Clarissa Bushell
A zoology degree was the natural progression from a happy childhood poking about in woodlands, watching the seasons come and go.
I have taught Biology; researched for Anglia TV Survival programme; and recently spent 4-5 years campaigning with my local community against an unlawful industrial biogas plant, which polluted the landscape and generally caused havoc.
Like so many others, I would feel lost without access to birdsong, the weather, the soil and all that it supports. Many months volunteering in the Zimbabwean bush left a profound impact on me. I celebrate and marvel at the intricacies, science and beauty of nature.
My faith aligns with my gratitude for the natural world – and my desire to be a good steward. I hope we can create a community in Chichester District keen to make healthy changes in the way we live our lives, respecting and nurturing nature and living in co-operation, symbiotically with other living things, aligning our aims with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
There’s simply no time to wait until we feel better educated about this, or more persuaded. The time to start is right now.
Henry Bushell
Though I have only noticed it in hindsight, the first two decades of my life have been marked by a profound interaction with the natural world.
Whether it was playing in the woods at prep-school or completing my (not so) daily 5k run, I’ve always found time to be outside in my day. Only recently, with the Coronavirus pandemic and its implications, have I noticed that this time is not only important for my physical health, but absolutely essential for my mental health.
Connecting with the natural work is a fundamental ingredient of the human condition, and one which many people in my generation have fallen out of touch with. With the growing impression that the human is separate from nature, my work for the UNA C&O will aim to dismantle this binary and see humanity as quintessentially integrated with the natural world.
As a final year student at the University of Oxford studying Geography, I have been fortunate enough to meet many people on the front line of the battle against climate destruction. Not only have they inspired me, but they have enforced the absolute necessity to act now before anthropogenic global warming exceeds the climate tipping-point.
For this reason, I have not struggled to find a career path once leaving university. It seems to me that climate action is the only choice for someone of my age and education, bearing in mind the potential impacts on the natural world and future generations.
Though my education has taught me widely, my special area of interest is Sustainable Finance, and the necessary centrality of the financial sector in the transition towards a low-carbon economy.
In these studies I have encountered the UN SDGs as a succinct transition framework for financial firms, which will help me in this role.
Feel free to send me an email: bushellhenry@gmail.com