When I was a child I would love to  play outside, my pocket money often  went on plants or seeds, for whatever little patch of garden my mother would let me have, I was not good at the gardening, to impatient, digging in the soil to see if the seeds had germinated  and thus interrupting the cycle of life, but my wonder just grew,  being fortunate to live in amazing rural locations, we were not wealthy, but I acquired a naturally bountiful wealth and knowledge of the natural world and a love affair with our planet. I learnt that you do not mess with nature; she is as forgiving as she can be, but she cares for all who live on this planet equally and to make our mother Earth sick is unforgivable, why or why would we do that, but we do, like spoilt bratty, disobedient delinquents we dishonour her and now her ability to protect and provide is ailing fast.
The site of a nuclear power station a few kilometres from where we lived, installed forever in me a vision of hell, manmade hell, so from an early age I suppose I was what we would call an environmentalist, no qualification, just a burning yearning in my heart for the harm to stop.
These last few years I have pressed hard on the accelerator of change, making a continuous personal journey from my everyday living to the political, why, because I do not wish to weep at the grave of our mother Earth a heart full of regret.
All she needs is our true love, a return to an understanding of her wonderful and mysterious ways, many of her children understand this, me cycling to ParisCOP21 is just one more way of letting more of our brothers and sister know we must take care of her now and that we love her.