Terena Plowright
Terena lives in Petersfield in Hampshire, a county she loves, especially because of the South Downs. Her interest in alternative living began in the early 1980s when she was a member of a band singing about change and also opened a shop with friends called ‘Live and Let Live’ promoting organic healthy eating and selling books on alternative lifestyles and energy. After spending time in Greece, Terena then ran a public house and music venue for several years.
Frustrated at not being able to encourage change, she then took a degree in Politics at Southampton University and went on to do a post-graduate degree in Broadcast Journalism. This allowed her to work for the BBC for a few years, in radio and making documentaries on rural life. During this time Terena took part in many organisations and events campaigning and debating change in lifestyles to divert the impending risks of climate change.
In 2000, Terena and a business partner and set up the South Downs Natural Burial Site at The Sustainability Centre. The business was a great success and is still operating. She is currently a director of the site. Since 2001, Terena has worked as Centre Manager at The Sustainability Centre. Some of the main achievements of the Centre have been – Refurbishing a dilapidated building into an award winning eco-hostel, installing an award winning biomass boiler, and writing then implementing a plan for the land management of the site to increase the biodiversity. Terena is also the fundraiser for the charity, and has given many talks and presentations to a variety of audience on a wide-ranging series of topics around the subject of sustainability.
Terena became a Director of the not-for-profit company Wood4Heat in 2006. The company was set up to alleviate the ‘chicken and egg’ situation that has been stopping the implementation of biomass heating due to lack of woodchip supply / demand. The company is now a leading example for quality chip supply.
Since the early 90’s shepherding has been a large part of Terena’s life, and has it has become her true form of relaxation. She has demonstrated the skills of working with dogs at many county shows and to visiting schools. She is able to use the dogs as a way of getting children’s attention and then using the opportunity to explain sustainability through the lifestyle of a sheep!
She finds that working on top of the South Downs at The Sustainability Centre is so beautiful it is a true, living reminder why the fight against Climate Change is so important.
Terena lives with her sheepdogs, her constant companions.
