CAT Stories Archives - cat.org.uk
Source: https://cat.org.uk/posts/category/cat-stories
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:13
CAT Stories Archives - cat.org.uk
Category:
CAT Stories
CAT Story: Alice Breeveld
Graduating from CAT in 2023, we recently heard from Alice about how she’s putting her
Masters in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources
into practice.
From using her newly gained skillset to make sustainable changes in her role as a Senior Research fellow at UCL, to putting the confidence she gained into action as a volunteer for her local climate action group, Alice’s story is an inspiring read for all of us at CAT!
Q. What was your background before enrolling at CAT?
I studied physics and astronomy at university and have been working for several decades in space science at UCL, initially in detector physics and then working on the calibration of optical and ultraviolet space telescopes. I have also been involved in some astronomy research.
I still had my job and so did the course over a number of years. I loved each and every module. The week onsite was immersive, with dawn to dusk concentration, and total absorption. I dreaded the assignments, each time convincing myself I would never be able to do it, but by setting aside enough time, talking to other students and my tutor, I persevered and completed each one on time.
Q. What made you choose to study at the Graduate School?
For many years, I have been anxious about climate change. Once my children were nearly grown up I felt it was time to follow my passion, and get ready to change to a new career, and taking an MSc at CAT seemed like the perfect way to study while keeping working. All the courses looked ultra interesting, but having been brought up on an organic smallholding, and having my own allotment, I felt the sustainable food MSc would be the best fit. I went to an open day in 2016 and started in 2017. It was the best decision ever.
Q. What impact did your studies have?
The onsite weeks and assignments taught me loads about each topic, but I also felt I was building up really useful set of skills. I felt a real sense of achievement after each module.
Result: a huge boost to my confidence in my ability to navigate huge amounts of material and pick out the key points, write things in different styles, and communicate with people. In the past, when I might have been having a conversation with someone about climate change, I would assume they knew more than me and that they were the expert and I knew little, especially if they were men. Now I feel I am (sometimes) the expert and can talk more confidently. I have a new respect for myself.
Q. What are your future plans?
As for my career, I have not made that planned change partly because my department gave me a new project, but also after much thinking and discussion (and an Outrage and Optimism podcast episode on what people can do in the workplace), I came to the realisation that we need activists EVERYWHERE. It is no good if anyone who cares about climate leaves their work to look for ‘green’ jobs. We need people leading from within.
I now have a small but dedicated, and growing, team of people at work following the Green Impact programme. We have made a sustainability plan for our department, which has been accepted-ish by management. I also lead a Wild Space group making our grounds more biodiverse and inspiring staff and students. I wrote a sustainable management plan for the grounds separately. We planted an orchard, have a wildflower meadow, have reptile refugia etc.
Outside of work, I am now acting as secretary to a local climate action group trying to raise awareness of climate change in the community. We are very close to launching a library of things in collaboration with our local library and a retirement village.
None of this would have happened without my new-found confidence and self-respect.
A Heartening Reminder
The way Alice paired the confidence and skillset gained from her Masters with her own passion is a great reminder of why we do what we do at CAT’s Graduate School…we aim to mobilise the determination within! And the ways that Alice is enacting changes in her workplace and community is a heartening read for all of us at CAT!
If you have a story to share about how CAT has had an impact on your life, work or experiences,
we’d love to hear them
.
STUDY AT CAT
Inspired by Alice’s story? Find out more about our
Masters in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources
or other courses on one of our next
Graduate School open days
, or get in touch with our Admissions Team
study@cat.org.uk
01654 705974.
April 3, 2026
‘Doing the Little Things’ – Because we are part of something bigger
To celebrate St David’s Day, we’ve been thinking about the important saying connected to the day, ‘Do the Little Things’ and how small changes or interactions can lead to larger impact as we work towards a greener future.
The scale of the climate and biodiversity crisis and the systemic transformation needed to tackle it can often leave us feeling daunted or powerless, and this is by no means unusual. But as CAT guest speaker Jean Boulton champions, ’thinking big but acting small’ can be a way to mobilise change despite feeling overwhelmed. Oftentimes, ‘the little things’ are not all that little either, and these action lead to more action!
Over the past few months, we have been lucky to receive a number of
CAT stories
from our wonderful supporters who have been inspired to make changes in their own lives and take action in their communities. Among these heartwarming tales, many submissions spoke of how small interactions with CAT have led to lifetime changes…here are three of them.
Small Steps for Environmental Change – Jonathan Voles
CAT member Jonathan Vowles came to CAT as a schoolboy in the 1970’s and he has been a dedicated advocate for the small steps we can all take to make our day-to-day life more sustainable ever since!
“CAT changed my life when I came to visit as part of a school group, so long ago now that I’ve forgotten exactly when! What I haven’t forgotten is the way that CAT captured my imagination and inspired me. The site itself and the environmental factors, the exhibits, the future thinking – and remember back then environmental issues, building techniques, wind power and solar power were way out of most people’s comfort zone, whereas now they are mainstream!
Over the years I’ve been a regular visitor and have been a member and supporter of CAT whenever funds have permitted. I’ve dragged my wife and kids to CAT and tried to inspire them the way I was inspired and although I’m no longer that passionate schoolboy, I have continued to speak to people about CAT and the small steps we can take to make environmental change a reality in our lives.”
The passion with which Jonathan writes about his visit and its impact is infectious and to know that he is sharing that inspiration to this day is a heartwarming read for all of us at CAT.
Ripples of Change: Switches to Home Energy – Bridget Walton
Bridget Walton’s story is a wonderful example of how the changes she has made in her own life after a chance visit to CAT have rippled out, as knowledge shared became knowledge squared!
“In the 1970’s we would holiday in Wales and would pass by the Centre and wonder what it was. We later visited and were amazed at the possibilities.
