The Hopeful Activists' Podcast Rich Gower and Abigail Thomas

Grace Hills has been digging up the grass verges, planting fruit trees and increasing the biodiversity on her street, with the help of her neighbours and their children. Abi met two of the children who are part of her Flower Fairies group, where Grace teaches them to enjoy and appreciate nature, and to do plenty of planting, despite living on a suburban housing estate!
If you’re a gardener this is a good episode to listen to whilst you’re doing some digging and planting, and if, like Abi, you appreciate nature, but don’t see yourself as a gardener, we know you’ll be inspired by the small steps that started Grace Hills on her guerrilla gardening journey. We also talk about being a neurodiverse Christian activist, a subject we'll return to soon!
You can find Grace on Instagram @sparkingcommunity
The book she mentioned is called Get Guerrilla Gardening by Ellen Miles.
You can find out more about guerrilla gardening here and there's a beginners guide here.

Rachel and Rich (authors of The Hopeful Activist) listen to Abi's interview with Dr Andy Knox, author of Sick Society.
Dr Andy Knox argues that our society is broken because we have built it on values that are not working for too many people. Sharing moving stories from the people he has met in his clinic as a GP, we see a system that is stacked against certain people in society and is profoundly unjust. Arguing against "hero leaders", and for hosting, listening and working together with love at the core, Andy challenges us to be outraged by the injustice in our society, and then do something about it.
To buy Sick Society visit Boz Publications.

Laura Young has been leading a campaign with groups supporting health and the environment and at the end of January their campaign to have disposable vapes banned in the UK was successful!
The campaign is just 16 months old, and has made a huge impact, with legislative change now around the corner and Abi was delighted to be able to talk to Laura so soon after this amazing result! 
Laura, also known as LessWasteLaura is an award winning climate activist, environmental scientist, and ethical influencer. for more ideas on waste reduction visit her linktr.ee
@lesswastelaura across social media

Thanks so much to Sarah Edwards and Rosie Venner from the Just Money Movement for answering some tricky questions in today’s episode.
If you’ve ever asked questions of capitalism, if you’ve thought about whether direct action or becoming a shareholder is the best way to make change in our financial systems, or if you feel like you don’t have enough money to make a difference anyway, you’ll find something in this interview for you!
Find out more about the Fair Tax Mark here.

A great interview with the Rev Dr Ash Barker today! For over 30 years Ash has lived on the front line of urban poverty with his family, and Ash is the founder of Seedbeds, which is all about growing the capacities of urban leaders where they live. I went down to Birmingham to meet Ash at his community church building and there are so many riches to mine from him and we’ll also hear more from James Crystal, who we heard from in our Christmas episode about his experience on the Change Makers Programme, which Ash Barker set up. 
Find out more about Generosity Dinners here.

A special episode about faith and mental health. Please be aware that this episode includes reference to sexual assault, suicide and self-harm. 
Today we hear from three brilliant contributors. 
Aaron Shah from Worship on the Streets shares his personal mental health journey.  His book is called Being Still, A Quiet Revolution and you can get a copy here, or by signing up at his Patreon. You can hear more from him on this previous episode.
Bryn Abbott works for Mercy UK and talks to us about The Big Christian Mental Health Campaign. Do look at their website for more details on The Freedom Course.
James Crystal is a mentor to young men coming out of prison with the brilliant organisation In2Out. He is also a speaker and he shares his story of recovery from addiction and mental health struggles.
For other support with your mental health visit the NHS here if you are in the UK. You can also get support from The Samaritans.