Hello, I’m Tim, one of your new project officers at the Student Green Office (SGO). I am just starting the second year of my Politics degree.

I have a background in activism, business and local politics with sustainability at its core. Here are a few snippets of how I ended up here:

Growing up on the edge of Maidstone, just 22 miles from Canterbury, I was lucky enough to have countryside a short walk away from my house. We used to enjoy family walks down country lanes and trying our best to find public footpaths through fields. One family tradition was to go for a long walk up the Kent Downs every New Year’s Day, trudging in our boots through the mud or occasionally snow. More recently I have learned that this was just a cunning plan, devised by my parents to wear out over excited children. Woodland hiking and camping with the Scouts also gave me close-up experiences of the nature that we are privileged to have here in the UK. Now living in Canterbury, I really appreciate that after a short walk I can be strolling up the river Stour through the Hambrook Marshes where a range of different birds can often be seen. The Mallard ducks are still my favourite!      

Ideas about social justice were also something I observed from a young age, my parents volunteered to run stalls selling Fairtrade products to help promote the pioneering fair trade organisation Traidcraft. This started to develop my thinking about the sorts of businesses we buy from and how those involved in producing things are treated.  

Whilst I was at secondary school, in Rochester near Kent’s other Cathedral, I began to develop an interest in politics. Ideas of how things could be different captivated me. I spent lunchtimes reading and many evenings watching politics programs on TV. 

When I went to college to study A-levels, a chance meeting led to my first involvement in political activism. I got on a busy train to go to London for a tour of Parliament with my politics class and started chatting to a random person who I initially didn’t realise was going for the same trip. Having realised we were in fact from the same college and going on the same trip, we began chatting as only two political nerds could do. Thus, I was invited to a meeting a few days later of the newly formed Maidstone Friends of the Earth group. Being part of a local Friends of the Earth group was a fantastic experience of learning about different environmental issues and getting involved with campaigns.   

I believe that environmentalism, social justice and politics are closely intertwined so my interest in these issues has also become so. I have been involved in activism, business and politics in various ways where these issues meet. This is what has brought me here to be part of the fantastic SGO team!

             

By Tim Licence (he/him), SGO Projects Officer  

If you’re interested in meeting the rest of the SGO – here are Max and Holly’s introduction posts from last year!