My Sustainability ‘Journey’

My sustainability ‘journey’

by IEF Member Jenny Lockwood
Presented at the IEF 29th Annual Conference, June 2025

When I first moved to Cheltenham over 40 years ago, there was an active peace movement in the town — perhaps surprisingly, since Cheltenham is the home of GCHQ (the UK government’s national intelligence agency).

As a Bahá’í, I felt drawn to participate in some small way. We had a very young family, and the local Bahá’í community, though small, was involved in local events such as a Peace Fair. The Universal House of Justice’s document The Promise of World Peace was published around this time, and the lasting contacts we had made through Cheltenham Action for Peace were receptive to this message.

Over time, and with the end of the Cold War, some elements of the local peace movement ‘morphed’ into climate activism. This was dear to my heart, as I had always tried to leave a light footprint on the earth and was concerned about the lack of willingness — not just in governments but also in individuals — to address the increasing consumerism that the new century seemed to bring with it. At the same time, the impacts of climate change were becoming more widely understood and harder to deny.

In December 2005 we lost our dear son Ben, who, as well as teaching the Bahá’í Faith wherever he could, also tried to live his life treading lightly on the world. A Quaker contact, Dennis, whom we had met through the peace movement, had founded the charity Global Footsteps in 1985, promoting global unity and concern for our planet. Ben and I were both involved over several years.

Dennis suggested holding a litter pick in Ben’s memory on a local cycle path. This has run every year since, as a service in the name of Ben and now also Dennis. More people seem to join each year, motivated by a sense of stewardship of a community asset.

By 2009 our family had grown up and my work responsibilities had reduced. Our neighbour Richard was very interested in the climate debate and applied sustainable practices to his building business and in his own life. He introduced me to the Transition Towns movement, which had begun a couple of years earlier in Totnes, Devon, and spread around the world.

A group of like-minded people in our locality wanted to start a local Transition group, with the aim of starting practical projects and increasing awareness of climate change. Together with Richard and a few others, I became a founder member of Transition Cleeve.

Over the years we have run various projects relating to home insulation, local food — including adopting and developing a now-thriving community orchard — and a Repair Café to bring people together and encourage reduced consumption. Our next planned project relates to sustainable travel.

The network of like-minded people I have come to know through this grassroots climate activism has not only enhanced my life, but — because I am known as a Bahá’í — it has enabled a better knowledge of the Faith and its teachings among a wider circle than just our own network of friends.

Two examples

1. After studying the Bahá’í-inspired course “The Scientific and Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change”, facilitated by Philip Koomen in 2010, we ran the same course at our home a few months later with a group of eight people. One of these (not a Bahá’í) became a firm friend.
    

2. Two years ago Jerry — another founder member of Transition Cleeve — invited my husband, myself, and other friends to a meeting of the Laudato Si’ local group. This is part of a worldwide network of multi-denominational groups inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical encouraging climate action for the good of the world’s people.

   The local Laudato Si’ group in Cheltenham is supported by people of several faiths and denominations. Last spring they organised a picnic in a Cheltenham park. Imagine our surprise when the tree under which they had gathered turned out to be the one planted by the local Bahá’í community in 1992, in memory of Richard St Barbe Baker. Beneath it is a plaque commemorating this remarkable man. I later wrote a short monograph, St Barbe, his faith and his work as the founder of Men of the Trees.

   The leader of the local Laudato Si’ group, Martin, was someone I had first met at one of the earliest peace gatherings in the 1980s. He also runs a fortnightly ‘climate prayer’ session by Zoom. After attending a few of these, I offered to host one and was able to share Bahá’í writings and prayers. The written version of my notes was distributed widely — in fact, a Bahá’í from another part of the country told me it had been circulated by her local interfaith group.

Through this small-scale climate activism I have made friends and met people influential in local and national politics, as well as many other activists. I have noticed that most of my colleagues are also people of faith. It is not a requirement, but it seems to be a fact that many people who care deeply enough about the state of the world to act are motivated by their religion.

My sustainability ‘journey’ is nothing spectacular. I have focused on projects and organisations that work in the local community, making small differences and — most importantly — bringing hope for the future.

I like to think my story shows how it is possible to make lasting personal connections by working with like-minded people (often, but not always, people of faith) and doing something, however small, for the good of humanity and the planet.