Job Profile

What does your job involve and what might a typical day involve?

I’m the Senior Nuclear Campaigner at Greenpeace and my job is to manage and lead our campaign to stop the construction of a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK and promote real solutions to climate change (like energy efficiency and renewables).

Overall, it’s a case of making sure that our campaign plan is being carried out effectively – this year we are working on a number of projects ranging from stopping new UK reactors, the Government’s Energy White Paper and the intractable problem of nuclear waste, as well as international work around exposing how shoddy and expensive new reactors being built in places like Finland and France are.

There’s an awful lot going on, which in one sense is very challenging but in another is quite exciting. I’m still relatively new to the nukes campaign, but it’s such a live issue in this country at the minute that there’s a lot of scope for Greenpeace to get out there and spread our message.

In addition to the exciting stuff there’s also the mundane side of management – keeping an eye on the team’s operating budgets, creating our annual campaign plan (which involves things like developing a campaign strategy and devising a communications strategy) and going to more internal meetings than can possibly be good for me.

There’s never really a typical day at Greenpeace, which is one of the joys of the job. One day we could be rushed off our feet doing interviews for Channel 4 News, Radio 5 or The Independent, another we could be off meeting the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate or strategising with NGO allies. Then on another, we could be out of the office drawing up our campaign plans, in Amsterdam meeting with colleagues from around the Greenpeace world, or taking peaceful direct action at Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk. One day is never really the same as another!

What qualifications and experience did you have before starting the job?

I have an MSc in Environmental Technology and spent about a year working for Action on Smoking and Health, a small campaigning organisation that works towards eliminating the health problems caused by tobacco. Then it was straight on to Greenpeace…

What are the best and worst bits of your job?

I’m actually an archaeologist by training. I studied at Bristol University, but following an unhappy series of incidents involving the destruction of a rather valuable medieval thimble and the uprooting of part of an Anglo-Saxon floor, it became quite clear that the life of Indiana Jones wasn’t for me.

I’d always been interested in working in the environment, so after Bristol I decided to do something positive and went on a Frontier Conservation expedition to Tanzania. I spent four months monitoring coral reef destruction and fishing patterns in the south of the country, and whilst diving all day on pristine reefs and living in a beach hut in a tropical paradise was actually far harder than it sounds (no, really!), it confirmed that doing something like this was precisely what I wanted long-term.

When I got back from Africa I did an MSc in Environmental Technology at Imperial College in London and this gave me a fantastic grounding in issues affecting the environment today. I studied things like climate science, ecology, environmental law, economics and international agreements like Kyoto and CITES, an understanding of which still underpins much of the work I have to do at Greenpeace, and I’d certainly recommend the course to any one thinking about working in this sector.

It was interesting because while most of the people on the course went to work for environmental consultancies, energy and water utilities and the government, it seemed the natural thing to do to transfer the skills I’d picked up on the course to working for an NGO rather than corporate, but I was in a tiny minority of people on the course who thought this. Still, I’m more than happy with the choice I made!

What satisfaction do you get from your work and how does it make a difference?

I think the best thing about working for Greenpeace is that we get to do things that many other NGOs don’t. We take peaceful direct action where environmental harm takes place, whilst every day I get to work with a very savvy and motivated bunch of people.

We also have a fantastically dedicated network of active supporters around the country. This is really the backbone of the organisation and gives us the ability to campaign effectively up and down the UK.

Being at Greenpeace is very empowering and it’s an amazing feeling taking direct action yourself. Over the years I’ve taken part in a number of actions at places like nuclear power stations, government offices, military bases and even on the high seas, and even though doing can have potentially serious legal ramifications, I passionately believe in doing it for the right reasons.

I think Greenpeace works best when it works internationally. We have offices in over 30 countries around the world and I have been involved in taking on environmental criminals in a number of places. Last year in particular was really satisfying – we launched a global campaign against McDonald’s for their role in bulldozing the Amazon rainforest to grow soya beans and within weeks they’d agreed to all our demands. It’s quite amazing what you can do with some very clever field researchers and a crack team of pantomime chickens!

I should also say that I’m very lucky because my team really is jolly good indeed, so managing them is far from being a chore. It’s not all good though and there have been a few low lights. Certainly getting banged up after actions is never much fun. Sitting cooped up by yourself in a blood-smeared cell in Barry police station for 30 hours should be avoided if you can manage it.

Do you have any tips for someone looking for a career in this area?

I think I’m very lucky to work in a job that I really enjoy that also happens to be doing something vaguely useful. Greenpeace is all about making positive change happen and inspiring people, and without wishing to stray into the realms of hackneyed cliché, it’s great to be part of an organisation is very successful at doing this around the world.

I’ve been at Greenpeace for nearly 6 years and, besides nukes, have worked on the GM and Forest campaigns, all of which have achieved some amazing things over the years. We’re currently going great guns on our climate campaign (of which nukes is a part) and recently won a victory in the High Courts over the way the Government was trying to push the nuclear agenda on the sly, we’ve helped stop the commercialisation of GM crops in the UK and have run massive campaigns against illegal logging in places as far afield as Canada, Papua New Guinea and the Congo.

On a purely personal (and quite secondary note) it’s also quite satisfying showing people that Greenpeace is not actually like they (including, I have to say, most of my city banker mates) perceive us. We have a serious message, real solutions and a great sense of humour. Plus I don’t wear a hemp shirt and howl at the moon on May Eve. Though I am rather partial to cider..

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