{"id":21766,"date":"2026-10-20T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/sustainability\/?p=21766"},"modified":"2026-10-20T10:14:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T09:14:55","slug":"introducing-cara-sgo-projects-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/sustainability\/introducing-cara-sgo-projects-officer\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing: Cara, SGO Projects Officer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hi, I\u2019m Cara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in a home where taking in and caring for injured wildlife was common, my passion for nature began at a young age. My mum raised me to have respect and compassion for all life no matter what. I even recall being fascinated watching ants as a small child, and building a little house for them in the garden. and I kind of can\u2019t believe it took me this long to figure out this is what I should be doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During COVID, like many of us, I began to question everything<\/em> and took a full 360; setting out on a new career in conservation. I began focusing on using my existing skills to get into the nature sector. I began writing articles on conservation stories and became a regular contributor at Ubuntu Magazine, a free conservation publication, where I have grown my knowledge, connected with conservationists across the globe and enhanced my writing skills. My latest articles include: \u2018The Art of Coral Reef Restoration’<\/a> and \u2018A Sanctuary for Humpback Whales: Hervey Bay\u2019s Role in Marine Conservation<\/a>\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a decade long career I never really resonated with, here I am at thirty studying my first degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Science, and I have honestly never felt more like I am on the right path. My journey to becoming a conservationist has been an unconventional one, but I am driven by my passion for the natural world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When not at uni, I keep pretty busy and have recently become a Director of a conservation site in Aldington, where we have an ancient woodland, wildflower meadows, gardens and orchards to create habitats for local species. I am involved in conducting surveys, helping maintain the habitats, event hosting, and voting on important decisions we make about the organisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image description: a grassy hill, with Cara, quite small in the distance, sat at the top.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As you can probably tell by now, wildlife and biodiversity is my thing. Whenever I have free time I am often out for a stroll in some wild place or another, if you are on campus early enough you may even find me in the gardens staring up at a tree or into a shrub watching something that has caught my eye. I have recently gotten into bird watching, my favourite birds are long-tailed tits, which honestly are the cutest things, but I do believe they are secretly absolutely feral and all the other birds know it too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love being a student, especially being slightly older. I try and be very involved with university and take on every opportunity I can, including being a student ambassador and course rep, which is why I am so very excited to now be a part of CCCU\u2019s Student Green Office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over this next year, I hope to get a CCCU swap shop up and running, where students and staff can leave any unwanted goods and people can help themselves to what they need for free, to help support a circular economy while also providing necessary items for those who need them. I would also like to spend a good amount of time in the greenhouse building up my green thumb skills, and perhaps organise a few citizen science surveys on campus too.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Cara Blackburn, SGO Projects Officer<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi, I\u2019m Cara. Growing up in a home where taking in and caring for injured wildlife was common, my passion for nature began at a young age. My mum raised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331329,"featured_media":21770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[334,366,1822,1942,1954,2014],"class_list":["post-21766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-green-office","tag-canterbury-christ-church-university","tag-cccusustainability","tag-sgo","tag-student-blogger","tag-student-green-office","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t