In 1981 we had a solar panel fitted to our roof to generate our own electricity and about 8 years ago we had 5 solar panels fitted to our roof to generate our own electricity. I passed my knowledge on to a friend who had 15 panels fitted to her house roof.
One visit long ago made a big impact. How buildings could be designed to be warmer and more sustainable, how paper waste could go into compost to rejuvenate soil, use of water to power the funicular railway opened up my mind to new possibilities. I have continued my journey in greener living and added PV, solar hot water, ASHP, etc to my home.”
Driving Community Change – Alison Shaw
Alison Shaw is one of our fantastic CAT members who is acting locally with the whole in mind. The projects she is working on are a heartening reminder of how important it is to act with care for each other and our planet within our community and beyond.
“Now I am retired, I spend my time gardening for wildlife (including humans!) inspired by CAT’s gardens.
I run a repair cafe, with plenty of opportunities for climate conversations with members of the public and I have been inspired to spend time climate campaigning. This includes a 5 year quest (so far) to persuade the local authorities to divest its pension scheme from fossil fuels. We are hoping that a motion to the council will be proposed in a couple of months. Progress is very slow, but we are not giving up!”
Alison was inspired to join after reading CAT’s Clean Slate magazine, feeling that it spoke to her about important environmental issues, but on a human level, with plenty of information of how to take practical steps. She is also a regular attendee of the
annual CAT Conference
, a place where she feels she is amongst friends who share her concerns by are also hopeful in taking action to implement change.
Alison also recently wrote a beautiful piece inspired by visits to CAT titled, Arrival.
Arrival
We walk away from the road, grateful to be leaving the traffic behind. A long bus journey delivers us breathing deeply and stretching.
Narrow lanes lead us across the river, past the sleeping cliff railway and steeply up through the woodland. The way is enclosed by trees and lush undergrowth, allowing scant glimpses beyond. The incline levels out and we see a building.
Unexpected, yet at one with the surroundings. Natural materials and enclosing branches make us feel cocooned and safe. The scene opens out like a clearing.
– Extract from Arrival, by CAT Member, Alison Shaw
‘Do the little things’
As these stories remind us, we do the little things precisely because we are part of something bigger, and our interactions, experiences and actions no matter at what scale, are worth doing.
Looking to take the first step towards making a change of your own but not sure where to start? This St David’s Day, why not take the first step and check out our free information page, book a short course, explore a CAT postgraduate course or reserve a place at the CAT conference today.
CAT Stories
It is your stories that make up the chapters of CAT’s past present and future. Your actions, large or small, contribute to our wider story and impact.
If you have a story to share about how CAT has had an impact on your life, work or experiences, we’d love to hear them.
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February 27, 2026
CAT Stories: Raddon Stephenson
We’re proud to share the inspiring stories of members of the CAT community putting sustainability into action. Here’s how CAT graduate, Raddon Stephenson is making a difference.
Raddon works in urban horticulture at the Caritas Lalley Centre Community Allotment and Food Pantry in Manchester, which is deeply rooted in tackling social and environmental issues. In his role as Allotment and Food Provision Manager, Raddon focuses on closing the food waste loop, helping people grow their own produce in the city, and recognising the interconnection between social wellbeing, our food systems and the natural environment.
Raddon says, “
It’s really fulfilling to have a job that enables me to do practical food growing, improve people’s mental health through wellbeing gardening sessions, and tackle food waste in a tangible way. I’m always learning how to be a better grower and how to most effectively encourage community participation in their local greenspace by observing what we grow and how people respond to the site. It’s also great to learn from people who’ve moved to the UK from elsewhere who have varied growing knowledge and skills to share too.
”
Through this work, Raddon is using what he learned from his Master’s in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources at CAT. While studying at CAT, he was inspired not only by the practical learning, like identifying plants, but by the conceptual skills he gained, such as systems thinking approaches.
In 2022 he set up a composting project with a local primary school. Having recognised that the school wasn’t separating food waste, that children weren’t using their allotment, and that the 1,400m2 plot was in constant need of compost, Raddon set out to tackle the disconnect between the three issues. He got pupils involved in composting their own canteen scraps to then grow food to provide for the community through the pantry, closing the food waste gap. The project received funding for a Ridan composting system. It now makes around 9.5 tonnes of peat-free compost for the allotment each year!
Before coming to CAT, Raddon was pursuing a career as a musician but just as he was starting out the pandemic hit, cancelling any work at that time. However, lockdown brought time and space for reflection. After experiencing organic farm work, Raddon decided to pursue his passion for nature academically at CAT. He recognised that what we grow and how we grow it has a vast impact on our ecosystems and that the universal need to eat can directly connect people with environmental solutions.
Studying at CAT also gave Raddon the opportunity to continue creating and sharing his music, including The Compost Song written during his dissertation, which he now brings into community gardening work to engage children in reducing and composting food waste.
“
Studying at CAT has allowed me to focus my energy into a field of work which is genuinely beneficial for the social and ecological wellbeing of the community, and which I find really fulfilling. The postgraduate course, the student community and the CAT site itself have been inspirational, leading me to a job where I can put my knowledge and skills in food growing and community engagement into practice on a daily basis.
”
Has CAT inspired your sustainability journey?
We’d love to hear how you’re making change happen. Share your story at
cat.org.uk/cat-stories
for a chance to be featured in a future edition of Clean Slate, on the CAT website or on social media.
February 11, 2026
A veterinary response to a pollution crisis
There is growing evidence of environmental harm caused by veterinary medicines used to treat fleas and ticks. CAT graduate,
Dr Julie Cayzer
, a vet and zoologist, used her dissertation to design a workplace learning programme for vets to promote responsible use of these treatments.
The UK is facing a biodiversity crisis, with the latest State of Nature report describing us as one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries. A chance moment, hearing a lunchtime news article on the widespread damage to aqueous ecosystems caused by pet flea and tick products, decided my dissertation’s focus. I had been aware of the environmental harm caused by chemicals used to treat pets’ external parasites (fleas and ticks) and internal parasites (worms) for several years. The discussion on the radio focused on new evidence relating to two in particular – fipronil and imidacloprid (a neonicotinoid).
