“ It ' s something to get up for in the morning , you ' re contributing to things , but it ’ s not without controversy ,” says Allen . “ Not everybody has the same perception of it .”
Last year , a protest took place outside BAE Systems Samlesbury site against the sale of weapons . The company is no stranger to such events , but respects the rights of others to protest peacefully .
“ It ' s just a really interesting company and that was what attracted me to the role ,” concludes Allen . “ It never , ever stays the same . It ' s all changing , because of the world around us , new people coming in and people going . Particularly in the world of sustainability over the last 20 years , it ' s just changed beyond recognition . So it ' s been fantastic to be part of it !”
Over the past two decades , understanding of climate change has become fully accepted and mainstream . What does Allen think of climate change ?
“ Obviously it is a huge threat for us all ,” says Allen . “ I just don ' t feel that there ' s that sense of everybody owning it . There ' s a lot of talk about it , there are some people obviously hugely passionate and committed to it , but I suspect a lot of us are still not doing what we need to .”
In 1990 , Allen wrote her PhD on coal and has followed the expanding climate news coverage ever since .
“ My PhD was looking at the control of combustion from coal plants . That was back in 1990 and at that point , I was looking at things like sulfur dioxide rather than carbon dioxide . Then it just became carbon , carbon , carbon . There ' s some of those early photos and mappings of the hole in the ozone layer , that ' s not going to correct itself ,” says Allen . “ There ' s something we humans have managed to destroy . That ' s not going to get fixed without us .”
110 February 2022