Struggling to care
Sustainability goals are hard. Why?
Because steak smells delicious. You have five pairs of jeans, but you just want that latest pair you saw on TikTok. The recycling collection never turns up. We get it. But we’ve got to keep going! We should all be setting sustainable ambitions, and trying to get into better habits. And no, you don’t have to be 100% vegan to start with. It could be 2 days a week! (In fact, we should actually try to start small – we all know those New Year’s Resolutions fail when we go from 0 to100%.) But even if that is a struggle (and let’s be honest, the third week of January hits different), we have a hack for you!
Find your Green Buddy
Oh yeah, a green buddy. An eco pal. A sustainable stud. You know who we mean. The one person in your life that never quits on the planet. It could be your roommate. That colleague you hate to love. The friend that texts you just the right amount. Your partner. Even your parent. One of the keys to staying committed to your goals is accountability – and who better to keep you on track than a green buddy who isn’t afraid to say what you need to hear. Just like that Gym Buddy that pulls you from the sofa before Love Island comes on, a Green Buddy can turn sustainability from a chore to a fun challenge.
Step 1: Find an achievable goal that inspires you. Keep it short term. You can always extend it later if you’re feeling motivated to do more.
Step 2: Ask your Green Buddy to join you in your new challenge; create an elaborate invitation – it might involve proposing to them with a houseplant, or providing matching sweatbands.
Step 3: Don’t just wait for their text to keep you on track. Hold them to account too! Send them a text when they’re on a date to remind them about how good salad looks. Then celebrate when you hit that first month... by eating more plants.
Who will hold you to account?
Even some of the brands you use every day rely on their friends to help them be more sustainable. Seventh Generation, which has been passionate about the planet since day 1, invited some of their community to create the Seventh Generation Social Mission Board in 2017. They meet twice a year and have helped make the team more ambitious with positive impact. For instance, they encouraged Seventh Generation to double their internal carbon tax (from $6 to $12 per ton of carbon) to hold the company to account. You can read more about the impact Seventh Generation’s friends have had on their impact here:
https://www.seventhgeneration.com/blog/meet-seventh-generation-social-mission-board
Knorr Future Foods
Do you eat the same meals over and over again? We all do it. You’re hungry, want to make something quickly, and you can’t be bothered to run to the store. So you go for potatoes, beef and overboiled broccoli with a splash of sauce. Easy. Did you know that 75% of the global food supply comes from only 12 plant and five animal species?!* The reality is, your bowls of boring just aren’t great for the planet. Lots of people eat the same thing, which puts a lot of pressure on the environment to provide that for us. This includes the minerals in the soil and the animals (moo). That’s why diverse diets are so important to keep the planet in balance for the long term. Diverse diets are also important for your belly. Think about that long list of unrememberable vitamins and minerals that you supposedly need. Chances are, you’re probably not ticking them all off with 12 plants and five animals in your diet. So yeah. Get creative. In fact, we know you aren’t.So yeah. Get creative. We’ve got 5 decent twists you could apply to your meals, starting today:
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