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Ways to make the Earth a better place to live in |
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About Us |
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You are here: Home » About Us What is Earth Focus?Earth Focus is a non profit-making organisation run by Mike Buzzard.
Why Earth Focus?I am just an ordinary person interested in his surroundings and I want to do my bit to try to improve things in the world. In my mind I have wanted to do something for some time, but didn't know what to do or how to do it! But in July 2002, I was reading a book called "The last of the Free", by James Hunter, about the History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There are some pages about a guy called John Murdoch who campaigned for a Gaelic renaissance in the Highlands and Islands which could in turn help the crofters to fight for their rights. In 1873 he started a weekly newspaper in Inverness, called The Highlander, which he used to promote the ideas of the Highland Land League. It is sad that The Highlander was forced to cease publication in 1881, and John Murdoch commented on whether it had accomplished anything:
But it did succeed, and later in 1881 some crofters on Skye go a rent reduction of a quarter by going on a rent strike. Further successes followed, and this led to eventually to William Gladstone's Liberal government passing the Crofter's Act in 1886, which gave crofters the security of tenure the Highland Land League was fighting for. So, The Highlander became my inspiration for a publication to campaign for ideas to improve the world. However, in 2002, it had to be a web site! A couple of weeks later I had researched and registered the necessary domain names and organised hosting.
But...who or what is Mike Buzzard? |
 | M I Mech E (Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers |
| C Eng (Chartered Engineer) |
| HND (Mech) Higher National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering |
| Responsible to the Chief Engineer for all new designs and updates. |
| Led major design projects |
| Liaised with major suppliers from abroad including Finland and Poland. |
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Responsible for running and managing the Design Department, including prototype manufacture. |
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I set new, extremely high, technological standards for complete new ranges of tail lifts. I brought out new designs, using the latest robotic production technology, which set new standards of ease of use and safety, world-wide. |
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Represented Ratcliff Tail Lifts on the British Standards Institution Tail Lift Sub Committee. Then convened a new BSI sub group on Tail Lifts for wheelchairs and brought out a new standard for these. |
This is my own computer consultancy business which I ran on my own.
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I started by going on a course to learn about every aspect of running a business. |
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I have now developed a huge amount of experience from previous jobs, running my own business and discussing problems with customers – then solving them. |
| Chair of the Ashwell Village Design Group, producing the “Ashwell Village Design Statement” for Ashwell with support from the Countryside Agency. |
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Chair of the Coalition N W Herts, an umbrella group working with people with in N W Hertfordshire who have learning difficulties. The Coalition influences many Health & Social Services decisions regarding people who have learning difficulties. The Coalition held a very successful Housing Conference in 1995. |
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The convenor of a planning sub-group that proposed an Employment business to help people with a learning difficulty in N.W. Hertfordshire. “Employment Direct” is now very successful in most areas of Hertfordshire. |
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A co-opted member of N.W. Herts Community Health Council, I was particularly interested in all the issues regarding people with a disability. |
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The Chair of EarthWorks whilst it was set up and took on its first employee. This is a charity, based in St Albans, which gives horticultural and land-based training for people who are unemployed, people with a disability, and others. It is now a registered company. |
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A member of the Skills of Living (SOL) group in NW Herts, which is involved in organising community activities for people who are unemployed, people with a disability, and others. |
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The (volunteer) editor of “Positive Thoughts”, the newsletter of the North Herts M.E. Support Group. I also initiated and designed its web site: www.nhmesg.org.uk. |
| A volunteer advocate |
| A member of POhWER: I joined at its inauguration in July 1996. I became a trustee in 2000 and resigned in 2001. POhWER is an advocacy charity. |
| Ideas for improving things (computer, mechanical, political, economic, etc) |
| Local History |
| Photography, using a Kodak DX3600 digital camera. |
| I bought a Panasonic NV-GS3B Digital Video Camera in April 2002 and now everything (not really!) has to be videoed. It is a brilliant - and tiny - camcorder, but my one regret is that it doesn't have a colour viewfinder. I use Pinnacle Studio for editing my videos into something more presentable. |
| None. But I do respect the right of everyone to have a religious belief - or not. |
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