Sustainable Future Centre

A space where you can find out about global issues and local sustainable initiatives in the county: from climate change and reducing plastic waste to looking after our wildlife and feeling the benefits of spending time in nature (and how you can get involved).

What is the Sustainable Future Centre?

A space where people can find out about global issues and local sustainable initiatives in the county: from climate change and water saving to plastic reduction and sustainable food, and how they can get involved.

The Sustainable Future Centre is located in the Jubilee Building at Queenswood Country Park and Arboretum.

Within the building, information boards provide advice on how to live and work sustainably and, on open days, volunteers will be on-hand to discuss ideas and share information. The centre also provides a space for events, workshops and meetings.

The Jubilee Building which hosts the Centre has been retrofitted to be more eco-friendly with double glazing and an air source heat pump replacing gas central heating. Elsewhere on the site, solar panels have been installed and the hot water in the loos is now heated by a solar thermal system.

Are you interested in finding out more about living sustainably?
This short film introduces what we have on offer in the Queenswood Sustainable Future Centre.

 

Want to know more about climate change and the ecological crisis? Information and advice about global, national and local issues – we can’t wait to be open again and welcoming you in!

SFC inside 1

Interested in Volunteering?

Interested in Hiring the Jubilee Building?

Our Sponsors

Sustainability Spotlights

We are using Spotlight posts, shared on social media, to show some of the information and resources available at the Queenswood Sustainable Future Centre.

Online Spotlight #1: Ecological Footprint

Our ecological footprint is the amount of the environment necessary to support our lifestyle. It is measured in terms of the area of land and water required to produce the goods and services we use and process the waste that we produce. Earth Overshoot Day is the day each year that we blow nature’s budget and go into ‘debt’ by using more resources than the Earth can support. In 2019 this was on July 29th. As a result of the Covid lockdowns, our impact on nature reduced a little in 2020, which resulted in the overshoot day falling on 22nd August. In 2021, it again fell on 29th July, and in 2022, on the 28th July.

Want to know what your personal “overshoot day’ and what can you do to push it back? Use this ecological footprint calculator to find out, and check out the work of the Global Footprint Network, for more info on footprinting.

Online Spotlight #2: UN Sustainable Development Goals

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals laid out by the UN are a great place to start when thinking about how to make our local area and communities more sustainable. Here at Queenswood, while we may not be able to end world poverty, we can ensure each project we undertake works towards at least one of these goals whether promoting good health and wellbeing, life on earth or clean energy.

Online Spotlight #3: Global Biodiversity

The total estimated number of animal and plant species on Earth is 8 million (including 5.5 million insect species).

Shockingly, up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction, many within decades.

Can individuals make a difference? Yes! Here’s how:

  • Help our native pollinators. Click here to see how.
  • Reduce or eliminate use of chemicals at home and buy organic: herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers.
  • Make your garden or local green space as wildlife-friendly as possible Top tips here.
  • Reduce your consumption.
  • Reuse and recycle.
  • Reduce your energy demand.
  • Buy local foods – a good start to knowing exactly what you’re buying and how it’s produced.
  • Sign up to the Herefordshire Food Charter.
  • Donate to conservation efforts.
  • Become a Herefordshire Wildlife Trust volunteer.
  • Advocate for Biodiversity by supporting positive campaigns and contacting your local MP.
  • Buy ‘good wood’: look out for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label. You can also help by reducing your paper consumption and using recycled paper.
  • Use well seasoned and properly dried firewood with a moisture content reading of less than 20% from a reputable, licensed supplier using sustainable woodland management techniques, such as coppicing.

Online Spotlight #4: The Three Aspects of Sustainable Development

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” – Bruntland Report 1987

Online Spotlight #5: The Egan Wheel

The ‘Egan Wheel’ focuses on specific themes which together contribute to what we might describe as a sustainable community.

Online Spotlight #6: What Steps can we Take Towards a Sustainable Local Economy?

Online Spotlight #7: Art & Sustainability

Artists have a crucial role to play in the dialogue about climate change and sustainability.

Art can help us to re-imagine the world we live in and change our relationship with it and with each other.

Art can offer fresh approaches to communicating the challenges we face.

We can’t alter our behaviour unless we change the way we think, to visualise ourselves as part of a different sustainable world.

Art can help us to re-imagine the world and to be the change.

Online Spotlight #8: UK Biodiversity