The launch of my book Journey to Hopeful Futures: A Handbook Took place on 16th June 2023 at the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Sustainability Festival.
It was a happy event, with many stalls from environmental groups and businesses and a wide variety of speakers. Around the room were posters, including some from the Post Graduate students on the new Sustainability Masters in the Business School.
Opening remarks were from Dominic Medway, the Business School Pro Vice Chancellor, who, alongside his formal role at the Business School, is a sheep farmer and bee keeper, and spoke of the need for humanity to accelerate our actions in defence of our precious environment.
The keynote speaker was Marion Osieyo, Head of Inclusive Conservation at WWF. Marion spoke of life lessons for those working for social and ecological justice and proved to be a graceful and inspiring speaker. Children from the two local schools shared actions at school to become more green.
To end the morning session, there was my book launch and I was delighted that my neighbours from the yarn bombers gathered to support. I asked the audience to start by considering their age and I got a lot of laughter at this point. I went on to talk about humanity being part of the Universe from the big bang to the present. I shared ideas on bearing witness for what is going on in the world, and that we might find energy from becoming part of the Cosmos.
All day people came up to my stall and had a chat and I sold my books to friends and colleagues!
The afternoon speakers included local green activists Jane Morris and Fiona McGuire presenting about their work with one of the few green areas in the Curry Mile part of the city, Park Crescent. After a lot of hard work, trees had been planted and wildflower seeds and many bags of litter picked up.
