User:Parmesan

About Me
This is the user page for Parmesan. Other than a hard and somewhat expensive Italian cheese, I am also a published researcher and commentator in the field of environmental management in universities. I write for The ENDS Report, the world's first environmental business and policy journal.

I have an MSc in Environmental Impact Assessment, Auditing and Management Systems from the University of East Anglia and a BSc in Environmental Biology and Environmental Management from the University of York. I also hold a certificate in Environmental Management Systems Implementation and am an Associate Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.

I am located in Sanderstead, Croydon, Surrey, where I grew up, just within the southern boundary of Greater London, England. I would like to point out that England is not to be used interchangeably with the term United Kingdom. This is partly because I am half Welsh. I enjoy Rugby Union but not the ridiculous macho culture that goes with it. I like Real Ale but I'm not averse to a good glass of red wine - Domaine de Valras 2005 is a particular recommendation - or some Belgian beers.

Bad grammar annoys me almost as much as vandalism and absurdly POV edits. I am vegetarian. Some of my photographs may be seen on my Flickr page. Politically, I am a technocentric, economically pragmatic socially liberal green. Through sheer common sense and the appliance of science, I am an atheist. I rescued the infamous "York Folklore" from the old University of York Physics Department 486 PC known as Kipper. It is now safely housed here (This appears to be an etymological milestone in the meaning of 'safely housed'). I edited, contributed and tidied-up many pages prior to becoming a registered Wikipedia contributor in October 2005.

Previous Work
I researched and wrote "Going Green" for the major student campaigning organisation People and Planet in late 2003, and contributed to the current version produced in 2006. This forms the basis of a rather successful campaign to improve the environmental performance of British higher education.

I authored "Environmental Management Systems in Universities" for the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges and delivered a presentation at their annual conference in 2004.

In the summer of 2005 I was involved in promoting commercial quantum cryptography equipment and worked on a successful franchise bid for a train company, Go Ahead.

What I'm Doing
I have done a lot of work on Wilson's School, which now makes for some interesting reading (although I do say myself...), plus reverting vandalism, giving due warning, welcoming newcomers and requesting blocks. I seem to have adopted Loose Women for some random reason, as it gets a lot of weird vandalism from either a) the usual suspects or b) hardline misogynists. Oddly enough, I used to live only a few hundred metres from where Loose Women was filmed in Norwich.

Interests
Science, Technology, Ecology, Environmental Management, Cycling, Linguistics, Mythology, History, Computing, Strategy Games, Alternative Music.

Fields of knowledge
Environmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Management Systems particularly in universities, Strategic Environmental Assessment, Pedantry, and environmental issues in general.

Why the name?
I had a nasty reaction to a prescription painkiller in 2004. I turned bright pink, inflated like a balloon and a lot of my hair fell out. Guess what my skin looked like! Fortunately, I recovered after a few months and it had no lasting effects. Well, so far...

Photography
In response to an image request, I scanned and uploaded my photograph of the Kamzík TV Tower, Bratislava, Slovakia in November 2005. I was visiting my girlfriend fiancée who was teaching English there.

I also added a photograph of St Thomas Abbey, Brno, in the Czech Republic, where Gregor Mendel conducted the first research into what we now call genetics. This is mine too.

Selected Contributions

 * Mute Swan
 * Gregor Mendel
 * Brno
 * Belle - a bit of internationalisation
 * Chancery Standard - wikified, then redirected it to Middle English where I had found a duplicate entry, which I updated with my version.
 * Kamzik TV Tower
 * Dar Robinson - made more neutral from a very POV start
 * Military history of Germany - worked on featured article status, mentioned cause of germanic migrations.
 * Ding Feng
 * Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
 * ENDS Report
 * Wilson's School
 * People and Planet