We are Aimee and Sonia
and in April 2019 our
worlds turned upside down

Sonia: On the 22nd of April 2019, I was about to hop on a plane to India, rushing around to leave the house. I heard something on the radio about a blockade on Waterloo Bridge. Something called Extinction Rebellion. Wait, what was that? Extinction rebellion? Extinction? What on earth? And why were they tying themselves to railings? It kind of stopped me mid-suitcase.

Then came one of the most outrageous interviews I had ever heard. John Humphrys (or one of the Radio 4 pompous-es) ‘spoke’ to Gail from XR. It wasn’t an interview, it was an out-and-out attack. He tore her down. I was so shocked and outraged that I did something I’ve never done. I got on to Twitter - which I hardly use - to tweet Radio 4 to say er…BBC? That’s not journalism.

Exactly then, right then, something else happened. I had just finished writing a novel and was following some agents and publishers. On my feed, one of them announced that the book Losing Earth was being published that very day. Wait, hang on, what. Losing Earth? What sort of title was that? Extinctions? Losing Earth? Something in my brain went off. It was already available on Audible, so I downloaded it and listened to it on the 9 hour flight to India (ironic I know!). By the time I landed, my world had turned on it’s head.

We were about to lose earth.

What?!

I called all my friends. I said they had to read this book. Only one person did.

Aimee: Yep I did. And here we are!

We HAD to do something. But could we make a difference, would it even count? No-one around us seemed to be listening…they didn’t seem to realise how bad it was, just like we hadn’t. We ranted on a bit and were soon in danger of being muted.

Time for a change of tack!

Everyone, just like us, had crazy, busy lives. No one had the time or headspace. All the endless lists of things that we should be doing were overwhelming. And sometimes the fear was paralysing, at least it was for us!

So we came up with this. One action a week, super easy but with serious substance and a spot of style. For us it’s not simply about ‘reducing emissions’ like a grey bank transaction. For us it’s simple. The earth needs loving, big loving, just like we do. Giving more than we take. Not stuffing ourselves with stuff. Loving our creatures. And that’s what this is about.

We’re total opposites as people: tea vs coffee, gadgets vs gardens, you get the gist. But it works. We’re a great team. We argue a lot. Hands thrown in the air and various other amateur dramatics (Aimee especially). We also have a real laugh. And we give a major damn about what we’re doing.

Professionally we’re a good mix too. Aimee leads on engaging business in schools and colleges across England. Sonia is a personal and leadership coach and helps people become who they want to be.

Together, we’re on a mission, with all of you, to make a marvellous world. And we don’t want to become dreary monks in the process.