A little while ago, we were approached by to come to The Castle, a climbing centre in Stoke Newington. We’ve come to learn that there are a few special things about this place. The first and most obvious is that the climbing centre is actually a small castle which is pretty unusual venue for your usual climbing practices. The really really special bit about The Castle however, is that they decided to do something about the way they run their business in relation to the planet and its inhabitants. With the collective support of its staff and a dash of dedication, The Castle has set off on a rewarding and challenging journey of business transformation! Kerry invited us to celebrate the launch of their brand spanking new environmental policy by bike powering a film, DJs and by running a workshop.

As usual, Mag Rev is on its toes, super weary of the “greenwash brainwash” tactics that many companies now happily use without a pinch of guilt (or maybe not) to gain new customers. But, once we found out for ourselves what The Castle is really up to…….we were impressed. This is not just some feeble attempt at recycling a few cans left laying around by customers but rather a carefully thought through plan to changes in power and water usage, waste generation and disposal, suppliers of foods, drinks, pencils etc etc. The Castle set out a goal for themselves, which is to produce their our own energy, capture their own water and have zero waste to landfill by 2015. Busy days at The Castle!

It’s exciting to see business like The Castle, a true example that change is possible.  A demonstration of where there is will, dedication and some sort of a plan, there is positive action. At the end of the day, businesses are where the money is at. Sadly in a world propelled by capitalist economics rather than human-powered common sense, money is our master. We could wait around for governments to do something but till the changes that need to take place go through the bureaucratic shenanigans, we’ll all be canoeing back down to our caves to eat rats on skewers. But businesses have the ability to do something and do it fast. Business can divert cash flow from planet polluting, people’s rights abusing corporations like Coca Cola and Shell to more promising companies like Good Energy and Whole Earth.

Refreshing to hear a castle story without the obvious heroes of knights and princesses. Just simple people who give a damn!

Sorry about not having any photos….we still haven’t solved our tech problems!