Balancing the health of animals, people and the environment
As a vet myself, I knew the statutory guidance given by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and advice by leading national veterinary organisations was to avoid a blanket year-round approach to prescribing parasite treatments, and instead to tailor them for each pet and their human family. Something was preventing vets from responding to this new evidence of harm. Every vet values the natural world and wishes to protect it, yet we appeared to be unable to act on something so simple – to stop using the most harmful products and limit use of alternatives to a level that is deemed responsible.
Due to my background in veterinary education following years in clinical practice, I decided to co-create a training programme for UK vets on pet parasite treatments to promote their responsible use, drawing on the expertise and experiences of a wide range of veterinary experts and practitioners.
One Health – balancing animal, human and environmental health (British Veterinary Association, 2019) Dr Julie Cayzer
Crucially, the training would follow WHO’s One Health approach, aiming to sustainably balance and enhance the health of animals, people and the environment. This would allow greater flexibility to tailor prescribing behaviours to each individual context, thereby reducing the overall use of these drugs, and improving the outcomes for the environment without compromising public or animal health.
Influencing behaviour to achieve change
For my dissertation, I gathered expert insights from academic and practising veterinary professionals through interviews and focus groups. The codesign process involved four stages following the Design Council’s scheme to Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver the training programme. Throughout, I explored different components of behaviour that influence vets’ prescribing habits, following Susan Michie’s COM-B model. This model, which I had studied during the taught modules of my MSc at CAT, proposes that behaviour (B) is directed by the combined influences of capability (C), opportunity (O) and motivation (M). Twenty practising vets participated in the training prototypes, and our discussions revealed that motivation was key, with vets’ prescribing behaviour affected by social opportunity (practice team engagement) and time (to discuss treatment changes with owners).
It has been heartening to see a rapid response to the training programme by the vets involved in this research. Some have reported team discussions about moving away from spot-on treatments to potentially more environmentally friendly ones, for example, injectable products, so that less contaminated pet fur is shed. They have increased owner awareness regarding appropriate disposal (unwashed product packaging to landfill) and created tailored parasite treatments through lifestyle risk assessments. Empowered vets have begun to challenge systemic barriers such as automatic sign-ups to pet healthcare plans using year-round treatments where this was unnecessary following the pet’s risk assessment. Additionally, vets have reported engaging with further learning opportunities to find out more about the topic and to share this information with their practice teams.
Jeff Waage with one of the information boards on the Heath.
The impact of learning at CAT
My dissertation at CAT gave me the opportunity to make a real difference; since submitting, I have continued to develop resources to enable the behaviour changes needed around responsible prescribing of these treatments by vets.
I volunteer with the Greener Veterinary Practice working group of Vet Sustain, a charitable organisation supporting veterinary sustainable actions across the profession. With them, I co-authored a peer-reviewed resource pack which included evidence-based medicine to support clinical decisions and lifestyle risk checkers to enable tailored parasite control regimes. The packs were released in September 2025 for vets and their teams to enable their responsible use of these treatments. Later that month, I presented my dissertation’s findings to the Vet Sustain curriculum team to explore their use by vet schools and the wider veterinary profession due to the current strategic importance of prevention of this pollution.
My training programme has also been piloted with local vets in the Hampstead Heath area. Joe Downie, a CAT classmate whose dissertation investigated pollution with these pesticides in the Heath’s ponds caused by swimming dogs, introduced me to an environmental researcher from the Heath and Hampstead Society, Jeff Waage (London Tropical School of Medicine). A new campaign by the Society to raise dog owners’ awareness of the pollution problem needed local vets’ support, so a joint event was held at Keats House on the Heath in October 2025 with two veterinary academic researchers (Rose Perkins, University of Sussex, and Andrew Prentis, Imperial College London) who raised the initial concerns about these pollutants. This event explored the behaviour changes by owners needed to protect local ecosystems and the role of advice from their vets. Follow-up online meetings with local vets to plan their support for the new campaign are ongoing.
As a vet, I fully understand the benefits to health and wellbeing from pet ownership. I have an elderly cat called Izzy – my life is enriched daily by her antics! Owners can make a significant difference in their environmental impact through everything from the choice of pet to care for, the food and kit that they buy, to the preventative measures that will keep them healthy. For advice on environmentally friendly choices, visit
https://www.bva.co.uk/pet-owners-and-breeders/advice-for-pet-owners/how-can-i-reduce-my-pet-s-environmental-impact/
.
Advice for pet owners
Please speak to your vet about a lifestyle risk assessment for your pet(s), as well as pet diseases caused by parasites. There are some that cause human disease, called zoonoses, that can be serious.
Follow their instructions on how and when to use the treatment and dispose of its packaging.
And:
Bag and dispose of faeces in landfill.
Do not allow your dogs to swim, be groomed or shampooed until at least one month after use of spot-on flea and tick treatments.
Always read the product packaging to check what your pet parasite treatments contain. These two pesticides are commonly used in treatments sold outside of vet practices.
More information at bva.co.uk/petowners- and-breeders/advice-for-petowners/ parasite-treatments →
About the author
Julie completed her
MSc in Sustainability and Behaviour Change
at CAT in June 2025. Following a design route through her dissertation enabled her to collaborate with a wide range of experts in veterinary parasitology, as well as practising vets, to co-design a viable and relevant training programme. In her new role in the Royal College Veterinary Surgeons’ Knowledge team and at the University of Nottingham, Julie will continue to put the skills she gained at CAT into practice as she helps to shape the future of sustainable veterinary care.
