Name: Morgan Parry
Age: 50

Occupation: Head of WWF Cymru and Chair of Cynnal Cymru

Town/City: Caernarfon

Ecological Footprint: 1.84
Average for Wales: 3.14
Quote before:
"I'm a little apprehensive because I feel there is some pressure for my ecological footprint to be relatively low. There are some aspects of green living I could do more of. I have got rid of my vehicle but we still have a family car that my wife requires which could increase my footprint."

Story:
Head of WWF Cymru, Morgan Parry recently calculated his ecological footprint on the WWF website. With the average Ecological footprint in Wales being 3.14 Morgan's 1.84 is impressive, but as Morgan concedes there is room for much improvement.

Morgan lives 3 miles out of Caernarfon and 14 miles away from Bangor. As Head of WWF Cymru he splits up his working week between Caernarfon, Cardiff Bay and occasionally London traveling by train to all. He and his wife have two young children, two dogs, two bee hives and a number of large chickens.



Morgan strives to keep his and his family's environmental impact to a minimum by incorporating many energy saving methods into their lifestyle. He has managed to maintain a relatively low Ecological Footprint through making crucial changes to everyday life. None of these changes are especially drastic but go along way in conserving energy and resources.

"Driving the kids to school would take three minutes where as walking them to school takes 20. That is 20 minutes more time that I get to spend with them, which is great."

The house is lit throughout from energy saving light bulbs, all electrical appliances are switched off at the wall, seasonal fruit and vegetables are grown in the garden as are herbs, and honey is harvested from bees kept in the nearby field.

There is a visual electric consumption meter in the house which clearly shows when too many lights and electrical appliances are on; a popular and educational tool to teach children about unnecessary energy consumption. They also have a healthy composting system and recycle as much as possible.



Morgan and his family gave up flying four years ago and now enjoy camping holidays within the UK. Additionally his car also went for the chop a year ago which has since seen Morgan walking, cycling and getting the bus and the train.

"I am a much fitter man now that I walk and cycle."

Morgan said, "Undoubtedly making sacrifices like this can cause inconveniences, getting about by bus and train can take a lot of planning. However the positives massively out way the negatives. Driving the kids to school would take three minutes where as walking them to school takes 20. That is 20 minutes more time that I get to spend with them, which is great. Also camping in Scotland for example instead of a package holiday abroad tends to give us more quality time with our children. I am also a much fitter man now that I walk and cycle.

"Ultimately I find that leading a low impact lifestyle only enhances your quality of life. I am however by no means a paragon of virtue. There are many more ways in which I could change our way of life to impact less on our natural environment.

"Maintaining a close relationship with neighbours precipitates a sharing of resources such as car share, and swapping items; one mans rubbish is another mans treasure."

"We are thinking hard about the installation of solar panels and a wind-turbine in order for us to become independent of the National Grid. We also have four acres of land, which could be put to better use. Ideally what I would like to do in the very near future is grow trees on our land to give us a sustainable supply of wood to heat the house.



"Ten years ago when we bought the house which at the time was derelict. Unfortunately we could not then find wool insulation, however I managed to build an extension from salvaged supplies. Our one naughty luxury is our oil fired Rayburn which we purchased 10 years ago. In hind sight I would now have bought a wood fired Rayburn. In the end everyone ends up making compromises, there is always some sort of trade off.

"Community in my opinion is crucial for people to maintain low impact lifestyles. Maintaining a close relationship with neighbours precipitates a sharing of resources such as car share, and swapping items; one mans rubbish is another mans treasure. For example I and two of my neighbours bought a trailer which we all share. However due to working in Cardiff and having to commute by train means I can not be as active within the community as I would like. Encouraging and indeed nurturing a stronger sense of altruistic behaviour within communities would go a long way in lowering the ecological footprint of villages, towns and indeed cities."