THERE was a time when nothing could have kept Derbyshire's record-breaking yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur from the world's oceans.

But today the girl from Whatstandwell who grew up to become a national heroine, has given up competitive sailing because her eyes have been opened to environmental disaster.

Ellen's new book Full Circle charts not only her more recent sea-faring adventures but also her journey to South Georgia where her life was changed.

The book's publication on September 2 will coincide with the launch of her latest charitable adventure – the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – dedicated to building a sustainable future.

Ellen, who will be at Derby Assembly Rooms explaining all on September 7, says: "We are the only beings on the planet that live in a linear way. We take, make and dispose. We take things out of the ground, make them into things and throw them away. But it's not away, it's into a hole in the ground. It's still here but the nutrients are all messed up, we can't get those things back to make new things. Everything else in the world from a coral reef to a forest has existed for millennia, the waste from a tree becomes, food for the next thing, that's how it regenerates. We have broken that cycle. That's what's not sustainable.

"Through going down to South Georgia, managing my resources on a boat I have learnt things, especially with the space and time away from normal life. There's nothing around you, no TV, internet and that's what made me think differently and the moment I had done that I couldn't revert to where we were before."

Ellen, still only 34, now devotes her time to two charities. The first was the Ellen MacArthur Trust, which she started in 2003 and which takes young people with cancer sailing. She still intends to carry on that work as well as taking on the new Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Born in Derbyshire in 1976, Ellen was the most famous yachtswoman in the world in her 20s, finishing second in the Vendée Globe solo round-the-world sailing race in her boat Kingfisher in 2001. Four years later she beat the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe. She was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the youngest person to achieve such an honour.

Full Circle is the second book about her life and she says: "It's about the last ten years of my life, part two of my autobiography.

"It's been quite a mission for me. I did part of the writing in Derbyshire, the rest on the Isle of Wight where I have been based for the last ten years."

Now Ellen plans to use her fame to make a difference.

"Last year for the first time I started to talk publicly about what I was learning. I couldn't believe these facts weren't common knowledge and that I had to go on a journey to find them out. I couldn't believe that when I was at school no one of my generation was told to question that we can't live the way we do today in 100 years' time.

"It was only on the next stage of the journey that I began to learn what the solution actually was. I began to learn how the framework that exists in life itself can help us. If we teach a new generation of young people to think differently, we can still have a life similar to that we have today but using a framework that makes it sustainable."

Ellen knows she has a chance to influence people, especially as he she has been Dame Ellen since 2005.

"It was an honour and one I accepted on behalf of a team," she says. "I sailed the boat around the world but a lot of people made that project a reality. We had done it, not me. It's an honour but it doesn't change who you are. I'm still the Ellen who grew up in Derbyshire."

But she has fond memories of receiving the honour. She says: "My parents came down, had a nice day down in London, where they don't go very often. It was quite special."

Ellen MacArthur

WHERE: Derby Assembly Rooms

WHEN: Tuesday, September 7, 7.30pm.

TICKETS: £16 (concs £14).

BOX OFFICE: 01332 255800.