Suzy Edwards

Programmes, Public Relations and Development

It was reading about the destruction of the Amazon as a 15year old that propelled me into a career as an environmental professional.

I spent 9 years with the Building Research Establishment, the UK’s foremost organisation for construction related research and consultancy and a world leader in sustainable construction, where I was fortunate enough to become internationally known as an expert in life cycle assessment of the environmental impact of building products and worked with manufacturers and trade associations, on large government research contracts, with UNEP and in international standards development.

I left to work freelance and co-created and delivered a ‘Living Well Within One World’ seminar series as well as acting a consultant to a range of businesses and charities including the Good Homes Alliance.
I’ve spent my life believing in ‘walking my talk’and· much of my time has been spent engaged with voluntary environmental action. I organized the West Hampstead Local Food Festival, was a founding member of the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s, co-ordinator of Camden Friends of the Earth and co-hosted a series of Conversation Cafes on the subject of ‘Climate Change and Personal Liberty’.

I served 3 years as a board member of Friends of the Earth and the Sustainable Development Foundation and I led the development of Camden Climate Action Network in North London. I also spent a number of years as an Introduction Leader and coach for Landmark Education, a global personal transformation organisation. Now I’m the chair of Ashburton Futures, my local Transition group.

An encounter with a stranger, an old lady named Hope, set me off on an adventure to bring a much higher awareness of consciousness to my activity and this challenge continues to inspire me. I woke up the fact that my body isn’t just there to keep my head at eye level with you and that there is, incredibly, more to life than meets the eye – as if that weren’t amazing enough. Integrating all of ourselves into what we do has become the theme of my mission, and living part time at Embercombe and part time in London in the first period of working at Embercombe provided the perfect opportunity to practice that.

Now I live in Devon with my partner, both of us sharing the care of our young daughter with working part time. Its amazing to me to think that if I hadn’t discovered Embercombe and be changed by the invitation it presented to me, I might still be looking at life from the outside and trying to change it, rather than throwing myself in and participating in all its messy wonderfulness.

Through my work at Embercombe, my aim is to inspire everyone and anyone to step out and do their thing, unafraid of what others think, questioning conventional thinking and loving being in action for the world. The Shambala Warriors are my heroes…and Catherine Tate the character actress/comedian is a close second.

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