Gone Green - Amy Hunt

Amy Hunt, 27, has worked at the Evening Chronicle for more than three years.
Before that she did a journalism course in Newcastle, after completing her degree in French.
Having grown up in Northumberland's Tyne Valley, she left to go to university in Aberdeen, but returned in 2005.
Although her parents still live in the sticks (Amy's words - not mine), Amy now lives just outside Gateshead town centre in a flat she owns with her partner Fergus, a chemist. She enjoys cycling to work in Newcastle nearly every day.

Amy started at the Chronicle as a general news reporter, but became environment reporter in 2007.
She now also covers Newcastle City Council and writes for The Journal and Sunday Sun, as well as the Chronicle. Away from her reporting duties,
Amy is a rep for the National Union of Journalists.

Hi Amy, welcome to Gone Green. Tell me all about your organisation, NCJ media.
We are in the business of regional news so at the heart of our activities are our readers and their communities. I don't think we would claim to be vastly more green than other businesses, although we try. But what we can do is campaign, unite, motivate and encourage our readers to help us make the North East a better place in which to live. That's what we've tried to do with our Go Green campaign.

Our aim in launching Go Green was to reflect the fact that more people from a range of backgrounds were interested in environmental issues and to use ordinary folk doing great things for the environment as a model for others to follow.
I don't think we wanted to preach and moan at people. But we wanted to help our readers understand how some intangible global issues related to them in the North East.

Hopefully we've changed a few viewpoints along the way, and helped save people some cash! But I think we've also highlighted what a great place the North East is and how many people here are concerned about the future of our planet and are doing something to improve it.

Describe your role within it.
As environment reporter I've had to drive the campaign, along with our advertising manager Sue Coulson.
Along the way I've tried to reflect and influence the views of our readers, advising but not preaching. Hopefully I've succeeded.

Have you always lived an ethical lifestyle?
I was brought up on recycling, an attitude of not wasting things and quite a few Green Party ceilidhs!
So through my parents and then of my own accord I would say I have lived a fairly green lifestyle.
But I'm not perfect and there are certain things I don't do, both out of choice and out of necessity.
I don't have a garden, I don't have an allotment, I still fly abroad about once a year... But I do try to strike a balance between living my life to the full and leaving a horrible legacy for future generations.

What inspired you to live a more ethical life?
Our Go Green campaign has changed the way I do things quite a lot. And also a bit of fear I suppose. It's very scary what we've done to the world, but very empowering to know we can do something to change it.

What do you do in your spare time?
I cycle, go to the gym, download and listen to music, go to concerts, sing, play guitar, read (mainly non-fiction, magazines and newspapers) and spend time with my family and friends, which sometimes involves going to the pub.

What is your favourite food?
I will eat just about anything as long as it's vegetarian and I go through phases of having little cravings. At the moment I'm a big fan of veggie sushi and I am hopelessly addicted to cheese.

What is your favourite restaurant?
St Sushi on Westgate Road, Newcastle, is pretty good, but my all time favourite is Sky Apple Café in Heaton - it's what being vegetarian is all about.

What do you view as human's biggest eco-sin?
Apathy. So many people are still doing nothing, even when doing something would mean absolutely no effort. Why are we still so wasteful? Because we can't be bothered to do anything about it. That's really irritating.

What do you think is the one most important thing that we could all do to help reduce our impact on the planet?
Stop being so wasteful. It's not hard and brings other benefits too.

What is your biggest eco-sin/wish you could do better?
Oh, loads of stuff. I wish I knew more about green issues, I wish I didn't like skiing so much and have to fly to do it, I wish I had the time and knowledge to have an allotment, I wish I had a magic wand to solve climate change.

Who is your ethical hero?
My ethical heroes are every single person who's contacted me with their green story over the last two years.
The North East has some massively inspirational residents and I don't think they always get the credit they deserve. Hopefully we've been able to give them some recognition.

Which political party do you think will do most for the planet?
Being a reporter usually means keeping your opinions to yourself! So I'll just say I don't mind who's in charge as long as they take the advice and act on it...fast.

If you want to see more of Amy's work then have a look at www.chroniclelive.co.uk/gogreen or email her at amy.hunt@ncjmedia.co.uk if you have a story to tell.