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January 23, 2026
CAT Conversations: Sandy Stevens, CAT graduate
CAT graduate Sandy Stevens graduated with a distinction in our
MSc in Sustainability and Behaviour Change
in 2021. After four years of hard work and dedication she recently completed a PhD at Aberystwyth University. We caught up with her to find out more…
(more…)
June 27, 2025
CAT Conversations: Fergus Paxton, CAT volunteer
CAT has a long history of offering residential and day volunteering opportunities that give people the chance to develop their skills and support our work. Fergus Paxton joined CAT’s Marketing and Fundraising teams as a volunteer earlier this summer. We talked to him about his experience.
(more…)
December 2, 2024
Gardening on the Wild Side with CAT Gardener Petra
With ever increasing loss of species and biodiversity worldwide, can we look to our own green spaces to try and make a difference? We talked to CAT gardener Petra about how to make any patch of earth or community green space more sustainable and biodiverse.
Below are Petra’s top tips for gardening on the wild side:
1. There’s no need for chemical warfare
Any herbicides and pesticides we add to the environment may not stay where we put them and often have unintended consequences. Let’s keep things in perspective. Is it end of the world if our roses suffer an aphid attack or our patio sprouts the odd weed?
Resorting to a brightly packaged spray bottle full of promises is a short-term solution that has no place AT ALL in a non-commercial setting. It is far more effective to put our efforts towards good husbandry and fostering a balance of prey and predator insect species. So grow flowers, berries, seeds, make compost, have unkempt corners and brash piles! These are the things that bring a natural harmony to the garden.
2. Feed the living soil
A huge part of a garden’s biodiversity is underground in the form of worms, nematodes, insects, fungi and microbes. Caring for the soil is the heart of sustainable gardening.
If the subterranean wildlife is happy, the soil will be healthy, plants will thrive, and positive effects will ripple through the food chain to birds and small mammals. Compost, manure, leaf mould and organic mulches are all great ways to feed the soil and all the creatures in it. Synthetic fertilisers boost plant growth spectacularly, but they by-pass this living ecosystem, leading to the soil’s depletion, so compost all you can!
If you have space and time, all waste from the garden can be composted – weeds, leaves, grass cuttings or woody prunings. In my opinion, there is space for a compost bin in the smallest of gardens. Even a balcony has room for a worm bin. It’s important; it’s the heart of the matter!
3. Grow your own bird food
Bringing birds into the garden is all about providing food and shelter. We can buy imported bird seed as a treat, but it’s not difficult to provide local produce all year round!
Leave some wind fallen apples for the blackbirds. Grow sunflowers for the seed heads. Don’t prune your summer flowering shrubs until the birds have had a chance to pick off the seeds. And, if you have room, leave teasel standing for the pleasure of watching goldfinches feed in the dead of winter.
4. Venture into seed saving
As well as being highly nutritious to wildlife, seeds contain the genetic code for future generations. They are the store house for plant diversity, and this store house needs to be well stocked to cope with an uncertain future. Genetic variety makes plants resilient – who knows what forgotten traits may turn out to be useful in a changing climate?
If you don’t already, you could continue the age old gardening tradition of seed saving and help bring heritage varieties back from the brink of extinction. I am a beginner myself, and I am finding it an exciting way to learn more about plants I thought I knew. Sue Stickland’s ‘Back Garden Seed Saving’ book has been an invaluable guide, as have Real Seeds.
5. Practice selective weeding
While in the throes of weeding let’s remind ourselves that many of our most demonised weeds are important native food plants for wildlife. Nettles feed ladybirds and butterflies (and people!). Ivy’s autumn flowers and winter berries make a great in food source for pollinators and birds in times of scarcity. Brambles provide shelter, nectar, berries! Common ragwort attracts moths and butterflies and supports over 200 species of invertebrates. Dandelions… I could go on!
Suffice to say weeds have a place in the ‘wild’ garden and in a gardener’s affections. See their qualities and values. Find ways to incorporate them into your schemes. Some, like the afore-mentioned teasel or hemp agrimony, do not look out of place in an herbaceous border. Nettles and the mighty bramble could ramble around the compost bin. And what’s wrong with some early dandelions in the lawn?
6. A lawn need not be a mono crop of rye grass mown to within an inch of its life!
Take a relaxed approach to lawn care, let it grow a bit longer and have some flowering ‘weeds’ in it. Just banish sprays and fertiliser and a habitat will develop amongst the moist roots and nectar laden daisies. If you don’t need the open space for children’s games or deckchairs, you could consider going the whole hog towards a wildflower meadow.
7. Make a pond
A pond, no matter how big or small, adds a whole new habitat to any garden. Send out an open invitation to frogs, toads, newts, pond skaters, dragonflies. Importantly, ponds also provide a place to drink. Watching a wasp bring its tiny mouth to drink from the surface of an urban pond was an eye opening moment for me. Bees, birds, hedgehogs – they all need to drink!
8. Minimize hard landscaping
Speaking of hedgehogs, if you are lucky enough to be choosing the elements of a new garden, take wildlife habitat and flow into account.
Is there freedom of movement at the boundaries? Is there room for a hedge instead of a fence or wall? How much paving does one garden really need? These elements make a big difference to how welcoming our gardens are, and whether back gardens can connect up to become a bigger haven.
9. Trees for the bees
When choosing a tree or shrub to plant, pay attention to the pollen and nectar sources you have already in your garden and neighbourhood. Are there any hungry gaps when bees would travel further afield? This kind of observation takes time, so you could just focus on extending the flowering season. Willows, for example, provide essential nourishment in March when groggy, hungry bees are just emerging. Early flowering fruit trees are good too.
About the author
Petra has been managing the garden displays and helping the biodiversity flourish in the CAT gardens since 2015. When she’s not pruning the apple trees and experimenting with chickpea and lentil crops, Petra can be found improving and planning new interpretation for the gardens, and leading university and school groups on garden tours and volunteering days.
Get involved!
You can learn more about organic gardening, permaculture, ecology, woodland management and more on one of our day or short residential courses.
