Brave Conversations

What does it take to build something the world needs, before the world knows it needs it?Marie-Amélie Viatte has spent her career at the intersection of environmental crisis and social inequality — and food has been the thread running through all of it. Not food as a lifestyle choice or a charity cause, but food as the single largest contributor to climate change, biodiversity loss, and poor human health. And yet, the community growers quietly tackling that crisis on our doorsteps are chronically under-resourced, overlooked, and invisible to the systems that could support them.So Marie-Amélie stopped waiting for someone else to fix it.Sowing Our Horizons is her answer — a radically different model for flowing resources into local food ecosystems. Not a charity. Not a carbon offset. An invitation for individuals and organisations to invest locally, reconnect with where their food comes from, and become part of building the resilience our cities desperately need. In a country that is not food secure, where supply chains stretch invisibly across the world and community growing projects survive on goodwill and grant funding, this work isn’t idealistic — it’s urgent.In this conversation, Marie-Amélie shares:• Why the global food system is the crisis hiding in plain sight — and what’s already growing on our doorsteps that could change it• The unconventional business model behind Sowing Our Horizons and why it deliberately sits outside the charity and investment frameworks we’re used to• The moment she stopped looking for someone to hand her a pot of money and decided to build the thing herself• What she’s had to unlearn — about money, identity, self-worth, and what it means to do work that matters before the world catches up• The practices that keep her grounded when the fear and uncertainty of going off-piste get loud• And the one thing she’d want every listener to do differently tomorrowThis is a conversation about being brave — the quiet, persistent kind that shows up every Tuesday morning at a market garden, that holds the vision when the income isn’t there, and that keeps planting seeds in the belief that what you grow today is the insurance policy for tomorrow.To find out more about Sowing Our Horizons visit https://www.sowingourhorizons.org/

In this episode of Brave Conversations, Kirsty Gilchrist speaks with Charlie McMillan, Director of Human Rights Consortium Scotland, LGBTQI activist, and community developer, about courage, justice, and speaking up in turbulent times.Charlie reflects on a lifetime of activism — from coming out in Thatcher’s Britain to challenging the erosion of human rights today — and shares why fear, disconnection, and misinformation are driving much of the current political and social crisis. The conversation explores human rights as a living, everyday framework, the power of community and solidarity, and the importance of reclaiming the narrative.With honesty and warmth, Charlie also discusses anger, burnout, and the practices that sustain long-term activism, including mindfulness, boundaries, and compassion-based action. This episode is a call to reflect, to care for ourselves, and to choose brave — because, as Charlie reminds us, “If you can’t be brave, be quiet.”