A PIONEERING conference held in Hereford has heard that real change towards sustainable living has to come from ordinary people working on solutions in their own local area.

Speaking at the second annual Soil, Soul, Society Conference, Ed Mayo of New Economic Foundation said the foundation is running an anti-apathy campaign.

The conference, organised by Partnership for Sustainable Herefordshire, and supported by The Hereford Times, Resurgence Magazine and Positive News, was a forum in which people from all over the country were able to get to know others with similar interests and begin to establish local networks of their own.

A host of national and local experts spoke about ecological and social issues at the sell-out weekend at the Graftonbury Hotel in Hereford.

Chairman of the Government's sustainable development commission, Jonathon Porritt told the conference the upcoming Earth Summit in Johannesburg will not even meet its own limited aims.

American scientist John Todd showed some examples of 'living machines' in cities, which digest waste by completing the natural loop that occurs in nature.

Alan Knight of Kingfisher/B&Q outlined the ways in which large corporations can turn around bad practices of the past to and use their power to influence and insist on better working conditions abroad and support initiatives like forest stewardship.

Elaine Brook, who explained Gaia Theory's interconnection of life, said: "It's about overcoming our conditioning that makes us want to compete all the time, and developing partnerships based on co-operation - it's actually more fun.

"Creating a healthy environment is not about boring hard work, but about enjoyment, celebration and socialising which is what makes healthy living easy. That is why the conference included music, poetry and art and dance as well as the most up to date practical information."