MEA’s mission is, in Richard’s words, “to bring about more sustainable use and generation of energy through education, demonstration and inspiration”. But how does the organisation work in practice?

“The organisation has five themes: Low Carbon Communities, Project Carbon, Carbon Forum, Marches Renewables & Keep Shropshire Warm,” he explains. “Each has a Team Leader and each runs as a business unit generating ideas, innovation, projects and outcomes, which help address human induced climate change, the ‘fossil fuel is finite’ issue, or the social and economic issues around low incomes and expensive energy. There’s also lots of cross over where good ideas in one theme has a resonance or an impact in another.”

‘Carbon Forum’ centres on education and communication. The latest initiative to emerge from the forum, Carbon College, has been established in a Staffordshire Community, inviting community members to enroll and learn all they need to know about living low carbon lives in a low carbon society.

MEA have also just launched ‘Eco-Vehicles Top Trumps’ with the help of Premier League goalkeeper and green activist David James. The aim is to distribute the Top Trumps to every secondary school in the country.

And next year, ‘Marches Renewables’ launches a renewable energy capital grant scheme to small businesses in the region.

But the two central strands to what MEA does are ‘Low Carbon Communities’ and ‘Project Carbon’.

“Low Carbon Communities (LCC) measures a community’s carbon footprint and then works with that community for the long run to help reduce that footprint – by at least 2% year on year,” Richard explains. “Actions encompass everything from the light bulbs in the church, through community scale renewable energy and everything in between.”

“Project Carbon is closely linked to Low Carbon Communities,” he continues, “and provides the technical side to carbon dioxide reduction at a building and community level. Project Carbon also offers a local carbon offsetting service whereby those who have done the simple stuff can opt to offset their ‘difficult to reduce’ carbon dioxide emissions through local projects.”

Richard has been at the helm for nearly ten years. With a background in engineering, designing, testing and building process plants to make an environmentally benign manmade fibre in the USA and UK, he decided he really wanted to do something much more positive for the planet.

“I put this ‘conversion’ down to having frugal parents – being brought up in a household where living sustainably was second nature even though no-one called it that,” he explains. “I wanted to make real what I believed. To think and to do. To try to put the bits of the jigsaw together for sustainable living in a world that is so obviously unsustainable if current behaviour persists. Not that I think Dad’s Army’s Private Fraser is a good communicator, but he’s right: if ‘business as usual’ continues, ‘We’re Doomed’.”

So how does Richard think we can we inspire and mobilise people in the UK – and accordingly businesses and government – to reduce energy use and promote a sustainable way of living?

“We need a fundamental shift in values,” he argues. “Voluntary simplicity needs to be the new black. This is not about bolting stuff to buildings or driving something different; it is about a fundamental shift in heart and mind. Less should not be a four letter word. We cannot live infinitely in a finite world.”

And what does the future hold for MEA?

“Being a professional pain in the a**e to those who are a part of the problem, and helping, supporting, nurturing and celebrating those who choose to be a part of the solution.”

To find out more about MEA, click here.

And to get hold of the Eco-Vehicles Top Trumps, click here.