Since a young age, I have had a real interest in politics. Perhaps it came from one of my earliest memories, seeing Margaret Thatcher leaving Number 10 Downing Street and other Tory members putting themselves forward for the position. Maybe it came from the fact we always watched the news at home. Who knows, but what I do know is that I have been putting forward my views on the injustices in the world for a long time.
One of my my concerns as a 10 year old was the state of the environment. The ozone layer/CFCs, endangered species and global warming (or as I recall from one poster I was making in school, global "worming"). That was 13 years ago, and it seems only now that people are realising what global warming and climate change really means!
I remember going with my friend to the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, where they had a whole load of groups representing environmental and animal rights groups. I signed a lot of petitions, took loads of leaflets, bought a few badges, and a passport for Rockall.
Ok, before I go any further, you're wondering what Rockall is. I've taken this from Wikipedia:
"Waveland and the Greenpeace occupation
In 1997 the environmentalist organisation Greenpeace occupied the islet for a short time, calling it Waveland, to protest against oil exploration under the authority of the British. Greenpeace declared the island to be a “new Global State”, and offered citizenship to anyone willing to take their pledge of allegiance. The British Government's response was simply to give them permission to be there, and otherwise ignore them. Indeed the Home Office when asked, responded that since Rockall was part of the United Kingdom, and since the UK was a free country, Greenpeace were perfectly entitled to be at Rockall.
The project continued until 1999, when the company sponsoring it collapsed and the experiment ended."
You can always look into it more yourself.
As I was saying, we went to this thing, signed all these petitions, then we started getting phone calls from Greenpeace asking if I wanted to join. My mum had to keep telling them that I was only 12 years old so a bit too young to join Greenpeace, which they laughed about and said that perhaps I should keep it in mind for the future. We did recieve a lot of calls relating to it, my mum thought it was hilarious!
But because of my passion for the environment, my mum was convinced that when I got older that should be the field I went into. This wasn't what I wanted at all! My first passion is music, my second passion is the environment and politics, and I wanted a career in music.
On my work experience, after ringing around all the places I could think of in Edinburgh which related to music, I ended up with my last choice. I went to Friends Of The Earth for a week. When asked by them why I wanted to go there, I told them the truth: it wasn't my first choice, but I cared for the environment and what they did, and really it was kind of a last resort.
Well I had a great time there, I really enjoyed learning more about the environment and their campaigns. Mum was convinced that I should go back and volunteer for them in my spare time, but who has spare time as a teenager in a band with exams coming up? And I don't want to do environmental stuff anyway mum! I just have an interest in it.
I still have no regrets about not wanting to get more involved in ecology or get a job doing something environmentally friendly. It would mean I'd probably still be studying up on some subject or another that I had little interest in. But I do still care a lot about the environment and climate change, and feel that as an individual I can make changes to my lifestyle that will help the planet. Reusable bags, energy efficient light bulbs, not leaving stuff on stand by. We can all make a difference by reducing our carbon footprints.
I have created some designs for Mental Infestation with my passion for the environment in mind. Like I have said, it's something I have cared deeply for for a large part of my lifetime, and something I will continue to care about and discuss with people, and hopefully convince a few to change their lifestyles not only to help ourselves, but to benefit future generations.
Here are a few examples. To see ALL the environmentally inspired designs, click here!
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