We're excited to announce a new team member – Sophie Sines!
What’s your backstory?
I grew up on a huge farm with my three siblings, we had all the animals a usual farm would have as well as all the nature you could desire, starting my passion for plants and the health of the world. My parents started their own business when I was 12, so growing up I was fascinated in business and the business world. This led me to taking business studies in both school and college, collecting my business certificates in levels 1, 2, and 3. It opened my eyes to how amazing the business world is as well as showing me how corrupt it can be. From then on I've been helping my parents in making their business more environmentally friendly and being a part of a better world.
What’s your role at the New Economy Centre?
I have two roles in the New Economy Centre: I am a part-time centre assistant as well as starting an apprenticeship in digital marketing. My centre assistant role involves many different things from welcoming guests to managing the cleaners but there's always something new to do each day. My new role which I'm very excited about is a digital marketing apprenticeship. This allows me to expand my knowledge in marketing as well as putting it into use to help show the beauty of Selgars Mill. I'm excited to see where this can lead for me as well as the New Economy Centre.
What other initiatives are you involved in?
I am involved with GreenPeace and have been for many years. I like to keep up to date with everything that's going on currently in the world as well as being a part of it. I take climate change very seriously and will do anything that can help whether it's signing a petition or volunteering at my local nature reserve. I enjoy seeing positive change so even if it's something small like litter picking it's a big thing in my eyes.
What keeps you up at night?
The main thing that keeps me up at night would be politics. I often read things or hear things during the day whether it's from a government in another country or Boris himself. It can really upset me or even anger me that the world is the way it is and that people allowed it to become this way. I'm often baffled by these ideas the government comes up with or approves of whereas if you had anyone ‘normal’ leading the government it would be a completely different story. It's like these people live in a completely different world to us, whatever rules they make often apply to us but not to them and vice versa. I often think about a day when the government is fair and actually cares about the wellbeing of our country's people and the country's land.
One thing you are going to change? [in the world]
My main priority would be stopping climate change, making it reverse back to where animals aren't being put into extinction for our own benefit. Protecting the coral reefs around the world which provides the ocean with so many benefits as well providing us with so many different types of ocean species. Protecting the rainforests which are being destroyed everyday just so that we can put cattle on it. The idea of all of these big factories drilling into the ground for oil and coal producing millions of tonnes of toxic chemicals into the air, ground, and waters every year is really upsetting and gives everyone a reason to start saying 'stop' and to start protecting the planet.
