Sustainable Cornwall: Podcasts, apps, beach cleans fashion and shopping

Podcaster Tia Tamblyn combines healthy eating with sustainable discussion.

Tucked away in lush countryside upstream from Fowey is Botelet. This special piece of rural Cornwall has been farmed, nurtured and styled by the Tamblyn family for 150 years, nurturing an idyllic landscape including woodlands dotted with wild orchids, and the Iron Age hill fort of Bury Down.

Today, it’s home to self-catering accommodation and a variety of wellbeing courses – as well as sustainability podcast Breakfast & Beyond. The show grew out of lockdown, and has featured host Tia Tamblyn in conversation with Cornwallbased sustainability followers (including chef James Strawbridge) in all walks of life, from food to floristry, cosmetics to clothes.

Prior to the pandemic, Tia had been running a regular breakfast club at which conversation flowed over a wholesome vegetarian meal at a rustic kitchen table. “When you have good food in front of you, everyone relaxes and it evokes conversation,” Tia explains. “There was a real sense of community, creativity and wellbeing.”

But Covid 19 put paid to that, and while accommodation at Botelet was able to recommence on a self-catering basis post-lockdown, the breakfast club was still stymied. While home-schooling, “to keep myself sane,” Tia began writing blogs on a sustainability theme, illustrating them with seasonal vegetarian recipes using local produce.

“I loved doing this, but I also love to chat,” she says. “I would visit people on location, and was essentially curating what they said. Meanwhile, I found podcasts enabled me to multi-task while doing things with the kids, so I thought: why not do one myself about sustainable living, celebrating amazing people and what they are doing at home and in their work lives?”

The first was recorded in November 2020 with Rebecca Stuart of the Garden Gate Flower Company, and was followed by half a dozen more, including Amanda Winwood of Made For Life and Freyja Hanstein of Wholesome World. Then in

June 2021, Tia was asked to chair a panel discussion at the G7 fringe festival. “The theme was: ‘Does my breakfast make a difference?’ What role do my individual decisions play against the macro, structural actions of big business and Government?” That became episode 5.

A second season is about to launch, bringing in contributors from the third sector, kicking off with Marcus Alleyne of Black Voices Cornwall. “I wanted to broaden the content to include not only the environment, but also issues of equality and social justice – they all go hand in hand,” says Tia. “I know I’m extremely lucky and privileged to live at Botelet. I have mostly lived in rural areas, and love being so closely in touch with such a diverse environment: moorlands, beaches, forests. It also enables me to make certain choices - I can forage for plants on my doorstep, and have the space to grow veg.” Breakfast: the best meal of the day? Discuss. “For me, it’s certainly one of the most important parts of the day,” says Tia. “I love cooking and sitting and enjoying a leisurely breakfast. It’s about self-sustenance – a basic need to function healthily and happily, the ability to think and contribute more broadly.

“Breakfast sets us up at the beginning of the day in a positive framework. It helps us to make better, more considered, positive choices as we go along: what we wear, what we eat, how we travel. We make those choices for ourselves, while considering other people and the planet too; and as we change our own behaviours, we share them with our families and communities, and become part of a virtuous circle.” l

Breakfast & Beyond can be found on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and at www.tiatamblyn.com/podcast

Pat Smith, aka Action Nan

“I always thought ‘someone’ should do something – then I realised I was someone.”

Such is the mantra of Pat Smith, 73. Also known as Action Nan, Pat is a force of nature and a tireless campaigner on environmental issues. Her four-year quest to eradicate plastic single-use drinking straws from the hospitality industry ended victoriously, with government legislation in October 2020.

Now, she has turned her attention to disposable coffee cups and other singleuse items which are often unsuitable for household recycling. The Final Straw #2 was due to be launched during Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean (March 25 to April 10), and marked by a number of beach-cleans with local groups all around the Cornish coast.

This is all just the latest chapter in Pat’s environmental journey. At Bosinver Farm Cottages near St Austell, she and husband David led the way in implementing ecotechnology such as solar panels and electric car charging points. But a major turning point came in 2017, when Pat saw the film A Plastic Ocean and learned that of the 88 billion tonnes of plastic produced since 1948, 90% was used just once and will take hundreds of years to break down, releasing microscopic fragments into the ecosphere where it risks poisoning wildlife. Initially Pat’s sights were set on plastic drinking straws - an astonishing 2.2 billion are thrown away every year, having been used for an average of just 20 minutes. “It seemed the simplest thing that people wouldn’t miss, and might get them thinking about other things.”

