Context: the Brighton Permaculture Trust started out as a non-for-profit organization in 2000, but has since been granted charitable status. The Trust has two main aims: - to promote sustainable development both for the environment and people; the protection of the environment and the responsible use of resources run parallel to poverty reduction and the improvement of the condition of the disadvantaged. - to advance the education of the public on sustainable development.

Initiatives: The Trust offers a range of courses, from green architecture to permaculture and orchard maintenance. In addition to the courses, the Trust organises events to divulge information about environmental issues: there are film screenings and themed days (such as Apple Day). The Trust also plants community orchards and orchards in schools (the latter as part of a joint educational-environmental project), The Trust is active in trying to reduce food waste (there are scrumping days organised expressly to pick fruit that would otherwise languish on the tree) and in conservation of local species of apple (the Trust is involved in bringing back quasi-extinct varieties of Sussex apples).

Suggestions to the public: the Trust’s website is easily accessible and full of well-categorized, useful information. In addition to various sections devoted to the Trust’s projects and courses, there is a section specifically detailing how to volunteer/ how to become a member of the trust. As excellent as their online presence is, they seem to be hard to reach by phone: two enquiries and one voicemail elicited no response.