The latest chapter in my journey is about place, identity, and how we respond locally to the climate, nature, and relational crises. Returning to Dorset after years abroad, I felt bereft at the depletion I could now see with fresh eyes.
For more than twenty years my professional life has been in sustainability and education. I worked internationally as a science and theory of knowledge teacher and as an intergenerational facilitator in sustainability education.
Much of my work focused on outer action, asking what can we do quickly, what data can we present, what outcomes can we show. It taught me a great deal, yet over time I realised something was missing. We cannot measure our way into change. The deeper shift lies in how we see ourselves as human beings and in how we reconnect with Earth.
That recognition set me on a different path. My focus now is on relationships, with nature, with community and with the stories we hold about who we are. I believe regeneration begins when we fall back in love with nature and begin to make sense of our grief, our resilience and our capacity to act together with care.
I grew up in farming and wild landscapes, which gave me an early sensitivity to natural rhythms. That grounding was deepened through my studies in ecology, biology and sustainable agriculture. Over time I brought facilitation, intergenerational learning, nature connection and coaching into my practice. I am now training as a beginner coach with Helen Sieroda’s Wise Goose Diploma programme, and have recently trained as a nature-connection guide and Warm Data host. These strands are starting to permeate and inform what I am seeding now.
The latest chapter in my journey is about place, identity, and how we respond locally to the climate, nature, and relational crises. Returning to Dorset after years abroad, I felt bereft at the depletion I could now see with fresh eyes. I want to put down roots here and learn from our Celtic past about what it means to live as a community. I am interested in what is authentic in us, in shining a light on those who are telling stories about our past and shaping futures, and in creating an accessible and inclusive space to share them as we gather and respond. One response to the challenges ahead is to grow resilience and healthy community.
I recently founded Connect the Wild, a foundation that democratises access to philanthropic lending so that organisations can restore woodlands and connect them through native species corridors. I hold a vision of a connected Britain, where our wildlife has safe passages across the landscape and where local charities and landowners can act quickly on opportunities that might otherwise be lost.
Alongside this I am developing TerraCirca, which will be a gathering place in Dorset for bold ideas, storytelling, film, food, warm data events, and community. It is also a place for supporting and giving a voice to transformative work, and drawing on the insights and support that people of all ages can bring. TerraCirca is not just about projects but about creating a way of coming together, where community itself becomes part of the response to ecological and social challenges.
I joined ASP to connect with others who are also grappling to make sense of our times, who want to connect more deeply with the place we live, and who might want to join me in shaping TerraCirca from this starting place. These are not easy times, but they are times where finding warmth, steadiness and belonging together matters more than ever. Please feel free to connect on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/acatallo/