Born in 1961 my youth was blessed with wholesome food, a connection with nature and a home life based on sustainability and non-consumerism.

Up until my early teens I spent most of my spare time with my uncle who was a prominent RSPB  advocate in the North Norfolk nature reserves; this was my inspiration and passion.

With the influence of a linear education system that leads you to find a well-paying career, I ended up being an apprentice aircraft technician at the age of sixteen.

Following a six-year apprenticeship and four additional years working as a licensed engineer in Norwich, UK; in 1987 I moved to Luxembourg joining the biggest all cargo airline in Europe. In a system of growth and productivity, the company grew from three aircraft to thirty. As a result, I spent the next 31 years travelling the world supporting the fleets operation. Each aircraft achieved an average flying time of 18 hours a day over each calendar year;  sadly, for me, a significant contribution to the ongoing demise, with  what we now know as the Anthropocene.

In 2018 I was given the chance to take early retirement, having completed an adventurous yet anthropocentric 41-year career. I snapped up the opportunity and enrolled immediately in a BA honours degree in environmental studies, most importantly to rekindle the  passions of my early teens. I also concentrated on my volunteering at the Luxembourg Wildlife Rescue Centre and joined the board of directors as we endeavoured to tackle the effects of GDP and climate change on the biodiversity of the country. 

After achieving a first in the degree, I then did a diploma in Corporate Sustainability Leadership with Oxford University Business School, it was then I confirmed my fears that greenwashing and tick boxing were the primary goals in almost all big company CRS (Corporate Social Responsibility) mandates. 

After meeting people like realistic author and environmental political activists, George Monbiot, and reading the despairing conclusion of several top climate linked scientist, I too realised several harsh realities. A prominent one being, those in power, which have the ability to make change, fail as they are locked into a neoliberalist system that cannot deviate from GDP and the  commodification of everything to dollars. Furthermore, I shared their understanding that even the commercially driven green transition is and will have a detrimental effect on our planet.

It was at this point in January 2024 I turned to ecological citizenship as a way to console my despair and indeed guilt for the effects that my anthropogenic actions have had on our beautiful but suffering planet. Whilst most media focus is put on carbon, my citizenship is centred on a response to biodiversity loss and the resulting ecosystem destabilisation. When viewing the Interplanetary boundaries, biosphere integrity (denoting genetic diversity loss and extinction) is much further outside the safe limits than CO² induced climate change; hence our immediate individual redemption is imperative.

With the intention of sharing what I had learned, I moved back to Norfolk this year where I felt I could have a greater impact, primarily in saving the beautiful nature I left 38 years ago. I am currently involved in a biodiversity working group centralised on redeeming and enhancing biodiversity in the ever-increasing urban areas; teaching gardening with nature to local communities and managing a local nature reserve (LNR) with a five-year restoration plan. Furthermore, awareness through education is always part of my mission and initiatives like ISD Changemakers are a fantastic opportunity to share my non neoliberalist contrarian views.

Being an ecological citizen is unfortunately ‘walking in a world of wounds’ created by an unsustainable social system; however, a few changes in the way we live and see things, as individuals or collectively, will make a difference, as we continue to  head towards the sixth mass extinction.