Sam Buckton - United Kingdom
|
Keywords: activism, transformation, regenerative systems, transdisciplinarity, natural history, nature conservation
Overcoming the world’s growing and interlinked environmental and social crises is at the core of what I do in both academic and non-academic contexts. I am a transdisciplinary social scientist, naturalist and activist, currently based at the University of York as a Research Assistant on the FixOurFood project. The project aims to understand how a transformation towards a regenerative food system could be achieved in Yorkshire and beyond. My work focuses on designing, delivering, and analysing results of workshops with Yorkshire food system stakeholders to co-create transformative pathways to regenerative futures. I am also a Research Associate with Global Assessment for a New Economics (GANE), which aims to synthesise new economic thinking that challenges the global hegemony of neoliberal capitalism. In the past I have worked with numerous British nature conservation NGOs, including the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts, and with the University of Cambridge to produce its Biodiversity Action Plan. |
|
My academic background crosses the social and natural sciences. I have an MA in Biological Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management from the University of York. My current research interests range widely from system transformation, futures methods, philosophy and metaphysics, new economics, and challenges faced by young people in environmental sectors, to natural history, ecology and nature conservation.
Most of my activism is online, involving a lot of tweeting, posting, sharing, email-writing, petition-signing and donating; I have produced guides and given presentations on these methods. As a sufferer of eco-anxiety, I find that being proactive is a way for me to overcome depression and overwhelm. I am enthusiastic to support other young people in becoming leaders on transformative action to tackle crises such as climate change, and via the YACC project, I’ve found it fascinating to learn about the similarities and differences in what young people face in the UK and Vietnam when confronting socio-environmental issues.
Most of my activism is online, involving a lot of tweeting, posting, sharing, email-writing, petition-signing and donating; I have produced guides and given presentations on these methods. As a sufferer of eco-anxiety, I find that being proactive is a way for me to overcome depression and overwhelm. I am enthusiastic to support other young people in becoming leaders on transformative action to tackle crises such as climate change, and via the YACC project, I’ve found it fascinating to learn about the similarities and differences in what young people face in the UK and Vietnam when confronting socio-environmental issues.
