CURRENT MISSION

saving the world from impending environmental doom

ABOUT ME

I've been working as an environmental activist for nearly a year now, after having the most enormous freak out while I was in Africa and coming home (overland) to start doing something - anything - to make me feel less of the impending doom. This makes me sound kind of downbeat, but actually doing activism has been amazingly positive - I find that when I work really hard, go on loads of protests and talk to lots of people about climate change I feel much more hopeful about the future than I did even before I freaked out. It's annoying feeling like I really can't fly because obviously I love traveling, but my trip back up from Senegal was amazing and I'm really looking forward to more overland adventures.

PHILOSOPHY

If we wait for the revolution it'll be too late. We've got to be thinking about the process of changing the world, not just rejecting what we've got. I believe in the cumulative rather than the competitive. I talk a lot, but that doesn't mean I don't listen.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've stayed on people's couches in West Africa. Unfortunately I've never been able to host (there isn't really space on my boat) but one day hopefully I'll have a more amenable living arrangement! I'd love to meet up with people passing through London anyway.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I couch surfed in Morocco and Mauritania, and met up with some really cool people in Senegal.

Interests

• writing
• singing
• flying
• boating
• traveling
• opera
• cycling
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

My favourite book of all time is Musil's 'The Man Without Qualities', volume 1 of which has travelled all over the world with various friends and is currently in Greece with JenJen, volume 2 of which seems to be lost somewhere in Morocco (*sniff*) volume 3 of which might be in the post to Senegal if I'm lucky.

Music: opera, though by and large not those from the 19th century (apart from Carmen) - favourite pieces of orchestral music include Tchaik 6, Schostakovich 7, Prokofiev 1, Janacek Sinfonietta and Violin Concerto, Messiaen L'ascension, Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, Brahms 3, all the Beethoven symphonies, Bach B Minor Mass, Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks and Concerto in D, Bartok Viola Concerto - other than Art music I like Joanna Newsom, Anthony and the Johnsons, Bjork, Esmerine.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Riding the iron ore train along the northern border of Mauritania. One of the best days of my life.

Teach, Learn, Share

One of my hats is that of an English teacher, another is writing essays for people at various academic stages too lazy to write their own, so I'm happy to teach academic bullshit or my mother tongue. Also, I do a mean course in opera for beginners.

I would like to learn how to fix a bike, and possibly some basic plumbing. I would also like to learn how to sing properly, but that is a very longterm project.

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