Hay on Earth is the festival’s ongoing sustainability project and is part of our programme of managing and mitigating our environmental impacts, particularly as we stage more festivals around the world. The project has been running for six years. Please join us.
Full day ticket allows entry to all 6 sessions: events 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7
The increasing costs of resources and knowledge about their use and impacts have led to dramatic improvements in sustainable building. The Grand Designs specialist eco-builder in conversation with the Hay on Earth Director.
Food security raises serious concerns but this government, aiming to be the greenest ever, proposes to reconnect us with the countryside through nature, not farming. Which sacred cows will be sacrificed in a modernized rural sector? The CEO's of The Royal Agricultural Society and LEAF and the Chair of Natural England talk to rural commentator Rob Yorke.
The Art Response - Five images to change the world
Event 4 • •
Venue: Digital Stage
From baby seals to flooding devastation, has the use of dramatic imagery lost its potency to inform the climate change debate? Despite our short attention span, can an incredible image in our increasingly visual world still make an impact?
Climate change has the greatest impact on people and places facing poverty. But there are real opportunities to develop policies and practices to narrow the gap.
Fashion is seldom included in debates on sustainability, yet highlighting the sourcing of fabric, design of garments, and working conditions could drive change within the industry, and raising consumer awareness is key. Safia Minney, founder of People Tree, talks to Philip Colbert the designer behind The Rodnik Band and Mariusz Stochaj, who has a long history of sustainable supply chain management in the fashion industry. Chaired by Louise Gray.
The radical landscape designer surveys 20 years of his work, from the restoration of the Villa La Pietra in Florence to the strategic masterplan for the World Heritage Site at the Solovetski Archipelago.
Macfarlane sets off to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drovers’ roads and seas paths that form part of a vast network of routes criss-crossing the British landscape and its waters, and connecting them to continents beyond.
What does the rise and rise of apartment windowsills, roof-top allotments, city beehives and tower-block hectares tell us about modern Britain as we struggle to adjust to economic hardship?
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nef series 1: Should we leave the oil in the ground?
Event 54 • •
Venue: Hay on Earth Stage
Fossil fuel companies ride high in the stock markets, but is oil more of a liability than an asset? The latest science on CO2 emissions tells us we can’t afford to burn much of what is still underground, meaning the business world starts to look very different. Discover the idea set to shake the City of London and potentially create the single biggest boost to the green economy. Chaired by Andy Fryers.
What is the best way to communicate the issues around climate change? Emotively? Politically? Scientifically? And what scope is there for making ethical judgments in our response to the evidence?
To join the Royal Welsh Show lunch and visit with Adam at Trevithel Court this afternoon, arranged with Sunderlands and Thompsons LLP, please contact John and Helen Price at Llwynberried on 01497 847326 for tickets. Lunch starts at 1.30pm.
Cardiff Series 3 - Size Matters - Responsible Innovation and New Technologies
Event 106 • •
Venue: Hay on Earth Stage
We can now blur the borders not only of scientific disciplines but also of what might constitute life. Nanotechnology promises better, more effective medicines, and a revolution in materials. But the risks are only partly known and, with our current scientific expertise, only partly knowable. How should we regulate the introduction of nanomaterials to the market?
The campaigning journalist and Hay hero gives an exclusive preview of his forthcoming book in which he argues for the mass restoration of damaged ecosystems, the reintroduction of wolves, lynx, beavers, moose and boar to Britain, and a life richer in adventure and surprise.
The first show in a week-long residency for the great Storyteller. A childless woman prays to be a mother, a little sister refuses to do as she's told, and a wicked godmother tries to get rid of her goddaughter. Join Jan Blake as she tells tales of stubborn sisters, ungrateful mothers, and beautiful friendships.
This year we’re going to stop waiting and start changing. The Great Transition Campaign, of which the Soil Association is a supporter, is running a series of events leading up to the Earth Summit, asking the question ‘What if?’ Our contribution to this debate: What if our cities produced our food?
The broadcaster, teacher, gardener and cookery writer (Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook) has travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles to find 500 of our most breathtakingly beautiful wild flowers.
How much can society and the economy change in 50 months? On current trends, that’s the time frame we are working to before the balance of risk of dangerous climate change potentially shifts against us. The Chief Executive of Greenpeace UK discusses the deadline with the co-founders of onehundredmonths.org and poet Lemn Sissay.
Health, Beauty and Permanence: What is farming for?
Event 167 • •
Venue: Digital Stage
Is it possible to feed a growing world population without resorting to large-scale, industrialised processes? Does human-scale, decentralised agriculture necessarily mean lower climate change impacts. Is Small always Beautiful? Chaired by Geoffrey Lean