Pat and her team urged customers to say “no, thank you” to straws, and persuaded 600 businesses across the hospitality and tourist sector to offer biodegradable alternatives, or better still, no straw at all: “Most people do not need them.” The campaign took off, with sister groups up and down the country – and in 2020, the government banned not only plastic straws, but also drink stirrers and cotton buds. Asked how she felt, she replies: “Euphoric.”

While Pat continued to raise awareness of other single-use plastics, the pandemic undid much of the good work. Disposable cutlery and crockery proliferated in cafés keen to avoid transmitting Covid 19, while face masks joined dog poo bags as the main culprits to fall out of your pocket when you’re not looking.

Pat hopes to see reusable utensils – like the good old-fashioned mug - make a comeback in eating establishments as restrictions are relaxed. “Too many places are still handing out takeaway cups, even to In 2018, Pat resolved to carry out weekly beach-cleans and litter picks, launching beach-cleaning groups including the Charlestown Chums and a sister group in Mevagissey. These groups have grown in size and number, becoming social affairs.

“A lot of the rubbish I pick up consists of everyday items used by all of us, but especially fast-food wrappers,” she says. “We should all take responsibility for picking up litter – and not dropping it in the first place - but I would like to see a plastic tax on companies who overwrap their goods unnecessarily.

“We need more long-term thinking about end-of-life – what happens to things once we’ve finished with them. We should take a more circular approach so we know something will be reused, rather than sent to landfill here or even exported for disposal elsewhere.”

As Pat reaches her own twilight years, her thoughts turn to the legacy she will leave to those who come after. “I’m reading a book called How To Be A Good Ancestor. I want to sort things out before I go, so others will be aware and will carry on the work when I’m gone. If governments won’t do it, then public opinion must demand it.” l Visit finalstrawcornwall.co.uk

For more information about the Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean, visit www.keepbritaintidy.org

You’ll wonder how you lived without these items, devised and made by Cornish companies

FLOTSAM FLO The Flotsam Flo range breathes new life into items that have outlived their primary use and would be otherwise destined for landfill: paddling pools, wetsuits, air beds, hot tub lids, banners and bicycle innertubes. Even builders’ single-use lifting slings are reborn as bag straps and handles. “I can do my bit, no matter how small,” says maker Kate Doran (who also patched up Mount Hawke’s temporary vaccination surgery when it was vandalised). “If I can just save a few things from going to landfill then I’ll be happy.” Stockists include All You Can Eco in Perranporth, The Refill Store in St Austell, Krog Den in Newquay and Hayle (where you’ll also find a wetsuit recycle bin outside the shop) and Northcoast Wetsuits in Port Isaac, to be joined by Pentewan Watersports in April. Look out for Kate at craft fairs including Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust’s Helifest on July 16. Pictured: Bumbag made from a banner with a punctured innertube strap. £20. Find Flotsam Flo on Facebook, Instagram and Etsy or email flotsamflo@yahoo.com CORNISH SPLICED

Making a living from fishing and passing down the skills needed from generation to generation is dying out in Cornwall, so Frank Plummer - retired skipper of Tyak Mor and Harvester in St Ives - and granddaughter Beth, 15, sought a weird and wonderful way to keep those skills in the family while helping to protect the environment and sea-life for generations to come. The answer: Cornish Spliced, producing dog leads, pet toys and lifestyle products from re-purposed fishing gear. Rope is “spliced” to make joins for affixing clips, making handles etc. Materials include retired goodies from fishing families and “ghost gear” scooped out of the sea on beach-cleans. Each product is tagged with info about its “previous life”. Traditional lead £7. Facebook/Twitter/Instagram @CornishSpliced. hello@CornishSpliced.co.uk CIRCULAR REUSABLE BOTTLE A product is truly sustainable when made from recycled materials, designed to last and fully recyclable. Made from 14 singleuse bottles, the Circular Reusable Bottle has a 10-year lifespan and is specifically designed to be easily recycled back into the next new product, thanks to Circular & Co of Perranporth’s industry-leading takeback promise. Designed for life on the go, this bottle is lightweight, leakproof and features the company’s signature onehanded push-click lid with 360-degree drinking (not suitable for hot drinks), £14.95, circularandco.com/reusable-water-bottles l

Kirstie Newton learns how the team behind a Cornish app hopes to encourage users to map and care for trees across the globe

The creators of a smartphone app have made a clarion call for a “citizen army” to help them kickstart a global tree database. With its headquarters in the Clay village of Nanpean, the team behind Tremap is seeking to encourage public participation through interactive games and competition.