For the full range of activities on offer, visit our website.
November 22, 2019
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Category:
CAT Stories
CAT Story: Alice Breeveld
Graduating from CAT in 2023, we recently heard from Alice about how she’s putting her
Masters in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources
into practice.
From using her newly gained skillset to make sustainable changes in her role as a Senior Research fellow at UCL, to putting the confidence she gained into action as a volunteer for her local climate action group, Alice’s story is an inspiring read for all of us at CAT!
Q. What was your background before enrolling at CAT?
I studied physics and astronomy at university and have been working for several decades in space science at UCL, initially in detector physics and then working on the calibration of optical and ultraviolet space telescopes. I have also been involved in some astronomy research.
I still had my job and so did the course over a number of years. I loved each and every module. The week onsite was immersive, with dawn to dusk concentration, and total absorption. I dreaded the assignments, each time convincing myself I would never be able to do it, but by setting aside enough time, talking to other students and my tutor, I persevered and completed each one on time.
Q. What made you choose to study at the Graduate School?
For many years, I have been anxious about climate change. Once my children were nearly grown up I felt it was time to follow my passion, and get ready to change to a new career, and taking an MSc at CAT seemed like the perfect way to study while keeping working. All the courses looked ultra interesting, but having been brought up on an organic smallholding, and having my own allotment, I felt the sustainable food MSc would be the best fit. I went to an open day in 2016 and started in 2017. It was the best decision ever.
Q. What impact did your studies have?
The onsite weeks and assignments taught me loads about each topic, but I also felt I was building up really useful set of skills. I felt a real sense of achievement after each module.
Result: a huge boost to my confidence in my ability to navigate huge amounts of material and pick out the key points, write things in different styles, and communicate with people. In the past, when I might have been having a conversation with someone about climate change, I would assume they knew more than me and that they were the expert and I knew little, especially if they were men. Now I feel I am (sometimes) the expert and can talk more confidently. I have a new respect for myself.
Q. What are your future plans?
As for my career, I have not made that planned change partly because my department gave me a new project, but also after much thinking and discussion (and an Outrage and Optimism podcast episode on what people can do in the workplace), I came to the realisation that we need activists EVERYWHERE. It is no good if anyone who cares about climate leaves their work to look for ‘green’ jobs. We need people leading from within.
I now have a small but dedicated, and growing, team of people at work following the Green Impact programme. We have made a sustainability plan for our department, which has been accepted-ish by management. I also lead a Wild Space group making our grounds more biodiverse and inspiring staff and students. I wrote a sustainable management plan for the grounds separately. We planted an orchard, have a wildflower meadow, have reptile refugia etc.
Outside of work, I am now acting as secretary to a local climate action group trying to raise awareness of climate change in the community. We are very close to launching a library of things in collaboration with our local library and a retirement village.
None of this would have happened without my new-found confidence and self-respect.
A Heartening Reminder
The way Alice paired the confidence and skillset gained from her Masters with her own passion is a great reminder of why we do what we do at CAT’s Graduate School…we aim to mobilise the determination within! And the ways that Alice is enacting changes in her workplace and community is a heartening read for all of us at CAT!
If you have a story to share about how CAT has had an impact on your life, work or experiences,
we’d love to hear them
.
STUDY AT CAT
Inspired by Alice’s story? Find out more about our
Masters in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources
or other courses on one of our next
Graduate School open days
, or get in touch with our Admissions Team
study@cat.org.uk
01654 705974.
April 3, 2026
‘Doing the Little Things’ – Because we are part of something bigger
To celebrate St David’s Day, we’ve been thinking about the important saying connected to the day, ‘Do the Little Things’ and how small changes or interactions can lead to larger impact as we work towards a greener future.
The scale of the climate and biodiversity crisis and the systemic transformation needed to tackle it can often leave us feeling daunted or powerless, and this is by no means unusual. But as CAT guest speaker Jean Boulton champions, ’thinking big but acting small’ can be a way to mobilise change despite feeling overwhelmed. Oftentimes, ‘the little things’ are not all that little either, and these action lead to more action!
Over the past few months, we have been lucky to receive a number of
CAT stories
from our wonderful supporters who have been inspired to make changes in their own lives and take action in their communities. Among these heartwarming tales, many submissions spoke of how small interactions with CAT have led to lifetime changes…here are three of them.
Small Steps for Environmental Change – Jonathan Voles
CAT member Jonathan Vowles came to CAT as a schoolboy in the 1970’s and he has been a dedicated advocate for the small steps we can all take to make our day-to-day life more sustainable ever since!
“CAT changed my life when I came to visit as part of a school group, so long ago now that I’ve forgotten exactly when! What I haven’t forgotten is the way that CAT captured my imagination and inspired me. The site itself and the environmental factors, the exhibits, the future thinking – and remember back then environmental issues, building techniques, wind power and solar power were way out of most people’s comfort zone, whereas now they are mainstream!
Over the years I’ve been a regular visitor and have been a member and supporter of CAT whenever funds have permitted. I’ve dragged my wife and kids to CAT and tried to inspire them the way I was inspired and although I’m no longer that passionate schoolboy, I have continued to speak to people about CAT and the small steps we can take to make environmental change a reality in our lives.”
The passion with which Jonathan writes about his visit and its impact is infectious and to know that he is sharing that inspiration to this day is a heartwarming read for all of us at CAT.
Ripples of Change: Switches to Home Energy – Bridget Walton
Bridget Walton’s story is a wonderful example of how the changes she has made in her own life after a chance visit to CAT have rippled out, as knowledge shared became knowledge squared!
“In the 1970’s we would holiday in Wales and would pass by the Centre and wonder what it was. We later visited and were amazed at the possibilities.
In 1981 we had a solar panel fitted to our roof to generate our own electricity and about 8 years ago we had 5 solar panels fitted to our roof to generate our own electricity. I passed my knowledge on to a friend who had 15 panels fitted to her house roof.
