Hello, I am an Education Officer for the Zero Waste Town Project.
I can trace back why I am in the job I am today to a teacher and an astronaut and sadly I do not remember either of their names but their impact has inspired the course of my life.
When I was 12/13 I had a Maths teacher. In lessons, when he thought we had done enough Maths, he would tell us to put away our books and then he would talk about the world. He spoke about things like endangered species, deforestation and pollution, back when these things were not often discussed, especially with people my age. He gave real examples of where those things were happening then and spoke about people and organisations that were doing things to make a difference. He also began a conservation club at the school to involve those that attended in practical hands on things to make a difference locally.
At a similar time to this I had been flicking through the TV channels and I came across an astronaut talking about his experiences. As he spoke they showed pictures of Earth from space. I had never seen something like this before and so I stayed on that channel to watch what was left of the interview. He spoke about the impact of seeing the Earth as a sphere in the vastness of space for the first time. He talked about the profound understanding he came to have. He realised how deeply we are all connected because we live on a globe and how there are no real boundaries. He then went on to talk about the effect of understanding how vulnerable and insignificant we were in the vastness he saw and how he truly now comprehended how reliant we were upon each other and on the planets continued health for our survival.
However, as he spoke the pictures of Earth were being shown and as I saw them I began to be deeply affected by them and their impact changed me forever. From then on pictures of pop artists were replaced on my wall by posters of the Earth either as a whole spherical globe or of the Earth from the Moon. I also took photos of my local environment and had them blown up into posters. These images surrounded me daily and this coupled with my Maths teacher’s unusual lessons, inspired me to find out about issues I was interested in from around the world and then to think about whether I wanted to get personally involved in them either on a local or a global scale.
I went on to gain an Environmental Science Degree and I have been a teacher for 13 years, specialising in environmental education for the last 6. The Zero Waste Town project is so inspiring to me and I have loved being a part of it so far. I get to help young people to really engage with their locality and to realise they can make positive changes now and for the future. I love being part of enabling a new generation to realise their waste is also a resource who are increasingly becoming motivated and inspired as I was to think about their place in the world and their local environment. I often think of the impact these two people had on my life and I wonder how many others have been affected by what they said and did. It’s amazing the effect people can have.
Anyway, that’s why I do the job I do and I am so happy to have been given the opportunity to do it in the area that I love.
Susan Carleton, Education and Community Officer for Zero Waste Dunbar and District.