Tremap was originally devised by Jonathon Jones at Tregothnan, near Truro - best-known for its tea plantation - as a stress-free way of labelling and mapping trees on the estate. Physical labelling is labour-intensive, expensive and not always tree-friendly - hence a move towards digitisation and GPS, which also provides long-lasting accuracy. So successful was this initial venture that Tremap has since been contracted to produce a digital map of Eden’s outdoor garden.

Trees are nature’s way of sequestering carbon, and with current concerns about climate change, there is much talk about planting – not least with the Queen’s Green Canopy for the Platinum Jubilee. However, just as we say “reduce, reuse, recycle”, so Tremap’s mantra is “position, protect and preserve” - in that order.

“There are three trillion trees out there in the world, and our philosophy is, let’s take care of the ones we’ve got,” says Tremap chief executive Richard Maxwell. “If we’re going to take care of existing trees, we need to connect people with them emotionally. We have to make it interesting, engaging and easy to get involved - not just statistics.

“Tremap is super-user friendly – any average person can find or add a tree. And we hope to encourage the public to interact with and care about trees through games and competitions like Pokemon.”

In Falmouth, the Trecare app is being trialled to help the community connect with the council over tree care. Information that’s normally buried in council archives is now available at the touch of an app. You can look at a tree, find it on the map and tap on it to find out what species it is, whether it qualifies as ancient or veteran, or if it’s subject to a tree preservation order (TPO).

Tree champions can report on issues like ash dieback, a branch down after a storm or touching a wire, a tree threatened with being cut down despite a TPO – and communication is streamlined to go straight to the person who needs the information, rather than having to wade through layers of bureaucracy. A crowdfunding initiative is under way to spread this facility to other locations in Cornwall.

Cornwall has the least tree coverage in the UK but, thanks to Victorian plant hunters, one of the highest numbers of introduced species. Its mild microclimate reflects areas around the world such as Darjeeling, which is how you can grow tea on a little peninsula near Truro. “It’s important to protect imports as heritage items,” says Richard, while adding: “It would be better to plant native trees moving forward.”

The name is an affectionate nod to the native language of Kernewek: Tre is Cornish for house or home. “Tremap is a virtual home for the tree database,” says Richard. However, the name has caused mild confusion beyond the Tamar: “Jonathon pronounces it ‘Tre-MAP’; I’m from Canada, where people say ‘TREEmap’ and ask why there’s only one ‘e’,” laughs Richard. “That’s fine – anything that gets people talking about it.” l

Tremap, Drinnick House, Nanpean, St Austell PL26 7XR. Tel 0203 982 2216, www.tremap.com

Find out more about the Trecare crowdfunding initiative, which closes on April 12, at www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/p/trecare

Everyone is doing their part for a more sustainable future

THE JACKSON FOUNDATION

Sustainability informs every decision made at the Jackson Foundation. The multi award-winning arts space in St Just-inPenwith is known for exhibitions that focus on environmental themes including the plight of bees and marine plastic pollution, and regular donations are made to eco-champions such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Surfers Against Sewage and Cornwall Wildlife Trust. The commitment to sustainability goes beyond paintings: the building has a positive carbon footprint, warmed by underfloor heating from a renewable ground source heatpump and powered by a 28KW array of solar panels, with the excess going into a Tesla Powerwall battery storage unit – this is drawn upon before resorting to using mains power and once full diverts any excess to the National Grid. This clean green energy is also used to charge the gallery’s fleet of three fully electric zero-emission vehicles. The gallery has been plastic-free since opening in 2015, sourcing the most environmentally friendly products available, from cleaning to till rolls, and refusing to do business with suppliers who don't. To find out what’s on show in April and May, see page 50. l

