Author Archives: David Key

Hand Made Natural Change

Edited by Tessy Britton, this book explores grassroots examples of community projects in the UK. Tessy asked Louise Macdonald (participant in the first WWF Natural Change Project) and I to write a chapter about Natural Change. Here it is:   … Continue reading

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Into the great wide open.

Well, it’s done. Last Friday Osbert and I closed Footprint Consulting and went our own ways. A lot of mixed feelings for me: sad after seven years of hard work under the Footprint brand, relief because Osbert and I closed … Continue reading

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The faery hill

does the speeding man who cuts through the faery hill imbibe his lost soul with some spirit of healing remedy? or does the iron blade of narrow progress drive its cold gutless wedge into the heart of land whose blood … Continue reading

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Seal

i am not frightened of you only scared of myself my guilt for what my kind have done to your home you could bite me now blood burst through neoprene a cloud without sky flesh hanging in brine if I … Continue reading

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Happiness and the Social Context of Wellbeing

No surprises here… but a very interesting affirmation… John Helliwell, emeritus professor of economics at UBC and co-director of a CIFAR panel looking into Social Interactions, Identity and Wellbeing, was at Harvard yesterday summarizing his and others’ recent research on happiness … Continue reading

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5 Things You’ll Need to Know to Change Human Behavior – Policy Works

Anything that challenges dominant approaches to behaviour change is refreshing. But I’m not sure if it’s quite as simple and formulated as Joe Brewer suggests. However, I strongly agree with his points in general, as they fit perfectly with our … Continue reading

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I’m off to the pub and other coping strategies

The array of social and environmental threats currently facing us is frightening . That these threats are all connected to each other – and to each of us personally – is overwhelming. How can we cope? Recommend on Facebook Share … Continue reading

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No Words

First published by Proboscus as part of there Topographies and Tales project, 2006. ‘On Banks Island, in the Canadian Arctic, environmental shifts are happening so fast that the Inuvialut inhabitants do not have the words to describe what they now … Continue reading

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Beware the Pseudo-Environmentalists!

First published in The Great Outdoors Magazine. One of the first things I do when I run an eco-education course is introduce the “Environmental Spectrum”. One end of the spectrum is ‘grey’, the other ‘deep green’. Points in between get … Continue reading

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Education for the Real World

It is time for you to learn how to drive a car. The driving instructor takes you into a room full of tables and chairs, the walls covered in shelves lined with books, at one end of the room is … Continue reading

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Go with the Flow

I am poised leaning backwards out over a 60-foot drop into a roaring abyss. My harness tightens around me, the rope taught between my abseil device and the deeply rooted tree around which it has been wrapped. I take a … Continue reading

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Field of Dreams

First published in The Great Outdoors Magazine, Jan. 2004. I am floating on the surface of a warm tropical sea. The burning sun beating down on the skin of my back and shoulders, my face submerged in the tepid rolling … Continue reading

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