and tuning into systems   

“Another important programme we run has been inspired by Hilary Cottam’s Wellogram Programme. 

“Like other social prescribing models, it’s for our patients who suffer from a complex range of social, emotional, economic and physical ailments that cannot be solved in one doctor’s visit.  

“We have trained ‘listening’ workers who take time to meet with these patients to simply listen and understand their challenges and needs – and the barriers that may be blocking good physical and mental health.   

“A plan is then decided together, to be worked on at a patient’s own pace, which may or may not involve medication. Other options to combat loneliness, increase exercise, provide more access to nutritious food or help solve financial or emotional anxieties can be equally important. 

“This programme also works to build trusted relationships, support continued good habits, and combat the social isolation that underpins so many problems. Being patient-led is a key ingredient.” 

Supporting patients to take active steps towards healthy lifestyle changes was not only empowering, Cleo explained, but was effective in reducing patients’ ailments. “I feel immensely proud to have seen the changes over the past fourteen years that have successfully tackled some of the issues related to low incomes, poor diets and limited access to or confidence around healthy food and lifestyles.”  

The journalist asked how people on low incomes now had access to nutritious food. Cleo replied that many community-led initiatives had highlighted the health issues of a food system where cheap junk food dominated less affordable fresh, whole foods.  

The response, backed by communities and public bodies, was to encourage and support more home growing, more community allotments, and increased investment into organic farming. Initiatives to support both community and commercial farmers to secure a decent income from sustainable practices had also flourished. 

“And how are all these programmes funded?” the journalist asked. It seemed to him that such programmes would require a lot of funding and resources, and where had that come from?  

Cleo explained that all medical services in the local area shared an allotted health care tax, but just sharing out the money hadn’t been enough to guarantee effective responses. So they had decided to collaborate, to refer patients across the different services, to support and learn from each other’s innovations, and take the best practices forward.  

In addition, the programme’s focus on reciprocity, volunteering and learning actively saved money that could then be invested in other programmes, as well as delivering social and well-being returns. 

Drawing on personal experiences  

Intrigued by what he had heard, the journalist asked how Cleo herself had ended up trialling these programmes. 

“Well, as a kid I looked after my younger brother a lot,” Cleo said. “Which ended up being my entry into care. He’s blind and so needed a lot of assistance.  I learned to simply listen to him, to understand the challenges he was facing, his need for emotional support and the best ways to help him. I realised that I enjoyed it a lot and it let me be closer to my brother.  

“Later, I found a medical degree that looked at new ways of managing public health services. There were three mandatory internships as part of the programme, so I learned from different practices. I was also lucky enough to travel to different parts of the world that had innovative social health care programmes, where I either volunteered or was hired for entry level positions. 

“When I came back to Wales I was eager to experiment with several of the models I’d seen and experienced, and I was fortunate to find a practice already involved with social prescribing and community connectors. By collaborating with others in the region, we have developed more activities and programmes – and here we are!” 

  

The next week we introduce our last but most important character of all, Gwen-Eddo, a local wellbeing-of-future-generations officer.  

Did you like this story? How did it make you feel? What aspects of the story provoked you the most? Email us on your response on shwmae@cynnalcymru.com  

  

How can we develop and use the skills needed to create a 2051 we are proud of?    

Have a look at our range of sustainability advice and training services.

Please note that some AI-generated content is included in the featured image for this piece.

Wales in 2051: Listening with care for healthcare Read More »

Wales in 2051: Collaborative hubs for the private sector that improve efficiency

Our previous story was about eleven-year-old Cameron, who told the journalist about his education system and the way it equips students with the skills they need to tackle relevant societal challenges. After hearing Cameron’s story, our journalist seizes the opportunity to interview Cameron’s father, Luke, an innovative business developer who has restructured the way businesses operate in Swansea in 2051.   

A day in the life of Luke

Just as Luke was about to bid farewell to the journalist, Adi said, “I think you should show him what you do.” So Luke found himself agreeing to show the journalist around and explain how he had become a business owner. He had hesitated at first, because deep down he felt his business was nothing special. But in fact, his company had tried a different operating method to the traditional shareholder-owned, value-driven business. The next day Luke and the journalist met on the outskirts of Swansea in a circular business hub. The site had plenty of greenery, a network of cycle lanes, the occasional EV delivery truck, painted murals and sculptures, and above all the rhythmic beat of music. The journalist stopped in some surprise. “I didn’t know you were a musician,” he said to Luke.