WENDRON STOVES

As fuel bills rise in line with the increase in price for electricity and gas, it’s worth remembering that a wood pellet boiler offers a viable alternative for heating your home. It’s small, cost-effective and energy efficient, producing a minimal amount of ash. Best of all, it’s environmentally friendly: the amount of the carbon dioxide emitted during the burning process is only ever equivalent to the amount absorbed during the growth of the trees. The cost of pellets is working out at 9p kilowatts/hour, compared with new electricity rates of 30p. There’s a wide range of modern and attractive stoves and boilers to suit your home, and you might even be able to get a government grant from April 2022. l For more advice, contact Wendron Stoves on 01326 572878 or 01872 520010, or visit www.wendronstoves.co.uk

NATIONAL TRUST

Can you spare an hour or so to help the National Trust keep Roseland beaches looking beautiful, and safer for wildlife? Soak in fantastic views and fresh sea air while doing your bit. Dogs on leads and children are very welcome and we will provide gloves, bags and litter pickers. Attendance free, no booking necessary. Hemmick: Saturday, May 7, Saturday, June 4. 10 to 11.30am. Porthcurnick: Monday, May 2, Monday, June 6, 10 to 11am. Pendower: Monday, May 2, Monday, June 6, 2 to 3.30pm. l www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ roseland

OLD CHAPEL CELLARS

A Truro-based wine importer, wholesaler and retailer has become the first merchant in the UK – and only the second globally – to become a registered B Corp. Old Chapel Cellars on St Clement’s Street achieved the highly regarded environmental and social certification this month, after undergoing a rigorous verification process. B Corp status signifies a thorough, holistic approach to safeguarding people, planet and profit which has to be recertified every three years. They join a 20-strong group of Cornish B Corps, which together form a ‘B Local’ group with members including Origin Coffee, Rodda’s Cornish Clotted Cream and Pentire Drinks. Louisa Fitzpatrick, who runs Old Chapel with co-owner Jamie Tonkin, said: “It’s rewarding to have our commitment to the highest environmental and social standards validated in this way. Our business is not going to solve the world's climate crisis, and neither are we perfect. However, becoming a B Corp commits us to transparency and continual improvement. We’re really excited to see where the journey takes us.” l

A proper Cornish fashion story shot at Mount Edgcumbe

When photography student Erin Williams attended a clothes-swapping party in Millbrook, south-east Cornwall, she was inspired to organise a fashion shoot with an eco edge. While the dresses were gorgeous and stylish, Erin was shocked to hear their owners declare they would never wear them again - and if no one wanted them, they would just be thrown away.

“Fashion is a £2.5 trillion global industry, using up lots of resources to create cheap temporary products,” says Erin, 17, who studies at Plymouth College of Art. “It’s not currently sustainable, and is made worse by the internet, which enables any company to set up a simple website and sell clothes without considering the impact on people and the planet.

“Why does fashion have to be so disposable? Clothing should be affordable but designed to last and cherish - something half-decent you don’t have to throw away when you buy the next best thing only a year and a half later.”

Erin enlisted friends to help her shoot a sustainable fashion story, which will form part of her photography portfolio. Their mission: to show that second-hand and hand-me-downs could look just as good as the newest designer gear - especially when shot against the beautiful backdrop of the Mount Edgcumbe estate in Cremyll on the Rame peninsula.

“As young people living in Cornwall, we are increasingly worried about climate change and the environment,” says Erin. “We can see what's happening right here on our beaches and in our fields - and we know we need to do something. Wearing second-hand and vintage is something that happens everywhere in Cornwall. We have tried to turn it into something cool, leading the way in what's considered stylish - but also sustainable.”

The resulting shoot is beautiful and moody, capturing a very post-lockdown moment in time. Girls Grace and Eowyn and guys Rohan and Finn play around with a range of pre-loved clothes amid stunning parkland, shorelines, follies and historic buildings.

One of the more striking images happened when Finn decided to add some diversity and donned a slinky dress to pose alongside the girls, blowing his audience a cheeky kiss. “Our generation likes to be more flexible in our approach to clothes and fashion,” says Erin. “Finn doesn’t see anything wrong with wearing a dress. If he likes one, he’ll wear it down to the local pub to gauge people’s reactions.” l