Join us for an evening with TV and radio environmental presenter Tom Heap as he talks about his new book Land Smart.

We need land for so many of humanity’s growing needs, such as food, renewable energy, carbon storage and housing. Traditionally, we’ve stolen it from nature, but this has led to a mounting toll of extinction and pollution that is now punishing us. So, as there’s no land left to take, how do we get more from the same, or preferably less.

In Land Smart, Tom Heap, a presenter on BBC TV’s Countryfile, Radio 4’s new Rare Earth series and the anchor of The Climate Show on Sky News, tours the British countryside meeting the farmers, scientists, conservationists and even warehouse managers who are solving the most pressing challenges facing our countryside and the world.

If we use land cleverly it can give both humanity and nature the space to thrive on just the one planet. If not, we’re in trouble.

Tom Heap, who has been reporting on science and the environment for over 25 years and is one of the most experienced journalists in his field. We look forward to welcoming Tom to Oswestry for what should be an informative and thought provoking event.


A terrific book… Every page is a challenge to how we think about the good earth about us, our climate, our soil, our food and how we live our lives. Land Smart is a call for positive change that we must not ignore. – Michael Morpurgo

This excellent book charts an optimistic but realistic path to a smarter use of the land that we have, and maybe, if we’re clever, shows how we can have it all. A timely and essential guide to a better future for our land and our planet, clearly written, packed with real world examples, and full of hope – Helen Czerski

Land Smart is a clear, concise and accessible guide to the pivotal question of our age – how best to use the finite resource of land for food, energy and shelter whilst also fixing the climate and nature crises. Calmly and rationally, Tom Heap lays bare how industrial agriculture has laid waste to nature over too much of our land surface, fuelling climate breakdown – and maps a course to a smarter use of our land. – Guy Shrubsole, author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain and Who Owns England?

A poignant analysis urging us to tread lightly and think deeply. I highly recommended this book, to those with a direct influence on land and all of us whose choices end up written in the soil. – Adam Henson, BBC Countryfile presenter and author of Two for Joy

Tickets: £12 without book (Admits One, ticket redeemable against a signed copy of Land Smart) or £20 with book (Admits One, includes a signed copy of Land Smart)

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