Testimonials

“The most successful public engagement initiative in our town over the last 10 years without doubt was the introduction of the Sussex Green Living/TerraCycle recycling and the repair café, both of which Sussex Green Living helped us set up”.

Geoff Barnard

Founder Greening Steyning and lead for the South East Climate Alliance

“Sussex Green Living was instrumental in setting up BilliGreen, a brand new eco group in Billingshurst by linking up two villagers with an interest in environmental issues. SGL has been really supportive in helping us set up our single use recycling hub by providing guidance, training, risk assessments and insurance cover. SGL continues to support BilliGreen by attending local events that raise our profile in the village and we are working together on some exciting new initiatives for the village and the wider area”.

Melanie Parker
Founding member of Billingshurst’s environmental group BilliGreen

“Your talk was an absolute triumph! Just thrilled with the subject you focused on and thank you for presenting it to us in such a matter of fact but positive style.
We had a talk by a local Green Councillor last night (then had a dinner with her, staff and the headmaster afterwards!) and so much of the older children’s discussions illustrated how they had been affected by the facts you shared with us. All the younger ones that I taught yesterday also said how moved they were and now eager to learn more. Brilliant job – bravo!
I’ll pass these notes onto Amelie who is longing to write this blog and be into after half-term if not before to share further highlights from the week and its stickability going forward!”

Will Frost 
Humanities teacher, Windlesham House School

“As part of the Billingshurst Children and Family Centre’s summer programme, we held a monster modelling madness session. All Centre activities are aimed primarily at children 0-5years of age. However, summer activities also have to be accessible, to our target children and their siblings.

Sussex Green Living representative Carrie Cort came and beautifully enhanced the session. She provided excellent information on recycling, reusing items, and reducing waste to our families who attended the session. Her clear, child-friendly, and eco-friendly messaging was perfect for the mix of children and parents who attended.

Great models of all kinds were made from the ‘treasure’ we had previously labelled ‘junk’. The families who attended enjoyed the use of recycled materials and were responsive to all the new ideas that Carrie provided. It was an excellent day enjoyed by all”.

Angela Rodrigues De Agrela
Family Outreach Worker, Billingshurst Children and Family Centre

“Thank you so much for all your hard work and success with Green Club and also giving the opportunity for so many of our children to speak on the radio about the school special recycling fundraising scheme. It is a wonderful addition to their education, an enrichment to the School and also adding a very healthy responsibility to our children’s lives now and for the future. I have forwarded the clips to our school Governors who may not have been at assembly this morning to spread the good news, and out of what I am sure is a shared appreciation from us all”.

Andrew Bernardi
Violinist, member of professorial staff Trinity Laban Conservatoire and Vice Chair of governors to William Penn school

” Thank you so much for coming tonight, the Cubs really enjoyed the session and were so engaged in your Climate Change activities. My two children came home telling their Daddy about all they had learnt!  What you are doing is great, keep up the good work and thank you again”

Tanya Cooper
Dauxwood Cubs, 1st Billingshurstl

“Carrie arrived at the scout hut in Higgins Way with her helper Jill. They brought lots of interesting items including 2 recycled robots. The beavers were fascinated, especially with the robots from the moment they came in to the moment they left. Carrie gave the beavers lots of interesting information in a way which was very suitable for the ages of the children and then played a game which was excellent. The beavers remembered the evening and talked about it afterwards, many of them said it was their favourite evening. We are now planning a follow up evening where the children can make their own recycling collection box.”

Lynn Roberts
5th /10th Horsham Beavers Leader

“Carrie led a workshop for teachers on the links between waste and wildlife. She is an engaging and enthusiastic leader with a passion and knowledge of her subject that is infectious. She works equally well with both children and adults.”

Margaret Enstone
Senior Advisor, West Sussex County Council and Executive Support for West Sussex Environment and Climate Change Board

“Some people intellectually get something, but have difficulty turning their passion into practical action. And some people simply jump on bandwagons. Carrie is the real deal. She is deeply committed to all she speaks of, and backs up her passion with practical initiatives that touch lives in caring and effective ways. Her boundless energy is matched by her care and humanity.”

