Insight

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.

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. 

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

A day in the life of Adi 

What struck Adi first as she stepped outside her office building to meet the news correspondent was his unfeigned fascination with his surroundings.

He was clearly astounded to find himself walking through what seemed almost like a small forest, in stark contrast to the highly industrialised area of Swansea that he had known twenty-five years earlier. He couldn’t help but share his amazement, talking animatedly for several minutes about the innovative urban designs that supported the climate resilience he had witnessed around the city. It was only then that he realized he hadn’t introduced himself, and hastened to do so.

“I’m Adi,” she replied with a smile, extending her hand for a shake.

Building sustainable infrastructure with people and nature in mind

She welcomed him inside her office and explained the features and construction of the building, which ran on 100% community-owned renewable energy – all citizens and businesses in the local area co-owned a solar and hydro plant that supplied the whole neighbourhood. In fact, most of Wales was now organised to foster greater collaboration, ownership, fair power and resource distribution between local communities and private and public sectors. Adi explained that her area’s surplus energy was primarily sold to companies in neighbouring nations, and the money gained was invested in community projects that enriched social life and improved transport and infrastructure systems following nature alignment principles. Investment decisions were taken collectively, and overseen by a body of elected local representatives and community staff, whose salaries were also paid from the profits of the energy surplus.

She looked over at the journalist and saw that he was frozen in his note-taking, forgetting to write down what she was saying. She chuckled and went on to tell him about her role helping retrofit the streets of Swansea to create people- and nature-friendly urban hubs with bigger, safer and fully-connecting transport lanes. This included large areas of green space, more public seating areas, and more covered outdoor hangout spots with play and sports areas for kids and adults alike. The infrastructure had been developed to ensure that all necessary daily needs were reachable within a twenty-minute walking or wheeling radius – an ambition first set out in the early 2000s. The substantial amount of shared, accessible communal space had made the transition to reduced private space easier.

A shift to car-sharing and efficient and reliable public transport, powered by clean energy, had begun when growing public dissatisfaction with rising financial costs for transport and fuel, staggering levels of air pollution from transport negatively affecting public health, and excessive congestion from an increasing number of lone drivers, reached its peak. Efficient public transport now connected different areas across Swansea, and by making transport in its various forms accessible, reliable, and safe, 93% of the Swansea population now cycled, walked, or used public transport to get around the city. This transition, alleviating a lot of the need to dedicate land to car parking, had freed up more space for transport lanes and the nature-inspired drainage systems that were needed to cope with the changed rainfall patterns.

Both were quiet for a moment while Adi let the news correspondent absorb all this information. He squinted, as though thinking hard, and finally shared an observation that compared to other European cities he had travelled to, he had noticed that in Swansea (the first Welsh city he had been to) many more individuals, families and groups of friends spent more time outdoors in the urban green spaces and hangout spots. They looked happier and healthier.

Collaborative and integrated thinking

“What enabled this transition?” he asked.

Adi took a deep breath, and explained that the current environmentally resilient infrastructure across Swansea had, in large part, been enabled by a shift in attitude towards an experimental and trial and error approach, which was made possible by combining local knowledge, the latest technology, and historical resources, with citizen assemblies working alongside engineers, builders, policymakers and ecologists. This hands-on collective intelligence had led to clean air, a more active lifestyle, and greater environmental resilience thanks to nature- and culture-inspired solutions. This last was important, because the effects of changing climate were still being felt. Still, thanks to collaboration and innovation across the city, the built environment could adapt to flooding, overheating or drought with much less disruption to daily life than had been initially feared.

During a tour of the office the journalist was introduced to Adi’s colleagues, who revealed an enthusiastic and happy attitude to work. They told him about their flexible working week, which gave staff enough time to recuperate and allowed them to be more creative and energetic during their work hours, and about the pleasure of having a supportive work environment that empowered workers to grow their skills, knowledge and networks in a relaxed and plant-filled office. He was pleased to hear that they all received a fair wage, ensuring that they could meet their own and their families’ needs (and recreational activities) in safe and secure working conditions. Adi explained that these favourable conditions had been put in place following guidance from the Welsh Government’s Guide to Fair Work, which had now been in operation for decades.

