Conservation, history, green living and local self-sufficiency are the priorities for these volunteers.

All | Charlotte | Jessica | Laura

Wednesday Jul 08, 2009

Ecological learnings

So, an introduction...I'm Laura. I'm a recently qualified – and largely unemployed - journalist. I'm originally from Somerset and finished my degree in Nutrition last year at Westminster University in Central London. As I'm a sucker for punishment I went straight into a very intensive NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) qualification in January, where I had 'writing tight' drilled into me. I am now fully able not to waste a single word (!) I stayed in London for the jobs and now write for a handful of websites, mostly on the environment.

My ecological leanings started in childhood, when a friend and I were nicknamed 'Greenpeace' for trying to save the pond newts from becoming crude science experiments for the more gruesome boys in our class. We were tiny defenders of the environment then, and I like to think I'm carrying on that tradition now. I've been involved with various environmental organisations and activities in the last few years but things moved up a gear after I discovered Transition Towns about a year ago.

Since then I've found myself more involved with trying to make a change to my environment than I ever was before. Because Transition Towns work at a community level they get you in touch with the people around you, which really appealed to me. In the past I've stood on the street trying to get people to sign bits of paper about airport expansion, but it always felt like I could come and go from these activities and more often than not I'd drift away from them when something else came up. Because our Transition is so small (there are about 15 of us running the projects in our area) I feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders, and that's really motivating: I don't want to let my group down.

Posted by Laura ( 3:44 PM )
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