ON PLASTIC
When this Philosopher-in-Residence was a little girl, a company came to her primary school and gave a talk about the importance of conserving and re-using natural resources and not just sending stuff to landfill. That was 33 years ago. I can clearly remember creating a couple of characters (Dobwalls Dick and Wadebridge Wendy!) who were tasked with policing the people of Cornwall to minimise waste to landfill.
Three decades later, with degree study of Green Politics, a residential year in a very pro-environment country (Germany), postgrad studies in Sustainable Tourism Management and lived experience of the population’s penchant for plastic, I’ve consulted with MMAP colleagues and we’ve co-produced Make Me A Plan’s simple climate charter.
Over the month of June (and beyond, because un-damaging the environment is for life, not just for summer), we’ll be sharing simple tips to minimise your plastic output. These won’t engage in the narrative of shame as some initiatives have done (you’re not an abjectly evil parent if on occasion you gave your kid a plastic straw).
The ideas are designed to be practical, easily understandable, and things that you might not have realised you could do but really wouldn’t be much of a stretch to incorporate into your daily and weekly life. Crucially, many of these tips will save you money and time.
One of the easiest tips is thinking ahead. You don’t have to wait for government legislation to ban something. Just do it yourself, now. Take a reusable tub to the butchers or supermarket to get your meat, fish or deli counter items rather than having YEARS of plastic pollution on your part before government introduces a tax on plastic packaging as with carrier bags. Don’t buy a single-use plastic shower gel that will only last a couple of weeks when you can buy a bar of soap that will last months and be much less expensive per use.
One of the best ways to sense-check yourself for the plastic primadonna things you don’t realise you’re doing is to actively monitor your consumption. Over the next few weeks on our social media, I’m going to be sharing a series of videos to check out what plastic went into my waste or recycling and what I could have done differently and can do differently in future. Stay tuned and de-plastic with Make Me A Plan, our simple climate charter and our ScreenFree SuperPlanners popping up to help us all along the way.
Next fortnight, I’ll be musing On Tragedy (dance moves/togas optional). It’d be very sad to miss out.
Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this subject you’d like me to write about.
In the meantime,
Happy Planning
PS If you want some other free tips for your business life, check out the Working Well blog – out fortnightly on Wednesdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Productivity Expert, Penny Le Kelly. Browse the latest edition here:
