Sara Parkin (born 9 April 1946) is a Scottish nurse and political activist. She started her working life as a nurse in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

but rose to prominence as a green political activist during and after the

1989 European Parliament election The 1989 European Parliament election was a European election held across the 12 European Community member states in June 1989. It was the third European election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the same time as the other m ...

, in which the

UK Green Party The Green Party, also known as the Green Party UK, was a Green political party in the United Kingdom. Prior to 1985 it was called the Ecology Party, and before that PEOPLE. In 1990, it separated into three political parties: * the Green Part ...

gained 15% of the votes but no seats. She resigned from the party in 1992, at odds with the party's anti-leadership stance, and went on to found the Forum for the Future with

Jonathon Porritt Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt, 2nd Baronet, CBE (born 6 July 1950) is a British environmentalist and writer. He is known for his advocacy of the Green Party of England and Wales. Porritt frequently contributes to magazines, newspapers and books ...

and

Paul Ekins Professor Paul Ekins OBE (born 1950) is a British academic in the field of sustainable economics, currently co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre. He is a former member of the Green Party. Political career Ekins was a prominent member of t ...

. Her current campaigning focus is

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

literacy as an essential outcome of formal education, especially in universities and colleges. She lives in Hackney,

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

Early life and education

Sara Parkin was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. She was educated in Coventry at Green Lane Primary School and

Barr's Hill Grammar School Barr's Hill School is a Mixed-sex education, mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Radford, Coventry, Radford, Coventry, England. Location Barr's Hill is situated on a spacious green field site just north of Coventry city centre on t ...

. She then trained as a nurse at

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

(1970–74)

Career

Parkin worked there as a ward sister at the Royal Infirmary. There, she met her husband Max, and her children Colin and Douglas were born there.Why Parkin sups with political devils, The Guardian, 18 September 1989 She tutored

undergraduates Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

in nursing at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

(1972-3) and worked elsewhere in the health sector in the 1970s and 1980s before turning to politics.

Politics

On moving to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in 1976, Parkin discovered the Ecology Party (as the

was then known). She stood (unsuccessfully) against Keith Joseph in the 1979 general election and in several local elections. When her husband's work as a cancer epidemiologist took the family to live in Lyon France, she became involved with the international growth of green politics. This including leading on the establishment of the Coordination of (European) Green Parties (a grouping now known as the

European Green Party The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is the European political party that represents national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–European Fre ...

for which she acted as Co-secretary and Spokesperson until 1991. With activists in other European Green Parties she provided support for green-oriented parties around the world, including dissident movements in east Europe. Parkin emerged as the most articulate and telegenic Green Party spokesperson after 1989 and was credited with being committed to Green Party policy and practical in terms of political tactics. Caroline Lucas remembers being “exhausted in the office and she’d burst through the door and bring with her new thoughts and ideas” while journalist Walter Schwartz considered her “the party’s best all-rounder, the easiest of the Greens to imagine as a Cabinet Minister. She is a highly organised political animal. Most Greens are not.” After an exploratory approach by the Labour Party, Parkin was defeated in her attempt at the 1989 Green Party conference to secure agreement to open negotiations with other parties on an alliance to bring in a proportional election system. She was also associated with Green 2000, a group advocating constitutional changes to the Green Party, including the creation of an Executive Committee, with a Chair, a Regional Council, and only two principle speakers (Immediately after the 1989 election 32 speakers were offered to the press). The party voted to agree these changes, electing a Green 2000 supporter to every post, and Sara Parkin as Chair. This organisational structure is still in place. The 1992 general election results were not good for the Green Party largely because of predictions of a hung parliament, but also because of the ongoing internal disarray of the Green Party. Parkin resigned before the 1992 Green Party Conference citing the party's refusal to sanction what was openly described as a campaign “to harry the (Green 2000) leadership at every opportunity until its members simply gave up in despair and quit.” The harrying persisted at the conference itself, with the last straw proving the party's ‘open door’ to the controversial

David Icke David Vaughan Icke (; born 29 April 1952) is an English conspiracy theorist and a former footballer and sports broadcaster. He has written over 20 books, self-published since the mid-1990s, and spoken in more than 25 countries. In 1990, Icke ...

. Green Parties: An international guide, which Parkin published early in 1989 is out of print, but remains a benchmark study of green politics at that time. Her 1994 biography of her friend, German Green Party leader Petra Kelly The life and death of Petra Kelly is published in several languages most recently in 2016 in Spanish. Parkin remains an advocate of Green Parties, arguing consistently for the need to organise for success and the importance to that of good leadership.

Life after politics

Frustration in the aftermath of the 1992 UN Earth Summit led many UK green movement activists to think about different ways of implementing more sustainable ways of living and working. Parkin joined up with other former Green Party activists

and

to create in 1996 the Forum for the Future, a registered charity and non-profit with a mission to promote sustainable development through working in partnership with business, government and other organisations. For the Forum Parkin designed a pioneering Masters course in Leadership for Sustainable Development and worked mainly with education sector, government and the professions, particularly engineering, over 20 years to promote sustainability literacy in universities and colleges. Her 2010 book Positive Deviant: Sustainability Leadership in a perverse world, based on this experience is a course book in several universities around the world. She stepped down from day to day involvement with the Forum in 2016, but remains a Trustee. During this time, she also served on boards of the Environment Agency for England and Wales, the

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several environmental (mainly geogr ...

, the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, the

European Training Foundation The European Training Foundation (ETF) is an agency of the European Union. Established in 1990, operational since 1994, the European Training Foundation is located in Turin, Italy. The ETF helps improve vocational training systems in non-EU count ...

and, at various times, NGOs such as

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

New Economics Foundation The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a British think-tank that promotes "social, economic and environmental justice". NEF was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) with the aim of working for a "new model of wealth ...

and Groundwork. Parkin continues to work with in education through The Sustainability Literacy Project, for which she is a Principal Associate. She also advises the National Union of Students on sustainability, and sits on the Boards of the

Higher Education Academy Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. She is also a Patron of

Population Matters Population Matters, formerly known as the Optimum Population Trust, is a UK-based charity that addresses population size and its effects on environmental sustainability. It considers population growth as a major contributor to environmental degr ...

and The Museum of Islay Life, Chair of the Richard Sandbrook Trust and Trustee of the St Andrews Prize for the Environment.

Awards and honours

Sara Parkin was appointed an OBE in 2000 for her services to education and sustainability, and holds honorary positions with several organisations, including the Institute of Energy, the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

, the

Engineering Council The Engineering Council (formerly Engineering Council UK; colloquially known as EngC) is the UK's regulatory authority for registration of Chartered and Incorporated engineers and engineering technician, holding a register of these and providing ...

and the

Society for the Environment The Society for the Environment (SocEnv) is an umbrella body for environmental organisations in the UK. Its primary function is the licensing of its member institutions to confer chartered status on sustainability and environmental professional ...

. She has 11 honorary degrees.

Selected works

* Parkin S (1989) Green Parties: An international guide London: Heretic Books * Parkin S (ed) (1991) Green Light on Europe London: Heretic Books * Parkin S (1991) Green Futures: Agenda for the 21st century London:Fount * Parkin S (1994) The Life and Death of Petra Kelly London:Pandora * Parkin S (2010) The Positive Deviant: Sustainability leadership in a perverse world London: Earthscan

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkin, Sara 1946 births 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish women writers Living people Green Party of England and Wales politicians Non-fiction environmental writers Nurses of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh People educated at Barr's Hill School Scottish nurses Scottish non-fiction writers Sustainability advocates