St. George's Bristol

This year the Bristol Schumacher Lectures will take place at St. George's Bristol.

"You feel very special at St George's Bristol, special and very spoilt. It feels as though the artists have come to play to you and you alone. It has a warm, welcoming atmosphere and the ambience of a truly great concert hall but it's much prettier than them all, a magical acoustic to match the mouth-watering atmosphere."
Chris De Souza, BBC Radio 3 Presenter.

Famous for its exceptionally fine acoustic, St George's Bristol is one of Britain's leading concert halls and recording studios. In 1999 it underwent a multi-million pound transformation and now boasts new seating and an increased audience capacity as well as greatly improved stage and lighting systems.

Shaping Our Future

The theme of this year's Bristol lectures springs out of a growing concern about humanity's seemingly blind collision course with its own future. We have become used to taking nature's riches without much concern about the consequences for the world or for future generations. With unprecedented global human populations and use of resources we face the urgent need to consciously shape our future. Are we up to the challenge?

The Speakers

Tim Smit
Chief Executive, Eden Project
EATING FROM THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE
Recreating Eden

Tim Smit is the originator and Chief Executive of the Eden Project, now one of Britain's greatest visitor attractions despite its relatively remote location in South West Cornwall. After a successful career in the music industry he also became instrumental in the restoration of the Gardens of Heligan, which now attract some 400,000 visitors a year. Restless, energetic, and articulate, he is a man with a big agenda. This is powerfully articulated in his book Eden. "People need to be educated, informed, inspired and above all excited by what is happening to conservation. We need to celebrate the world we live in, but also take action for change. We won't
succeed by saying the world is coming to an end. We can get the right answers only if we ask the right questions. The only thing that really motivates people is the heart."

Mary-Jayne Rust is an ecopsychologist working in North London.  Eating problems and addiction have been  major themes in her work as a therapist, which has naturally led to a wider interest in our addiction to consumerism. She has been a central figure in the emerging Ecopsychology movement in the UK for the past decade, a movement which is using psychology in service to the earth. In her lecture Psychology for a Change: From Inertia to Inspiration for Action she will speak about the psychological dimensions of making lifestyle changes, and the reasons we may have for not doing what we know is best for us - and for all beings with whom we share this planet. She believes that the psychotherapy community remains too private, and needs to share its wisdom about the nature of deep change.  Indeed, both the therapy community and the green movement could benefit from cross-fertilisation, to gain a deeper understanding of how personal and planetary healing is inextricably interwoven.

Jakob von Uexkull
President, World Future Council
BUILDING MORAL POWER
From The Right Livelihood Awards to The World Future Council

Jakob von Uexkull is founder and president of the World Future Council Initiative. He also founded the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. He is a past Member of the European Parliament. He was also one of the founders of the New Economics Foundation, London. He says "At the start of the new millennium the world needs an independent body to inject a missing ethical dimension into the conduct of national and global affairs. We need a clear and sustained voice that expresses our values as world citizens, rather than just as global consumers. Our key challenge is not a values vacuum but that widely agreed values are not being acted on. The World
Future Council will seek to ensure that ethical, long-term thinking becomes central to the debate about our common future."

Our Sponsors

This year's Schumacher Lectures are again supported by our three loyal financial organisations who are leading lights in ethical investment. Based in Bristol they are John Scott & Partners (independent financial advisers), Rathbone Greenbank Investments (ethical investment management) and Triodos Bank (ethical banking).