From One Tree to Actionism: Gavin Fernie-Jones on Joy, Repair, and Reimagining the Future

Reflections from the Conscious Entrepreneurs session with Gavin Fernie-Jones

When Gavin Fernie-Jones joined Conscious Entrepreneurs in July, he brought with him more than stories. He brought an invitation.

An invitation to rethink how we grow, how we repair, how we connect. An invitation to see joy not as a luxury, but as a form of climate action.

Where It Began: One Tree at a Time

“It wasn’t one moment,” Gavin told us, “it was quite a few, and they go back a long way.”
Gavin grew up connected to nature, running home from school up a mile-long track to an outdoor centre his parents managed in the Peak District. That sense of possibility, he says, “changed me quite massively.”

Years later, living in the French Alps and running a successful ski shop, Gavin started to notice the cracks in the consumer story around him. The “mini mountain of waste” that arrived with every new season’s stock. The creeping exclusivity of the ski industry. The nagging sense that this wasn’t right.

A tragic turning point, the sudden loss of his father, accelerated those questions. “That worldview I’d created… it just sort of disappeared in that moment.”
In response, Gavin did something simple, messy, and quietly radical:
he held a community repair day outside his ski shop, calling it Fix It, F*** Brexit.
People brought their unused ski gear. Some donated more jackets than one person could ever wear. The event raised money to plant trees, and sparked something bigger.

From that day, One Tree at a Time was born: a community hub dedicated to repair, reuse, and redistributing outdoor gear, reducing waste while making the outdoors accessible for everyone.

The Collective Grows: Re-Action

One Tree at a Time didn’t stay an isolated idea.
“I realised there shouldn’t be another One Tree down the road,” Gavin explained. “There should be a space shaped by that community — not mine.”

What started as a single hub became seeds for others. Soon, Gavin and collaborator Heather helped form the Re-Action Collective — now more than 70 organisations strong — working in repair, reuse, sharing, and redistribution.
It’s not just about clothing; it’s about systems and services, about reimagining how we all live, buy, and connect.
“Each month we join meetings, we share ideas, we share skills,” Gavin told us. “It’s messy. But so is nature. And I enjoy that messiness.”

ACTionism: The Art of Finding Your People

Out of this messy, joyful collective, a new idea emerged: ACTionism.
ACTionism began as a film, telling the story of Ellie, a young volunteer moving from climate anxiety to community-powered hope.
But it became something more:
“We didn’t want the film to just be passively consumed,” Gavin explained.
“We wanted it to bring communities together and create action.”
Now ACTionism is a growing movement, with more than 100 screenings worldwide, a magazine, and a new storytelling platform – Actionism.Space – connecting food, education, repair, and more.
As Gavin describes it:
“Actionism is the art of finding your people and taking action.”

What the Future Holds

Gavin is the first to admit the future is “messy and uncertain” but that’s not a reason to stop.
The next steps for One Tree at a Time are rooted in its community hub.
The Re-Action Collective is evolving into a sociocracy, sharing power so it can grow without bottlenecks.
ACTionism is expanding into a storytelling and action network, proving that small acts, done with joy, do ripple outward.
And for all of us?
Gavin’s message is simple: find the others.
“When I’m looking at all these impacts, all these things I’m feeling, it’s incredibly difficult to be joyful on my own.
But when you’re part of a collective, that weight lifts.
Everyone is acting. And that’s joyful.”

Why This Matters

Gavin’s work reminds us that we don’t need to scale one solution, we need to spark thousands of local ones.
We don’t need more guilt. We need connection.
Because the future isn’t something we wait for. It’s something we create together.

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