Making Change, Big and Small

As a minister, I decided immediately not to fly unless it was absolutely necessary for my portfolio responsibilities – which meant I undertook some very long train journeys! Ironically, despite the inconvenience, the cost was always substantially greater to take trains and I continually had to argue the case, even within a government committed to sustainable development.

As a family, we decided to take at least one action to be greener every year, something we are still doing now; actions such as changing to a renewable energy supplier, cycling to work one day a week, using public transport wherever possible, not flying for holidays, buying local produce in season. These actions, which we started in 2007, led us by 2011 to move away from a single-glazed, badly insulated house with gas central heating to live on our smallholding with two fields and a woodland to keep us warm, in a well-insulated house, using energy from the sun, Earth and our woodland to power our lives (including creating our hot water and heating,) growing as much of our own food as possible (including honey and cider) and driving an electric car.

I can honestly say that this journey of ours to live lighter on the planet, contrary to the perceived wisdom of ‘sackcloth and ashes’, has been the absolute opposite. We have embarked on a wonderful adventure: adding purpose has improved the quality of our lives and our well-being, the more we consider what choices we make and why. We have met extraordinary people along the way who provide collective support and with whom we swap goods and services. We eat food grown without pesticides fresh from our land; we see on a daily basis the contrast between our organic holding and the wildlife-free, intensively farmed fields that surround us. Our lives and our land become richer as we carry on our annual commitment of being greener than the year before, not least because we are consciously acting in the interests of our and others’ children and their children. We are trying to become part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Surely that is the least each one of us should do.

I’m acutely aware that the actual lifestyle choices we’ve made as a family are not available to the majority of people who live in cities, or whose lives are governed by the lack of money. I can also tell you from experience, it is very hard work and we will need in time to pass the baton on to younger, fitter people! But adding purpose to your life not to be part of the problem is a choice available to everyone. Recognising the damage we are doing to nature, individually and collectively, and changing our behaviour accordingly is a choice we can all make – and in Wales we can now make those demands of our government and our public services to help us deliver local solutions.