
People / My Bristol Favourites
My Bristol Favourites: Mike Zeidler
Mike Zeidler has worked in corporate responsibility, community engagement and social enterprise since 1993. A former assistant chief executive at the Bristol Chamber of Commerce & Initiative, he formed Modoto in 2003 to support changemakers and innovators with leadership challenges. In 2005 he founded the Association of Sustainability Practitioners and the Happy City initiative in 2010 – who have recently published their annual list of Bristol Happiness Champions. He currently directs operations for all three organisations.
Find out who are Bristol’s 2017 Happiness Champions
Here are Mike’s top-five Bristol favourites:
is needed now More than ever
The spirit of adventure
“I love the way people (including me) are drawn here by the sense of creative opportunity – the mix of morale-boosting encouragement and down-to-earth pragmatism seems just about right. Bristol as a whole seems to delight in challenging conventions, and that makes it an exciting place to be.”
The mix
“I love the cultural diversity of the place – all the different influences are fantastic for our creativity and for our learning. Bristol certainly isn’t perfect, but there’s a lot of compassion here and many do appreciate it’s the variety in the city that makes it such a resilient place.”
The nature
“I love that Bristol is so amazingly green in every way. The public green spaces and brilliant variety of countryside in every direction are great, but best of all are the thousands who have been striving to make Bristol a more sustainable city for years. We thoroughly deserved to be Green Capital of Europe.”
The pace
“I love that Bristol’s default setting is ‘medium-slow’. Things aren’t so laid back you wonder if they’ll ever happen, nor so hurried your blood pressure is constantly on simmer. There’s just the right dynamic balance between stressful efforts and chilled out recovery.”
The performances
“I love the way there’s always something going on – it’s festival season all year round. I especially love the way our streets and parks are animated with the kinds of entertainment which draws people into a stronger sense of community.”
Read more: Bristol’s 25 Happiness Champions 2017