Margaret and Robert Minhinnick regret the passing of Ecologist Steve Moon and acknowledge his importance in the growth of the Welsh green movement.
Steve Moon, who died March 2015, played an important role in the development of Porthcawl Friends of the Earth. This group grew into Friends of the Earth Cymru. Subsequently, Margaret and Robert Minhinnick formed Sustainable Wales.
Steve was a noted ecologist and environmentalist. He encountered Margaret Minhinnick and Dorothy Hemming outside Trinity church in Porthcawl, in 1981, where they were fundraising for Porthcawl FoE.
He encouraged the pair to join in a campaign to stop the extension of wildfowling rights at the Kenfig National Nature Reserve and site of special scientific interest.
This was the first ever campaign for the group and meant that we had to dive in headfirst. The weaknesses of the Wildlife and Countryside Act were exposed with this campaign, attracting much media and UK attention.
The experience meant that the group soon went on to involvement in a host of other issues, all encouraged by the confidence gained from this initial campaign.
So who knows, without those few encouraging words by Steve Moon in 1981, there might have been no Friends of the Earth Cymru and nothing like Sustainable Wales and its trading arm, SUSSED!