In this inspiring and deeply personal episode of Straight Talking Sustainability , host Emma Burlow sits down with Ben Luger , Marketing Project Specialist at Ecosurety, to explore how volunteering can be the secret weapon for engaging people in climate action whilst simultaneously improving mental health and building stronger communities. Ben's journey from delivering carbon literacy training to establishing a thriving community tree nursery in just 12 months demonstrates how individual action, when channelled through community organising, creates exponential impact without the overwhelming time and energy drain that most people fear. Ben traces his volunteering journey back to an unexpected source: delivering carbon literacy training for the packaging sector. Whilst training others about the causes and impacts of the climate crisis, he found himself experiencing increasing climate anxiety despite making personal lifestyle changes (not flying, barely using a car, cutting meat consumption, sustainable banking). The deep dive into climate science that carbon literacy demands created an "itching urge" to do more, which reached a tipping point at the Blue Earth Summit in 2024. After two days of talks, panels, and workshops, Ben felt simultaneously enlightened and frustrated by what he describes as an "echo chamber of the same people coming together to talk about it." The breakthrough came during a session called Reasons To Be Cheerful featuring inspiring community activists including Speech Debelle (who launched Black Fish to connect Black communities with fishing and nature) and No Ven (who transformed a community garden whilst escaping years of abuse). Two days after that talk, Ben was writing emails to launch his own community tree nursery project. What makes Ben's story particularly powerful for sustainability professionals experiencing burnout is how he found an existing community organisation (Rooted Chippenham) rather than starting from scratch. By approaching an established Community Interest Company with an existing volunteer base of 30 people, polytunnel, and governance structure, Ben could piggyback on infrastructure whilst contributing his marketing and communications skills. The group launched a crowd funder with match funding and hit their initial target within 24 hours, ultimately raising nearly three times their goal (£4,300) by the campaign's end. The conversation explores why volunteering works where other engagement approaches fail. Ben describes discovering an "extended family" of like-minded people on his doorstep who share the same worries, anxieties, and motivations. This social connection creates energy rather than draining it, transforming what could feel like another burden into something people actively look forward to. Emma relates her own volunteering experiences (parkrun, local library, helplines) and reflects on how people outside the volunteering world consistently underestimate the benefits whilst overestimating the time commitment. Ben candidly discusses how volunteering has become his antidote to climate and biodiversity crises, particularly during a difficult year when grief from his father's death resurfaced a decade later. His GP prescribed nature, which led Ben to recognise how local nature-based projects offer something uniquely cleansing and energising. Now running both the tree nursery (growing around 1,000 trees annually for free distribution to local residents) and community bat walks, Ben describes feeling "unburdened" compared to the anxiety that previously consumed him. For workplace applications, Ben explains that whilst Ecosurety offers three volunteering days annually (with corporate sponsorship for his projects), only about one third of employees across organisations typically use these days. The challenge is not lack of...
