Last week I visited the field that Patrick Whitefield bought some years ago, where he used to live in his tipi. It has been bequeathed to the Somerset Wildlife Trust, and it is open to anyone who wishes to go there (and, of course, to treat it respectfully). I almost expected to meet him when I arrived, though in fact there's a clear feeling that he has moved on. What is left here is something very special - quiet, peace, lush meadowland (not very tall, but rich - any horse or cow that ate this would be frisking around maniacally), and crowds of purple flowers. The field is now not what he made it, but what he has allowed it to become. 

No tipi of course, and no fire with a kettle coming to the boil.

Patrick bought the field about 25 years ago, from an old man who had never used chemical fertilisers or pesticides on it. At the time, I remember him telling me that only 3% of Britain's traditional wildflower meadowland still existed. He fenced off one edge and planted trees, which he loved, though later he felt a little guilty about using even that small piece of wildflower meadow. Nevertheless, I'm glad he did. There's a little gate that leads you in among the trees. The woodland is now a 30 ft, 40 ft canopy, and at ground level are enough young ash trees to re-populate western Europe.

Before I went out there, a friend sent me this quotation from Thomas Berry, which I think would have chimed very well with Patrick himself: "Whatever preserves and enhances the meadow in the natural cycles of its transformation is good. Whatever opposes or negates it is not good. My life orientation is that simple."

The field is clearly looked after and managed to some extent, but mostly it is left to follow its own devices. Some trees have fallen, and the mix of species is probably gradually changing to that which most suits the area and the particular piece of land. I imagine that this is what a corner of England looks like when people don't interfere. The meadow has developed different zones - I suppose they were always here, but now much more pronounced, with different plants dominating according to conditions of damp, shade and so on. Where I used to collect read-grass for the floor of my bender is now a patch of tall rushes of some sort, nearly blue. I remember Patrick noting that the watercourses change over time, maybe that's it. And I don't think there's any rabbits here.

I expect the hay is still cut once a year as part of its conservation regime - next month, August, is the time to find out.

Molly Scott-Cato, our Green Party MEP, was the lead speaker at the Town Hall last Friday. She had commissioned the report, 'The Power to Transform the South West', that shows in detail how the West Country could produce more than enough energy to supply all its energy needs - including transport. The main point made was that to follow such a plan would not just be creating a 'green' ideal, it would make economic sense in conventional terms. 

The southwest in particular has enormous potential energy resources, including sun, wind and tides; it would do very well from the enthusiastic development of a renewable energy industry. In the end, this is inevitably 'the future' - what is lacking at the moment is the political will. The reason for this seems to be financial backing received by the Conservative Party from the fossil fuel industry.

The question of 'so what can we do about it?' was answered in part, and certainly very practically, by Avalon Community Energy's 'pioneer' share launch. Our local community energy company has been set up to deliver community ownership of renewable energy generation. It is raising money to carry out necessary feasibility studies and to follow that up with, initially, solar installations. The prospect is exciting and I have every intention of making a small investment of my own in this enterprise.

I heard today that recent articles in a couple of prestigious scientific journals have said that global warming equivalent to a twenty foot rise in sea level is already inevitable - only the time scale is unclear. A twenty foot rise in sea level would result in our mean sea level in this part of Somerset coming up to Pomparles Bridge; high tide could reach Baltonsborough. I think relating this to local landmarks like this helps to bring the message home. It seems hard to believe that a sensible energy policy will not prevail before long.