Sustainability is a common affair
I had a blast at Sustainability Week and all the activities I was involved in.
I spoke at the St Albans SustFest Expo, I hosted a Women in Sustainability Network Cafe event, I went to talk about sustainability in several local schools, and the common denominator was in-person relationship building.
I'm not sure whether it's still a hangover from COVID-19, but I crave human connection. I crave spending time with people in real life, talking about all sorts, then sharing our common challenges.
Some of the stories that get shared are an indication that we all go through the same issues, especially when we are trying to do the right thing leading from our values: for example, one person told me about a negative experience she had at a recent event - she wanted to influence the audience to embrace a more sustainable lifestyle so she suggested to the audience that they could reduce their environmental impact by eliminating red meat from their diet. She didn't consider at the time the there were people in the audience whose family business was farming. The result? Not only was she shouted at at the event by people saying "How dare you tell us what to do?!"
She also received a formal complaint from the organisers afterwards.
Most of us have similar experiences under our belt. Sometimes we get nothing back or, like in this case, we get abused.
There are ways to make us more impactful (in this case, this person could have done some research beforehand about her audience and what could resonate with them instead of eliminating red meat - e.g. new business opportunities from regenerative farming), but the key here is that we need to come together around our common issues; we need to share our experiences with others because the likelihood is that others are struggling too and we can learn from each other. That way, not only do we develop resilience, but we also find strength in the numbers.
The question for you is then: where is your community? Where can you find people like you who want to change the world, you can learn from and share with?
This article was originally written for the Green Gorilla weekly newsletter. If you liked it, subscribe to receive more articles like this and learn how to communicate sustainability better, how to be more productive without selling your soul to the work devil, and how to make an impact in the world. Here is the link: https://newsletter.thegreengorilla.co.uk/