EVENING STANDARD THURSDAY 3 DECEMBER 2009 43★

THE SMALLS BUSINESSMANBen Ramsden

WHO: Founder of Pants to Poverty, the Fairtrade seller that aims to rid the world of “bad pants” by supporting organic cotton farming in India, recycling waste cotton for packaging and campaigning to stop the use of dangerous pesticides that poison populations and ravage the environment. ECO CV: “It all began in 2001, when I started to work with two tribes in the Guyanese Amazon jungle and saw natural resources pillaged, indigenous communities devastated and inefficient money-hungry organisations reaping the rewards.” Ben went on to travel the world seeing many more examples of this, before returning to the UK and working for charities including Amnesty International. Pants for Poverty was launched in 2005 on the back of the Make Poverty History campaign, because he “saw just how unsustainable the old way of doing business is”.GREENING LONDON: By staging “pant flashes” in the City and giving local communities pants to trial, Pants to Poverty is “raising underwearness” about the need to ban dangerous chemical pesticides worldwide. GREEN MESSAGE: “By avoiding waste and pesticides, farming naturally and transporting, where possible, by sea, we are forming a totally new approach to fashion that can generate social, environmental and financial profit for us all. It isn’t a charity that is doing this. It isn’t a politician or a fat cat. This is a pair of pants. The more people wear our pants, the more we can do. Raise your underwearness and liberate the power in your pants!” JG

THE FIREBRAND FILM-MAKERFranny Armstrong

WHO: Director of landmark environmental film The Age of Stupid, campaigner, award-winner and activist. Her latest mission, 10:10, aims to cut 10 per cent of carbon emissions by 2010. The campaign has generated unprecedented levels of interest from unlikely players such as the Royal Mail and Microsoft across the UK. ECO CV: Franny studied zoology before heading to work on a reef in Tanzania. She got into movie-making “by accident” after her documentary-maker father lent her a camera to shoot what eventually became the hit film McLibel. Her sixth film, The Age of Stupid, pitched Pete Postlethwaite

into an imaginary 2055 and shocked with its question “Why didn’t we stop climate change when we had a chance?” The next step, 10:10, was launched on 1 September.GREENING LONDON: Not content with having the PM and 88 local councils on board, Franny now wants to get London to sign up to 10:10, focusing first on the Tube system — and Boris Johnson. “London is a world leader and what happens here is very important for tackling emissions globally.” GREEN MESSAGE: “Everyone wants to reduce their carbon emissions but they need others to do it with them. 10:10 is achievable. It’s not only easy but will save you money too.”

DD

THE CLEAN WATER BOYEd Evans, 21

WHO: River keeper for Thames21, an environmental charity that gets 4,000 volunteers each year to clean up the Thames, removing rubbish and creating wildlife habitats. Ed recruits volunteers and spends his spare time cleaning up the river himself.ECO CV: Ed first began volunteering for Thames21 three years ago when he moved to London to study music at King’s College. Originally from a village near Stratford-upon-Avon, he never had environmental issues at the forefront of his mind until he came to the city. “When I moved to London, I spent a lot of time near the river. I rowed a bit and I would walk along it and see that in so many places it’s really quite dirty and

mistreated. So, when I looked on the King’s College volunteering board and saw Thames21 I decided to get involved.” GREENING LONDON: With Thames21, Ed finds the dirtiest spots along the river and rallies local communities to help with the clean-up jobs. He also leads corporate events, getting London businesses to volunteer on away days. GREEN MESSAGE: “The Thames is such an iconic part of London and a national symbol, yet in the past there has been so much rubbish in it that in the 1950s absolutely no wildlife was able to live in it. Now, largely thanks to the work that we’re doing cleaning up, the wildlife is returning. So Thames21 wants to get thousands of volunteers to regularly sign up.”

JG

LONDON’S UNSUNG HEROESLONDON’S UNSUNG HEROESECO

people. Eileen Rose Gorman is project leader of the Close Tenants Association, on a housing estate in Lambeth, which lacks any green space. She was inspired to start a gardening club in 2006 which has now expanded to include vegetable

growing — even on some balconies, mak-ing the whole place look so much more inviting. Tom Walsh founded Sustainable Merton with other people who shared his ideas. They persuaded the National Trust to let them develop a rundown allotment site in Mitcham. Tom con-tacted several schools to bring students into the garden and now 11 other schools want to have their own food-growing space with his help.

Debbie Bourne was first approached by Alexis Rowell from Transition Towns to develop a piece of land in Belsize Park. She involved three families in the area and set to work building a polytunnel, wildlife area, pond and water butt. They used odd items they found in their own houses or in the street to build raised beds and paths. Debbie has involved several schools in the area and the Hamp-stead Scouts. The place is now a centre for people to learn about food growing and Debbie has written Dig It, a pro-gramme to teach children how to grow food. “My eight-year-old son Lucien ate the first lettuce leaf of his life last night,” she says. “And it was grown in our kitchen garden.”

I am constantly moved and inspired by

the projects I visit: the wildlife Centre in Peckham, where raised beds have been built so the elderly don’t need to bend; the Hackney City Farm, which takes children who’ve been expelled from school and reintroduces them to learning through a process of gardening and look-ing after animals; the skip garden behind St Pancras, where homeless women come and learn a skill, free of charge, all because a gardener called Paul is pre-pared to give up his time and effort to make their lives better.

People are experimenting with technol-ogy as well. Jeremy Leggett, CEO of Solar Century, which installs panels, has just invented the most amazing cooker for Africa. It looks like a TV satellite dish but weighs almost nothing: all you do is place it on the ground and put a pot of water or stew in the middle. The sun’s rays heat the dish to incredible temperatures and you’ll have boiling water before you know it. What a contrast to having walk to the nearest forest for firewood — and it generates no carbon.

Home grown: Debbie Bourne and son Lucien with some of their vegetables

Shore winner: Ed Evans is making a di� erence as one of 4,000 volunteers dedicated to cleaning up the banks of the Thames

Fully focused: director Franny Armstrong has won support from major companies, the PM and local councils and is now looking to win over London and Boris

For more information on how you can help turn London green, log on to:standard.co.uk/lookafterlondon

Green London Life

MAT

T W

RIT

TLE

THE

GU

AR

DIA

N

MAT

T W

RIT

TLE

Saying pants to poverty: Ben Ramsden raises “underwearness”