Former P&P Campaigner: Mark Carter
People & Planet has been around for over 35 years in one form or another and to celebrate this, we will be profiling former members of P&P or Third World First groups to see what they've been up to since leaving the network.
Mark Carter
Name Mark Carter
When were you involved in People & Planet? While studying at Aberystwyth University between 1999 and 2001
What are you doing now? How did you get there? I am a tour guide, specialising in wildlife tourism. I am freelance just now, doing bird and marine wildlife tours for a couple of different companies in Tasmania. It all started when I took a job in Edinburgh as a guide to pay the bills while I tried to get PhD funding. I didn’t get the funding but realised I didn’t want it anyway; tourism is loads more fun! I have been a lifelong wildlife fanatic so when I saw a vacancy with a marine ecotourism company in Scotland I leapt at it. I did two seasons there sharing dolphins, whales, sharks and seabirds with tourists from all round the world and explaining how we can loose them forever if we don’t act now. I did an MSc last year in Ecotourism and now I’ve settled permanently out here in Australia to be with my Aussie partner.
What inspired you to start campaigning? A combination of things when I was growing up. I remember the Cold War, Chernobyl blowing up, the Exxon Valdez oil slick in Alaska and the Amazon being cleafelled on the news. In my home town in Scotland it seemed just as bad: Britain’s nuclear submarine base was just up the coast making us a prime target in a nuclear war, I saw so many wonderful wildlife sites bulldozed to build ugly urban sprawl while brownfield sites nearby sat empty, and a neighbour who worked at the nearby nuclear plant died aged 30 of luekemia leaving a wife and two young kids. The only other place to get in job there in those days was at a British Aerospace factory where they made parts for the Hawk jets Indonesia bombed East Timor with in the 90s…
Describe your most memorable P&P experience. In spring 2001 dressing up as a 3rd world paramilitary gunman (ski-mask, sunglasses, bomber jacket and lots of noisy toy guns!) for a bit of theatre outside a uni careers fair where arms dealers BAE Systems was recruiting. My mate Oli in a nice suit (as the BAE Systems arms dealer) sold me the guns then held a mock recruitment stall and counted money while I shot at passers by with the BAE branded guns shouting “No human rights! Do what I say or I’ll kill you all!!!”. I was pretty scary! Despite the costume, passing lecturers recognised me straight away! Apparently we were the talk of careers fair and BAE were not happy. It would probably be far too risky to do that now; you’d get the SWAT team called out!
With many commentators suggesting that apathy is rife amongst young people, what can be done to engage young people in the campaign for social justice? Its true, apathy is rife. Young people feel totally powerless about the future so they just obssess about shopping and TV. Perhaps we need to explain things better? Everyone has power, and we make choices even when we think we don’t. For example, rather than just saying “buy fairtrade” we should explain exactly what you are supporting everytime you DON’T buy it. I think there is also an element of campaigning being unfashionable and perhaps we campaigners are a bit to blame for this. We can look like a real clique with our own dress code (hippy), diet (veggie) and even hairsyles (dreadlocks or pony-tails). I know people who say they sympathise but don’t get involved because they are “not that type”. Sounds shallow but we need to make ourselves and our campaigns) fashionable!
What do you think is the most pressing issue in the world today? Hard one that because so many things interlink. For me, biodiversity loss. I don’t want to live on a planet with no wildlife just so everyone can have the latest X-box. Thats what we’ll get if we keep putting economic growth ahead of anything and everything else. I think it was Ghandi who said “the world has enough for our needs, but not for our greed”.
What was the last film you watched? Children of Men. Its a new british film set in the near future. It is brutal and bleak; much of the imagery comes obviously from TV images of Iraq and the Gaza Strip. I think it spells out how close to barbarism our society can become if our luxuries are threatened.
Where would you most like to visit? Sounds cheesy but I have to say Aberystwyth! I haven’t been back since 2003 and I have so many friends still living there. Its a great little place. Second on my list is Gabon in central Africa. I have a friend there who studies gorillas in a jungle national park there: her descriptions photos of the place are incredible!
What are your ambitions for the future? I’m going to work in Australia for the next year or two to really get on top of the wildlife here. I really want to work in the 3rd world for Voluntary Service Overseas helping setting up ecotourism enterprises to help local communities get income from taking care of wildlife and habitats. My partner is a midwife so hopefully the pair of us will be quite useful wherever we go. After that I want to come back to Australia and start a serious ecotourism venture here for disabled travellers. The travel industry ignores disability and things have to change.
