Earth Active Ltd is a ESG advisory firm. Our bread and butter is to advise businesses and developers of major infrastructure projects (among others) how to be more sustainable in their work. But do we really follow our own advice? With the backgrounds we have we’ve understood most of our lives the importance of sustainable living, of keeping well and of protecting the planet. We do this, but is there a way to incentivise and encourage us to do more? I was reminded recently that my colleagues are largely into sports and tend to be rather competitive – an advantage in a growingly competitive sector – so why not make a game of it, I thought?
A few weeks ago, I initiated a competition called ‘Summer of Sustainability’, in which my colleagues could win points (or in our case raffle tickets) for completing daily activities deemed sustainable for both person and planet. The person who wins the most tickets by our summer social in August wins a very special (and sustainable) prize. The ten activities that earn tickets include cycling to work (lower carbon footprint than public transport or car, great for fitness and wellbeing), bringing in homemade lunch (to reduce the use of single-use plastic), having meetings without technology (lower carbon footprint, and good for wellbeing), and even completing their daily recommended 10,000 steps (health and wellbeing)! There are also limited edition weekly specials, which so far have included voting in the UK’s General election (so we can have our say to the country’s future on sustainability) and choosing to buy second-hand instead of new (to cut down on contributing to fast fashion, support charities and lower carbon footprint).
We are only in our third week of the competition, but already people are making big changes to their day-to-day lives. More people are deciding to move away from staring at screens for meetings, instead going out to the local gardens. One employee now walks to the station in the morning instead of driving, another goes for runs every other day just to earn those tickets. The competitive nature of our team means the better one person does, the more another is spurred on to alternative and more sustainable actions and earning more and more tickets!
Of course, I don’t want these actions to stop after the prize is awarded. I’m hoping that these activities will turn to habits, so people don’t think twice about packing their water bottle instead of buying a drink at the local shop. Or when making a purchase, they research and choose a B-Corp brand, or even buy second-hand. I want batch cooking homemade meals to bring into work for lunch, and exercise – where safe and possible – to be part of our routines.
The thing is, these should become our norm. The climate crisis has reached a stage in which we should be in ‘emergency mode’. Our future is unknown and every decision we make should respect and take into account the idea that our planet is suffering due to human action. We can’t change our lives overnight, and it must be appreciated by politicians, executives, sustainability professionals, manufacturers etc that sustainable alternatives need to be financially reasonable, make a difference for a tangible issue, and be convenient to implement. We’re rewarding our colleagues for those exact alternative actions, and although as Earth Active we make a big difference, as individuals we might need to scale up a bit… Regardless, it’s a starting point and a state of mind, and I encourage others to make a start too. The lightbulb was created by candlelight – does anyone have an idea to move their workplace in the right direction?
