A: For a long time I worked in the vehicle trade, hand-building customised motorcycles to order and restoring damz/vintage motorcycles. I have also worked extensively in the building industry creating custom interiors, kitchens, bathrooms etc as well as a number of small-scale eco buildings.

I have also worked as a gardener and a recycler, but mainly as a countryside ranger/field biologist on Special Sites of Scientific Interest (SSIs), country parks and nature reserves in the South Wales area and as an environmental consultant/contracts manager for Environmental Services Cymru (recycling).

A: I think our progress is roughly in line with most of the rest of Europe, or maybe a bit slower, with the notable exceptions of Denmark, Sweden & Germany, whom we all lag pitifully behind! From what I've seen on government issues here, I don't think they are that serious about meeting the brave Kyoto targets they set themselves.

We could be doing a lot more in the area of recycling our waste, perhaps at smaller scales rather than having to think about huge reclamation plants in a few centralised locations. Small biodigesters and highly efficient incineration plants for biogas seem the most efficient way to solve this probklem in the Uk as we are currently set up best for gas as our main power source.

Knowing how history works in the UK, the government will more than likely leave everything to the very last moment (like they did the rail network - and look at the problems that legacy has created?), then they will introduce pricing as the means of how they distribute electricity. Namely, the amount you can afford is the amount you will be able to consume.

A: Well I don't know why we don't use wave power today? I always think that was the original and best sustainable power technology for the UK, considering the strong currents that surround a lot of the UK coastline.

But as history has shown, the nuclear industry did a very good job of burrying it completely. There are some great new ideas in this field, including prototypes of current generator turbines housed in towers on the seabed just off the coast of Spain. I'm hoping waves can make a resurgence in this century as a cost efficient power generation technology.

I am also very much in favour of decentralised power distribution. That is I would like to see everyone reponsible for their own power requirements. Sounds crazy at first but there are new types of wind arrays that fit seemlessly into your rooftop. These combined with solar arrays as they drop in price (they currently halve in price every 18 months), would give every home the capability of producing sufficient power to run a normal domestic life.

Metering would soon ensure that people became very aware of just how much power they were using, and would suffer the consequences of being without power if they were profligate in their consumption habits.

That method would then free up the existing grid resources to supply industry and public services. Because of the huge drop in overall demand, the existing plant would have a longer lifespan and the financial savings on what would have needed to be spent could then be invested in a series of new large-scale sustainable power generation initiatives.

A: Directly on the front line as far as I'm concerned! there are a lot of people who like talking about all theses issues but not nearly enough of them actually doing anything to change things.

There comes a time when talk is not enough, and all the countries who are making great strides in their environmental objectives have taken plenty of action, both at governmental level and at street level through people power, protests, lobbying and petitions.

A: Yes it is and definitely partly by fad. I think it will stop being a fad when we see a lot more action. What will spurn this on will be some catastrophic thing I'd guess.

Whether a natural disaster or man-made one, when a lot of people die - then action will be taken - and everyone will have their awareness jolted to a new level.

On an optimistic level, I'd like to see just a general interest expand as the necessity starts to bite in, materials get cheaper and the television starts to feature it as more mainstream programming like they relentlessly push property and home improvement as subjects currently.

A: Travelling, Tai Chi, Yoga, Kick Boxing & Kokishanku. I have been reading "Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig for NINE years so far and am only about a third of the way through it - so that's a life's ambition - to finish it!

Some of the countries coming up on my priority list to visit include; Mauritius, India, Cuba, Canada/US which I weould like to travel around "chopper style".

On the eco front, there's environmentally sustainable building approaches (including reclaimed and recycled materials), as well as green roofing techniques. I am also very interested in the redevelopment of urban brownfield sites as environmentally friendly public spaces such as forest gardens and nature resources. Of course all this leads to my Big Ideal of the proactive preservation of a diverse and healthy global environment.

A: Recently I studied for a CELTA teaching qualification and became involved in the Trees for Cities organisation. I also want to get back to living an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. Of course, I shall have to move out of London to achieve this, so timing is the deciding factor.

My ultimate aim is to live a semi-nomadic lifestyle spending 33% of my time in the UK on a canal boat, 33% in Mauritius in an eco home, and 33% travelling.

A: My final year project "Applications of Solar Energy to Low Energy Consumption Buildings with the program TRNSYS" looked at the study of the behaviour of a building under different bio climatic techniques with the purpose of reducing the energy needs of the building. I have also attended several renewable energy-related seminars.

