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Eco Hero: Siân Berry

Sally Hill | 13.07.10

Since joining the Green Party in 2001, Siân Berry has been a candidate in numerous council and parliamentary elections, and was the Green candidate for London Mayor in 2008.

As a campaigner, she keeps busy working on a range of green and social issues, setting up the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s in 2004 and Reheat Britain, which successfully brought in a scrappage scheme for boilers last year.

Siân has also written a number of books on green issues and home improvement, including ‘50 ways to make your house and garden greener’ and ‘Mend it!’. Her next book will show how to make attractive household items from random articles of junk. Writer Anna Shepard gets her take on the issues.

How would you describe yourself?
Writer, campaigner and green politician.

What is your mission?
The cliché is to say you want to make the world a better place, which in some ways I do, but I’m also about trying to change people’s attitudes. I want to change the way people see green issues. I’ve worked hard to encourage people to see the Green Party differently -not just as an ideological party but also as a practical one. So you vote green not just because it reflects the principles you believe in but also because it’s going to make changes that will benefit your life.

Career highlights?
One of the most enjoyable and successful things I have done was to set up the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s (stopurban4x4s.org.uk). This was about changing social attitudes to 4x4s, to show that they weren’t cool anymore. I also worked on the Boiler Scrappage Campaign (reheatbritain.org.uk) which encouraged people to swap their old energy inefficient boilers for modern efficient ones. It was immediately taken up by Government, that provided a £400 incentive to households making the change.

What's your next project?
I’m working on DIY-related stuff. My generation has grown up without practical skills so we tend to chuck things out when they break. My last book Mend It! is a really accessible guide to how to fix things around the house. I’m trying to give people the confidence to open up that toaster and see if they can work out what’s wrong – it’s often not as difficult as you think. My next book is going to be about making things out of junk so at the moment I’m going around and picking things out of skips.

Found any gems?
I couldn’t resist bringing home an old rocking horse the other day, even though its head is hanging off and it’s got a really manky tail. I haven’t got any children, but it’s going to be lovely when I’ve finished with it, so I’ll have to find one to make the most of it. I also found a really beautiful hat stand.

What do you think is the next big challenge?
Dealing with climate change but in a way that involves everybody. What’s going on at the moment is a lot of debate about big technical solutions - whether that’s nuclear power or giant wind turbines - but bringing the project home into all our lives is the challenge. We want people to be conserving energy, being more resourceful and making a difference as a normal part of everyday life. There are lots of countries that are ahead of us on this, places in the EU where recycling is second nature. We have to catch up and make sure it is a collective venture instead of waiting for green measures to be imposed on us by the Government. There are already positive signs, such as the Transition Town movement, so hopefully we’re moving in the right direction.

What would you change?
There’s too much complaining about the possibility that green measures might be imposed. It’s like the JFK quote: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” We should be thinking about the ways we can do stuff that we enjoy but also that will help the environment, not worrying about how Government regulation might affect us.

What top green principles do you live by?
I’m really keen on working with my hands. Grabbing a bit of wood from a skip, cutting it in half, painting it and making something from it is deeply satisfying. We are otherwise in danger of losing these creative skills, such as woodwork, knitting and crafty things, because most of us sit in front of screens all day. I’m pretty green in my daily life – I haven’t flown for years, I’m very careful about the energy I use, I avoid food leftovers and compost food waste. But I understand that no one is perfect and I don’t think anyone should be too preachy about it.

Any green sins?
I eat meat. Not huge amounts as my boyfriend is vegetarian but I love eating it in restaurants and I don’t think I could give it up completely

Is organic important to you?
I don’t think it’s compulsory but yes, I do choose organic food. I know it’s more expensive but if you’re minimising food waste carefully then it works out ok.

What one thing do you wish everyone would do?
People have got to believe that they can take things into their own hands and change them – we need more optimism about the power of the individual, to come up with a good idea and follow it through, join a local campaign or get involved on a Government level.

What's the best way of spreading the green message?
Every way possible, whether it’s guerrilla marketing, conventional voting, campaigning or personal action at home. We’ve got to do it all.

How long have we got to save the planet?
We’ve got to get going, there’s no doubt about it, but how we do it is just as important. Are we going to do it in ways that makes people feel in charge of their own lives? Or are we going to do it in a top-down way that reduces people’s feeling of freedom? Those are also big questions.

Who is your Eco Hero?
At the moment, I’m inspired by an American campaigner called Van Jones. Last year, he was appointed to the newly-created position of Special Advisor for Green Jobs by Barack Obama. He has managed to get a whole range of people from all different walks of life demanding green investment and green jobs, not just because caring about the environment is important but because it’s the best way to build a better economy. I’d like to do the same thing here.

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