About us

Stephen Hounsham (Picture by Salim Somani) Green-Engage Communications seeks ways to engage people in respecting, protecting and enhancing the environment for the benefit of society as a whole. Our vision is of a society in which taking care of the environment is second nature and something that everyone wants to participate in.

We believe that…

People do care about the environment but often don't act on it.
The barriers people face in going green are both external and internal, real and imagined.
Some people reject green ideas on principle because they don't chime with their own entrenched values and 'gut feelings'.
Not enough people have adopted 'green' behaviours to enable society as a whole to meet its sustainability challenges.
Existing communications campaigns aimed at persuading the public to go green are not effective enough.
The green movement needs to adopt a new approach in communicating with the public, based on positive marketing and an understanding of how people think and act. This will involve different approaches for different people.

In our work we aim to be...

Accurate
Inclusive and relevant
Innovative and visionary
Positive and inspiring
Provocative and bold
Passionate

Green-Engage Communications was set up by Stephen Hounsham. He was Communications Manager at Transport 2000 from 1999 until 2006 and helped to cement its role as the most respected and influential campaign and research organisation on transport and the environment. In 2006 he researched and wrote Painting the Town Green: How to Persuade People to be Environmentally Friendly, a fresh look at how campaign organisations, local authorities and central government could change public attitudes and behaviours.

From 1986 to 1999 Stephen Hounsham handled a broad spectrum of communications projects at Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, prior to which he worked on the founding editorial team of the national farming journal Crops. He has a BA in Agricultural and Forest Science, has attended countless communications courses, has worked with and within a number of activist and conservation groups, and supports a wide range of environmental interests, charities and campaigns.

Where appropriate Green-Engage Communications draws on the skills, knowledge and experience of Associates and it values volunteer contributors and task-workers. We are firm believers in the ethos of voluntary work as a means of both enriching projects and providing pathways for personal and professional development.