One visit long ago made a big impact. How buildings could be designed to be warmer and more sustainable, how paper waste could go into compost to rejuvenate soil, use of water to power the funicular railway opened up my mind to new possibilities. I have continued my journey in greener living and added PV, solar hot water, ASHP, etc to my home.”
Driving Community Change – Alison Shaw
Alison Shaw is one of our fantastic CAT members who is acting locally with the whole in mind. The projects she is working on are a heartening reminder of how important it is to act with care for each other and our planet within our community and beyond.
“Now I am retired, I spend my time gardening for wildlife (including humans!) inspired by CAT’s gardens.
I run a repair cafe, with plenty of opportunities for climate conversations with members of the public and I have been inspired to spend time climate campaigning. This includes a 5 year quest (so far) to persuade the local authorities to divest its pension scheme from fossil fuels. We are hoping that a motion to the council will be proposed in a couple of months. Progress is very slow, but we are not giving up!”
Alison was inspired to join after reading CAT’s Clean Slate magazine, feeling that it spoke to her about important environmental issues, but on a human level, with plenty of information of how to take practical steps. She is also a regular attendee of the
annual CAT Conference
, a place where she feels she is amongst friends who share her concerns by are also hopeful in taking action to implement change.
Alison also recently wrote a beautiful piece inspired by visits to CAT titled, Arrival.
Arrival
We walk away from the road, grateful to be leaving the traffic behind. A long bus journey delivers us breathing deeply and stretching.
Narrow lanes lead us across the river, past the sleeping cliff railway and steeply up through the woodland. The way is enclosed by trees and lush undergrowth, allowing scant glimpses beyond. The incline levels out and we see a building.
Unexpected, yet at one with the surroundings. Natural materials and enclosing branches make us feel cocooned and safe. The scene opens out like a clearing.
– Extract from Arrival, by CAT Member, Alison Shaw
‘Do the little things’
As these stories remind us, we do the little things precisely because we are part of something bigger, and our interactions, experiences and actions no matter at what scale, are worth doing.
Looking to take the first step towards making a change of your own but not sure where to start? This St David’s Day, why not take the first step and check out our free information page, book a short course, explore a CAT postgraduate course or reserve a place at the CAT conference today.
CAT Stories
It is your stories that make up the chapters of CAT’s past present and future. Your actions, large or small, contribute to our wider story and impact.
If you have a story to share about how CAT has had an impact on your life, work or experiences, we’d love to hear them.
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February 27, 2026
CAT Stories: Raddon Stephenson
We’re proud to share the inspiring stories of members of the CAT community putting sustainability into action. Here’s how CAT graduate, Raddon Stephenson is making a difference.
Raddon works in urban horticulture at the Caritas Lalley Centre Community Allotment and Food Pantry in Manchester, which is deeply rooted in tackling social and environmental issues. In his role as Allotment and Food Provision Manager, Raddon focuses on closing the food waste loop, helping people grow their own produce in the city, and recognising the interconnection between social wellbeing, our food systems and the natural environment.
Raddon says, “
It’s really fulfilling to have a job that enables me to do practical food growing, improve people’s mental health through wellbeing gardening sessions, and tackle food waste in a tangible way. I’m always learning how to be a better grower and how to most effectively encourage community participation in their local greenspace by observing what we grow and how people respond to the site. It’s also great to learn from people who’ve moved to the UK from elsewhere who have varied growing knowledge and skills to share too.
”
Through this work, Raddon is using what he learned from his Master’s in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources at CAT. While studying at CAT, he was inspired not only by the practical learning, like identifying plants, but by the conceptual skills he gained, such as systems thinking approaches.
In 2022 he set up a composting project with a local primary school. Having recognised that the school wasn’t separating food waste, that children weren’t using their allotment, and that the 1,400m2 plot was in constant need of compost, Raddon set out to tackle the disconnect between the three issues. He got pupils involved in composting their own canteen scraps to then grow food to provide for the community through the pantry, closing the food waste gap. The project received funding for a Ridan composting system. It now makes around 9.5 tonnes of peat-free compost for the allotment each year!
Before coming to CAT, Raddon was pursuing a career as a musician but just as he was starting out the pandemic hit, cancelling any work at that time. However, lockdown brought time and space for reflection. After experiencing organic farm work, Raddon decided to pursue his passion for nature academically at CAT. He recognised that what we grow and how we grow it has a vast impact on our ecosystems and that the universal need to eat can directly connect people with environmental solutions.
Studying at CAT also gave Raddon the opportunity to continue creating and sharing his music, including The Compost Song written during his dissertation, which he now brings into community gardening work to engage children in reducing and composting food waste.
“
Studying at CAT has allowed me to focus my energy into a field of work which is genuinely beneficial for the social and ecological wellbeing of the community, and which I find really fulfilling. The postgraduate course, the student community and the CAT site itself have been inspirational, leading me to a job where I can put my knowledge and skills in food growing and community engagement into practice on a daily basis.
”
Has CAT inspired your sustainability journey?
We’d love to hear how you’re making change happen. Share your story at
cat.org.uk/cat-stories
for a chance to be featured in a future edition of Clean Slate, on the CAT website or on social media.
February 11, 2026
A veterinary response to a pollution crisis
There is growing evidence of environmental harm caused by veterinary medicines used to treat fleas and ticks. CAT graduate,
Dr Julie Cayzer
, a vet and zoologist, used her dissertation to design a workplace learning programme for vets to promote responsible use of these treatments.
The UK is facing a biodiversity crisis, with the latest State of Nature report describing us as one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries. A chance moment, hearing a lunchtime news article on the widespread damage to aqueous ecosystems caused by pet flea and tick products, decided my dissertation’s focus. I had been aware of the environmental harm caused by chemicals used to treat pets’ external parasites (fleas and ticks) and internal parasites (worms) for several years. The discussion on the radio focused on new evidence relating to two in particular – fipronil and imidacloprid (a neonicotinoid).