Neil Scotton
Co-founder of The One Leadership Project

“Engaging older residents in climate emergency related initiatives has, at times, been challenging. Appealing to the “make do and mend’ post war ethos has proven really successful in other villages, allowing intergenerational exchanges around growing our own food and repairing clothes and equipment. With the help of Sussex Green Living and their Inspiration Eco Station at our village event, we have kickstarted ideas for a repair cafe, set up the TerraCycle recycling at our school which was launched by Carrie delivering a fun assembly at our village school in Cowfold. We look forward to working with you in 2022″. 

Councillor Joanne Knowles

Co-founder of Greening Cowfold in 2021

“I met Carrie when I interviewed her a few years ago for Billingshurst’s magazine, Village Tweet.  As a family we had previously tried various green initiatives which had petered out after a while, but I was really impressed by her passion and knowledge, and she also made me realise that one person can make a difference, even to a situation as critical as climate change.  It made me wonder what I could do, which has resulted in me starting a green committee at the church where I work. This has resulted in many projects including the church switching to clean energy and is inspiring others to change the way they live.  This ripple effect shows what one person can have.  Thank you, Carrie, for being a great inspiration!”

Pippa Cleeve

Chanctonbury Church family (Ashington, Wiston, Washington & Buncton)

“Carrie has attended our school on a number of occasions, providing fun, interactive sessions with classes and whole school assemblies. We chose sessions to enhance the curriculum already being taught in school to support pupils in understanding our place within the world and the responsibility we have to care for it.  Children have enjoyed learning about oceans, reducing plastic pollution and understanding the journey of different types of textiles prior and post us wearing the clothes we buy and the impact this has on our planet. This particular visit really inspired us to reinforce the 4 R’s message to pupils and parents with regards to clothing and we now regularly do second hand school uniform and where we do not charge, but offer opportunity to pass on good quality uniform that otherwise would have gone to recycling. We also have recycling collections to raise money for the school and to support Sussex Green Living and the Salvation Army with their wider community projects.” 

Anna Hadden
SENCO, Arunside School

“Carrie visited our school to help launch our Eco Arts Week. She delivered an assembly to pupils, staff and parents and followed this up with 2 workshops for our KS2 pupils.

Her enthusiasm and engaging manner had pupils, staff and parents fully engaged for the entire 30 minutes. Carrie has clearly worked hard thinking about the content of her presentation and how best to deliver it, it was fun, educational and had real impact on the audience; we all went away thinking about our own eco-footprint and changes we could make.

The workshops for pupils were also very worthwhile. Her props and interactive approach meant that pupils were engaged and learning. After the event pupils reflected on their new learning and how this would impact on them in their own lives. We now plan to set up an eco-schools group and may well call on her expertise again.

I cannot recommend Carrie highly enough, she is a real ambassador for change and will do doubt continue to have a impact on children in the schools she visits, as we all know our future is in their hands, we need to continue to educate them!”

Hilary Douch
Headteacher at St Giles Church of England Primary School

“Carrie and the team from Sussex Green Living delivered a fantastic addition to our Playday in Haywards Heath by bringing along the recycling robot, plenty of activities, ideas and information for the all the families. The information on recycling, sustainability and the natural environment were invaluable to the successfulness of our day. Carrie engaged all ages in the activities and with her volunteers and Mid Sussex District Council would use the organisation again in the future for similar work with young people.”

Susannah Conway
Young Persons Development Officer, Mid Sussex County Council

“Thank you for coming to our Beaver meeting last Friday. You pitched the session just right and the children loved the games and learnt lots about what to recycle. I am sure they will have taken home lots of ideas and told their parents where they were going wrong with their recycling!”

Claire Gale
Cowfold Beavers Leader Chaffinch

“Carrie Cort has enormous vitality and passion in promoting the cause of Sussex Green Living and as her neighbour I’m amazed to see the uses she puts to so much of the waste that we all throw away. Her single minded and fun approach in putting her message across is inspirational and we should all respect the invaluable hard work that she does to find new ways of diverting our rubbish. I am continually entertained by her 7 year old son arriving at our front door in so many guises – all made from rubbish i.e. a scarecrow, cardboard dalek, rocket etc”.

Caroline Dowse
Sussex resident and Carrie Cort’s neighbour

“Great talk on Recycling in West Sussex and inspirational upcycling last night and we were delighted at the turnout. You even trumped Ian Currie, the weatherman who is always good for a crowd!”

