About me

Can an ordinary person make a difference to the biggest challenges of our times? I believe so, and this blog is the story of how I am trying to embed sustainable practices within civil engineering. I'm proud to be a civil engineer because over half of the UK's carbon emissions and other pollution arises from the infrastructure we all use rather than being under individual control. We also build for the long term: what I design today will be operating for at least the next 40 years and potentially the next 100 years - so that means it had better be good!

A little bit about me: I am a chartered civil engineer specialising in solving problems with the ground (from slope failures to foundations) and working predominantly in the rail industry. I am proud to be a member of the ICE, where engineers share knowledge and innovations to adapt our infrastructure to the new century, where oil is expensive and in short supply and carbon budgets are reducing. Can we rise to the challenge? I think we can!

The following pages provide a bit more of an introduction to my major themes:

• Ground engineering and geology
• Railway tales
• What does Sustainable Infrastructure look like, and how do we get there?
• Learning to live more sustainably: 2014 challenges
• Faith and spirituality: Why Treading Lightly? and Reflections and Meditations (several series of reflections for different seasons of the year)
• I worship at Acomb Methodist Church in York and I've written quite a lot here about our attempts to make our building more sustainable and develop a new community garden. 
• I also write a book blog with book reviews, author interviews and more at www.edbucks.co.uk

You can follow me on Twitter at @treadlightly08.

NB: Please note all opinions expressed in this blog are my own. I speak in a personal capacity rather than as a representative of the ICE or my current or past employers. I only discuss information which is already in the public domain. I hope that my comments are a useful contribution to the debate.
As always, engineering design (especially ground engineering) is highly site-specific and requires a competent person to assess what is most appropriate in each situation, hence nothing on this blog should be construed as engineering advice!