Sustainability and Lifestyle
This headline grabbed my attention a year ago, at a time when I was very focused on climate change and the importance of doing something to help. I had attended Al Gore’s training camp in Atlanta in March 2019, and had started to put together a network of like minded people.
The headline changed my focus from the issue of climate change, which Greta Thunberg appeared to be single handedly dealing with, to the thorny and much more important issue of sustainability. As a business person i felt this was an area that i could make a difference. After all I had spent my whole working life in the commercial world.
The United Nations had put together a 17 goal target to tackle this issue over the next 10 years including climate change, over population, pollution, deforestation, wildlife protection, diet, plastic abuse, renewables etc. The list is exhaustive but they all link into one another. David Bowie sang that we had “Five Years”, well in 2025 he will be right!
Businesses were talking a great talk, but few were actually making a difference. In my mind this was because employees were not given the freedom they wanted – to have a say and to take action. Their involvement would be critical in enabling businesses to achieve what they were trying to do.
Imagine if every employee had the chance to participate and that we empower them to behave in a sustainable way. Imaging a world where those who want to make a difference are able to do so even in a small way. Almost 8 billion people moving in the same direction, now that would be progress.
We started to look at this within Motivates Inc, and made the decision to become carbon neutral by July 2021 and to make Lifestyle an enabler of sustainable behaviours for others.
We achieved this by offering all recipients of The Lifestyle voucher a range of organisations that focus on each of the sustainable themes in the United Nations research. They could donate part or all of their voucher to the likes of the World Wildlife Fund, Friends of the Earth, Woodland Trust, Greenpeace etc.
Bill
Chairman, Motivates Inc. Ltd.
This goes live on 4th of June 2020 and we hope that recipients who want to make a difference will now feel empowered to contribute to their favourite cause.