Luke smiled. “I’m not. I’m a circular economy coordinator, and this is the beating hub of the region.” The journalist’s brow furrowed, and he murmured something polite about the nearby artwork, hoping he hadn’t made it too obvious that he had no idea what Luke meant. If this is some kind of industrial estate, he thought to himself, then why does it have the vibe of a festival?  

Luke pointed out, in a very matter-of-fact way, a bird sanctuary, a vertical farm, a playground for both adults and their children, a canteen full of colourful produce, a walkway up in the sky, and a stream. Amid all of this were rows of warehouses with green walls, containers covered with solar panels, and what looked like a shop. 

It looked like something well-to-do neighbourhoods used to have decades earlier, but in 2051, it was an industrial estate.  

A little sheepishly the journalist admitted that he knew nothing about this hub, so Luke decided to tell him how it came about, what was being produced here, and how it benefitted everyone. 

Luke’s humble entry as a social enterpriser 

“It might surprise you,” Luke began, “to know that I wasn’t into this at all. I was nineteen when the world started falling apart, and I thought, ‘Ah, this is just a temporary downturn.’ Neither my parents nor my mates believed that climate change was going to affect us, and I thought that in no time at all I would be back to renovating houses for well-off people, and I’d retire at the age of forty to travel the world, and maybe settle down. But a year passed, and then another, and I began to panic. I blamed everyone for what was happening, and yet I still kept disputing facts that should have been obvious; I listened to the populist media channels, and followed influencers who had more wealth than two continents combined. I was in a really dark place, and all I wanted was insane wealth myself so I could run away from the city I loved. I didn’t connect my desire for wealth with the destruction of my community, let alone the world. And how could I? Nobody around me said anything, and I didn’t know enough to voice my nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. 

“But then one day I got a place on a six-month long programme with a local enterprise, which combined learning a new trade with building up the confidence to sell new skills. I didn’t know that the training programme was about learning to renovate houses with climate in mind, and acquiring a new business acumen through self-discovery. I was twenty-one at the time of the programme, and oh boy, I hated the first month. I was about ready to abandon the scholarship, but it was well-paid, and with boarding and a guaranteed job at the end, too. 

“So I stayed. I was probably the worst student in the first month, but by month five, I was second, and by the end, I was a top student and felt like Leonardo da Vinci. Okay, maybe I wasn’t able to paint masterpieces,” Luke said with a chuckle, “but I was able to think across disciplines, connect the dots, learn climate science, understand behaviour change science, learn from nature and anthropology how houses used to be built, and circulate materials in a closed-loop system.  

“The key that unlocked that knowledge – well, two keys really – were the tutors and the hands-on learning. Our tutors were blokes like me, who had been told they would amount to nothing, who had immense hunger for change but couldn’t articulate it in any other way than living up to the power and wealth-hungry masculine role models represented in social media. These lads were innovators, artists, and young fathers who had lost more than they gained trying to live up to the standard of living that didn’t deliver on the fundamental front: belonging.”

Connecting the dots to learning, practice, and funding 

Luke continued, “These tutors knew exactly what men go through, and they knew they could only instil a sense of belonging by showing a path where success meets belonging and emotional stability. This is where the second key to my transformation came in: we were placed on renovation projects alongside anthropologists, scientists, electricians, builders – and innovators. We weren’t just there to fix things, but to unlearn what we knew about houses, cities, nature, people and so forth. We had compulsory classes in nature and climate, but also on circular economy and materials science.  

“Because I had experience of renovating houses, it all clicked. I could understand how to build without waste; how to work with nature to reduce the use of artificial lighting; how to change the design of our houses to use rainwater and so on. Often we would draw on ancient literature for our ideas and plans.” 

The journalist asked how the funding for this was made possible, and Luke explained that the government in Wales had realised that they could unlock sustainability by investing in such training, and this was done on a massive scale across industries. When the students found jobs or opened their own businesses, they would sponsor another student; and so this cycle continued and grew bigger and bigger over time, with the government eventually able to step back and let it continue without their intervention. There was a clear understanding that only by investing in those without jobs, those who had lost them due to the unplanned transition, and young people who barely made a dent on the economy, would Wales be able to deliver on its sustainable commitments. 