One question that remained unanswered was how Adi came to obtain and develop her skills. To find out, he had first to meet her parents, who were key to developing her learning mindset.

Learning mindset with intercultural roots

After shadowing her day at work, the pair crossed the city by bike, the fresh evening breeze on their faces. Looking over her shoulder, Adi saw that her new journalist friend was grunting and sweating, completely out of breath as he tried to keep up with her. She slowed down, realising that he probably wasn’t used to regular cycling.

When they reached her parents’ apartment eight minutes later, she offered him a glass of cold water while, drenched in sweat and struggling to get a word past his lips, he introduced himself to her parents. Adi’s father gave a loud, heart-warming belly laugh. “That’s why I always insist on leaving ten minutes before Adi, to not end up like you.” Adi’s mother apologised on behalf of her family and offered him a seat and a spread of homecooked food that she had prepared for his arrival. Humbled and surprised, he accepted appreciatively. The food was traditional Zimbabwean cuisine, from recipes passed on for generations, and all the produce was locally and organically Welsh-grown, by famers who had embraced new crops and practices compatible with the changed climate. He couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten such flavourful and nourishing food, so he relished every bite and, for a time, completely forgot that he was there to interview Adi and her family. The lively conversation around the table made him feel welcome, and only when Adi’s mother brought up the topic of agricultural drought in Zimbabwe as a result of climate change, which had contributed to their decision to move to Wales forty years earlier, did he remember to ask questions. He learned that Adi’s parents had owned a large plot of land in Zimbabwe where they had grown all sorts of grains, vegetables and fruits. Their generational farming practices had mitigated a lot of the impact of the drought, and they had become local leaders and expert advisors to other farmers who had neglected traditional forms of farming, and consequently had suffered more from the agricultural drought. A movement for traditional farming practices had risen in the country. Yet many neighbouring countries, still relying heavily on commercial farming practices, had been struck by drought and were significantly affected by poor agricultural output. This reduced the global supply of food, increasing food prices even in Zimbabwe to levels that had previously been unimaginable, and creating a race to procure food, especially from high income-earning countries. This shift in the economic landscape triggered Adi’s parents’ decision to move to Wales while they still had enough money to afford the expensive journey.

With his mouth still half full of roasted, seasoned green beans, the correspondent asked why they had decided to come to Wales specifically, and what the move had been like. They explained that it had been terribly hard to create a new home in a foreign country and to adapt to a different culture, but that their familiarity with a close friend already living in Wales had made the transition easier. Besides having existing ties with loved ones in the country, their choice of Wales was also rooted in the reasoning that they had to move somewhere north to be further away from the impact zone of extreme weather conditions. Now their expertise in climate resilience and farming had positioned them as leading advisers to executing green transition plans in Wales.

Adi continued the conversation, saying that when she was a kid, her parents would always tell her stories about how they had responded to drought and the associated agricultural challenges in collaboration with their local community in Zimbabwe. Hearing these stories growing up was what drew Adi to work with climate resilience in the infrastructural sector, and to become a voice for ethnic youth’s inclusion in the green transition.

Lived experience and intergenerational knowledge

She recognised early on that for a holistic transition in Wales to happen, it needed to welcome all ethnic groups, so she applied for a Leadership academy open to young people with a connection to Wales. The academy focused on integrating technical knowledge with creativity, indigenous worldviews, and empathy, to ensure that participants from all walks of life could develop solutions fit for this generation and those to come. The academy produced exceptional talents who went on to teach, farm, care for the elderly, rebuild cities, use local energy, and work in hospitality, planning and governance. The principles behind this programme, which was started back in the day by the Future Generations Commissioner’s Office and had become mainstream in further education, was one of the best investments Wales had made. The principles fostered by the academy and similar projects recognised the wide range of skills in young people and helped preserve folk knowledge through intergenerational learning experiences.

After a delicious dinner, Adi and the journalist again cycled through the chilly evening breeze on their bikes. At 6:30pm, she reached her home in a nature-inspired apartment complex where she would babysit her neighbour’s eleven-year-old son, Cameron, for a few hours.

 Follow Cameron next week to learn about education under a green transition and the eco apartment complex he and Adi live in.  

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