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This all began in about 1980 when…

… I filed my first assignment with the Radio 4ZB children's programme. I was about 12 and wore my Smudge Reporter badge with enormous pride. Early dreams to be a journalist ebbed away, but one way or another, I've been writing ever since.

I had a good run blogging regularly between 2004-2015. Then I had an unplanned hiatus when I got mixed up with drugs (or to be more precise, heavily involved in promoting a public health approach to drug harms).

My work has spanned community development, digital inclusion, public health, social and environmental policy, and NGO capability building. I've worked in government and for-purpose organisations, and I was self-employed for 7 years supporting a wide range of initiatives and projects.

My paid and extensive unpaid work is linked by a commitment to promoting progressive social change. As tāngata Tiriti, I endeavour to give full respect to tangata whenua as first peoples in this land, recognise Te Tiriti o Waitangi, strive for constitutional reform, and bring to life the principles of social justice.

Pushing the Limits is a vehicle to share my thinking about the mess we humans are in, and how we might do something about it. I'm reluctant to set boundaries on what I'll write about, but this will circle around on being an active citizen in this extraordinary time of flux.

The title is a nod to the work of the Club of Rome who laid down a challenge to humanity to live within planetary boundaries. This was over 50 years ago. Sadly, their seminal analysis on the Limits to Growth has largely been overlooked. I hope to rattle a few cages and push a few buttons as I go.

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