After explaining this background, Luke moved on to the topic of the hub and his role in it. “When I finished my own training, I began travelling around the programmes in the agricultural sector, in manufacturing, healthcare and so forth, and came to the realisation that not only do we have the same mindset across industries, but we also need each other to keep going. So instead of clustering around sectors, we clustered around challenges and opportunities. This hub is about food challenge: to grow all year round, no waste, no imports; no additives; nutritious; within the carbon and nature budgets; and accessible. My role is to know what is being grown, how we can distribute it to where it needs to be, without packaging that will create waste, and how to create seasonal dishes without making people say ‘This is boring!’.  So we have artists and chefs from around the world making humble foods fun, inspirational and healthy.” 

Learning from nature and working in partnership 

Without prompting, Luke started telling the journalist about the impact of the hub. “It has been a great success because everyone can see how they benefit from being in the ecosystem of a challenge and opportunity, rather than in an ecosystem of competition, where the winner takes all but eventually loses as the newbie takes over. So we are learning from nature to be symbiotic, not parasitic! Which is why you see so much nature here. 

“We apply the same principles to our processes, we think before we use, we reuse or redesign and recycle, and so the system-thinking approach for us was the biggest game changer. Don’t get me wrong, some people do still want to have a more indulgent lifestyle, and want to keep the profit for themselves. And they can, but only after they’ve paid their fair share to the hub, the tax office and to the training programme. We recognise that there are moments in every business cycle where some things are done better than others, and that things can change due to the weather and other elements we can’t predict. That’s why we don’t envy someone else’s bumper year. We celebrate it, knowing this will benefit us all in the long term, and when a business has a lean year, others will come to the rescue. The collaboration and structure of working in the hub have made it evident that the businesses here are interdependent. If one breaks down, the rest will struggle. So on balance, we all win. However, until we had a few cycles of ups and downs, we couldn’t see the true value of this model. That’s why it was so important that the government held to its promise to support the programme and the hubs until we reached that new balance and learn to adapt to change and embrace it. 

“Our challenges are well predicted because we have climate models, and we know what effect they will have on us, so we plan years in advance. We have planning and strategy teams that work on new ideas while the old ones still function perfectly well. There are no questions as to why we plan for the future, because we know this is what a smart business owner does – plan ahead for foreseeable future challenges with a positive, yet realistic outlook.”  

The journalist raised his eyebrows slightly, wondering whether to say that perhaps this utopia only worked as a small, local model. But Luke had anticipated the question, and was already answering it. “This model is now used worldwide, because we know that collaboration yields more than competition. And look at us – we’re all still giddy here in this hub. We work hard, but we know it’s worth it for us, for our children, our colleagues, and citizens worldwide. 

“I love what I do, and I wish that everyone around the world could see the point of it. I get to have time with my family, I have a great life, I live in a beautiful home, and I eat healthy food. I don’t need the stuff I used to want, because the stuff I have now is perfect, it lasts and it can be passed on. I don’t need to chase after money to buy things that end up in the bin. My mates feel the same, and so we spend time outdoors here in beautiful Wales. It took time to restore it, but we got there in the end, which is why we cherish what we have.” 

For the first time the journalist was speechless, with no more questions to ask. Luke smiled again. “I’ve barely let you get a word in, have I? Go and enjoy the hub for a bit – have a wander around and soak up the atmosphere – and I think you’ll start to understand.”

Did you like this story? How did it make you feel? What aspects of the story provoked you the most? Email your response to shwmae@cynnalcymru.com.

Follow next week’s story about Aman, a refugee and farmer from the horn of Africa  who uses his expertise in flood resilience to turn the farmlands at a community farm into a flourishing community hub. 

How can we develop and use the skills needed to create a 2051 we are proud of? Join Karolina and Camille for a free online Green Skills event on 28th May. 

And how about training in climate and nature? Even better, why not help us help you become a future-proof business? Take a look at our range of services.

Please note that some AI-generated content is included in the featured image for this piece.

Wales in 2051: Collaborative hubs for the private sector that improve efficiency Read More »

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