Balancing the health of animals, people and the environment
As a vet myself, I knew the statutory guidance given by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and advice by leading national veterinary organisations was to avoid a blanket year-round approach to prescribing parasite treatments, and instead to tailor them for each pet and their human family. Something was preventing vets from responding to this new evidence of harm. Every vet values the natural world and wishes to protect it, yet we appeared to be unable to act on something so simple – to stop using the most harmful products and limit use of alternatives to a level that is deemed responsible.
Due to my background in veterinary education following years in clinical practice, I decided to co-create a training programme for UK vets on pet parasite treatments to promote their responsible use, drawing on the expertise and experiences of a wide range of veterinary experts and practitioners.
One Health – balancing animal, human and environmental health (British Veterinary Association, 2019) Dr Julie Cayzer
Crucially, the training would follow WHO’s One Health approach, aiming to sustainably balance and enhance the health of animals, people and the environment. This would allow greater flexibility to tailor prescribing behaviours to each individual context, thereby reducing the overall use of these drugs, and improving the outcomes for the environment without compromising public or animal health.
Influencing behaviour to achieve change
For my dissertation, I gathered expert insights from academic and practising veterinary professionals through interviews and focus groups. The codesign process involved four stages following the Design Council’s scheme to Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver the training programme. Throughout, I explored different components of behaviour that influence vets’ prescribing habits, following Susan Michie’s COM-B model. This model, which I had studied during the taught modules of my MSc at CAT, proposes that behaviour (B) is directed by the combined influences of capability (C), opportunity (O) and motivation (M). Twenty practising vets participated in the training prototypes, and our discussions revealed that motivation was key, with vets’ prescribing behaviour affected by social opportunity (practice team engagement) and time (to discuss treatment changes with owners).
It has been heartening to see a rapid response to the training programme by the vets involved in this research. Some have reported team discussions about moving away from spot-on treatments to potentially more environmentally friendly ones, for example, injectable products, so that less contaminated pet fur is shed. They have increased owner awareness regarding appropriate disposal (unwashed product packaging to landfill) and created tailored parasite treatments through lifestyle risk assessments. Empowered vets have begun to challenge systemic barriers such as automatic sign-ups to pet healthcare plans using year-round treatments where this was unnecessary following the pet’s risk assessment. Additionally, vets have reported engaging with further learning opportunities to find out more about the topic and to share this information with their practice teams.
Jeff Waage with one of the information boards on the Heath.
The impact of learning at CAT
My dissertation at CAT gave me the opportunity to make a real difference; since submitting, I have continued to develop resources to enable the behaviour changes needed around responsible prescribing of these treatments by vets.
I volunteer with the Greener Veterinary Practice working group of Vet Sustain, a charitable organisation supporting veterinary sustainable actions across the profession. With them, I co-authored a peer-reviewed resource pack which included evidence-based medicine to support clinical decisions and lifestyle risk checkers to enable tailored parasite control regimes. The packs were released in September 2025 for vets and their teams to enable their responsible use of these treatments. Later that month, I presented my dissertation’s findings to the Vet Sustain curriculum team to explore their use by vet schools and the wider veterinary profession due to the current strategic importance of prevention of this pollution.
My training programme has also been piloted with local vets in the Hampstead Heath area. Joe Downie, a CAT classmate whose dissertation investigated pollution with these pesticides in the Heath’s ponds caused by swimming dogs, introduced me to an environmental researcher from the Heath and Hampstead Society, Jeff Waage (London Tropical School of Medicine). A new campaign by the Society to raise dog owners’ awareness of the pollution problem needed local vets’ support, so a joint event was held at Keats House on the Heath in October 2025 with two veterinary academic researchers (Rose Perkins, University of Sussex, and Andrew Prentis, Imperial College London) who raised the initial concerns about these pollutants. This event explored the behaviour changes by owners needed to protect local ecosystems and the role of advice from their vets. Follow-up online meetings with local vets to plan their support for the new campaign are ongoing.
As a vet, I fully understand the benefits to health and wellbeing from pet ownership. I have an elderly cat called Izzy – my life is enriched daily by her antics! Owners can make a significant difference in their environmental impact through everything from the choice of pet to care for, the food and kit that they buy, to the preventative measures that will keep them healthy. For advice on environmentally friendly choices, visit
https://www.bva.co.uk/pet-owners-and-breeders/advice-for-pet-owners/how-can-i-reduce-my-pet-s-environmental-impact/
.
Advice for pet owners
Please speak to your vet about a lifestyle risk assessment for your pet(s), as well as pet diseases caused by parasites. There are some that cause human disease, called zoonoses, that can be serious.
Follow their instructions on how and when to use the treatment and dispose of its packaging.
And:
Bag and dispose of faeces in landfill.
Do not allow your dogs to swim, be groomed or shampooed until at least one month after use of spot-on flea and tick treatments.
Always read the product packaging to check what your pet parasite treatments contain. These two pesticides are commonly used in treatments sold outside of vet practices.
More information at bva.co.uk/petowners- and-breeders/advice-for-petowners/ parasite-treatments →
About the author
Julie completed her
MSc in Sustainability and Behaviour Change
at CAT in June 2025. Following a design route through her dissertation enabled her to collaborate with a wide range of experts in veterinary parasitology, as well as practising vets, to co-design a viable and relevant training programme. In her new role in the Royal College Veterinary Surgeons’ Knowledge team and at the University of Nottingham, Julie will continue to put the skills she gained at CAT into practice as she helps to shape the future of sustainable veterinary care.
