Dinner at Dartington

I had the opportunity to listen to some really inspirational presentations recently. I was at a Sustainability Networking Dinner at Dartington Hall and there was a very impressive list of speakers. There was a lot of thought provoking stuff about the challenges we face - from people who understand them; Charlie McConnell, Director of Sustainability at Dartington; Simon Hooton, Director of Strategy at South West Regional Development Agency; Guy Watson, founder of Riverford Organic Vegetables. But the one that stuck out for me was Gunter Pauli.

Gunter was at Dartington for the week, leading a course at Schumacher College. He's head of the Zeri Foundation, which is a collection of great minds looking for solutions to the challenges we face. But he's been involved in a lot of other things too throughout his career, including launching Ecover, the pioneer of environmentally friendly cleaning products. I wish I could remember more of what he said because it was really interesting stuff, but the one thing that has stayed with me was this: Change always happens on the periphery, not at the centre.

So for anyone who feels isolated or separated from what's going on - it doesn't matter. Whether you feel you're on the edge of things because of size or geographical location - it doesn't matter. That's where things will happen. And who knows, it could be you that makes them happen.