#MyBiosphere: Joff Whitten

In our regular feature, authors from different walks of Manx life offer a personal perspective on #MyBiosphere. This month, Joff Whitten of The Children’s Centre writes:

‘Biosphere’ is a curious word. I think the first time I heard it I presumed it meant “natural environment” and “biodiversity” or perhaps “conservation projects”. Knowing that the word UNESCO usually comes before the word Biosphere made me curious, and I was interested to learn that Biosphere status is achieved through a number of different strategic aims – including ‘environment, people, culture and the economy’. I sometimes terrify myself by reading the internet to discover that the ‘economy’ is the mortal enemy of the ‘environment’; but I am not sure that’s genuinely true...

I moved to the Isle of Man around 6 years to take up my role as the CEO of the Children’s Centre. I am genuinely honoured to have this role and lead – to the best of my ability – one the island’s longest standing and most treasured charities. What we do at the centre is world class, we make ongoing and untold benefits on those in the community we help. We aren’t there for every child on island – it would be wrong of us to suggest we could be – but for the 120 or so children and families we help each and every week the contribution we make to education, to healthcare and to social care is significant. We are a community charity and we try our very best to encourage positive changes in the lives of children and families impacted by adverse childhood experiences. We try to run the charity as leanly as possible and make all our resources go as far as they can – we genuinely believe in the principles of “recycle, reuse, repurpose”. We have a brilliant group of volunteers helping us at the centre – including young volunteers, and I am really proud of the figure that for every £ coming into the charity 87p goes directly on working with children and families in need.

So what does that have to do with UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man? As a charity we have to believe in the chance for positive change in young people, for positive change for families, we have to be determined to make a difference in people’s lives and we have to use current and best practice approaches to achieve meaningful outcomes. This for me relates so powerfully with the whole biosphere project and the aims set out by UNESCO. I don’t think ‘the economy’ and the ‘environment’ are mutually exclusive ideas, and should be considered as a whole rather than one superseding the other. To speak on this through the eyes of a child; without a stable, healthy, biodiverse environment we won’t have an economy – and we wonder why teenagers are struggling with despondency.

I’ll finish this with a little bit about myself, and perhaps some of my motivations to do my best for our island community. I myself have a little family and my two children are growing up in and around Manx culture. We say fastyr mie to the little people every time we cross the bridge. We love watching the seals in and around Kitterland, we love walking on the beaches, or exploring the glens. I’m also amazed at the range and the quality of the culture here, from the music and art and theatre – it’s a magical place and I think UNESCO Biosphere status acknowledges that and think it should be something we are all proud of – those born here and those lucky enough to live their lives here.