"Raising voices of planet-positive changemakers who are working towards a more brilliant tomorrow."
Introducing Lucy Cleland
Lucy Cleland is the founder and Editorial Director of Country & Town House, the world’s first glossy magazine to achieve B Corp certification. They showcase the brands, products and people that are making a positive difference for the planet and this vision was celebrated with their inaugural Sustainability Awards in November 2023.
What was the moment you knew you had to dedicate your time to your cause?
It had been rumbling for a while - a profoundly held anxiety around climate change and the thought that we could not possibly go on 'as normal'.
It kept me awake at night, gnawed its way in, and made me frightened. But I think I can clarify a moment when I was awakened to the possibility of acting. I saw James Thornton, the one-time CEO of ClientEarth, a legal firm whose one client is our planet, speak at a conference about the future. His Zen-like calm, his way of explaining what we are confronting without whipping up fear and frenzy, his steadfast belief that we can do something about it, set off something in me that has only grown and grown.
I really believe that in doing something we not only help our own mental well-being, but everything begins to shift around us too.
How do you keep motivated when it feels one step forward and two steps back?
We can't afford to wallow – it serves literally no one. Our brains are assaulted constantly with bad news, horrendous pictures, and toxic discourse.
If we follow every rabbit hole, get upset by every comment or image, or react to every terrible story, we may as well give up. It's too much for anyone. So the key is to find a friend, have a laugh, do something you love, go for a walk, hug a tree, thank Mother Earth and just try to connect with yourself and nature in whichever way you can – and do it often.
What does a diamond represent to you?
It is emblematic of nature's power. Nature can do everything and if only we all learned our lessons from her, we might be doing a bit better.
What would you say to Mother Nature if you could shout it up to the Sky?
I'd shout, 'We are here, help us get back to you!'
Who or What are you currently most encouraged by that will help us deliver a more brilliant tomorrow for people or planet?
There are so many people galvinising change it would be impossible to name them all here. I am lucky to be in a position where I can help tell their stories or connect them with others to help further their impact.
From investigative climate journalists, holding people to account, to moral imaginationists teaching us to take our thinking 'out of the fishbowl', to brand leaders showing us that commerciality doesn't always have to come at the cost of extraction and exploitation, we need people from every sphere to be active however and wherever they can – and, most importantly, we need them to collaborate.
This is not a hero's journey – it's a human journey that we need to go on together.