The below are extracts from some of my work during my Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University (2007-8).
My final project concerned carbon zero building and living. It was written and designed (using InDesign) in the style of Grand Designs magazine.
How low can you go?
Greener living is something many people strive for today, but how about reducing your household annual carbon count to nil? The government says we can lower our home’s footprint to nothing – and that by 2016 all new buildings must meet these strict environmental standards.
The carbon emissions produced from building and living in our homes make up 45% of the total produced in the UK. A carbon zero building means a property is highly efficient and actually produces more energy than it uses over a year. This is achieved by a combination of reducing energy use, and using renewable energies which produce extra power which is fed back into the national grid. The construction of low carbon housing enlists new – and old – building technologies to ensure new builds are as environmentally friendly as possible.
With cooperation, there’s life after 50
Communities, schools and cooperatives are helping older people to break through age old stereotypes to lead more fulfilling lives.
Help the Aged claims older people are typically excluded from social situations which could increase their quality of life. They say that three quarters of a million elderly people feel out of touch with the world, and nearly half a million say they never see their friends. Many older people – 150 thousand – never leave their homes. However, there are people and organisations out there trying to do something to change this, including the Cooperative Group.
This feature was written as part of my postgraduate course at Cardiff University. It wass aimed at Network, the magazine of the Cooperative Group. The topic we were asked to tackle was social inclusion. My article was shortlisted for an award.
Honey, the kids have joined the circus (Online project, includes film footage and audio clip)
Cardiff hit national and international headlines earlier this year [2008] when it was discovered that there was a council-promoted pole dancing session for children under 16 due to be held in the city’s St. David’s Hall. It was quickly cancelled, despite organisers pointing out that it was envisaged as a circus skill rather than as one akin to pole dance as practiced in strip clubs. Pole dance has become a popular fitness technique, but is still associated with the sex trade, whereas circus skills are a more suitable and unusual way that kids can keep fit, have fun and learn valuable skills.
You’ve come a long way, Babar (interview with Babar Luck, aimed at Big Cheese magazine)
Babar Luck used to make noisy punk with King Prawn. His solo music might be easier to listen to but has fatherhood mellowed his attitude to life? Not at all, discovers Charlie Duff.
Babar Luck is not the average old punk rocker. His hair is not expertly styled into a new high-maintenance emo style, nor does he sport an old school mohican. Instead, his head is shaven, but not in a skinhead way: his beard and the long cotton tunic he dons to perform in betray him as a practising Muslim. His skin could make him Indian, or North African, and his eyes fix you with dark brown intensity. He talks continuously, but frequently checks you are following, asking, “Do you understand?” Babar coughs occasionally as he speaks. I ask him if he’s ok, and he replies, “No, I’m not OK! I’m not going to be OK until there is world peace!” He laughs throatily: but he’s serious.
