News from Jeff Murphy

Jeff Murphy attended two of our conferences: Footstep 10 and Footstep 11. He recently sent us news of what he is up to now (congratulations are in order!):

I work as an Analyst for Sightlines LLC, a consulting firm that works with higher education to extend the life of buildings and building systems as well as create more efficient and effective facilities departments. My emerging role in the company is with our newest product called GreenLine, which seeks to identify and quantify all of the sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) on campus. I have already finished analyses of the University of Vermont, Champlain College, Vassar College, Oregon Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Eastern Oregon University and Wagner College. I am also working closely with the Vice President of Product Development to introduce a supplementary product, which helps colleges and universities that have completed an emissions inventory select and track the progress of projects that make tangible reductions to their campus emissions. We will be starting this at our first pilot school, Smith College, next month.

I have also recently proposed to my long-time girlfriend and am in the planning stages of, what I hope to be a green if not carbon-neutral, wedding. We are looking into buying wedding rings made of recycled metal, we are having the ceremony and reception at a inn/farm in Vermont that focuses around local and seasonal foods, we hope to buy carbon offsets to eliminate travel emissions by our guests and will be providing re-usable bags, re-usable water bottles and a seedling as part of our party favors for our guests (kind of a green starter-pack).

Overland to Sochi

Overland travel is coming back into fashion in a big way at the moment. Fans of Michael Palin have enjoyed his tales of life aboard trains, buses, rickshaws and various boats for a long time and more recently Ewen McGregor and Charley Boorman have recorded epic cross continental journeys. Others such as record breaking cyclist Mark Beaumont have shown us the joy of the real connections that can only be made when travelling on rather than miles above the land and sea.

The joy of Slow travel is once again being recognised as part of a more wider promotion of the art of slow, Slow Food, Slow art etc. In our ever faster way of life with the stresses and strains of work, university, family and friends, it is often hard to just sit back, relax and take things a bit less hurridely! It is worth reading Carl Honore's book: SLOW for more on this!

Guardian columnist Ed Gillespie spent a year travelling around the world over land and sea and loved every minute of a life changing adventure. Hits on the train travel specialist website 'The Man in Seat 61' have been rapidly increasing as people strive to avoid souless airports, stuffy planes and carbon footprints. When you travel overland you get a far better sense of where you are going, you watch the climate gradually change, you see people going about thier business in rural backwaters, you meet fellow travellers, you have time to listen to that audio book you've never quite got round to, or to read that novel that has sat for months gathering dust on the bed side table. Slow travel buys you time, time to yourself, time to meet fellow 'real' travellers.
At Global Footsteps we are promoting our Global Ventures programme, we have contacts in towns and cities all over the world and we want you to visit them, connect with people to see how they really live, to understand what drives their behaviour and to appreciate how we are all interconnected.

Masha Koschalka is a director of The Rendezvous Society and comes from Sochi, a busy city on the Black Sea coast of Russia. She now lives in Cheltenham with her husband Dan and two young daughters. In July and August this year she will be travelling home to Sochi to visit friends and family and would love someone to join her there and to experience the wonderful Russian culture and hospitality first hand. This is a fantastic opportunity for a young person to have an authentic experience of life in Russia and to have a fantastic adventure travelling overland by train to get there!

If you want to be our latest Global Venturer please get in touch with the Global Footsteps director, Dr Morgan Phillips by email: mail@becominggreen.co.uk