Nancy Brock
Southwater Horticulture Society

Feedback from teachers who attended our “Wildlife and Waste” workshop at the South Downs National Park Authority Teachers Outdoor Learning Conference:

“Creative, vibrant. Encouraged input from participants in development of ideas”. “Good ideas for recycling ideas”. “Really useful, went quickly. Just long enough too”. “Good fun ideas”. “Good workshop, was great to get hands on and to make something”. “Many things shared could have been found online I felt but opened my eyes to new ideas a very fun hands on session”. “So much fun and loads of ideas to take back to school”.

“Carrie has been volunteering with West Sussex County Council for over 6 years, in that time, she has proven herself to be a reliable and steadfast member of the Scheme. I personally have known Carrie for over 2 years, admiring her dedication and diligence in executing her role, both as a Waste Prevention Advisor Volunteer, but also, in her passion for working with primary school children and developing their learning about the environment around them. Carrie is an excellent communicator and has much experience working with schools to improve their environmental awareness and helping to formulate action plans to achieve their ‘green’ goals”.

Rachel Carruthers
Household Waste Prevention Officer, Waste Management Services WSCC

“Having seen Carrie give a presentation to a local Cub pack I asked whether she could come into our school to spread the greener living message to our children! On the day Carrie started with an Energy Eco Warrior assembly to the whole school and was able to engage and enthuse children from aged 7 to 11. They were able to see the effects of our use of fossil fuels on the earth and on their futures as well as coming up with positive steps that they could take to make a small difference.

During the rest of her visit, Carrie led two workshops with our Year 5 and 6 pupils. Her presentation was varied and informative and allowed children time to think, discuss and learn about the environment and our impact on it. They were inspired to make a difference in their own lives. The children were also encouraged to make links with others by putting a message onto a re-used CD that would be shared at forthcoming events – they created some lovely messages and artwork.

Carrie was professional, engaging and definitely spread the green message to our children”.

Kathryn Sanderson
Assistant Head, Northolmes Junior School

“Carrie Cort is a lady with many skills and is passionate about her Sussex Green Living initiative. If you are looking for someone to talk to children and parents about sustainable living, recycling or advising on how to involve school groups, then Carrie is the person to call. With clear communication skills she offers fun and creativity in any class, group or club. She is trained and completely up to date with all that is happening in Sussex—- and globally!”

Dorothy Larios
Mindfulness Coach

“Thank you so much for delivering this evenings Al Gore Climate Reality presentation. I am at home with a big grin on my face at the positive energy of the event – I think I managed to speak to everyone afterwards and the feedback was good. The slides were so powerful and I can see how easy it would be to fill 4 hours!”  

Annie Brown
Adur Green Party

“I met Carrie when we were both training to be waste prevention volunteer Advisors for West Sussex County Council. From that beginning, Carrie has gone on to make enormous inroads into recycling, upcycling and generally trying to protect the planet. Her work with her local school and with beaver and other school groups is to be admired. She has a way of being able to communicate directly to the children without being patronising or boring. I count myself very lucky to have Carrie as a colleague and friend.”

Jill Shuker
Health Walk Coordinator at Horsham District Council

“I am writing to let you know how much we all enjoyed your assembly. You did a terrific job and I was most impressed by your knowledge and delivery. Both the staff and girls found your message extremely interesting and hopefully the girls will have taken some of the points you made home with them”.

Mrs Joy Baggs
Headmistress, Prep School, Farlington Independent Girls Day and Boarding School

“I met Carrie Cort through Transition Horsham, part of the Transition Network, whose aim it is to fight against climate change, especially against the world’s dependence on oil. Carrie impressed me with her passion to make a difference by applying the green agenda to practical issues. Carrie uses her excellent interpersonal skills and character when talking to the public about the unsustainable rate at which humans are consuming natural resources and how this is contributing unnecessarily to climate change. To date Carrie has been carrying out most of this work alongside her main job at Take One and building www.SussexGreenLiving.co.uk as her night job! I wish her well with her new endeavours”.

Tom Kinally
Renewable Energy Advisor

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Sussex people inspiring a climate for change