I’ve been researching, campaigning and consulting on environmental issues for over 30 years. I was born in Bristol in the UK, and I still live there. I love the city, and it’s still a fantastic place, but like many cities, it’s struggling to get to grips with what the climate and ecological emergencies (and the problems of poor air quality, noise and inequality) might mean for how it develops. The basis for planning how land is used is unfit for the 21st century.

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I have a degree in Physics from the University of Oxford, an MSc in Development Studies (University of Wales, Swansea), and a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge, where I gained a MacArthur scholarship. My PhD was published by Macmillan. It highlighted the narrowing of agriculture’s genetic base, and the environmental consequences of newer biotechnological innovations as they deepen the trend towards uniformity.

I set up Eunomia Research & Consulting in 2001. I wanted to do consulting in a principled way.

Working on environmental issues, it’s clear that society generally finds, over time, that things are worse, not better, than we previously thought. It makes no sense to advise people to do things which, even if they can do them, they really shouldn’t. I’ve spent most of my working life seeking to change policy so that polluters pay, and those who ‘do the right thing’ are better off than those who don’t. Most - perhaps all - environmental issues are matters with strong roots in justice and morality.

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I exited Eunomia in October 2020. I wanted to spend more time thinking more deeply about some key challenges facing us.

I’m interested in designing policy mechanisms and strategies that drive positive change.

It’s clear we need to think bigger than ever.

So, I hope something on this website inspires, or encourages you to greater things.