Cal Educates Communities in Sustainable Food Technologies

My time at Lancaster University actually pushed me away from further education. When I arrived at Lancaster as a fresh faced 18 year old, I was sure that I wanted to leave with a PhD. I was scared of the world outside of academia.

Lancaster has so many supportive communities so it was impossible not to develop as social being. Before I knew it I was a JCR member, magazine editor, playing college football and volunteering with the history department;learning how to play well with others.

This education continued as I travelled the world. My time as a teacher in South Korea was spent teaching, travelling around Asia and meeting some interesting characters. As my social circle expanded beyond the parameters of “white British males aged 18-30”, I met Carla, Robert and Jenessa. Together we hatched a plot to feed some people. My time at Lancaster had given me some lofty dreams about contributing to a vague ‘global community’ that left me with nothing but feelings of guilt and inactivity, but together, the four of us decided to make a real effort to improve lives, just a few at a time.

We created 'The Life Aquaponic', an organisation designed to educate communities in sustainable food technologies. We focus on aquaponics, an innovative sustainable agricultural system which combines aquaculture (fish care) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil) to grow food. Our first project involved an amazing developing community in western Nepal. Working with The BlinkNow Foundation, founded by the incredible Maggie Doyne, we are raising money to bring aquaponics to the Kopila Valley and teach the residents to feed themselves sustainably for generations to come.

Take a look at Cal’s project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1475250437/sustainable-aquaponics-systems-in-surkhet-nepal