Never thought I’d join the blogosphere. But here I am. It’s a natural progression from my newspaper column. The next stage, so to speak.
I wrote a column on sustainability most months for nearly 15 years. It went out to regional daily and weekly community newspapers in one of the media groups in New Zealand. Lucky me. There were two editors there who understood the issues, cared about them, and wanted to help get the word out.
My background is in environmental management and economics, so my columns were science- and fact-based. They grew out of what I was seeing in my consulting work. Since shifting to New Zealand from Canada (I would have said ‘move’, but they say ‘shift’ here) in the early 2000s, I have done projects for government, corporate and non-profit clients.
Most satisfying have been those involving education and communications. I have long had a fascination with ‘words’ and a passion for the environment. These projects gave me a chance to use one in the interest of the other.
I have always liked ‘Taking the Long View’ as a header for a column. We face many pressing environmental problems, largely because we take the short view.
I’ll pick up on this here. Sustainability has economic, social/cultural and environmental components, with the last mentioned arguably most important. (If we don’t get the environment part right, none of the rest of it matters.)
In posts to come, I’ll celebrate the inspirational (the magic of tall buildings made of wood, for example). I’ll laud those doing good work (individuals and groups, here and beyond). And I’ll lament where we can do better.
So many topics to cover: food waste, sustainable tourism, investing with a conscience, rewilding, and greening the business world – to name just a few.
My next blog will go out shortly. (There’s an ‘Unsubscribe’ button at the bottom if you’d rather not remain on the list.) Posts will follow twice monthly after that.
Hope you’ll join me and share this with others who may be interested. And please let me know what you think. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Coming up: High on Wood