BIO

Hello and welcome to Next Starfish.

I’ve been thinking about starting this blog for some time as a means of sharing my thoughts and opinions on various environmental and social justice subjects and issues. I was finally prompted to do it as a result of encouragement from enthusiastic family and friends – I hope they were right! Over time I hope this blog will evolve and hopefully go on to feature not just my own postings, but those of other contributors.

My aim is to focus on specific actions wherever possible, with hands-on examples from real life and I’d like the blog to centre around how-to’s, examples, resources and stories of personal experiences. A key aim throughout is to keep things positive and avoid any hint of the preaching, guilt, blame and hypocrisy that these issues often come loaded with. I also strongly believe that in order to be effective in changing the world, we first need to change ourselves, and so will also be posting on various personal development topics. It’ll no doubt be a struggle to find the right balance.

If you enjoy the content on NextStarfish sign-up for the RSS feed, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or whatever your social media preference, and keep coming back to see what’s new. Most importantly please send me you feedback. Support and encouragement are obviously always welcome, but we usually learn more from constructive criticism, and given the nature of the issues there’s bound to be a variety of opinion out there, so don’t be shy.

Finally if you would like to write for NextStarfish, or suggest a post idea, please feel free to contact me.

ABOUT ME

I’m a forty one year old environmental scientist living in the fantastic Forest of Dean, in the UK. I work four days a week as a contaminated land regulator, doing a variety of other things in my remaining time – including taking care of my children, and managing a variety of websites (including this one). I grow vegetables and keep chickens, and as a family we’re on a journey to be more green and ethical in our lives – but I don’t see us selling the cars, knitting our own clothes and giving away everything we own just yet !

I’m passionate about the importance of looking outside ourselves, and trying to have a positive impact on the world, although I think I’ve personally plenty of room for improvement. I’m very ‘into’ philosophy, and a Christian, though I usually add the words ‘thoughtful and liberal’ – because the word Christian means a lot of different things to different people. I don’t find any conflict between my religious faith and my enthusiasm for science, which seems to constantly surprise people. I’m a member of my local Baptist church, and produce their website and magazine.

I like good films and listen to a lot of music, especially while working, and enjoy the occasional glass of beer or wine, typically when not working. I also read a huge amount, possibly too much, and am on a bit of a mission to make better use of the knowledge and reading I’ve been doing – with this blog being part of the result. I’m a recovering self-help junkie and list-making enthusiast, though luckily still seem to be able to occasionally say ‘hang it all’ and spend the day in the sunshine, or the evening playing video games.

50% of any profit this blog generates, either from Amazon bookstore sales or possible future advertising will be donated to good causes, and for 2011/2012 this will be split equally between Oxfam and Water Aid. The remaining 50% will be divided between all contributing post authors (including myself – it’s nice to pay the bills) on percentage of posts basis. If you’d like to help support this site please consider making Amazon purchases through our store, I’d also welcome any enquiries from possible advertisers.

Visit http://flavors.me/stevemoreby to follow any of my social media streams.