Hello, and welcome to my blog!

My name is Heather, and I’m a Cuban-American PhD student, writer, and lecturer living, working, and studying in Nottingham, England. My original home, however, is sunny and vibrant (if excessively materialistic!) Miami, FL, where I did my undergrad at the University of Miami. I have such fond memories of my time at the ‘U’, from its world-class research and staff to my one-year internship with the R.J Dunlap Marine Conservation Program conducting field research with our planet’s most ancient predators. Though I absolutely love life here in the UK, I do miss my family, who live spread out between Miami and Cuba…and the succulent mangoes and bold Cuban coffee that can be found back home in abundance, of course!

Upon graduating I got accepted into the University of Kent- located in the picturesque city of Canterbury in the Southeast of England- for an environmental social science MSc program. I had never been to the UK or continental Europe before, so I was equal parts apprehensive and ecstatic when the time came to pack everything and move over 4,000 miles across the Atlantic to my new home…and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Though I must admit, it took me some time to get accustomed to the 24-hour clock and learn to say ‘crisps’ instead of ‘chips’!

I constantly find myself wondering where the time has gone. Now I’m nearing the latter stages of my PhD, which centres around investigating radical environmental activists’ behavioural motivations, ecological world-views, and visions of a more socio-ecologically harmonious future. I also teach university students on modules ranging from ethics and political philosophy to criminological theory. I’m officially a published author, with an essay in a book of collected fiction pieces from around the world entitled, ‘My Utopia‘, as well as articles published on various online platforms including The Conversation! It’s been a truly exciting and rewarding journey so far, one for which I’m eternally grateful.

Everything in my life has been grounded in and centred around my passion for the natural world and our animal counterparts, and today they’re under dire threat as anthropogenic climate change and the 6th mass extinction steadily undermine the very foundations of life as we’ve known it. Time is running out for us to learn to live harmoniously with our amazing co-evolutionary kin. So, I dedicate this blog to them and all things wild, as a platform on which to share and discuss ideas around how to build a better world for the flourishing of all.

I hope you find the pictures and written pieces on here of some value. Until every cage is empty, and all chains unbound!

In solidarity,

Heather