CAT stories

CAT’s community of members, supporters, graduates, students and volunteers are truly inspiring. People just like you are making a real difference as they tackle the climate and biodiversity emergencies in a variety of ways. Here are some of your fellow changemakers – make sure to get in touch and tell us your CAT story!

Dr Sue Holland

Dr Sue Holland, originally a botanist, runs Creative Beings, along with cofounder Martin Staniforth. They are a small community social enterprise that connects creative practice with the natural world. Having first visited CAT during a trip to visit family in South Wales in the late 1970s, Sue became a member a few years ago after CAT came back onto her radar when she wanted to know more about living sustainably. Recalling her first visit as a young teenager, she remembers the sense of visiting somewhere special, where people lived off-grid, outside the prescribed way of doing things and were showing how to live sustainably.

For the past ten years, her family have been custodians of a lovely small wood in Devon. More recently, they are in the process of planting a one-acre agroforest and growing vegetables using organic and permaculture principles. Creative Beings focuses on creative practice, sustainability and wellness, so they are planting the agroforest with this in mind. They hope the agroforest, can be a legacy project, passing the wood itself and the food they grow, including liquorice, cranberries, saffron and allspice, on to future generations.

“I am a CAT member because I believe that as an organisation, CAT has many solutions and answers to the environmental and climate problems that we face. Having been experimenting with solutions for sustainable living for longer than most, it is a centre of excellence and deep experience, of which I’m proud to be a member.” www.creativebeings.uk

Robin Duval

Robin graduated in 2020 with an MSc in Sustainability and Adaptation from CAT’s Graduate School of the Environment. They currently work for a cycling social enterprise, Bike for Good, delivering cycle training and leading rides to improve participant's physical and mental health.

Climate action and social sustainability have always been close to Robin’s heart, and over the past 15 years they’ve been involved in climate campaigning, community renewable energy and food and housing co-operatives.

Having originally studied environmental art, they decided to retrain, completing a BSc in renewable energy engineering. Their undergraduate dissertation focused on different models of community ownership of renewable energy projects. Having previously worked for a health food cooperative, Robin was interested in how community renewable energy cooperatives could provide democratic systems for alternative energy and finance. They worked in this field for a couple of years and became more involved in environmental campaigning. After working for a DIY renewable energy cooperative that taught ‘build your own wind turbine’ courses, Robin decided to begin studying again, at CAT.

“The flexibility of the MSc programme enabled me to remain involved in environmental activism by volunteering with Greenpeace, taking part in direct action calling for a socially just and sustainable future.

“I think the futuring and work-based modules had the most impact on me. They've given me the tools and resilience to find a proactive path forward, whatever challenges come my way. I feel more confident in taking leadership on issues I care about and am more open to opportunities to collaborate with others to achieve a broader impact. I've learnt a lot about what habits and routines contribute to a productive working day and have impressed my new workplace with what I can achieve when working independently. I feel more able to manage a heavy workload, prioritise tasks and mitigate stress. I've also developed a lot of skills in report writing and consolidating in-depth research.”

Robin continues to work with Bike for Good and was inspired by the coaches on Climate-KIC's ‘The Journey’, which they took part in for the work-based module. They would, in some way, like to follow in the coaches’ footsteps by facilitating group processes to develop pathways towards a sustainable future. CS

Please get in touch to tell us what you are doing – we love to hear about your work, the groups you are forming and how CAT’s practical work is guiding and inspiring you. Contact members@cat.org.uk with your CAT story.