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 tomorrow

This 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/

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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.”

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Forty years later, Kate found herself facing another moment of reckoning. Louis, now in his thirties, was detained in a hospital hundreds of miles from home, being restrained, drugged, and increasingly traumatised. The care system had failed him. Kate realised she couldn't just go to "the door marked dentist" anymore—she would have to build the care herself. This is a conversation that weaves through love, devotion, faith and spirituality.

In this conversation, Kate shares:

The two pivotal moments that demanded courage—one as a new mother, one decades later when the system collapsed

Why she sees people with profound disabilities as leaders, not burdens, and how society needs to shift its lens

How she founded the Aiteal Trust and created an intentional community where Louis now lives in his own home

The reality of challenging professionals, local authorities, and national systems while maintaining relationships

What "wrestling with your soul" actually means when you're facing impossible choices

Her vision for ending systemic disabilism and why she believes small collaborative answers matter more than magic wands

Kate's bravery isn't loud or combative—it's rooted in deep knowing, persistent love, and a willingness to see what others can't or won't.

This is a conversation about what it means to step off the conventional path when someone you love depends on it, and how one mother's fight is reshaping how we think about care, community, and dignity.

Chapters

00:00 The moment Kate realised she had to step off the conventional path

05:21 Possibility versus risk and loss for Kate and Louis

07:28 Seeing Louis - Really seeing Louis

14:22 The importance of trauma informed care

17:08 Seeing another way

23:43 Assumptions about the status quo to unlearn

28:05 The practice of spirituality and community 

36:16 What listeners could do differently tomorrow

41:53 What's next for Kate and Louis

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