I left university in 2002. A couple of months later, I decided I needed to learn English and so I came to London. Once I
settled down, I started to work as a waiter for different agencies. It at least allowed me to pay for my expenses, although it was
sometimes difficult as London was even more expensive than I had imagined. This was my first real work experience.

A: More than the work itself, working as a waiter in London (it could have been anything else) opened my mind to the real
world. During university, I was lucky; I did not have to care about working as my family supported me. However after that, I
thought it was time to start taking care of myself.

I met many people when working. It was interesting that I mainly met foreign people. Amongst them I realised how things were much easier for people coming from the European Union. I am talking mainly
about work permits and the possibility of staying in the UK indefinitely without asking for permits. I realised how unfair some
situations can be.

A: I am currently working at the Building Research Institute (BRE) and working in my second year of a PhD on the topic “Building Integrated Renewable Energy Systems”, looking at the integration of wind and solar energy in the built environment.

I am doing a course on Design and Installation of Solar Energy Systems. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Application:
Atmospheric wind flows around buildings. TRNSYS: Transient energy simulation program.

A: During my last years of university, I started to think what would I really like to do when I finished. During my degree, I had
always been interested in energy-related issues. I did a course on renewable energy and it was then that I started to consider the possibility of developing my career in the field.

At the beginning it was mainly because it was an interesting topic compared to the conventional stuff the university taught. However, I soon began to realise the importance of developing alternative approaches to how the world was not only providing its energy needs, but how we were wasting them. I also realised how renewable energy can provide a solution for the energy needs of developing countries.

A: I think that we, as human beings, are part of the environment. Therefore, I think it is important to know what are the
consequences our actions have on the other components of the environment.

We are always worried about other elements affecting us, and therefore we have evolved in order to protect ourselves from these elements; such as the weather, illness, and animals. I guess you could say human behaviour is a consequence of its natural evolution and that in the same way different species have also evolved in order to continuously adapt to the environment.

Up till now, however, environmental changes have always occurred due to spontaneous natural events. I think the main question now is whether its our current behaviour that is altering the natural environment's harmony and equilibrium (i.e. climate
change).

Is it part of the changing natural steps we have been confronted with in the past? Or is it a direct consequence of our irresponsible behaviour to ensure our own comfort, without taking into account how we might affect other species and ultimately ourselves and future generations?

A: I think that large-scale wind energy will play a major role from now to 2010. The UK lost an important opportunity for developing its wind energy industry when other European countries did. The UK finds itself in a privilege position in terms of wind resources. The technology has already been developed to exploit it and its ready to use.

If we consider the UK government's aim of generating 10% of electricity from renewable by 2010, wind energy seems to be the
only alternative that might reach this target. I think that energy coming from the oceans (wave and tidal) will also start to be
considered an important option by 2010. Many advances have occurred recently that open up a promising future.

There is also a lot of interest in solar energy, mainly photovoltaic. Despite of all the government grants to promote PV, I do not see this technology playing an important role from here to 2010. It will be only when prices drop that we will see a boom. This is why I think investing in it now will help to reduce future electricity costs coming from PV which will then make this technology feasible.

It’s important not to forget energy efficiency. It is, in my view, the most important sustainable technology. Energy not used does not contaminate. One should bear in mind that just implementing renewable energy technologies will not reduce country
greenhouse gas emissions.

First, we need to start decreasing the rate of actual energy consumption. Once this is done and people are aware about consuming energy responsibly; renewable energy and clean technologies should play an important role.

A: Well, I think at this moment sustainable-related concepts are employed by some people in a way that could be seen as a fad. It can be seen as fashionable and a way of marketing for many companies. I do not see this as a problem in itself but when things are not done with the purpose of reducing the environmental impact, but rather to sell product without producing any environmental benefit, it is bad for the global interest. First of all people have to be honest.

In addition, there are several renewable energy technologies, including energy efficiency, that can already play an important
role in order to cut greenhouse emissions (GE). It's important to consider other aspects and not only electricity generation's
contribution to GE. For instance, the transport sector is a huge contributor to GE so we cannot only focus on electricity generation as the main source of it.

A: Since my last year at University I have developed a special interest in sustainability issues, becoming more involved in the
technical study of renewable energy systems. This interest is within my wider objective in knowing whether or not it is possible to live in harmony with our natural environment in our daily lives.

I have recently started to become interested in oriental philosophies and religions. I come from a catholic background and back
home I did not have access to books about different religions and philosophies.