Walking the Talk: The Front Line of Climate Change Writing and Campaigning

STSG is hosting a webinar to ask why there is still more talk than action on Climate Change nearly 30 years after the UK/Scotland formally adopted climate change mitigation goals into policy. The event is free to attend but please register by e-mailing us at [email protected]. We will then send you the link to join the conferencing platform which will be held on Zoom.

Dr Steve Melia’s interest in sustainable transport began as a teenager, when he drove through a red light into the side of a van from the Police Accident Prevention unit. He lost his licence and bought a bicycle.  In 1997, he stood as a Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, but became disillusioned with party politics and turned to environmental campaigning.  That led him to a PhD and a new career as a lecturer in transport and planning at the University of the West of England.  Steve’s latest book “Roads, Runways and Resistance” tells a 30-year story of the most controversial issues in transport in Britain from the anti-roads protests of the 1990s to HS2 and Extinction Rebellion.   For over 30 years, Steve observed these events, as a politician, a campaigner and then an academic.  He played a minor role in some of the earlier episodes, but had no idea that he would eventually become a direct participant.  After his arrest with Extinction Rebellion in 2019 Steve briefly became a hate-figure in the tabloid media and online, and was blacklisted from government work.  Since then he has been partly rehabilitated, speaking to the UK Climate Assembly and giving evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee.   Campaigning against greenfield building, while living in a village in a national park led Steve to the uncomfortable conclusion that “I had been part of the problem”.  Studying transport and climate change led him to stop flying in 2005, followed by a move to a flat in a city, where he was able to give up driving for ten years – until the COVID lockdown disrupted public transport.

For a 30% discount on the book, order from the publisher using the discount code: ROADS30