HELEN BURTON: '˜We need everybody to do politics'

There were short introductory speeches from Teo Beavers (a Green event organiser and school outreach worker) Forest Row Energy (a local energy co-operative), Keith Taylor Green MEP and Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party. After the speeches we then broke up into groups to discuss various issues. At the end of the day key points were drawn up from the discussions which Natalie Bennett then discussed in her final speech.

After a delightful lunch sitting next to Natalie Bennett (provided by the Into the Wild Vegan Food Co-Operative) I joined in with a discussion group on local food and resilience led by Transition Wadhurst, and then sat in on a discussion about local democracy. I also chatted with someone who is organising compost toilets to be sent to the Calais refugee camp. The amount of plastics in the ocean was another hot topic, with Natalie Bennet telling us the startling fact that by 2050 the weight of plastics in the ocean will be more than the weight of the fish. Banning plastic beads used in toiletry products is clearly a passion of hers, not surprising really considering the damage they cause to the oceans’ ecology and the fact that they are completely unnecessary.