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January 23, 2026
CAT Conversations: Sandy Stevens, CAT graduate
CAT graduate Sandy Stevens graduated with a distinction in our
MSc in Sustainability and Behaviour Change
in 2021. After four years of hard work and dedication she recently completed a PhD at Aberystwyth University. We caught up with her to find out more…
(more…)
June 27, 2025
CAT Conversations: Fergus Paxton, CAT volunteer
CAT has a long history of offering residential and day volunteering opportunities that give people the chance to develop their skills and support our work. Fergus Paxton joined CAT’s Marketing and Fundraising teams as a volunteer earlier this summer. We talked to him about his experience.
(more…)
December 2, 2024
Gardening on the Wild Side with CAT Gardener Petra
With ever increasing loss of species and biodiversity worldwide, can we look to our own green spaces to try and make a difference? We talked to CAT gardener Petra about how to make any patch of earth or community green space more sustainable and biodiverse.
Below are Petra’s top tips for gardening on the wild side:
1. There’s no need for chemical warfare
Any herbicides and pesticides we add to the environment may not stay where we put them and often have unintended consequences. Let’s keep things in perspective. Is it end of the world if our roses suffer an aphid attack or our patio sprouts the odd weed?
Resorting to a brightly packaged spray bottle full of promises is a short-term solution that has no place AT ALL in a non-commercial setting. It is far more effective to put our efforts towards good husbandry and fostering a balance of prey and predator insect species. So grow flowers, berries, seeds, make compost, have unkempt corners and brash piles! These are the things that bring a natural harmony to the garden.
2. Feed the living soil
A huge part of a garden’s biodiversity is underground in the form of worms, nematodes, insects, fungi and microbes. Caring for the soil is the heart of sustainable gardening.
If the subterranean wildlife is happy, the soil will be healthy, plants will thrive, and positive effects will ripple through the food chain to birds and small mammals. Compost, manure, leaf mould and organic mulches are all great ways to feed the soil and all the creatures in it. Synthetic fertilisers boost plant growth spectacularly, but they by-pass this living ecosystem, leading to the soil’s depletion, so compost all you can!
If you have space and time, all waste from the garden can be composted – weeds, leaves, grass cuttings or woody prunings. In my opinion, there is space for a compost bin in the smallest of gardens. Even a balcony has room for a worm bin. It’s important; it’s the heart of the matter!
3. Grow your own bird food
Bringing birds into the garden is all about providing food and shelter. We can buy imported bird seed as a treat, but it’s not difficult to provide local produce all year round!
Leave some wind fallen apples for the blackbirds. Grow sunflowers for the seed heads. Don’t prune your summer flowering shrubs until the birds have had a chance to pick off the seeds. And, if you have room, leave teasel standing for the pleasure of watching goldfinches feed in the dead of winter.
4. Venture into seed saving
As well as being highly nutritious to wildlife, seeds contain the genetic code for future generations. They are the store house for plant diversity, and this store house needs to be well stocked to cope with an uncertain future. Genetic variety makes plants resilient – who knows what forgotten traits may turn out to be useful in a changing climate?
If you don’t already, you could continue the age old gardening tradition of seed saving and help bring heritage varieties back from the brink of extinction. I am a beginner myself, and I am finding it an exciting way to learn more about plants I thought I knew. Sue Stickland’s ‘Back Garden Seed Saving’ book has been an invaluable guide, as have Real Seeds.
5. Practice selective weeding
While in the throes of weeding let’s remind ourselves that many of our most demonised weeds are important native food plants for wildlife. Nettles feed ladybirds and butterflies (and people!). Ivy’s autumn flowers and winter berries make a great in food source for pollinators and birds in times of scarcity. Brambles provide shelter, nectar, berries! Common ragwort attracts moths and butterflies and supports over 200 species of invertebrates. Dandelions… I could go on!
Suffice to say weeds have a place in the ‘wild’ garden and in a gardener’s affections. See their qualities and values. Find ways to incorporate them into your schemes. Some, like the afore-mentioned teasel or hemp agrimony, do not look out of place in an herbaceous border. Nettles and the mighty bramble could ramble around the compost bin. And what’s wrong with some early dandelions in the lawn?
6. A lawn need not be a mono crop of rye grass mown to within an inch of its life!
Take a relaxed approach to lawn care, let it grow a bit longer and have some flowering ‘weeds’ in it. Just banish sprays and fertiliser and a habitat will develop amongst the moist roots and nectar laden daisies. If you don’t need the open space for children’s games or deckchairs, you could consider going the whole hog towards a wildflower meadow.
7. Make a pond
A pond, no matter how big or small, adds a whole new habitat to any garden. Send out an open invitation to frogs, toads, newts, pond skaters, dragonflies. Importantly, ponds also provide a place to drink. Watching a wasp bring its tiny mouth to drink from the surface of an urban pond was an eye opening moment for me. Bees, birds, hedgehogs – they all need to drink!
8. Minimize hard landscaping
Speaking of hedgehogs, if you are lucky enough to be choosing the elements of a new garden, take wildlife habitat and flow into account.
Is there freedom of movement at the boundaries? Is there room for a hedge instead of a fence or wall? How much paving does one garden really need? These elements make a big difference to how welcoming our gardens are, and whether back gardens can connect up to become a bigger haven.
9. Trees for the bees
When choosing a tree or shrub to plant, pay attention to the pollen and nectar sources you have already in your garden and neighbourhood. Are there any hungry gaps when bees would travel further afield? This kind of observation takes time, so you could just focus on extending the flowering season. Willows, for example, provide essential nourishment in March when groggy, hungry bees are just emerging. Early flowering fruit trees are good too.
About the author
Petra has been managing the garden displays and helping the biodiversity flourish in the CAT gardens since 2015. When she’s not pruning the apple trees and experimenting with chickpea and lentil crops, Petra can be found improving and planning new interpretation for the gardens, and leading university and school groups on garden tours and volunteering days.
Get involved!
You can learn more about organic gardening, permaculture, ecology, woodland management and more on one of our day or short residential courses.
For the full range of activities on offer, visit our website.
November 22, 2019
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